05-05-2020, 05:58 PM
Meeting Room, Council Building, Kerlile
3rd May
The newly-formed Committee on Xiomera sat around the table, waiting for Councillor Hale, who was late. Councillor Pierre was poised on her chair as if it was a throne, attempting to remind the non-Councillors in the room of her position. Pauline watched Councillors Georgiou and Greenwood chatting to each other, the latter giggling slightly at something the former had said, and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. On the other side of the table, Katrine Porter, still Foreign Affairs Secretary, sat, nervous at her company. Next to her, the former Aurora Zichitla, and the only person in the room Pierre trusted, sat silently, waiting.
“Sorry I’m late,” Hale said, rushing through the door. “Amelia would not stop crying,” she explained, taking a seat next to Zichitla.
“Shall we begin?” Pierre stood, trying to make it clear she was in charge – even though, on paper, the four Councillors in the room shared that power.
“We have had a request from Crown Prince Texōccoatl to send a diplomat to Laeral to meet with him. I believe a number of nations have been invited,” Georgiou, who was in charge of liaising with other nations, said.
“Good,” nodded Pierre. “That will make this easier. I trust that either you, Katrine, or someone else can go?”
“I would be happy to make the trip,” Georgiou said, “but I am not sure that I’m the best person for the job. There are people better qualified.”
“Who don’t have the clearance level you have,” Greenwood interrupted. “We would either need to let someone else into this circle, which could be a problem, or we would be unable to communicate fully. If we want to do this with full cooperation, as you have frequently argued for, then we need someone who knows things that we would rather keep to a small circle.”
“True enough,” Georgiou nodded. “I can get the next flight out.”
“Excellent. Now, Letitia, any more word from my friend Mariya and the others?”
“Adelina Sasaki is in command of the interrogators, not Mariya Adema,” sighed Greenwood, shaking her head. “But no, I haven’t been able to get into contact with them. I wouldn’t worry too much at this point, they may just want to keep a low profile.”
“Keep trying,” Pierre commanded. “Hale, anything from the Auroras who remained?”
“They are all with us, and none have been imprisoned as of yet,” Hale replied.
“Good,” nodded Pierre. “Well, on my own end, there’s a former Lauchenoiria-assigned who seems keen to link in with their Climate people in case they try something. Has reason to believe that they might get involved. Former “Resistance” folk. Your friends, Hale.”
“They’ve been trying to contact me,” Hale nodded. “I don’t have the patience for it. One of them believes the conspiracy theory that I’m your hostage. I’ve told them to not bother logging any calls for me from Lauchenoirian numbers that aren’t associated with their government.”
“Well, the Aurora can handle them, if you don’t want to. Of course, her debrief report indicates one of them found out her identity, so they’ll probably just kill her. She wants to go back though, so her life to risk.”
“Oh, Veronica Penners?” Hale perked up. “I read her report. She’ll be fine. Leonie Bennett is one of the few of the remaining people from my group who didn’t go mad.”
“Of course you have a mutual friend,” groaned Pierre. “Fine. Goddess, but if anyone dies in Lauchenoiria it’s on your head, Hale. Right, that’s enough to be getting on with. We’re done here.”
With that, Pierre turned and walked out of the room, rolling her eyes.
*
Lauchenoirian Embassy, Xiomera
4th May 2020 - morning
Ramón Banderas found he was relieved when the order came from Buttercity. They were trying their best to remain impartial and unbiased in a difficult situation, but he would much rather watch it unfold from afar. They had begun packing their bags the previous day, and they would be leaving this evening. He had seen the letter sent by Alvarez to General Xōchhuitl, and he felt it was rather fair, though he was unsure how it would be taken.
*
Alvarez’s Office, Lauchenoiria
4th May - evening
“I’ll speak with Scott and Clavell again later. Hopefully we can come to some kind of agreement, cause I sure as hell won’t work with the Conservatives again after the stunts they pulled during the election,” Alvarez shook her head.
“We would still be short a few people,” Pavía pointed out.
“We’ll be able to have some kind of confidence-and-supply arrangement with either the Left Alliance or the Aelurians,” Alvarez shrugged, clearly not overly worried. “Anyway, the latest on Xiomera?”
“Our people are on the flight home, and we still need to respond to Texōccoatl about the request to send a diplomat to Laeral.”
“I already sent a letter to the Crown Prince,” Alvarez said, bringing up the text on her computer. “We are not getting involved in this.”
*
Climate Alliance Lauchenoiria HQ (aka a rundown building in Usera they squat in), Lauchenoiria
5th May
“We have to get involved in this.”
