Author's Note: I shouldn't be posting this since I still have two other wips that I haven't posted anything on in a while but I just really really want to okay, we green?
And also aswelland if you've seen the movie, you don't need a summary. If you've seen the show, you don't need a summary. If you aren't in either of those categories, I just don't know what to tell you, bromandude.
President Allison Beaumont took her seat behind the desk in the center of the Comm Room, keeping her movements as crisp and economic as the clothing of her station. She clasped her hands together in front of her. the thick cuffs of her dark grey (almost blue) uniform coat were inches away from the heel of her hands which kept her hands free to do so unhindered and in comfort. It also gave her wrists a deceptively delicate appearance, which she enjoyed. She looked good and it threw her opponents off to find that she was more than her pretty face.
Under her uniform coat she wore a wine-red waistcoat with six large, brassy buttons in two columns down the front from her bust to below her navel. beneath the shallow vee of the waistcoat, a thin, plain, black shirt hugged her torso up to the base of her her left shoulder, her daily assistant was dressed similarly in the same colors at the same layers, only they wore a black turtleneck, a red scoop-neck tee, and their grey jacket was a crop. And since the overcoats and undershirts were mandatory, and there were six basic colors, they just assigned colors to days of the week to make sure she and her staff matched. Wednesday was their rotation day where the pattern started grey or silver, then brown, then white and repeat.
Three of her Generals lined up on her left side facing her, all wearing exactly the same General's Uniform, only their bars and medals differentiated them. To her right were her head communications officers, all wearing their formless robin's-egg blue tunics and white pants. Behind both groups, at the very back of the room, on three rows of two sets of benches, religious leaders from the area were seated.
Allison's assistant informed her that another of her generals would be calling within thirty seconds.
"Hello, Madam President," a disembodied voice filled the room.
"General, I need facts and I need them quick. I address the Supreme Council in ten minutes," Allison said, getting ahead of any possible niceties.
"Okay, Madam president." The voice changed track immediately, no longer primly respectful. "We have yet to receive analyses from the probes we've sent out. We're doing thermonucleatic imaging as we speak. Visuals show nothing concrete, something more like a miniature nebula full of formless, possibly-burning gases. All we have at this time is that whatever it is, it's growing."
"That's just great," Allison muttered and sighed. "So you have nothing."
"Nothing yet, but I suggest we shoot first and ask questions later. It's on the edge of Federated Territory and has yet to even try to communicate. It's unwanted and uninvited."
"Thank you for your input, but I have an order, and that order is that you will do nothing until we have more information, hopefully from those probes you sent out," Allison stated firmly, trying not to give away the level of exasperation she felt whenever she had to deal with action-hungry military officials.
"I have some information you might want to consider," a man's voice said from the back of the room.
Allison looked up and saw an asian-descended man with his hair slicked back and wearing a heavy-looking, floor-length charcoal robe with a large hood pushed back where it draped off his shoulders. He had it buttoned in the front so the only other visible bit of clothing was the high collar of his grey shirt underneath.
"Priest Benji Nelissen, expert in astro-phenomena and metaphysical sciences," an almost robotic voice introduced over the speakers.
"Keep talking," Allison told him and waved him closer once with one hand.
The priest strolled closer, revealing that behind him there was a kid of about sixteen – maybe eighteen, he was extremely baby-faced – wearing similar garb. His robe was more of a blazer that was shorter in the front and longer in the back, hooded, and buttoned only once near the middle to reveal a blue sweater underneath. He had no high-collared shirt to mark him as a priest, so maybe he was training.
"Imagine if you will a living embodiment of evil," the priest said almost casually. "You can't identify it because once you think you have, it changes. It does not want to be known. The only thing you can know is that wherever it goes, death follows. Light snuffs out. Heat freezes. Life ceases to exist."
Allison could feel herself frowning as the priest explained but when one of her generals opened his mouth, it deepened into a scowl.
"Then that's all the more reason to shoot it first," General Luther Martin said and Allison held up her hand for him to stay quiet, but the priest was already speaking again anyway.
"Evil begets evil. Shooting at it will only give it strength. Soon it will weaponize, and that's why I'm here."
Someone handed General Martin a slip of flimsy and he opened his mouth.
"It's increased its mass by seventeen percent since the initial reading at the beginning of this call," he said. Which worried Allison.
"Is this a theory, Father, or do you have something to back this up with? Because I really don't have time for this," Allison told him curtly.
"Time is of no importance. Only life is important," the priest rebutted with. Which was redundant in Allison's opinion, considering the topic of conversation.
She stared down the priest for a beat.
"General Staedert, fire once when ready. Just the once. I want to know what happens," she ordered and received an affirmative from the general on the line.
And then one of the communications officers turned to her.
"Imaging reports show it forming into a planet shape with a solid surface. All viewable activity has halted. It must be anticipating the attack. Which denotes intelligence of some kind."
"Terrible intelligence. Unreasonable, unswayable, anticipatory, and damn near omniscient," the priest said, unbearably young face solemn.
Allison truly met his dark gaze and faltered.
"General, wait. Disen—"
"We are past that point, Madam President," Staedert interrupted her.
"Then tell me what happened!" She snapped and glanced over at Luther, who was turning to look over the shoulder of an attendant at one of the comm screens. "Staedert!"
The priest dropped his head and shook it sadly just before Luther spun around, face incredulous and confused.
"The planet increased in size by two-hundred percent!"
"Again!" They heard Steadert order.
"No! Belay that! Whoever's listening, do not fire again!" Allison shouted, finding herself on her feet and turning her head toward the speaker on her desktop. "Staedert, retreat!"
There was no response.
"The planet is getting closer to the fleetships," a quiet comm-tech informed the room.
"Staedert, you will retreat! That is an order! Get out of there!"
No response.
"Staedert! Re—"
They barely caught a whispered, "God."
The line went completely silent and the click of an ended communication echoed in the silent room.
"Are you willing to take me seriously now?" The priest said and Allison looked at him, really. Their eyes met.
'Preservation,' she thought. 'He meant preservation.'
"It will come no matter what," the priest said, quiet and assured, clasping his hands behind him within the large sleeves of his robe. "We can only prepare to face it."
AN: No but seriously. This has been in my head for ages now. Since I watched Fifth Element for the hundredth time after having seen TUA. I just, couldn't resist. Just you wait. It's gon be fun
Anyway, I did a bunch of research on what to call these people without their adopted last names so I give to you:
- President Allison Beaumont which is just French for "beautiful mountain"
- General Luther Martin partly, the joke here is that "Luther" and "Martin" are surnames derived from a given name. And also there was that monk Martin Luther and I just thought it would be funny for Luther - the least back-talking Hargreeves sibling - to have an opposite homage to that. Also-also, Luther basically means "people's army" and Martin is from the Roman God "Mars" (god of war).
- Father Benji Nelissen - one, fuck naming him benjamin. That's too easy. It's just Benji. Secondeth, Nelissen basically means "son of cornelius" so nice homage to Vito there.
Anyway, I have a bit of this already typed but I am fickle and flighty and have the attention-span of a gnat and the memory of a goldfish
I'll probably post the next chapter when I next need validation in my life lol
Validate me hah!