ME: A fanfic from the perspective of Romulus Thread.
My name is Romulus Thread. I am fifty-nine years old and was born in the year of 15 ADD (After Dark Days) along with my twin brother, Remus. We are both Head Peacekeepers.
Along with a birthday, myself and my brother both share unfortunate origins. Shortly after the birth of our younger sister two years following our own births, our "mother" was arrested for soliciting an off-duty Peacekeeper. Her prostitution was to support her morphling addiction; not the "hooker with a heart of gold" vapid Capitolites are so fond of.
As a result of being the children of a whore, my siblings and I were sent to an orphanage, officially a community home. Said home was officially located in Sub-District Zero; unofficially, the town that contained the orphanage I grew up was known by everyone from the humblest stonecutter to the proudest Victor as District Two's Central City.
Throughout my life my brother and I were always fascinated by the tales of the Dark Days in History class, of the stories of Peacekeepers and other Loyalists who, without hesitation, sacrificed their lives so others could live.
Our schooling made us realize that to emulate these heroes was the highest form of honor. So on our eighth birthday, we decided we would attend the Warrior Academy and join the Peacekeeping Force.
Two years later, we became Warrior Cadets after passing the entrance exams. On our sixteenth birthday in 31 ADD, with the permission of the community home's master (all recruits under 18 have to have a parent or guardian sign a release form), we enlisted.
I graduated first in our class from boot camp, with Remus coming in a close second. We were then sent to OCS for our high scores and leadership skills; remarkably enough, Remus came first while I narrowly lost this time. He became an aide to the Head Peacekeeper of our District, while I was made an assistant platoon commander in the Peacemaking Brigade.
When I was first assigned to the Brigade, I was a mere Second Lieutenant. Now I have the two stars of a Major General on each of my shoulders; my brother Remus, now Head Peacekeeper of District Two, is a Major General as well. To think we were once both abandoned illegitimates.
And, as a result, I answer the questions, requests and video calls from the President. Such as this message:
FROM: President Coriolanus Snow
TO: Head Peacekeeper (Major General) Romulus Thread, Commanding Officer (CO), Peacemaking Brigade
Subject: District 11
1. District 11 is now rioting because of the death of their female Tribute, Rue.
2. Mobilize your brigade and deploy to District 11 immediately.
3. You have my authorization to restore order by any means necessary; those farmhands breed like rabbits anyway.
So those unruly farmers are rioting so badly myself and my elite Peacemakers need to deal with them? I wonder if any of those tough eighteen-year old girls throwing rocks at Boys and Girls in White or destroying their own food supplies was brave enough to volunteer for the pre-teen whose death they're angered by; useless cowards, I hope they all die from Peacekeeper bullets or worse.
It is not long before my troops are headed to the transport train and hovercrafts; the latter for their speed, the former for it's sheer capacity to hold both passengers and freight. In fact, one troop transport train can carry my Peacemaking Regiment in addition to their supplies and vehicles while never touching the ground outside of stops due to magnetic levitation; because of amazing technology like this, myself and my command are strategically mobile enough to go where we need to be.
The rabble shall learn their place once again and harvest their crops obediently, be said crops cotton to be sent to District Eight for the shirts they wear or corn so the orphans of District Two have a proper diet.
ME: A/N: Updated as of 1/25/15; the regiment-sized Maglev train idea comes from ForFutureReference and his fanfic Contributions; check his work out, and thanks for the idea, Future.