“I agree,” another protester said. “Manauia Island is one of the last places on the planet which hasn’t been destroyed by the corporations. And this General Xōch… this General,” they continued, unable to pronounce the name, “thinks he can just waltz in and destroy everything.”
“We fought the Chaher regime,” a third piped up. “We can fight them too. We know our government won’t do anything, if we want something done, we need to do it ourselves.”
“What can we do?” Leonie asked. It was her first CAL meeting, and she was finding them a bit intense.
“We can fight!” someone from the back yelled. A chorus of agreement filled the room.
“We can contact the Teyatia, and volunteer to help them,” the first speaker said. “Go there and fight for them, like the Laeralites and others fought for us!”
The chorus of agreement sounded again. Leonie edged herself out of her seat and began walking to the exit. She had come here expecting to plan more demonstrations, or at the most some civil disobedience, but she didn’t particularly want to go off to fight in a war. 2018 had been enough of that.
“Leonie,” said a voice, as she passed through another corridor of the building. She turned, to see a figure she hadn’t expected to see again, standing next to the gardening group who planted things on the building’s roof.
“Veronica? What… how?”
“Shhh…” the Aurora whispered, taking Leonie’s hand and guiding her into another room, which once had been an office, and now contained a destroyed filing cabinet and what looked like half a desk. “I can’t tell you how, but I saw you leaving the meeting. Are you okay?”
“I…” Leonie was at a loss for words. This whole situation was too surreal for her. “I can’t do this, I’m sorry,” she stumbled, trying to leave, but Veronica caught her arm. Leonie gasped, and looked at the woman in fear.
“I won’t hurt you,” Veronica tried to soothe her. “I take it you don’t want to fight in Xiomera?”
“Violence won’t solve the issue they’re trying to solve. A war will be just as devastating to the environment on Manauia Island as development,” Leonie said, conscious of the fact that if Veronica wanted her dead, she would be.
“That may be so, but if something isn’t done, then the damage will be done anyway, and a lot of people in Xiomera will suffer.”
“What do you want, Veronica?” Leonie asked. “Have you come to kidnap me and take me to the Matriarchy? Because if that’s the case, I would rather you just killed me.”
“Leonie…” Veronica looked saddened. “I would never hurt you. I’m here to attempt to liaise between any Lauchenoirians who want to do something about the situation in Xiomera, and the Kerlians.”
“Oh,” Leonie said, pulling her hand away, relieved when Veronica allowed it. As much as she was relieved that Veronica was not here to ruin her life, it hurt just a little that only coincidence had brought the former Aurora to her.
“They are changing,” Veronica promised Leonie. “Kerlile is not what it was in 2018.”
“Yeah, I know,” Leonie muttered, turning away. “I’m not blaming you, or accusing you. I just… I don’t want to get involved in a conflict.”
“I need someone to vouch for me, if I’m gonna do this role.”
“Veronica, if I tell them you’re an Aurora, even a good one, they will lynch you before I even have a chance to explain. Maybe you could beat them all in a fight, but I’d rather that didn’t happen. Trust me, if you want to do this, you’re better sticking with the covert route,” Leonie shrugged.
“We are trying to change, to not do that any longer.”
“Veronica,” Leonie said, turning and looking her in the eyes. “You will be asking for death. Please, please don’t do this. There is a better way. Either join them as a Lauchenoirian and push for them to ally with the Kerlians on this matter, or go back to the Matriarchy and work out another way. I can’t help you, and those are your two best options as I see them. I’m sorry.”
She quickly exited, leaving the Aurora alone in the ruined office. Leonie hurried down some filthy looking stairs and almost jogged off the site and across the road to the bus stop. There, she sat down, held her head in her hands and took a few breaths before yelling a swear word loudly, then repeating it in a whisper. She had been out of her depth since she was 18, getting involved in matters way beyond her experience and with people far more powerful than her. She wouldn’t let it happen again. It only led to pain.
As the bus pulled up and she got on board, she sat down and found her hand straying to her old gunshot wound from when she had been shot at that first protest in Usera. There were scars, too, from the Kerlian prison camp. Getting involved in these situations only ended badly. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t, she wouldn’t.
3rd May
The newly-formed Committee on Xiomera sat around the table, waiting for Councillor Hale, who was late. Councillor Pierre was poised on her chair as if it was a throne, attempting to remind the non-Councillors in the room of her position. Pauline watched Councillors Georgiou and Greenwood chatting to each other, the latter giggling slightly at something the former had said, and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. On the other side of the table, Katrine Porter, still Foreign Affairs Secretary, sat, nervous at her company. Next to her, the former Aurora Zichitla, and the only person in the room Pierre trusted, sat silently, waiting.
“Sorry I’m late,” Hale said, rushing through the door. “Amelia would not stop crying,” she explained, taking a seat next to Zichitla.
