-X- Introduction -X-
- Desolate Gail: Redux
- Started on: 5-17-2004 / Posted on-: 4-18-2005 / Checked on: Not Applicable
- By: Zeronova
- Chapter 44: A wall of politics

- Text: Third person, Narration
- Text: First person, Thoughts
- Text: Interjection, the Narrator

-X- End Introduction -X-

"...there is no conspiracy against you. We came here out of desperation, and out of desperation, we made a decision that cost the lives of seven Troy dwellers, and to that, we apologize, but we cannot take back what has been done, nor can you stand by angrily. We--" Gestahl stopped as soon as he felt the presence of a hand on his shoulder, looking to the side to see Kiske, nodding in affirmation. He stepped back, closing his mouth permanently, and let Ky stand in front.

After the meeting at Zimmerman's, a few soldiers of his told him where to go, following the directions, he found a small building that was unmistakably his destination. Standing out among the camouflaged dilapidation and dull, lower-troy sepia tone that pervaded the entire architecture and people, it was made of metals, all types welded together or nailed to the sides, making the shiny building like an edifice among the other ones that seemed to shirk from the small amount of light the lower city received. On top of the building, in an equally amalgamated font of metals, read Neo-Troy Information Agency. He walked in, finding many of his soldiers standing around, pushing through while getting saluted, to where they all silently pointed or nodded. At the far back, a few hallways trough, he finally found Jaygus as he turned the corner, who led him to the rest of the soldiers.

"I do not know what my colleague here has already told to you, so I'll start from the beginning." he said, looking in front of him, then back to Gestahl and Jaygus. He saw mainly darkness, no wall at the back of the room, only a small light held up by a wire and a domed light bulb inside, grime covering it by years, the bodies shown in dark suits against the yellow light, not showing their concealed faces and voices as deathly as those of the U.N. tribunal he had in Geneva.

"After the Parisian event, which you undoubtedly know about, the Seikishidsn staged an assault on Lyon, where the Gear threat was based out of. We took back control, and peace was maintained for a good few weeks, until they attacked back, and drove us out. We left many there that we couldn't transport, and that we simply couldn't fit. Your MTs here were direct copies of the U.N.'s, so you know they're supposed to hold two hundred, tops. We were pushing four-fifty each MT, maybe more. As we fled, the Gears followed, but they're behind us by...ten hours now. I apologize for the deaths of your citizens, but right now, there's no time for mourning. We requested asylum here, you denied, so we had to get in."

"By destroying our defense meant to keep you and the Gears out? Sounds like U.N. crap to me."

"This is for survival, not politics." Ky spat angrily at the icy cold voices that spoke without care or dignity, only cold calculations. "But, the fact now stands that you need me as much as I need you. Because of what I did, those Gears can get into Troy and destroy it now, so you help me defend your home, and we'll both get out of this alive. You give me command of your soldiers, your resources, and I promise Troy will not fall."

"We will never entrust our safety to an outsider. You submit to our rule."

"Not while I serve God." Kiske responded sharply. "I will not put the service of my men under foreign colors where you'd as soon lead them to death as victory." He waited for a response, but only the held breaths of soldiers and Gestahl behind him prompted him to continue. "I will fight for Troy, to save myself and my men, and that we're on the same side against Gears, yet I also cannot give up my command of my men, because then I am no longer responsible for them or their lives, and I made a promise to never let my men die where I could save them, and under you...you'd surely lead me to death out of spite while formulating differently with your own men."

"It is a shame you said this all to us, Mr. Kiske, for it means nothing to us. We work for the lower level, but now that we have assessed the situation as critical--" a few chuckles by some soldiers behind Ky were heard as that statement bounded to them from the concealed mouths in the darkness that seemed to make the humanity from whatever it enclosed vanish, "--we can now allow you access to the upper city to talk to the true government and make your decision. This is beyond us. If you will follow our guard here, he will show you the way up."

"...You've got to be kidding me." Ky said with a slight whisper. "That...and you ship me off to another council? Do you not realize that there are Gears...thousands, on the way, to slaughter us?" Silence was his only answer. He sighed deeply, then resigned to follow a guard who appeared from the darkness, his pistol in his holster with the red emblazoned Z on the hilt and the normal uniform of a Troy soldier on.

