A/N: The fact that the non-Council-hearings part of the main plotline concerns the decision being made by a world whether or not to embrace a world government gives me ironic feelings in light of IRL Brexit. 
Chapter Four
One of the more annoying aspects of being in the subcommittee hearings all day, Chrono decided, was the fact that it kept him away from the day-to-day business of his office. This was doubly annoying, because it was right when the job needed his attention most. Quite apart from the long-term political consequences, Hayes's rebellion had stripped the NSIS of a huge number of badly needed operatives and staff, and thrown dozens of ongoing operations into turmoil. The first two weeks after it happened, Chrono had spent full days in the office, barely sleeping more than two or three hours a day as he and everyone else still loyal to the Shadows worked like dogs to get everything under control.
Amy had not been a happy woman, but more than one field agent had died because necessary support hadn't been available, and if Chrono had been at home, off duty when that had happened, he'd never have been able to live with himself.
It wasn't as bad now, but things were still unsettled, and taking the day off just made things worse. To say nothing of the fact that his willingness to delegate authority…well, when a man's second-in-command leads a coup, it tends to create a certain reluctance. Plus, the fact was that promotions and reassignments had come far too quickly, positions filled by need rather than planning. There was a reason for the "Acting" in Acting Deputy Director Fierenze's title.
Plus, of course, he ended up left out of the loop, a situation that found him with Victor Stormhawk's operations report open in one holographic display while a communications window was open in one next to it.
"I've just received a report from Vansett," Archon Taureg of the Belkan Saint Church was saying to him. "Militants overran the Adama Technologies headquarters in Argent today. Over a dozen people were killed and scores injured when they seized the building."
"I'm a bit behind the times, Archon."
"Are you, now? Then no doubt it will come as a complete surprise that while local law enforcement was still trying to establish control over the situation and the government was arguing over whether to appeal to the Bureau for assistance, an unknown party entered the building, covertly neutralized all eighteen militants, and escaped after removing all traces of his, her, or their presence."
Chrono smiled thinly at the churchman. Taureg was himself from Vansett and still tended to keep an eye on his home world, which was heavily Belkan in character.
"It sounds like someone did you a favor."
"It does indeed. Adama Technologies is deeply involved in the development and maintenance of Vansett's global network systems. The word 'global' makes those militants squirm just on general principles, but the truth of the matter is, the Confederation is in a shaky state. It doesn't have the power to act, and it's lead to Vansett being continually edged out by Lucence and Blumaile, the other worlds in the cluster, despite having a virtually identical population and resource base of the three."
Taureg fell silent for a moment, but Chrono did not prompt him. The churchman had something more to say, he believed, and would come around to it faster if he did not feel hurried. After about ten seconds' delay, he was proven right.
"Admiral, I presume that you're aware that I've been asked to mediate at the Constitutional Convention back home?"
Chrono nodded.
"Carim mentioned it to me," he said. Knight-Commander Carim Gracia was not only one of his closest friends, but also a major political ally, dating back to even before he'd become the uncle of the Sankt Kaiser's clone.
And how ironic is it that the head of a secret intelligence agency had to be told by the Church about a major political development?
"What you may not know is that Adama's chief executive and chairman of the board are major supporters of the Federalist movement. It's largely behind the scenes, because Argent is one of the more independent-minded nations on Vansett."
"Now that I did know. Are you afraid you've got leaks?"
"Yes, I am. And I'm afraid that the Blade of Fleche militants are being used to strike blows against the Constitution."
"Which they'd oppose anyway on its own merits, making them the perfect cat's-paws. What would the militants care about the hidden motives of some supporter, so long as it gives them the chance to strike out at what they want to oppose?"
Taureg's face was grave.
"Your impression follows mine on every point."
"Is there any chance that we're overanalyzing matters?"
The archon raised one bushy eyebrow.
"Do you mean, you think that the militants could just be acting on their own, with good sources of information?"
"It never hurts to consider the possibility that not
everything is part of some greater conspiracy."
"I admit, that's not a sentiment I expected to hear from someone in your line of work," Taureg said, chuckling.
"Well, now that everyone knows what that line is, I need to find another way to surprise them. And there is a reason why paranoia is classified as a mental illness, after all. It's not a reasonable default approach, even though cautious suspicion might be."