“Shall we begin?” Pierre stood, trying to make it clear she was in charge – even though, on paper, the four Councillors in the room shared that power.
“We have had a request from Crown Prince Texōccoatl to send a diplomat to Laeral to meet with him. I believe a number of nations have been invited,” Georgiou, who was in charge of liaising with other nations, said.
“Good,” nodded Pierre. “That will make this easier. I trust that either you, Katrine, or someone else can go?”
“I would be happy to make the trip,” Georgiou said, “but I am not sure that I’m the best person for the job. There are people better qualified.”
“Who don’t have the clearance level you have,” Greenwood interrupted. “We would either need to let someone else into this circle, which could be a problem, or we would be unable to communicate fully. If we want to do this with full cooperation, as you have frequently argued for, then we need someone who knows things that we would rather keep to a small circle.”
“True enough,” Georgiou nodded. “I can get the next flight out.”
“Excellent. Now, Letitia, any more word from my friend Mariya and the others?”
“Adelina Sasaki is in command of the interrogators, not Mariya Adema,” sighed Greenwood, shaking her head. “But no, I haven’t been able to get into contact with them. I wouldn’t worry too much at this point, they may just want to keep a low profile.”
“Keep trying,” Pierre commanded. “Hale, anything from the Auroras who remained?”
“They are all with us, and none have been imprisoned as of yet,” Hale replied.
“Good,” nodded Pierre. “Well, on my own end, there’s a former Lauchenoiria-assigned who seems keen to link in with their Climate people in case they try something. Has reason to believe that they might get involved. Former “Resistance” folk. Your friends, Hale.”
“They’ve been trying to contact me,” Hale nodded. “I don’t have the patience for it. One of them believes the conspiracy theory that I’m your hostage. I’ve told them to not bother logging any calls for me from Lauchenoirian numbers that aren’t associated with their government.”
“Well, the Aurora can handle them, if you don’t want to. Of course, her debrief report indicates one of them found out her identity, so they’ll probably just kill her. She wants to go back though, so her life to risk.”
“Oh, Veronica Penners?” Hale perked up. “I read her report. She’ll be fine. Leonie Bennett is one of the few of the remaining people from my group who didn’t go mad.”
“Of course you have a mutual friend,” groaned Pierre. “Fine. Goddess, but if anyone dies in Lauchenoiria it’s on your head, Hale. Right, that’s enough to be getting on with. We’re done here.”
With that, Pierre turned and walked out of the room, rolling her eyes.
*
Lauchenoirian Embassy, Xiomera
4th May 2020 - morning
Ramón Banderas found he was relieved when the order came from Buttercity. They were trying their best to remain impartial and unbiased in a difficult situation, but he would much rather watch it unfold from afar. They had begun packing their bags the previous day, and they would be leaving this evening. He had seen the letter sent by Alvarez to General Xōchhuitl, and he felt it was rather fair, though he was unsure how it would be taken.
Quote:To General Xōchhuitl,
I am writing on behalf of the government of Lauchenoiria addressing your concerns over our diplomatic personnel in Xiomera. I have instructed the staff at the embassy to return to Lauchenoiria, at least in the interim. Due to the volatility of the situation, we are concerned that any conflict could jeopardise the safety of our personnel in Xiomera, and thus are taking the precautionary step to evacuate them.
Once the situation is stabilised, we will revisit the question of returning diplomats to Xiomera, and will be happy to discuss such an occurrence with the Xiomeran government at that time. Due to our own conflict in 2018, our citizens are naturally hesitant to remain before the situation is stable.
We hope this is satisfactory, and intend for our embassy personnel to depart Xiomera by the evening of Monday 4th May.
Signed, Josephine Alvarez, Prime Minister of Lauchenoiria.
*
Alvarez’s Office, Lauchenoiria
4th May - evening
“I’ll speak with Scott and Clavell again later. Hopefully we can come to some kind of agreement, cause I sure as hell won’t work with the Conservatives again after the stunts they pulled during the election,” Alvarez shook her head.
“We would still be short a few people,” Pavía pointed out.
“We’ll be able to have some kind of confidence-and-supply arrangement with either the Left Alliance or the Aelurians,” Alvarez shrugged, clearly not overly worried. “Anyway, the latest on Xiomera?”
“Our people are on the flight home, and we still need to respond to Texōccoatl about the request to send a diplomat to Laeral.”
“I already sent a letter to the Crown Prince,” Alvarez said, bringing up the text on her computer. “We are not getting involved in this.”
Quote:To Crown Prince Texōccoatl,
Thank you for the invitation to send a representative discuss the situation in Xiomera with you in Laeral. However, as you may know our parliament is on recess due to the recent elections, and we are yet to form a new coalition government.