An uneventful elevator ride, situated in the back of the building and under heavy guard, and Ky found himself stepping out, the ramped and dirty air whooshed out as the door opened to find a very different air filling his lungs. It was refreshing, almost intoxicating, the cleanliness and brittleness it had, the slight twinge of moisture and humidity, making the large breath he took of it like his lungs would never fill with the...better air. As he stepped out, escorted by four soldiers, who each had their right hand on their holstered firearm, him standing in the middle, he couldn't help but look off to the side. The ride had seemed like a long time, and he was right in his assumption, considering he was hundreds, maybe even more than a thousand, feet off of the ground, as the spckle heads of people walking below was an astounding sight.

He was on a catwalk, the railings about three or four meters apart from each other, a nice sized walkway, the ground a metal that seemed to have holes lined in it, letting accumulated water drip out down to the floor below. Strung up between the walkways were cables and wires, hooked together by metal wires, but hanging around loosely over his head and draping over the sides, insulated with rubber and connecting one building to the other, for both tension and whatever other technological advance. The small elevator shaft was only an addition to a larger building that fed out into the open. The walkway was about fifty feet long, and once it was traversed, they entered into another building.

The scene was somewhat abrasive to Kiske. He saw men and women in business suits, impeccably dressed, even better than the U.N. officials and Gestahl, close shaven and giving dirty looks to Kiske as they walked by, recognizing his uniform and the guards escorting him. They had briefcases held under their arms and glasses on their faces, examining some important document they were given. Few held little electronic devices they were speaking into, or tapping with their fingers, electronic beeps rising above the clamor of noise and the drawn out electric whirr of the technology.

"Disgusting..." Ky muttered as one of the soldiers behind him, respectively, of course, nudged him to keep walking forward. They cut through the crowd in the one building, and found another walkway to go on, more of these professional looking people walking by on the catwalks. One in case caught Ky's eye; she was standing on the edge, looking out to the entrance gate of the city, even he could see the reversing MTs and his soldiers yelling to the drivers about how to position them. But, seeing the soldiers approach and their boots clanking heavily on the walkway, she adjusted her glasses, and continued walking as if she had done nothing in the first place, keeping her head slowly done as she passed the four red-and-black clothed soldiers.

A few more buildings and catwalks linking the buildings, going up a few stair sets then down some more and around to find their catwalks, all linked by these web-like metal bridges, the hanging wires swaying slightly in the biting breeze up that high and clanking off of them, and Ky finally found a stop. The soldiers walked in around him then dispersed, all four standing behind him and in front of the doorway. He looked back to see their right arms still held on their firearms, but stone faces looking at something in the distance, neither blinking nor flinching. This place may be the enemy of the U.N., but they share many similarities. Let's see if my method of dealing with the U.N. works here too.

One more glance backward, and a soldier nodding for him to go forward, and he was gone, walking slowly and methodically, every one of his steps pulsing through his body, trying to keep each rhythmically perfect, since he knew he was being watched. The room was dark, and all that existed was one long corridor from the entrance doorway, dimly lit by a bulb every five meters that seemed engineered to make Ky feel exactly as he did, somewhat intimidated and insignificant. Same old U.N. tactics.

Finally, the long corridor opened up into a small circular pad, railed off on all sides and the edges looking as if the abyss lie below them, dare anyone fall off. Around this one protruding platform was a large enclosing circle of dimly lit faces, the grimy light from above lights dimmed to make sure that it was kept somewhat dark, the feeling of cold exuded from the mysterious seated figures, despite the room being relatively warm. It was one of those places that made your spine shiver without warning. The light did reflect the silk suits and perfectly done ties and collars starched, the shaven and square-cut jaws of the politicians all around him, sitting about thirty from one sides to three in an arc, and three rows of these politicians, with a seat of three in the center, but about ten feet above the rest, sitting in an elevated balcony seat, the occupants having to look down on whoever was standing to be talked to. The engineering was similar to that of the U.N.'s, if you did not notice. Coincidence? Well, they both try and rule by authority, and try and intimidate and basically instill fear in those who come to talk to them, so why not use the same type of dark and imposing room?

He looked around the room, unable to identify any of the silhouetted faces, the eyebrows and jutting foreheads casting a slight shadow over their eyes, a slight glint off a few who were wearing spectacles, but largely unable to see. Ky liked being able to look his enemy in the eye, because his soldiers rarely did, by Seikishidan code, of course. But also, the more intangible quality to it...that when you look into their eyes, you can see exactly what they see, their fear, their courage, their distress, their life, or lack there of. Not being able to see the enemy's eyes was a strategic pitfall for Kiske, for he was always able to keep his game face on, even in front of Gears. The id in his head mocked about how he should join the Four Joker's poker game one of these days. He grunted slowly, clearing his throat, looking over the blank faces that hadn't moved an inch.

