Representatives from nations and territories started arriving. ZAFT vessels escorted them to Aprilius One. They were to convene that afternoon for the opening session of the delegation. It was just to check in all nations and territories representatives, accepting the agenda, and the first general debate. Debates usually last nine working days. Seven days is the minimum. It could be longer depending on how the delegating and agreeing on terms benefiting both warring parties turns out.
The representatives were photographed as they came off the large glass elevator, getting into vehicles, and arriving at the building designated for the convention. The conference was held there instead of PLANT Supreme Council as it would interfere as PLANT was one of the warring parties.
Earth Alliance was a bit weary. They were extra cautious whenever others tried to interact with them. They hardly spoke to anyone, especially paparazzi taking their photographs while yelling out questions. There were some news reporters at some of the points, letting the rest of the world know what's going on.
The reporters and paparazzi got word that the Kingdom of Scandinavia was arriving next. The groups started to make a buzz again. They took pictures of the royal military soldiers in grey military uniforms with gold and light blue embellishments adorned by medallion capes with grey outside and gold embroidery that was fastened across the chests. The inlays were different colors of the flag, gold, blue, white, red, and dark blue. They wore grey military hats. The soldiers opened the doors and protected the group.
The royal military uniforms were nearly the same except the cape color showed the different ranks and the shades of grey of the uniform itself showed the different branches. It also differed from the Kingdom of Scandinavia as to show different entities.
High Chancellor Luka Ivanov wore a light grey trench coat over a light blue suit. On his chest, were the Kingdom's insignia. He was getting a lot of paparazzi as he was a former PLANT citizen, a famous one at that. He was the first person they saw from the group walking from the docking area to the glass elevator. He has blue eyes and hair that use to be golden now had a slight dull to it. Behind him were other representatives in business suits.
A paparazzi spoke into a phone. "Yes, Luka Ivanov, the legendary preeminent classical dancer has returned to PLANT as the High Chancellor for the Kingdom of Scandinavia-wait." His jaw dropped. The person on the other line was trying to pull the guy back. "You're not going to believe this but H-her Highness, Princess Selena is here. Yes. Inform everyone!" He fumbled as he tried to put his phone back in his pocket while trying to get his camera up at the same time.
Selena was walking next to Luka. The two were discussing what Selena had missed. When they noticed they were getting closer to the public they stopped talking. She wore white boots that reached her mid-thighs. They almost blended into her white pants. Her coat was similar in design to the royal military guarding them, but more form fitted and in all gold. She had a white and gold sash that signified her rank. Her light pink hair was in loose curls that fell off her shoulders. Her gray eyes framed by bangs with an eyebrow that raised up just enough to notice the reporters and paparazzi.
They were all trying to get their attention, crowding in around them. One soldier made sure to keep them away. He had medium length black hair under the light grey military hat with a scar across his left eye that reached over his lips. His purple eyes scanned the area before continuing on with the main group. He wore a similar light grey military uniform with gold and light blue embellishments adorned by a medallion cape with black outside, red inlay, and gold embroidery that was fastened across the chests.
The group kept surprising paparazzi and reporters as they headed towards the convention. The building was surrounded by paparazzi and reporters with ZAFT military holding them back. The entrances were swarmed with people. When Luka's presence was notified, there were several fans holding up signs of his name and pictures of his time as a dancer. It made it harder for them to enter.
The room where they were delegating was large enough to encompass a horseshoe table that fit all of the territories and nations main representative. Each designated area for the representative was large enough to have the representative's flag and name plate of the nation. There were computer screens that were an appropriate size that didn't distract from the delegation. Behind the designated seat were two rows of seats to sit two more of the representative's group.
The horseshoe table faced an auditorium type of seating. Those were for the rest of the representative's group, and approved reporters and journalists allowed to sit in during certain delegations. All of the representatives were there except for one.