As a result, we do not have consent from parliament to involve ourselves in this situation, and thus we cannot lawfully involve ourselves in the conflict at this time. In the interests of remaining neutral due to this, we cannot send a diplomat at this time.
Signed, Josephine Alvarez, Prime Minister of Lauchenoiria
*
Climate Alliance Lauchenoiria HQ (aka a rundown building in Usera they squat in), Lauchenoiria
5th May
“We have to get involved in this.”
“I agree,” another protester said. “Manauia Island is one of the last places on the planet which hasn’t been destroyed by the corporations. And this General Xōch… this General,” they continued, unable to pronounce the name, “thinks he can just waltz in and destroy everything.”
“We fought the Chaher regime,” a third piped up. “We can fight them too. We know our government won’t do anything, if we want something done, we need to do it ourselves.”
“What can we do?” Leonie asked. It was her first CAL meeting, and she was finding them a bit intense.
“We can fight!” someone from the back yelled. A chorus of agreement filled the room.
“We can contact the Teyatia, and volunteer to help them,” the first speaker said. “Go there and fight for them, like the Laeralites and others fought for us!”
The chorus of agreement sounded again. Leonie edged herself out of her seat and began walking to the exit. She had come here expecting to plan more demonstrations, or at the most some civil disobedience, but she didn’t particularly want to go off to fight in a war. 2018 had been enough of that.
“Leonie,” said a voice, as she passed through another corridor of the building. She turned, to see a figure she hadn’t expected to see again, standing next to the gardening group who planted things on the building’s roof.
“Veronica? What… how?”
“Shhh…” the Aurora whispered, taking Leonie’s hand and guiding her into another room, which once had been an office, and now contained a destroyed filing cabinet and what looked like half a desk. “I can’t tell you how, but I saw you leaving the meeting. Are you okay?”
“I…” Leonie was at a loss for words. This whole situation was too surreal for her. “I can’t do this, I’m sorry,” she stumbled, trying to leave, but Veronica caught her arm. Leonie gasped, and looked at the woman in fear.
“I won’t hurt you,” Veronica tried to soothe her. “I take it you don’t want to fight in Xiomera?”
“Violence won’t solve the issue they’re trying to solve. A war will be just as devastating to the environment on Manauia Island as development,” Leonie said, conscious of the fact that if Veronica wanted her dead, she would be.
“That may be so, but if something isn’t done, then the damage will be done anyway, and a lot of people in Xiomera will suffer.”
“What do you want, Veronica?” Leonie asked. “Have you come to kidnap me and take me to the Matriarchy? Because if that’s the case, I would rather you just killed me.”
“Leonie…” Veronica looked saddened. “I would never hurt you. I’m here to attempt to liaise between any Lauchenoirians who want to do something about the situation in Xiomera, and the Kerlians.”
“Oh,” Leonie said, pulling her hand away, relieved when Veronica allowed it. As much as she was relieved that Veronica was not here to ruin her life, it hurt just a little that only coincidence had brought the former Aurora to her.
“They are changing,” Veronica promised Leonie. “Kerlile is not what it was in 2018.”
“Yeah, I know,” Leonie muttered, turning away. “I’m not blaming you, or accusing you. I just… I don’t want to get involved in a conflict.”
“I need someone to vouch for me, if I’m gonna do this role.”
“Veronica, if I tell them you’re an Aurora, even a good one, they will lynch you before I even have a chance to explain. Maybe you could beat them all in a fight, but I’d rather that didn’t happen. Trust me, if you want to do this, you’re better sticking with the covert route,” Leonie shrugged.
“We are trying to change, to not do that any longer.”
“Veronica,” Leonie said, turning and looking her in the eyes. “You will be asking for death. Please, please don’t do this. There is a better way. Either join them as a Lauchenoirian and push for them to ally with the Kerlians on this matter, or go back to the Matriarchy and work out another way. I can’t help you, and those are your two best options as I see them. I’m sorry.”
She quickly exited, leaving the Aurora alone in the ruined office. Leonie hurried down some filthy looking stairs and almost jogged off the site and across the road to the bus stop. There, she sat down, held her head in her hands and took a few breaths before yelling a swear word loudly, then repeating it in a whisper. She had been out of her depth since she was 18, getting involved in matters way beyond her experience and with people far more powerful than her. She wouldn’t let it happen again. It only led to pain.
As the bus pulled up and she got on board, she sat down and found her hand straying to her old gunshot wound from when she had been shot at that first protest in Usera. There were scars, too, from the Kerlian prison camp. Getting involved in these situations only ended badly. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t, she wouldn’t.
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax