Anko Bakker sipped his coffee as he waited for the noise in the council chambers to die down, it had been mostly shouting and loud voices for the last few hours, he wondered briefly if anyone had thrown punches yet. He felt a sharp pain in his left leg and then had to remind himself that he didn't have one anymore, that the nerves stopped at the stump. He had lost his left leg some 30 years ago during a Gottian shelling, a parting gift from a dying regime that he had helped to kill. He still used the same cumbersome, ill-fitting prosthetic that the Goyanean doctors had issued him with all those years ago, it was uncomfortable but that was alright, he didn't want to become comfortable with the past.
The crappy prosthetic helped remind him of the suffering the Frisian people had gone through, of the long struggle that had preceded liberation, it was a memento from those dark days that ensured the memory of those who had sacrificed and suffered never faded. Pain be damned, he would bear it in solidarity with the long-dead and the still suffering. That wasn't why he was in Craviter however, indeed he was here purely on business, the Luscova Pact needed a neutral expert to give an unbiased assessment of sensitive documents, and Anko was quietly the best there was.
He was able to spot forgeries often with little more than a cursory scan of the pages, Years of forging documents for Shaddaists and other victims of the Himdach regime had sharpened his skills to a razor edge, a forger knew his own better than any other. A further twenty years in serious fraud back in Frisia had cemented his legend further, Anko Bakker was the man to call when you wanted to catch a lie on paper. The pact was paying him well for his services too, he didn't need the money of course but he loved the challenge, and it helped pay for the endless Christmas lists his grandchildren sent each year.
The documents in question were seemingly inconsequential, lists with countless names printed on them, they were in a Szlavic script common in Rayvostoka and Craviter, one that Anko was vaguely familiar with. He wasn't fluent but he didn't need to be, the paper told a story human words could not, he checked the page for all the tell-tale signs of applied pressure, letter proportions, doctoring, and even the classic amateur pen lift and shakey writing. The comparison with the resources he already had was conclusive, it was the real deal. Curiously he noticed that the words "Re-education" and "Closure" kept appearing, he didn't really care why of course, he was just here to verify it was authentic and all signs pointed to a yes.
He scratched his snow-white painter's mustache and pondered his next move, a benefit of being an independent contractor was that he had no stake either way in the results of his inquiry, go in, talk for a few minutes, get paid, and go home. It was easy money and it looked good on a resume, plus it was a far more stimulating hobby than walking his wife's poodles back in Ameland, he hated poodles to his core. He gathered up the papers and carefully replaced them back into the manilla folder. A man in a black suit appeared nervously and raised a hand to get his attention.
"Heer Bakker?" the man asked shyly, he couldn't have been more than 23
"Are they ready for me son?" he said gently
"Yes, the council will hear your report now" The man replied more confidently
He nodded and gulped down the last of his coffee, he checked his pocket watch, if he got in and gave his report now he could be back at the hotel in time for dinner. He rose from the chair, folder tucked under his arm, and was led toward the great doors to the pacts council chamber. They opened and he strode in, it was a brightly lit quad with countless banners arranged around a central podium. The council was made up of figures from almost every corner of Eras, some looked at him nonchalantly, others glared and the occasional person smiled with curious amusement.
"Well let's hear what the expert has to say regarding these documents," a large man in a bearskin cloak said casually, he had his boots up on the desk and an expression that suggested he'd had quite enough of this session.
Anko reached the Podium and laid out his documents on the projector slide, he cleared his throat as he leaned into the microphone and then, trying to sound as official as he could, began his report.
"Representatives of the Luscova pact, upon close examination of these documents, taking into account relevant forging techniques and comparing these copies against the official standards of documentation present in Rayvostoka I must conclude that these are genuine and authentic documents that were produced by Rayvostokan officials" He explained calmly
The council soon filled with discussion, he suspected his news was going to cause more than a few arguments, he didn't care, a few more minutes and he could go back to his hotel and tuck into steak and brandy.
![Midir [Mondari]](/data/avatars/m/5021/5021626.jpg?1538375103){kind=avatar}
