Ernst von Suchtlen’s Secret Meeting

Ernst von Suchtlen’s Secret Meeting turns an unexpected private encounter into the opening of a possible alliance between the Checquy and the Grafters. Graaf Ernst von Suchtlen appears in Rook Myfanwy Thomas’s office after regenerating from a heart sent to the Checquy, discloses that his organization has infiltrated British institutions and prepared a weapon powered by British citizens, and proposes negotiations. The encounter ends not with an agreement but with Myfanwy establishing the limits of her authority and inviting him to discuss terms over coffee.

A visitor restored from a heart

Myfanwy returns to her office after an exhausting day and finds a large, newly restored man seated behind her desk. He introduces himself as Graaf Ernst von Suchtlen. Although Myfanwy recognizes him as a Grafter, she initially understands little about how he has arrived: the heart mailed to the Checquy had belonged to him, and his current body has grown from it in the organization’s laboratory freezer.

Myfanwy tests her ability to control his nervous system, but her influence slides off his body. She reasons that von Suchtlen, as the leader of the Grafters, has access to the best system his organization can devise. His resistance establishes a practical limit to her power even as the two begin discussing matters of institutional power and personal advantage.

Von Suchtlen explains that his regeneration is an experimental process. A person grown from a sample retains the memories held at the time of sampling; the original body breaks down after the sample is taken, while the sample develops into a heart and later regrows into a person. The regenerated individual can choose a limited number of abilities, though these fall short of what surgery can provide. Early subjects sometimes melted into a slurry, a risk von Suchtlen says he accepted. In his case, the procedure has taken months, not the couple of weeks he expected.

A disclosure of infiltration and force

Von Suchtlen says that the Wetenschappelijk Broederschap van Natuurkundigen has spent decades maneuvering its members into positions of power within the Checquy. It has also established a training and experimentation operation funded by Britain, forcibly drafting British citizens as soldiers. This is not presented as an isolated covert project: he says the Broederschap has built a weapon of mass destruction using new applications of its technology, powered by further British citizens in a prominent British city.

The claimed reach extends into the Checquy itself. Von Suchtlen states that his operatives are placed throughout the organization, including within the Court. Myfanwy responds by asking how the infiltration was accomplished, but the supplied account moves from this disclosure to her assessment of the imbalance between the two organizations. She tells him that he commands a force powerful enough to overwhelm the Checquy without leaving Belgium, while the Checquy’s duty is to protect in secrecy. The possibility of open war would bring grave consequences for England and make concealment difficult.

From confrontation to proposed alliance

Myfanwy identifies the contradiction at the heart of von Suchtlen’s visit. If he possesses the strength and experience she describes, he does not need to approach her alone and secretly unless he wants to avoid fighting. She concludes that he has come not to surrender but to seek an alliance between the organizations. His response confirms that this is the question she has correctly raised, and he settles back to tell her a story.

The proposal is not simply an abstract overture. Von Suchtlen intends to reach terms with Myfanwy in secret, then present the merger to his cousin as an accomplished decision. He believes the combined Checquy and Grafter forces could subdue Gerd if Gerd resisted. His plan therefore depends on reaching an understanding before his cousin can intervene, and on the assumption that the old leadership and its machinery remain available to him.

The plan meets changed circumstances

Myfanwy interrupts von Suchtlen’s explanation of the regeneration technology when it threatens to become a technical lecture, but his account clarifies why the meeting is possible. He has arranged for his cousin to believe that he will remain secluded in his quarters for contemplation and strategic planning. Since the procedure leaves no body behind in those quarters, von Suchtlen expects to remain absent without being discovered while negotiating with Myfanwy.

That secrecy has not given his plan the time he expected. He assumed the regeneration would take weeks; instead, months have passed. Myfanwy tells him that his attempt to occupy his cousin’s attention did not succeed and reports that Gerd is dead, killed in an assault. Von Suchtlen repeats the news quietly and says that perhaps it is better this way, because Gerd would have struggled to adjust to the new situation. The death removes the person whom von Suchtlen intended to manage through a fait accompli, leaving the intended merger without the circumstances he had planned around.

The limits of a private agreement

Myfanwy makes clear that she cannot authorize a merger between the organizations herself. The proposal must go before the entire Checquy Court, and the Croatoan must also be involved. This procedural limit redirects the meeting from a secret, bilateral arrangement toward negotiations among all the relevant parties.

She also asks about the Grafters’ activity in the United States, including an operative captured in Los Angeles. Von Suchtlen attributes the operative’s presence to one of Gerd’s contingency plans: if the Checquy discovered the Grafters’ presence in Britain, a more expendable operative would be exposed in the United States to distract the Croatoan and prevent it from sending reinforcements. He says the plan was not his and suggests Gerd improvised. Myfanwy remains unconvinced, privately suspecting that Gerd turned a last-resort measure into a first strike.

Despite her doubts and the changed facts, Myfanwy does not end the conversation. She says formal negotiations must wait until the relevant parties are assembled, but asks to hear von Suchtlen’s proposed terms. When he asks for coffee, she explains that the kitchens are closed and the office machine is broken, then offers to make it in her residence. The proposed alliance is thus left unresolved: the secret meeting has established the threat, the possibility of cooperation, and the need for a wider decision, but not a final agreement.