Imperial Palace

"Its a load of short sighted, economically destitute drunkards, I say. One moment Corustaria promotes multiculturalism, the next its up in arms over a handful of international agreements. Do they not realise Corustaria is a fucking international agreement?" General Bullworth said as he pointed to the map, running his hands along it "Maybe the lazy sods should take the time to vote, it might help them." He barked, before turning to the Empress "Majesty, give me the word and the army shall hunt them all down and hang them like the traitors they are!" The Royal Spymaster intervened quickly
"No, that would Martyr them. What we need is spies in their ranks. This is a populist movement, such movements are usually held together by the Charisma of their leaders. Cut off the head, and its body shall die. And if that doesn't kill the movement? Then my spies shall take control! Can two separate minds inhabit a body? No, or they will pull in different directions until it stumbles into a ditch and breaks its neck!" The Spymaster declared "Hopefully this will be isolated, I don't see how the idea will spread across the isles so quickly it cannot be contained. Once we find the leaders, we capture them and dispose of them in silence. Haha, with some luck their moral will be crippled from the belief their leaders fled!"
The Empress nodded slowly, turning her head to the prime minister, who cleared his throat before speaking
"Your majesty, while Bullworth would certainly deal with it quickly, I would not be hasty to turn our guns on our own people. Its both horrific and a waste. Instead, let the spies infiltrate their organisations, and then have the Watch snatch away their leaders in the dead of the night. The little rebels won't know what hit them" The Prime Minister gave a grim smile as he looked to the map again
"Nonsense! They're probably just more of those idiots from Saxley, we crushed them once and we'll..." But Bullworth was cut off by the Empress
"And we'll deal with it how myself and the prime minister, General. Spymaster, set your agents to it at once, Prime Minister ensure news of this does not spread outside the afflicted parts, and certainly not out of the isles. Have the criers inform towns and villages that we are dealing with it and have the Watch on alert. You are to have their villages rebuilt and have the General station soldiers to protect them. Compensate everyone from the villages and send enough food to see them through the year." She paused "General, you'll help the Watch when the time comes, for now send more men to defend the affected areas, and guard the rebuilding villages."
And so it was, the spies were set out to infiltrate this populist movement and both determine size and location. Truth be told, they weren't entirely unprepared: Saxley had rebelled just a century ago, but since then Saxley had became much quieter. Perhaps, some thought, too quite. They had always been watchful and ready to deal with another Saxley insurrection, even after all these years. This was essentially the same thing, just a different group rebelling. Regardless, the threat wasn't considered major. Populist movements came and went in any nation, though it was rare for them to go to the extremes of burning villages. And stupid too, if truth be told. Burning villages was hardly likely to win them support; Quite the opposite. If they had ever had any hope of succeeding, it certainly wasn't through burning villages. It was pretty literally burning ones supporters. No, she had no doubt its support would fade before long. The agenda was odd though, a weak point at best and mute at worst. Corustaria only existed because of political maneuvering and countries moving closer together, so such an idea had barely been considered before in this context. This was a cultural phenomenon, one that certainly shouldn't exist, and yet here it was. Intriguing to philosophers... And insane to pretty much anyone with a even a cursory understanding of how the Empire had been formed. How this thing had gained any popular support was simply beyond her. 
No matter. Once word got out about the aid to the affected villagers, and word got out about these terrorists burning homes and destroying crops, she would guess it would take a blow. And once the Spymasters agents named their leaders and the Watch took them, the movement would take another, then they would seize control of its reigns if it didn't collapse and force it to collapse. Once the support was gone, once the leadership was crushed and once the rebellion was torn apart by the spies tricks, then this would just be another footnote.

Meanwhile, the navy at home has been ordered to watch out for said fabled ship, and should it be found Admiral Thorn has decided that it will be investigated and, if hostile, sunk or captured.