Chapter 6
As Cid was engaging in one fight, Shinra executives were analyzing another.
"So this pilot says that there were three fighters." Said Heidegger as he read the report.
"That's right." Confirmed Vice President Rotterdam.
Rotterdam had grown tired of his job when he learned that whenever the president's son Rufus was ready to step up that he would be without a job. So he sat through these grueling board meetings and just nodded his head when he was addressed.
"And this pilot beat three fighters in one of our old freighters?" asked Scarlet.
"That's what the report says…" Rotterdam said impatiently.
"Palmer do you know anything about this pilot?" asked President Shinra.
"What was his name again."
"Highwind, Cid Highwind." Said Heidegger absentmindedly, not bothering to look up from the report he was so enthralled in.
"No, I have never heard of him. Although I would like to meet this Mr. Highwind, sounds like quite a pilot." Said Palmer, Head of Space and Aeronautics.
"He doesn't sound that tough." Said young Rufus Shinra where he was slumped sullenly in his chair next to his father's.
The boy was only 13 years old yet the president insisted on having him at the meetings, to give him some "exposure". Everyone else thought he was just a big pain in the ass.
"I don't see why this is all so important enough to call me away from my work." Said Hojo from behind his strands of dark hair.
"Because Professor we as the executives of Shinra must all come together to make a decision." Said President Shinra.
Bullshit. We all know that the president is the one who makes the decisions here, Rotterdam thought to himself.
"Sir, it says here that this pilot Highwind reported Wutai markings on the ships." Said Heidegger.
"But if the ships were from Wutai then that means…" Reeve, Head of Urban Development thought out loud.
Reeve was the newest member of the Shinra high executives.
"That is a pure act of war." Scarlet gasped, still trying to grasp it all.
"Look before we go issuing war and pointing fingers here let's think about this. We have a report from one pilot that he thinks he saw Wutai markings. Is that really a good enough source?" Rotterdam said hotly.
"I say we kick their ass!" yelled Rufus.
That evoked a small snort of laughter from both Reeve and Rotterdam.
"Getting back to the point." Said an irritated Heidegger as he glared at Rufus.
"It says here in the report that there was another person at the village. Maybe this boy would know something." Heidegger said.
"Send in Hector Winters." Said the President to his secretary via intercom.
"I must protest! Winters is not in a condition to be released yet. He may be contaminated!" said Hojo urgently.
"That is a chance I will take professor." Said the President authoritatively.
Just then Winters walked in, escorted by one of the new Turks who simply went by the name "Rude".
Winters eyed everyone suspiciously, especially Rufus.
"You are dismissed." The President said coolly to Rude.
Once Rude was gone the president began.
"Now, do you recall seeing three fighters at Lircos?" he asked Winters.
"Yeah I saw 'em. Plenty of times I saw them. They were the bastards who killed my family, my whole village." He said heatedly.
Rufus straightened up in his chair and listened with interest.
"Do you recall the appearance of these fighters?" asked the president.
The boy went on to describe the fighters as he remembered.
"Do you recall any special markings on these fighters?"
Before the boy could answer, a cool, controlled voice spoke out from the other end of the table. He had not spoken yet at the meeting.
"Do stop for a moment." He said as he brushed back his silver hair.
"Now Mr. Winters, did you or did you not see Wutaian markings on the fighters in question? They look like this." He said calmly as he drew the Wutaian mark on a scrap of paper and held it up.
The boy looked at it for a moment and then nodded his head.
"Yes the markings looked like that." He said.
"Thank you. Now it seems that we have a consensus. Two people have confirmed that these fighters had Wutaian markings. I'd say that it now qualifies as a proven fact." The man said coolly, his green eyes watching everyone else.
The other executives shifted nervously in their chairs.
"You are dismissed Mr. Winters." Said the silver haired man.
Once the boy had left, President Shinra spoke.
"Thank you General Sephiroth, for getting to the bottom of things. Now that we have confirmed that those were Wutaian fighters we must make a decision." He said, eyeing the other executives.
"But how do we know that those were real Wutaian fighters?" asked young Reeve, looking a bit bewildered.
"Well, who else would have Wutai markings on their fighters?" Scarlet asked acidly.
"I think that there is only one thing to do." Said Heidegger with a sense of purpose in his voice.
"And what is that?" asked Rotterdam, dreading the answer.
"War."
"War!? Are you crazy? We can't declare war on Wutai!" yelled Reeve in the heat of the moment.