"I am Ky Kiske of the Seikishidan, the current commander. There is a current situation in which I must request your dire assistance..." Silence. Must be one of the favorite things here in Troy, silence. Considering they don't talk with the outside world, their radios didn't talk much...but as before, say the right thing on the radio and I got the response. "The assistance I request is military support. We came here because we were on the run from Gears, and this was the closest place we could get to in time, considering our enemy was tracking us..."

"So, you decided to come to Troy after our radio communications explicitly told you to stay out, and forced your way through our walls, the first time they've ever been breached?" A feeble old voice said from the right side, coughing as he did, but keeping the tone very insulting, as if the person who said it had some pungent smell in his nose to disregard and curse.

"Drastic times call for drastic measures." Ky responded to the icy voice, lingering in the air as the statuesque faces all looked upon him, each eye hidden in the dark like bound dogs to a chain, ripping slowly at their grounded tether until they could break free and run after their pray; or maybe it was Ky's imagination at the silence that entered the room after every sentence that overwhelmed him, waiting for something to happen. "Bottom line, administrators of Troy-" he said, sweeping his arm to the crowd in front "is that you are now forced to make a decision. Your walls have been breached; now the Gears will undoubtedly gain access. Justice does not care whether you're Seikishidan, U.N., or Trojan, his hordes will rip your flesh from bone all the same."

"We wouldn't be in this situation hadn't you destroyed our walls." a voice responded with lethality in his tongue from the left.

"And I wouldn't be here litigating the oncoming attack had you let me in, I'd be litigating peace terms or something of those likes."

"This is another attempt to bash us into open trade and population migration. The U.N. sees us as traitors, that we stand outside your pathetic Gear War, because we were smart...we were the ones who somehow lived through it, never suffering a casualty, and kept our technology, kept our ways, while you...you're barbaric now, destroying whatever obstacle lies in your way with wanton disregard of the lives of those who you may be interfering. Had it occurred to you that seven died in the initial blast? Seven Trojans fell under your MT." the icy voice broke its confines of icicles, emotion and distress leaking into the voice, but its prominence from the center of the room, the balcony above. Ky then concentrated his speech on that balcony over looking him, the three figures standing on it looking down at him, their bodies silhouetted by a light directly above them, outlining their figures but no details to their faces or bodies.

"...I cannot disregard that the acts I perpetrated killed a few innocents. That itself is a thing I will not be able to be forgiven of, and I will make sure of it my administration knows exactly that."

"And the U.N. will congratulate you for their deaths, for finally crumbling the impenetrable walls of Troy. They'll come here, slaughter us all unless we conform to their government, to their armies, and from there, they'll attack Zepp...or Zepp will attack us. Who knows, their agents may even be working now to formulate a strike on us to make sure there would be no way you ever reached their country. Did you know that?" the center voice continued.

"I am not a dog of the U.N., I work for them, as do all of the Seikishidan, but I am far from their lap dog. I serve my men, I serve humans, the ones who cannot fight for themselves, and I represent all who may even. Those in Troy are still humans, and enemies of the Gears, thusly my allies. Do not forsake your own species, your own kind...God made us all, and we are all His children, let there be no separation in us, we must unite to defend ourselves from these inhuman beasts."

"And do you remember Babylon?"

"Babylon was never about to be toppled by creatures with a single thought of our destruction. God would have known that. Had Gears attacked Babylon, he would have let their tongues spoke the same to make sure they could coordinate and defend themselves. Humans are His chosen kind, not Gears, and if you do not help your brothers, then we will die in trying to defend your city, and ourselves…and if we fail, so do you. Lend us your hand, lend us your army, or we lend ourselves to you even...as long as we are united in fighting this single enemy, then God is on our side."

The room echoed his last words, the "on our side" reaching Ky's ears three times at least, with no response from the emotional center speaker. Finally, a little click was heard, a small creak of metal and oil, and the platform slowly started to descend. The railing that wrapped around the pad slowly descended into the mechanical opening floorboard, the figures on board now able to be seen in the silhouetting light, instead of just outlines. A man walked forward from the pad, a dry, metallic click as his steel-soled boot echoed with every step forward. Ky remained calm, not moving, standing straight and erect, as official as he could be, but also not trying to succumb to the overwhelming anxiety he was building.