Taureg chuckled again.
"When you put it that way, I can hardly argue with you."
"Good, then it's accomplished its purpose."
"Quite. Except that, to answer your original question, no, I don't think the militants are acting alone. The plans for the Convention have been kept under close security, and the players involved have been quite discreet, to better let the lead figures play to the crowd. A fair amount of the planning has taken place here on Mid, between the Church and the Council members from Vansett. I can't imagine that the Blade of Fleche has that kind of reach."
"As it so happens, I agree with you. We first took an interest in them because they'd started making offworld connections for weapons and experienced manpower."
"Mercenaries?"
Chrono nodded.
"My sources tell me, for example, that the militant fighters from the Adama incident were using Mid-style Devices and magic." Those "sources" were, of course, his own agents, Alphine's witness testimony embedded in Stormhawk's report, but he wasn't going to openly admit to a covert operation, even to a man who was convinced of the truth already.
"All of them?"
"Apparently. Quite unusual for a world where Modern Belkan is the predominant magic style, wouldn't you say, and especially for a group that exists for the purpose of opposing 'foreign influence' on the culture of Argent."
"Yes, I would say that's unusual. It sounds like our militants have taken to importing foreign goods of their own, I agree."
"Keep your eyes and ears open, Archon. There's plenty of people, particularly from Lucence and Blumaile, who would be very unhappy to see a strong, unified Vansett."
"Quite so. I appreciate you keeping an eye on the situation. I know that you have a lot on your own plate just at present."
Chrono waved it off.
"Peace and stability for the Bureau worlds are basically the entire point of what we do. Without that, we're no different than the Galean secret police or Jail Scaglietti were."
The churchman smiled at him.
"I'm glad to hear you say that."
"I just hope when it's all measured some day, I won't just say it, but have it be true." He paused, then added, "Give my regards to the Councillors from Vansett. Who knows, maybe they can put in a good word for me with their friends on the Oversight Subcommittee."
He was grinning as he said it, but as jokes went it was a weak one, because he had a feeling that he might end up needing it to be true.
~X X X~
Lutecia stood, slipping from her lover's embrace with nary a rustle of the sand. Vivio made a little whimpering noise in her sleep as her arm settled down into its new position, but did not wake. The pale moonlight shimmered on Vivio's skin, turning the roses-and-cream complexion to pearlescent silver.
At least now I can tease Caro back the next time she orders me a "Sex on the Beach," she thought, even as her clothes shimmered back into place. She didn't bother to pick up the real-fabric bathing suit from the beach, it being too damaged to salvage anyway.
"Burning Glory," she softly said, not wanting to wake Vivio, "please run a continuous proximity monitor and set up Vivio's Barrier Jacket if anyone gets within a hundred yards." The secluded cove was deserted, caught between two high rock walls and isolated from the road above, but it was always possible that someone else might come along. If nothing else, there might be another couple looking for a private spot.
"
Yes, ma'am."
"Thanks. She's too cute to wake up. And besides, goodbyes are a pain." She'd had too many of them in her life already, and they always seemed to last longer than planned.
She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back into some semblance of order, or at least so it wasn't falling into her face. She took a few moments—more than a few, to be truthful—just watching Vivio lie sleeping while waves on the sand made a soft counterpoint to her breathing. Lutecia smiled gently, savoring the moment.
It wasn't quite the big deal to her that it once had been, now that she had managed to find some measure of stability in her own life, but it still hit her how
innocent Vivio was. That wasn't something measured in terms of naïve ignorance, but rather in a fundamental belief in decency, that the world would come out all right if people didn't lose faith and kept trying to do the right thing. She'd definitely adopted her mothers' attitude in that respect. And why not? After all, not only Vivio's own happy life but Fate's as well had been given the opportunity to exist because of Nanoha's unremitting dedication to this principle.
Sometimes, Lutecia found it kind of overwhelming.
As a Shadow, Lutecia had spent her adult life enmeshed in gray areas, doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, wrestling over whether some action was or was not justified. Vivio had always stood in her mind for something different, something better, a bright light where the darkness around her couldn't reach. It was the major reason why she'd held back for so long what she was; she didn't want to taint Vivio with that.
Vivio definitely didn't approve of everything Lutecia did. She clearly felt that in many cases there were better options, that even if the end did justify the means that
other means should be tried first.