"And why not?" said the president glaring at the young executive.
Reeve was silent.
"Sir, I agree with Mr. Reeve, that this is not a possibility we should be considering." Said Hojo, with a hint of fright in his voice.
"We do have the firepower and the resources…" said Scarlet to no one in particular.
"We must not forget that we have good relations with Wutai. Do we really want to break those?" said Rotterdam, trying to convince the others at the table.
"They were the ones who broke the relations with us, it is not our fault. We are the victims here." Said Heidegger.
"Let's blow 'em all up!" yelled Rufus.
"Our air force is definitely up to the challenge. I know that our pilots will support us." Said Palmer excitedly.
All eyes now turned to General Sephiroth.
"Our military is up to the task, and if we entered a war, we would emerge the victors. Yet I do not think it is wise to declare open warfare on another government. We must also consider the possibility of other groups allying with Wutai, which is very probable. So my army is behind you if the decision is made to go to war, and we will defeat Wutai." Sephiroth finished.
"Thank you general, now I believe we should vote to make this final." The President said.
Rufus was getting very anxious at this point.
"Can I vote?" he asked eagerly.
Rotterdam was about to silence the boy with a firm "no!", but President Shinra spoke first and he held his tongue.
"Yes Rufus you may vote." Said his father, admiring the boy's wish to participate in important matters. When in fact all the boy really wished to accomplish was the blowing up of all the Wutaians.
"All in favor raise their hands." Said the VP, already knowing what the outcome would be.
Everyone but Reeve, Hojo and Rotterdam raised their hands. Sephiroth didn't vote either way.
"Gentlemen, why is it that you do not support us?" asked the president, eager to make them sweat under his glare.
"Sir I fear for the safety of the people. What if Midgar is attacked? All of our years of work developing this city would be lost." Said Reeve urgently.
"Our military can adequately protect Midgar." Said the president, although he had no idea if that was true or not.
"I would not assume that our military can be that widespread." Said Sephiroth, embarrassing the president somewhat.
The president was silent.
"Sir, I do not think war is an appropriate play at this time. The Wutaians have a strong army." Said Hojo, now caught up in the discussion.
"General Sephiroth says we are stronger." Said the President as he looked in Sephiroth's direction.
Sephiroth nodded in affirmation.
"But we have had peaceful relations with Wutai for over forty years. Do you really think that now is the time to break those? And we must also consider the possibility of other governments allying with Wutai as General Sephiroth pointed out." Said Rotterdam, trying to reason with the fools around him.
"Well, I do not see any of your concerns as anything to worry about. We shall carry on as the vote has decided." Said the president, giving a malicious grin to the trio of non-war believers.
"Sir, when shall we make the announcement?" asked Scarlet.
"In a few days, when we are prepared. And also we shall tell the press nothing of the incidents at Lircos village at this time." The president ordered.
"I shall ready our air force immediately." Said Palmer anxiously.
"No. Your pilots can be ready for combat whenever called I'm sure." Said the President, spoiling Palmer's moment.
"Yes sir." Said Palmer as the smile disappeared from his face.
"General Sephiroth, I trust that your troops can be battle ready soon?" asked Heidegger.
"Yes after this meeting I will issue an order to begin flying troops to the appropriate continent." Said Sephiroth, glaring at Heidegger just enough to make him squirm.
"Shall you wish the Turks to participate in this?" asked Scarlet, hoping to be able to demonstrate the power of the Turks.
"We shall see as things move along. Now if there are no further questions then this meeting is adjourned." The president announced.
Everyone stood and Rufus began smiling gleefully.
"There's a war, there's a war. And we're gonna blow 'em all up." He sang.
As the executives left Reeve moved towards Rotterdam.
"This is pure lunacy." Said Reeve quietly.
"I agree. Yet this all seems to perfectly timed." Said the VP as they walked down the hall.
"What are you saying?" asked Reeve intently.
"I'm not quite sure yet. But I plan to find out." Said Rotterdam as he pushed the button for the elevator.
"Shinra is going to get us all killed." Said Reeve angrily.
"Maybe so. But if that is our fate then I shall not die having accomplished nothing in this place."
"I'm with you on that."
Authors note- Whew, that was a long one. Thanks Anya and Destiny for helpin me with these characters and how they act and stuff (yes strangely enough two of my friends hate each other) I'm not quite sure how well I wrote the execs but I got the point across, as Rufus said, "there's a war, there's a war," and so this fic will probly drag out fairly long, but please stick with it and r&r.
