Ok, I agree with rocky, these squares are annoying. Particularly as they didn't want to delete. Weirdly while they would not last night when I posted it, they will this morning.
January 3rd, Bogor Palace
Prince William looked up from the pile of papers at his private security chief's entrance.
"Ahh Herr Schuyt, I have been expecting you. I trust you had a satisfying holiday week?"
"The pot does not stop boiling just because the cook is napping your Highness, I am sure I will find some way to take that time out later to enjoy it."
The prince frowned
Gerrit, your lieutenants are first rate people, I treasure your efforts, but I would prefer it if you took some time to reward yourself, how about when we get back to Holland and this business is wrapped, you take a couple months off?
"I will take it under advisement sir. However, we do have some developments."
"oh?"
"As you suggested, Royal Dutch made the payments for the third and fourth leases to the Saudis in a number of small accounts drawn on dispersed banks. The Saudis were quite pleased with that arrangement. We have been able to establish a pattern for seven captains, a number of other crew and dock chiefs, a number of shipping clerks, Mr. Baesius the shipping coordinator, and the Jr. Snellenson. Quite simply,
"What about Snellenson Sr. or his aide, Sipke Fockes?"
"I am sorry sir, there is smoke, but it is not possible to tell if there is a flame yet...as I was saying,
within days of money being deposited to the Saudis, most of them would go to one of the branches of the various banks with the deposit, and obtain funds. There are some others, but we believe these individuals account for the majority of the "foot soldiers" of this smuggling ring.
Alone, it is not conclusive, but the investigation has yielded evidence implicating about two thirds of them.
Unfortunately, tracking the money further up the line becomes progressively harder, in particular as the financial arrangements move out of the Benelux where the House has the greatest influence.
<places papers in front of the Prince>
as you can see, the primary money is fairly easy to follow from Shell to the Saudis and then into this smuggling system. This Belgian firm of Pêcheries à Vapeur, of Ostende, appears to be a holding company, both for Zeebrugge Shipwrecking & Scrapyards, and for the Tonnelier & Schepens shipping company; but the owners of the holding company are cloaked, possibly American as many of the principles are small shell companies listed on the Chicago exchange.
It appears that Tonnelier & Schepens are engaged in smuggling and they may hand off cargos carried on the Belgian freighters to Shell freighters for final delivery in places off Tonnelier & Schepens routes. This would appear to be the initial point of contact for several of our implicated people. However, this only accounts for four of the Captains.
A further complication is that two of our Captains appear to our agents have managed to establish who some two Captains' contact people are. While the actual contact men are all European, we have managed to successfully tail them in two locations. In both countries, the contact men reported back to apparently the same Asian gentleman, an employee of a company located in Chosen, but whom is present on a Japanese passport."
"This is Mr. Takigawa whom you discussed in July? Who had discussions with Fockes?
"You recall? Ahh very good Sir, yes it is. Without becoming pointed in our inquiries we simply can not pursue that line of questioning."
Which Captains does Mr. Takigawa contact?
"Captain Daendal of the
SS Dufyken and Captain Lloyd, of the
SS Ascania"
"That is the British flagged ship you did not think was a likely canidate?
"The very same, the RN even stopped and searched it in the Red Sea with no result. I have no idea what is up with that. However we have some disreputable reports that the crates the
SS Dufyken unloaded in Mexico may have included military goods for the revolutionaries"
"I wonder if I can rent some trained elephants..."
"Sir?"
"Nothing Gerrit, just a tale one of the Captains stationed up in Phuket told me"
"Sir, where do you want us to take this investigation now? I have more information, and some promising leads, but we are starting to spook some of those involved. Shall we continue, pull back and wait for them to calm down, try to entrap some&
No Gerrit, we are going to arrest those we have charges...well charges the Netherlands can bear published in a court record, fire a couple of the others for no cause, and leave a couple undisturbed, step back for a while and see what they do once the smoke clears
"Well Sir, unfortunately that may be difficult, we can only stick charges on five of the Captains, and Captain Wilshaw is a British national commanding the British flagged Shell freighter
SS Heldia . Of the other four, two are luckily scheduled for leave, but Captain Daendal is in the Caribbean, and Captain Van Stappen should have left Balikpapan for Manila several days ago, he will be in Pilipino waters.
Actually, we can acquire four. I believe you will find that Herr Stappen has encountered a veritable plethora of delays at Balikpapan, while I believe you willl find that the light cruiser [i]Suriname has recently left Paramaribo for Cuba and should be in the
SS Dufyken 's vicinity.[/i]
"Sir, you knew these four.."
No, I knew about nine, and have made arrangements for eight.
"If you don't mind, how did you arrange the cruiser without disclosing your interest?"
Gerrit, it's no fun being Crown Prince if you can't abuse your position occasionally. I know I only earned the rank of Kapitein Luitenant ter Zee, but technically I'm Admiral of the Fleet, even if it's honorary, when I very quietly and strongly suggest to loyal Admirals that it's in the best interest of the Netherlands to send the Suriname[u] to show the flag, things can happen with very few fingerprints. Shell CEO van Seelst will simply ask if the Navy has any vessels handy to assist in apprehending a criminal wanted in the Netherlands for off manifest cargo, the Navy will happen to have a ship there. That is all."
"Sir, I am impressed."
"Thank you Gerrit, anything else, or anything I can do for you?" the prince says with a smile
"How about a quick look at that report your commission is writing, you all set to recommend we declare them independent and invite the Indians in?"
<after a mixture of laughing, choking and sputtering>
"Don't say that while I'm drinking brandy, do you know how that burns the nasal passages? Argh. I will admit it would cause half the State-General a heart attack if we did, and actually it would save us a ton of money, but far from it.
Realistically, it's not only bad for the Netherlands, but also for the locals. The cultures here are used to Confuciusan view, and their old societies were feudal kingdoms, only the educated elite could properly take advantage of independence. You'd probably see a bunch of strongmen come to power and be accepted as part of the natural order.
Whomever took over Java would have the population base to capture the other islands, where resources are. Independence would simply lead to a corrupt, chaotic government mixed with civil wars and coups. We owe them a bit more than that. The TIDE report will recommend a slow build approach with lots of little projects to create widespread opportunities and capital, then tie it together with an infrastructure backbone.
I tell you Gerrit, I'm never going to volunteer to write one of these damn things again, I thought it would be nice to have a direct say in things, but I'm simply hoping I dont get crushed flat by a toppling tower of reports.
You wouldn't want to stay around and help, would you Gerrit
"Gee, I'm sorry sir, but I have this delayed vacation calling..."
"Thank you ever so much, enjoy the vacation Gerrit 
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