"Your goal is to survive these days. Whether or not you fight to help Troy or not, your mission is to survive. Yet, you condemn our survival by trying to better your own. What happened to 'helping your neighbor'? I assume you read the scriptures, Mr. Kiske, and you'd know what I meant. You've put us in the Lion's Den with you, and put our lives in danger when you could have stopped, faced your enemy, and left the walls of Troy intact, but you did not." The figure said, the voice breaking from its official monotony into a heartfelt sentiment, no longer arguing politicians but an actual issue with things at stake finally being seen by all who bear witness. Not just by his voice, but that he lowered himself to be on level, stand on the same ground with the imposing enemy that Ky was.

"No, I didn't, and would God's punishment be worse to me that I didn't do everything in my power to save the innocents I had traveling with me, including bashing my MT through the walls of Troy? Would my punishment have been somewhat less had I stopped my load of a thousand people, at least, just barely two hundred soldiers among us, to fight the overwhelming Gears and die, to our very last?"

"You would have spared Troy."

"But not the families of innocents I carried." Ky said vehemently, his voice breaking its authoritative tone and didacticism, from its monotone political and debating tone to an emotional and powerful one, somewhat matching his Trojan counter part. The Trojan chuckled slightly, the middleman of the three obviously the one talking and walked forward into the light. The shaded regions under his brow not were put into light, the figures and shapes of him no longer hidden. Ky smirked slightly, quickly trying to remove the twinge he had at the side of his mouth in fear he saw it.

The man was hardly one, he was older than Ky, but not by many years, possibly two or more, as indicated by his unshaven beard, a five o'clock shadow placing gruff residence on his jaw. He had low cheekbones and a long stretched face, a normal Italian type of face and pale white eyes surrounding his normal, brown irises. He had short brown hair that had been groomed so that it formed a perfect line on the top of his head, a widow's peak groomed out of sight and his sideburns trimmed perfectly, an immaculate political position. His suit also was perfectly pressed and starched, looking new and shining with a dull luster off of the dim lights in the room. He stopped in front of Kiske, about an inch taller, but it was negligible to two powerful people.

"I do what is right for my country."

"I do what is right for my race." Ky responded in a similar and decisive tone. "But now you must decide, Mr.-"

"My name is Sergio LaTorri" he said coldly.

"-Mr. LaTorri, what you will do for your people, and for your race. We are here now, Gears are following, and as you said before, we have given them Troy on a platter. Now, will you fight the enemy?"

"...I do not see any way around the obvious answer, so yes, we have to fight together." he said after a long moment, looking to the darkened faces surrounding the pedestals he now stood on with Kiske. "If you will-" he said after a long moment, waiting to see Ky's reaction, of which there was none. He held out his hand, as if inviting Ky, to the small mechanical circular pedestal he was on. Ky accepted, getting on, the other two supervisors to Mr. LaTorri looking at him as if they were ready to kill him at any moment, and they were, as Ky saw their right hands poised over holsters on their right side. The platform locked the rails back up, and moved back up to its looming position over the rest of the arc of people and the one platform. The jump of it started to move threw Ky off for a second, grabbing the rail for balance. At the top, he was greeted with another such bang and then followed LaTorri off and to the back, the sounds of whispers and murmurs leaving behind him as the room erupted into talk. Of the few words he could discern, it was the name LaTorri, Kiske, and how, why, how dare he, and other things before he was too far from the room.

The two soldiers followed LaTorri and Kiske, about a few steps behind keeping perfect pace. LaTorri walked forward without looking to see if Ky was behind him, his hands locked behind him, his head up and the outside breeze filtering in. They passed through a few doors, Ky noting it was the special entrance for LaTorri, his position being somewhat important to the Troy government, but he didn't ask.

"You're the leader of the outside, I presume." LaTorri said, talking through a set of double doors held open by another set of waiting soldiers, the outside breeze hitting Kiske full instead of the faint scent he had drifting under the doorways into the long hall behind them.

"I am the new leader of the Seikishidan." Ky said.

"Which is the army of the U.N."