But she also believed in Lutecia, that her girlfriend was a good person regardless of circumstances, someone who was making choices for an imperfect world where idealized outcomes weren't always possible. That was, to Lutecia's mind, the major difference between Vivio and her mother. Vivio believed that the ideal was possible, but that there was a difference between choices made to build that ideal and choices made in the world that was. Nanoha, by contrast, believed in acting as
if the world was an ideal one and to the extent she ever articulated a philosophy, would have said that it was through those actions, through the perseverance of those who believed in doing the right thing, that the ideal world would be built.
Lutecia probably, if pressed, would have said that human nature made the ideal impossible to achieve and therefore people had to do what did the most good without being caught up in philosophical debates. But then again…
"I like your dream better," she said softly, smiling down at the sleeping girl.
She raised her hand, the four-cornered summoning circle taking shape beneath her on the sand. Asclepius whipped through the calculations, building the coordinate model of her intended destination, her magic reaching out through dimensional space to link that point with her current location. Violet light surged up, and then in the next instant she was gone, leaving Vivio alone with the gentle splash of the waves.
~X X X~
"Well?"
It was after hours on Midchilda, and while the headquarters of the TSAB Ground Forces never truly closed, due to the need for the service to confront potential emergencies at any hour (and the fact that not every world was conveniently synchronized to Mid-standard time), three-fourths of its usual staff had gone home for the night, leaving the halls feeling cold and empty as Colonel Auris Gaiz had strode through them on her way to her superior's office.
Gaiz was a woman in her mid-thirties of average height, but her stiff-backed military posture made her seem taller and more imposing. Her blonde hair was cut short, and she wore spectacles rather than contact lenses or getting corrective eye surgery. Her late father had always espoused the principle that making permanent alterations to the human body with technology was a path down a slippery slope, and even though he'd been dead for thirteen years and buried in shame and scandal, she'd never felt the need to change anything.
"The hearing was closed for security classification, but I obtained a transcript of the official record."
"Ah, excellent work, Colonel. I'd have preferred the full video record so that I could see the expressions on their faces, but this should do nicely."
Brigadier General Eva Passat steepled her fingers together while Auris sent the copy to her computer. The stern-looking woman coolly regarded her subordinate from beneath wisp-thin white brows. The head of Ground Forces Military Intelligence Section was fond of long silences, believing that people's discomfort with them led them to try to fill the space, and being upset to begin with would often say what they shouldn't.
Auris had worked for Passat for nearly a decade now. Her career had been languishing miserably thanks to the JS Incident. She'd barely escaped a court-martial for her actions when serving as her father's aide, and the weight of the scandal had fallen upon her as the inheritor of Regius Gaiz's name. Passat, though, had seen Auris's record of efficient and effective service to her father in his shady projects as a recommendation rather than a curse, and had arranged for Auris's transfer to become her new aide. GMI didn't operate in the dark the way the Shadows did, but intelligence work was never completely clean and Auris had proven her ability to navigate the political minefields.
She'd been at the job long enough to know that the implied rebuke from her superior had been intentional, but bit back any sharp response she might have wanted to give (of which there were several).
"Harlaown's on the run this time, though. No matter what impassioned defense he wants to put up, he's not going to wiggle out from under. A command officer who loses control of his command is going to suffer the consequences." Passat smiled thinly at Auris. "I suspect you'll get a bit of satisfaction from that irony."
No doubt she was referring to the fact that Regius Gaiz's death had come from his inability to control his own minion, Jail Scaglietti, and that Harlaown had been one of the leaders of the opposition to Regius's plan.
In saying so, Passat was rather misunderstanding what it was that motivated Auris. Normally, the general's barbed comments were her way of reminding their target that she knew what drove them, that she had gotten inside their head and knew their weak points. It wasn't like her to bungle like she had with Gaiz.
Which, of course, made Auris very happy, since she didn't want Passat or anyone else inside her head.
"The similarities are striking," she said.
"You've reviewed the transcript for yourself, of course. Summarize it for me."
"Councillor Nash is openly hostile. That's no surprise; she's always wanted a tighter leash on intelligence operations and the Shadows infuriate her in specific because of their mandated secrecy. The whole reason she was named to the Oversight Subcommittee after the JS Incident is that the Council didn't want black operations running out of control. The Hayes Incident therefore represents something of a personal failure for her, but at the same time supports her underlying theme that more stringent control and oversight are required to prevent those kind of situations from developing in the first place."
