Chapter 20
A sharp knock interrupted the President's thoughts. He sat forward in his chair and swivelled to face the door of his office.
"Enter." He barked, a little unhappy that his train of thought had been derailed. He wouldn't take it out on his assistant, no, he'd learned that it was pointless to anger those closest to you without reason. He could be strict when the need for it was there, but otherwise he generally preferred to remain calm. The metallic door slid open, and his young assistant stepped inside. The boy was barely eighteen, and always had a nervous look about him. His hair was often scruffy and uncombed, his clothes standard ALIEN uniform. His eyes darted about the President's office, never making eye contact with Rufus.
"Well, what is it?" Rufus snapped, resting his elbows on the table and looking at the young man uninterestedly.
"Oh! Y-Yes, sir." The young man bowed slightly and looked at some of the papers in his hands. "The Turks report has arrived."
"Oh, I see." Rufus became slightly more interested. "How are they doing?"
"The report says that they are closing in on the suspected rebels and are confident of capturing them within the next few days."
"Excellent news." Rufus brushed his hair back and stretched. "Oh, that reminds me. Do we have any news of that other man, the silver-haired one, who also entered Midgcar after killing two of our guards?"
"No, sir." The boy said quietly, standing straight. "We have doubled the guards at the outposts as requested, but as of yet there have been no other sightings of this man in any sector above or below the plate."
"Ah…" Rufus turned his chair around so he was looking out of the large window at the back of his office. The sun was setting, and had practically disappeared below the horizon, casting a dark yellow glow upon the grasslands surrounding Midgcar. Sometimes Rufus felt a little sorry for the people living in the slums, they never got to see the sun, nor may they ever. "That's not good. He's still in our city somewhere, then. He and those rebels are a threat."
"With all due respect sir, they are part of a minority. I don't think they're anything to worry about." The young man said this slowly, with no confidence in his voice. Rufus did not turn to face him, but a small smile was on his face. He was a little surprised his young assistant had offered an opinion. Maybe there was hope for him yet.
"That's where you're wrong." Rufus stood, moving to the window and gazing at the horizon. "Whilst it would appear these nuisances are not a threat to our mighty empire, they could in fact be a great problem. The people did not elect us to control them, because it was not their choice they are controlled purely by fear. This is a fine way of controlling the minds of the population, until bugs begin to infest your system. When the largest city in the world is invaded by a few rebels from a small colony up north and a mystery man from God-knows-where with no trouble at all, what message does that send? I'll tell you… it tells the people that we are not as strong as they think. It plants a seed of rebellion and distrust inside them, it allows them to believe that perhaps they can escape the system, perhaps they can rise up and take us down. If we are not seen to act quickly to snuff out these rogue flames, a worldwide blaze could be started. We could face a global rebellion, one which would seal our fate and leave us no hope of gaining back power. Once power is lost, it's twice as hard to regain. Yes, we're strong, we're capable of ruling the world… but everybody has to believe this. I hope you understand… these rebels are not something we can just forget about. We will crush them." Rufus turned to his assistant with a smug grin on his face. The young assistant mumbled a few words of agreement and apology, his eyes diverted from the stare of his leader.
"You may leave." Said Rufus, motioning to the door.
"Yes, sir!" The assistant bowed again and shuffled out of the room, gulping as the door to the office closed
"Don't let me down, Tseng… I'll have your head if you fail me." Rufus said to himself quietly, laughing a little before sitting down and returning back to his thoughts. He had a ton of paperwork to do, but that could wait. If things weren't thought over carefully, he could find himself with nothing but disaster in front of him… and he'd worked far too hard to let everything fall apart now. He would not be undone by anyone, from rogue colonists to the mighty Sephiroth himself. Rufus found himself wondering what his father would do.