"That's a somewhat valid assessment. The U.N. is our ruling body, and we are under their jurisdiction. But, I do not agree with them...it is rare I do." LaTorri walked to the edge of the railing in front of him, a walkway wrapping around to the sides of the building he was in, two long catwalks on either his right or left if one walked ten meters to find it, but he just stood at the railing looking down.

"I was elected to the leading position of Troy by my peers...in Troy, the upper world voted for that council in there, everyone of them. They elected me. I still do not even know why, considering I am only nineteen, most of them pushing forty, at least. What is it they see in a child to lead their country? Then, I saw you. Somehow, I can sympathize with you, considering our ages and burdens. Don't you agree?" he said, looking over the edge. Ky walked forward, standing next to LaTorri, looking out at the city before him as well. The building they were on stood about the same height of all the others around it, taller than some others and shorter than a few as well, a moderate size, leaving bits of the sky open to view, but blocking other parts out, the light falling between the towers to the ground floor in sparse bits. The wires holding up the buildings had a few birds resting on them, flocks just sitting on the tension wires, the electrical wires between catwalks slightly moving in the light wind blowing heavily in the high altitude also catching Ky's eye.

"There are similarities. My power was handed down to me by the last leader. The U.N. has been trying to make me resign or quit, but I will not, not for my troops or for God."

"I like that" he said, turning to Ky and smirking slightly, then turning back out to the city. "You see this...this city. I have been looking out at it all my life from up here, looking over the rails and down to the world below...I've never spoken to those from the bottom, or outsiders. You're the first. I am amazed by you...you're like an alien, as are your kind, but yet, I have been raised with these fears and hatred of you and your kind without any sort of redeeming qualities. Yet, I saw them in there, in front of that committee. They're brutal with most, and they crack them...you stood strong. That's admirable."

"Sergio...if I may call you that" Ky said slowly before continuing, "I do not know anything about Troy or your city. I can tell one thing though...you love your city, and that is important. You care for those who live here, and you are willing to do what it takes to save them. I do not think we have much time to talk...we must decide on something to do and get to it." Ky said, trying to sound calm and friendly without the rushed anxiety he was feeling. He wasn't a rude person, but right now, he just couldn't afford this guy's exposition.

"Hmm, fine. We can continue this conversation another time. Your strategy?" he asked, turning to Kiske.

"I've parked my MTs in front of the open gate now. They'll stop the Gears just by being there, but not by much. I know I will lose the MTs in the process...but it's necessary. My strategy is to put all of my forces in front of the MTs, if we can use them only if we need to retreat. We'll form a barrier in front of the whole with soldiers, and if we need to retreat, we do so behind the MTs. From there, we let the Gears in, once they flood in, we cut them off from behind and flank on the sides as they come in. I also saw your soldiers carry those Zepp guns...we'll need them."

"They're not good when in a real battle."

"Then we must make sure that we have all of those together to use all at once, and do so without wasting any shots."

"And you want control of my soldiers?"

"As soon as possible."

"...I'll see what I can do." Sergio nodded to Ky, turning to a soldier, whispering into his ear, the soldier nodding. "He will take you back down to your soldiers, my men will arrive soon. What should we do with the civilians?"

"Mine or yours?"

"All of them." he said hesitantly, not liking the outsiders, but also knowing that to save only his wouldn't be profitable to his survival either.

"...Move them up to these buildings. They're secure, right?"

"Do you see those?" he said, pointing off into the distance. "Those are tension wires...every building has at least five, and they're nearly impossible to break. They hold us up and make sure we do not fall, even if we lose our base, they'll stand us up. As well as the catwalks linking the buildings network them together for support."

"Then bring all of the ones who you can up here for safety while we fight on the ground."

"Alright, you'll be seeing my men shortly."

"Thank you for your time, Sergio LaTorri." Ky said, extending his hand to the Trojan leader. The other man smiled, shaking Kiske's hand slightly. Kiske then turned, escorted by a soldier to the left to one of the catwalks and down to the ground through a series of corridors and elevators. Sergio stood at the railing for a moment longer, looking out at the waning day.

"It'll be a bloody night for Troy..." he muttered to himself before returning to the chamber of his governmental peers.

-X- Author's Notes –X-
- Zeronova's Notes:
- I kind of feel half-assed about the Trojan government's and this Sergio LaTorri. I needed a character to personify Troy, as well as an upper city government. But, we're getting close to the end of Arc II...this is the finale.
-X- End Author's Notes –X-