"Hm, and the others?"
"Grumman is also antagonistic, which is only to be expected; he's one of the Ground Forces' strongest allies on the Council and has always been a GMI backer to the extent he believes intelligence operations are required at all."
Passat smirked.
"It's amazing how some people continue to believe that there is a bright line between 'military intelligence' in a war and 'espionage' while at peace."
Auris shrugged. It was easy to think that "spying on the enemy" was acceptable while "spying on friends and allies" was not, but even apart from the fact that political reality made those categories blurry, the question of
how one makes that division in the world was also significant.
"As for the others, it's difficult to say. Royce, Challenger and Northrup have been more noncommittal. Royce has been a serving member of the subcommittee for so long that he's naturally likely to want to be cautious and moderate in any response…"
~X X X~
"…because the blowback, from his other rivals on the Council, would be 'if this is so awful, how did you let things get this bad?'" Chrono finished up. "In essence, he's in the same trap as I am; his position makes him vulnerable."
Amy nodded.
"Yep, that's right."
She spooned the sauce over the pasta, then carried the plate over to the kitchen table and set it down in front of her husband.
"Oh, this is—"
"Yes, Italian food from Earth. It's one of your sister's recipes." Amy didn't mention that Fate had said that she liked to make Italian food for Nanoha whenever her wife was feeling tired or depressed, since that was
their couples routine, not hers and Chrono's, and because Chrono always got tetchy at being fussed over, anyway. It was enough, in this case, that Amy knew.
Chrono took a bite.
"It's good; thanks."
"Good! Now, you eat and we'll finish off the rest of what your mother sent over."
Smirking, he said, "You definitely belong in this family; you make excellent plans."
"There's no way I'm making my husband survive on take-out or worse, HQ cafeteria food, after suffering through politicians all day plus pulling office hours until nine."
"At least something's going right about this day, thanks to my family. Seriously, Amy, I don't know what I'd do without you."
Amy smiled, the compliment giving her a strong sense of the warm fuzzies.
"I love you, honey, so taking care of you is a thing."
"A thing I appreciate, nonetheless. So what about Challenger and Northrup."
"Councillor Challenger is obvious, since everyone on Mid knows him. Most people think he has his eye on a run for the Presidency and is looking for a Cabinet seat on his next stop, but Lindy thinks what he'd actually going for is to be Governor-General of Midchilda. That election's only in two years, and if the Council President is going to seek reelection for
her seat next term, then she's not likely to appoint a political competitor to her Cabinet to give him a platform to raise his profile at her expense."
"That makes sense enough, and he has the support of Mayor Magnus of Cranagan, a powerful ally here on Mid. Easier by far to raise his profile here, then go for the High Council seat and the presidency in one go of it. The question is, how does that help or hurt me now?"
"Lindy thinks that Councillor Challenger will be inclined, all else being equal, to push the subcommittee against Nash, because Nash is the President's appointee and so he'd like to have the outcome go against her. Both hers," she amended.
"So if he can get away with it, he can point out how
he was the architect of either the bold new direction in intelligence work, or conversely the reasoned and calm staying of the course in the face of a shocking but singular incident."
"Yep! And all because your mother knows that he isn't looking for the Cabinet post most people think he is."
Chrono nodded.
"You're right, and I can work with that.
If I can convince Challenger that backing the NSIS is the best political move, that is. What about Northrup?"
"She's a bit of an enigma."
Chrono would have prompted her to say more, but he had a mouth full of pasta, and after a pause Amy continued anyway.
"You know her background already, of course: old money, related to a noble title that no longer formally exists on Vaizen and shifted its wealth to industry when the government changed. Speculation is that she stood for the Council election as a way to establish herself apart from family responsibility. There had been a number of rumors about her getting married during her university days and before the election, and they all vanished when she won the Council seat so there may well be something to that."
Swallowing, he said, "So essentially she went from a celebutante whose only perceived importance was to make a marriage alliance for her family's sake to being a power player in her own right." He paused, then added, "Under that fact pattern, I'm surprised that she won the election. Vaizen is too large a world to be steamrolled by family backing or dominated by one party, but we could never label whom her backers might be."
