Execution [Book 2 of The English Lion]

LVIII. James

Friday, 14th June 1940

Dear Diary,

The day after Alexander and Hugo arrived in London, everything went into full swing. Preparation is in full swing for the Battle of Britain. All the gears that had been put into place years prior to the war had been geared further, working every second, minute, hour and day since the war started. It goes on and on, the gears. It doesn't stop despite Alexander is back. It seems like every single gear is working overtime now that he's back. But who knows for sure if Alexander's presence had driven the gear to work even harder or because of the events up to now had forced every single gear to work even harder than before to protect Britain since the Battle of Britain is inevitable. It's just a matter of time before the Germans would start invading Britain by land, air, sea, or a combination of them.

A lot has happened since I started writing this diary entry. Truth be told... It's been a while since I did. Four days ago, Italy joined in with the war. It wasn't surprising when they did so, considering it was known that Italy and Nazi Germany are friends. A couple of other things to note was that Norway surrendered (King Haakon and his government had already been evacuated to Britain three days prior), and the French government decamps to Tours. It's interesting to see how the French government keeps hopping around France (no offence to the French, but it's just... How do I phrase this? The French government is trying their best to not fall to the Germans' hands but how does moving around France help with that?). I'm sure that the French government would have to move to Britain soon. I don't know when, but I know it's happening soon.

Two days ago had brought anger to Alexander. The 51st Highland Division had been captured at Saint-Valéry-en-Caux. There were more than ten thousand British soldiers in the division. Regius Obligatus and Absconditus Custos - especially those in Britain - immediately went into an uproar. Me too, so there's that. It is safe to say that Regius Obligatus and Absconditus Custos immediately worked together - without my input, or Alexander's - to bring home those in the Division before anything too drastic happened to them. Yesterday came as no shock... But I'm questioning why Bordeaux is the next home of the French government? I'm just curious. That's all. I think curiosity has gotten better of me in terms of this matter.

Today came as a huge shock. Well... for most of the world, anyway. Paris was occupied by German troops, meanwhile the French Navy - some elements that were based in Toulon - carried out offensive operations against the Italian targets along the Ligurian coast. Interesting move, but the French Navy were advised - on behalf of Regius Obligatus (the King did it for us, since the French Navy could ignore Regius Obligatus all together) - to not do anything harsh which will result in a huge loss for the Navy. They obliged, which brought some relief to Alexander. Meanwhile, there was a total military blockade on the Baltic States by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. It's interesting to see where this will go. I had sent a telegram to the Absconditus Custos branch there to observe and report any important information back to headquarters that might relate to this situation.

With all this, Alexander, Hugo, the rest of the senior leadership team, Winston and I had been discussing what the next possible steps would be based on current events. It resulted in merging the French Navy with the Royal Navy. Alexander argued (with the rest of us agreeing) that the French Navy must be reserved, and shouldn't go to waste. If they were to burn and be destroyed, then what is the point? If there was this fear of the French Navy merging with the German Navy, why not merge them with the Royal Navy? Rereading this paragraph doesn't make any sense to me when it's on paper. It did in my mind prior to writing this down though.

-James