Cagalli was sitting at the main chair with Athrun and another admiral sitting behind her. Lacus was the main representative with the Chairman of Defense behind her and another chairperson of the Supreme Council. There were familiar faces amongst the groups. Earth Alliance had an Atlantic Federation as their main representative with Eurasian Federation and Republic of East Asia as the two seated behind them.
Kingdom of Scandinavia's arrival was announced as the doors opened. There were gasps and shock as they made their way through the double doors. Selena sat down as the first representative with Luka as her second and Mikael, her bodyguard as her third. The rest of the entourage sat in the empty seats dedicated to them.
It didn't take long for everyone to settle, as everyone started to grow quiet when the Kingdom of Scandinavia arrived. Lacus headed out of her chair to start the delegation. She welcomed everyone, went over the rules of the delegation, and lastly the agenda. Everyone agreed by signing the delegation agreement. ZAFT officials picked up the papers.
The first debate on the agenda was withdrawal from the territories that were invaded by the opposing forces. The opposing parties agreed upon sixty days for withdrawing forces. The next topic was returning prisoners of war with the same sixty-day time frame. The group was discussing the next topic when it was put on hold until the next day.
The representatives started to disperse. Earth Alliance met up with their allies, feeling a sense of small relief. They were escorted out first. PLANT allies headed out second. Some of the neutral nations stayed behind to speak amongst one another.
A representative of the Equatorial Union came over to Selena and Luka. "Greetings Your Highness. We were not expecting you."
"Hello. I had a change in schedule, allowing me to actually attend," she explained. "High Chancellor Ivanov was gracious enough to step down as main representative."
"Merely holding that spot for you, Your Majesty," he gave his winning smile.
"Once a charmer, always a charmer," Selena teased. The two chuckled at one another.
"Are you going to be attending dinner with any of the representatives?" The Equatorial Union representative asked with a hopeful intent.
"Possibly, I did hear that some of the officials will be hosting dinner parties," Luka interjected. "Is that true?"
"Yes!" The representative explained what they knew as they had arrived earlier.
Cagalli watched the four interact. Athrun was speaking with other dignitaries. She hoped that group wasn't the cause of the events that were transpiring. If they were, it was going to be another war, but a cold war. Selena preferred battling taciturn than to the open battlefields.
As that group walked away, Selena winked at Cagalli who flinched. Cagalli turned to listen to her group. Selena smirked walked away while listening to the Equatorial Union representative inviting them to the dinner they were going to be at.
The next day's delegation centered on both agreeing to reparations that destroyed certain spots of the territories that had the most damage. The debate was going along until the topic on the memorial of Junius 7. The devastation it caused brought about the Second Alliance-PLANT War. The debate was no longer level headed and logical. It became a yelling match with no accountability.
"You brought on the devastation!" An Earth Alliance representative stood up, pointing at Lacus and her representatives.
"How could they bring on the devastation when it was brought on by extremists?" Cagalli argued back. "This whole war was caused by a miscommunication that Logos and Blue Cosmos led Earth Alliance used as an act of terrorism from PLANT with demilitarization demands."
"Why would you, a neutral nation defend them!?" The Earth Alliance representative shot back at her.
"You won't even let Chairwoman Clyne explain herself!" Athrun stepped in.
"Ha! Defending Chairwoman Clyne, only because you were once engaged," the other Earth Alliance representative joined in. "How do we not know it was part of your plan, since you are Patrick Zala's son. I hear that the extremists were all Patrick Zala zealots. Wouldn't surprise us if you followed in his footsteps."
"You take that back!" Athrun fumed. The Earth Alliance representatives gloated as they pushed Athrun's buttons. Cagali held onto Athrun.
"Look how he's even ready to come attack!" One of the Earth Alliance representatives acted as if they were the victim. "How can we diplomatically come to an agreement with this type of hostility?"
"Oh, I see how it is," the other Earth Alliance representative added. "The four of you are tag teaming us. Both of you have ties to one another. How is this not in your favor? Isn't this supposed to be unbiased? Making a mockery of governing leaders! Your Three Ship Alliance and now Chairwoman Clyne head of PLANTs. Why should we continue to come to some sort of agreement when we only have those choices?!"