"Well, in this case, the intelligence community doesn't have to be embarrassed by your mother—not that it's actually embarrassing to know less than Lindy—because she wasn't sure, either."
"Which might mean that there's nothing to find, that Councillor Northrup really is in it for herself and won her seat purely based on brains, family name, and media savvy. The better question isn't her background, but what she's doing now that she's here. The only bill I know of that she sponsored was the revision to the Unsupported Children Care Act two years ago. Spearheading a bill concerning the care of orphans isn't exactly controversial, but it was actually a hard fight in the Council due to the extensive funding changes. The subcommittee appointment was basically a thank-you from the President for pushing it through. Unfortunately, that doesn't tell me anything about her views on the NSIS, not unless she's going to oppose Challenger for political reasons."
It could go either way with her, he decided. During the hearing, she'd played both sides, bringing Nash and Grumman up short, but also being the one to deliver the biggest stinger of the first day—the question of what role the NSIS would play now that it was no longer secret. With all four other members of the subcommittee leaning one way or the other, Northrup would likely be the key vote, so if she had an agenda, he needed to find out what it was.
Fortunately, finding out people's secret agendas was pretty much the definition of what he did.
~X X X~
"This is intolerable!"
Xavier Terra was literally trembling with rage, his short black beard bristling with the quavers of his outthrust jaw.
"Do you understand what this means?" the High Councillor for Blumaile raged at the second-youngest member of his world's delegation. Despite the fact that this was Liliane Vega's office, she seemed to shrink before the raw emotional force that swelled to fill the available space. "The Saint Church has chosen to intervene on Vansett!"
"Xavier," Vega tried to interject, "I really don't think that this means that the Church is taking sides in—"
"Not taking sides?" he roared, cutting her off. "What else would you call it? They're mediating the Constitutional Convention! If they didn't want the new government to form, they wouldn't be involved! Their very presence tells the people of Vansett that a unified world federation has moral standing!"
He punched his fist into his empty palm. Unlike most Archeline Cluster natives, Terra was not a follower of the Church, not even giving it lip service. That didn't mean that he underestimated its influence; if anything, he had a habit of giving it more credit than it had actually earned.
"I think we both agree that it
would be the right thing to do—for Vansett."
"Or else
we wouldn't care so much. Of course that's the case. But that's
economically. A stronger world government for Vansett would give them a stronger position and shift the power balance among the worlds of the Cluster. That's why we oppose it, since it would be bad for the people of Blumaile. But!" He shook his finger in front of Vega's aquiline nose, nearly clipping the tip. "Monetary policy should not be the province of the Church! There's no reason why they should even be allowed to agitate in favor of one world's economy at the expense of another's!"
Vega had to take a step back just in case, giving the impression that she was yielding to his arguments.
"This is the Saint Church I'm talking about, not the Administered Worlds Trade Association or the like."
"Are they actually advocating a position?" she asked. "If they're not announcing their participation openly… Or are they? Did I miss something? I thought you said you were tipped off to this by your contacts in the Archon of Aida's office."
"They're not that open about it yet, but that's exactly my point. If they
did come out openly, we could challenge them on it, question their motives for acting well in advance of the Convention. As it is, they've insulated themselves from public criticism—a savvy political move, I admit. But the mere fact of them being involved lends legitimacy to the process!"
Vega frowned, thinking it over.
"In that case, do you know what the reason given for their involvement would be?"
"I can just guess. Probably something like 'we want to help insure that a calm and reasoned decision is reached that embodies what is best for the people of Vansett' or some similar drivel!"
"What would be wrong with that? To be honest, that sounds like a perfectly valid reason to involve themselves, to make sure that whatever decision is reached represents the true will of the people, not the maneuverings of power brokers and economic forces looking to give themselves an advantage."
Terra looked at Vega like she'd grown a second head.
"They should have you writing their party lines for them."
"I'm just trying to look at this and see where the evil intent comes from. The last thing we want is to enmesh the government of Blumaile in a conflict with the Church if we don't have to."
Terra's scowl was so fierce that it nearly drew his brows together.
"
Sigmund Taureg," he ground out between his teeth. "That's why they're sending to be the mediator."
Vega surprised him by recognizing the name.
"The Archon? He's a Vansett native, isn't he?"
"He is. And that's my point. You don't send someone with a personal stake in the outcome if you want to remain a neutral party. The two things aren't compatible. They're taking a stand. By choosing him, they're claiming that his agenda is their agenda."
"But does he
have an agenda? Does he have a fixed political stance, or does he just want a powerful Vansett regardless of the specifics?"
"I can't believe that you don't see this for what it is! Why are you standing there making excuses?"
"Because unlike you, I have to stand for reelection in two years, and I want to be very sure of the ground I'm standing on before I come out as accusing the Saint Church of playing partisan politics. Most of our voting public, you may recall, follows the Church, and 'the Church is a political enemy of Blumaile!' is going to be a hard sell!"
He looked a little shocked at getting pushback from her.
"Blumaile's Councillors need to stand together on this—"
"I agree. And we should stand with Lucence as well. But it needs to be a convincing stand, else
we come off as the ones scheming to keep Vansett weak for our own worlds' benefit. That would certainly lend energy to the pro-unification forces on Vansett, but also affect Blumaile's standing with other worlds as well. If we can't indict them beyond contest, then it's not worth the attempt."
Terra grumbled deep in his throat.
"Taureg is a sympathizer. There's no question of it. But if you and the others need proof of it, then fine, that's what I'll get. And when I do we'll burn those bastards for their scheming!"
He spun on his heel and stormed out of Vega's office. She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Terra was a patriot and reasonably intelligent, but when his temper got hold of him he could be such a
trial. She was amazed, honestly, that the cantankerousness and indulgent fury she'd just seen could be so thoroughly channeled into the vibrant, passionate speeches that had won him his seat and maintained his popularity on their home world.
Besides, when all was said and done, he wasn't wrong.
An hour later found Liliane Vega ensconced at the bar at Ellerbee's, a quiet restaurant in northern Cranagan. A curious person who happened to recognize the Councillor might have wondered who she was meeting, but she sat alone at the far end of the bar near the kitchen door, nursing a tropical drink, bright orange from three citrus flavors, interacting with no one other than the bartender.
But them, one of the advantages of being a mage was that she didn't have to speak to someone to communicate with them.
~So what happened?~ she asked telepathically.
~I've followed the news reports. The attack on Adama seems to have failed spectacularly.~
~We don't know. Everyone inside was either killed or rendered unconscious. All security footage was wiped, none of the survivors saw or heard anything, and the militants' Devices all had their core crystals destroyed.~
Vega's contact wasn't even in the restaurant, but in the coffee shop next door. The important thing was that she was in range of the anti-eavesdropping field effect built into the Councillor's Device. This was standard security for Council members; it stopped any attempt to listen in on their heart-to-heart communication but also made it impossible for her to use telepathy to connect with anyone outside the field.
~A professional, then,~ Vega concluded.
~Amateurs might get the job done of taking out the militants and saving the hostages, but the cleanup job changes matters.~
~I concur.~
~The question is, did the mission succeed?~
~Unknown. But we have to assume that they did not. We haven't been able to question the survivors as yet. Getting the master codes out of the executives to embed the data would have taken time, and the scenario had not yet progressed that far.~
Vega thought it over.
~Fine. That won't be a fatal breakdown.~
~Oh?~
It was really too bad that she couldn't thank Terra.
~My excitable colleague has already demonstrated that Archon Taureg's merely being from Vansett will raise suspicions in those inclined to look for corruption. It would have been better if we could have provided "proof," but even without it there won't be any problem selling the public on the story we want them to believe.~
She paused, then added,
~It's just too compelling a narrative to resist.~
~If we can deliver the central point of that narrative. Without that, it all falls apart.~
Vega smiled thinly, making the man two seats away from her at the bar wonder what it was had crossed her mind.
~Don't worry about that. We've already run the first test successfully. There's no problem on that end.~
~You'd best hope not.~
~Relax,~ she replied firmly.
~Just focus on managing your end of things. There are only so many parts of this we can afford to miss.~ Her mental "voice" had an edge to it, a reminder that perhaps the person who had overseen the failed attack on Adama Technologies should not be critiquing Vega's successful operation.
Or, at least it had been successful thus far. The second test still lay ahead of them, and if
that worked…
Well, if that worked, then things were poised to become very, very interesting on Vansett.