Slam!
The group jolted at the noise.
Slam!
They all turned to see where the noise was coming from. Their eyes landed on Princess Selena, who was leaning back in her chair with her legs resting on the table. She glanced around to them, wondering why everyone was looking at her.
"Did, did I interrupt?" Selena placed a hand on her chest with a half shock look on her face. "My sincerest apologies. Please continue on with your lack accountability and sordid excuses as a leader appointed by the people, I mean, if you were even appointed, but do, go on. That's why all of us are gathered, to hear everyone's side."
"Excuse me?!" One Earth Alliance representative was baffled by her reaction.
"You don't need to ask for my permission to be excused, but I shall grant it if you need," Selena waved her hand.
"H-h-how absurd!? This-this type of treatment!" He spat out.
Selena rolled her eyes. "Oh please! How did the first war happen? Hm?" She raised her eyebrows at him. "Actually, how did all of this happen?" She removed her legs off of the desk since she had all of their attention. "Humans became genetically modified known as Coordinators, and because traditionalists who despise change could not agree upon this. Given the history of humans, not a surprise. Genocide, discrimination. Coordinators finally becoming independent nation with the help from the formation of ZAFT.
"Copernicus City, February 5 CE 70, terrorist attack but ZAFT was the only survivor. War declared about less than a week later that brought about nuclear tactics killing the countless lives of civilians of Junius 7. Peace treaty signed. Terrorist attack using ZAFT memorial. Biased demands that led to declaration of war. Again, peace treaty. Seems like Earth Alliance leadership just uses any excuse as an act of war. Shall I prepare my royal military soon since this could be a threat to you?" Selena placed a hand on her chest again acting concerned. Everyone looked over to Earth Alliance. There was silence amongst the group. "We all came here to sign the treaty and to hold ourselves accountable. We are leaders, representing the humans living on our territories, it's their lives on the line, their futures at stake."
There was more silence. Earth Alliance representatives started to feel nervous. Selena waved her hand. "Please continue on with your debate." Silence set in again after her words.
Lacus took over this silence before someone else could. She finished what she had to say as the main PLANT representative. She gave a concise outline of the destruction caused by Earth Alliance as well as PLANT's destruction on Earth Alliance. Some of the neutral nation's representatives stated their total expenses from the destructions that were caused by the crossfires of the two warring parties.
The debates went back to being level headed with small outbursts. A short recess to break for lunch finally came. The Earth Alliance glanced at the Kingdom of Scandinavia representatives before leaving first.
Orb Union and the Kingdom of Scandinavia crossed paths. "Greetings Princess Selena, High Chancellor Luka," Cagalli greeted.
"Greetings to you as well Chief Representative Cagalli, Admiral Zala," Selena nodded. Luka and Mikael nodded in respect. Athrun and the other representative nodded to them.
"Although we don't always see eye to eye, your words brought the debate back to what it's supposed to be about, the people," Cagalli was complimenting them.
"Of course," Selena agreed. "As leaders, we are the leading force behind the voices of the people. If we cannot make decisions with them in mind, then we are just elected dictators muddling democracy with our regime."
This made Cagalli like she was lacking as her words were similar but held no power against the Earth Alliance representatives. Athrun felt the same. The two of them were still green when it comes to politics. Both of them were fighters. They knew more about fighting on the front lines with heavy artillery than using their words as ammunition, fighting bureaucracy, and maneuvering through red-tape.
Selena sensed their crushed egos. "Fret not. Earth Alliance leaders has always been the antagonist."
"I have come to think of them as crabs," a familiar voice cut in. The group looked over to see Ergnes Brahe sauntering over. "Earth is covered in crabs and we must get rid of them."
"Crab mentality," Luka explained to the confused looks he was receiving. "Leave one crab in a bucket and it will escape, place a second crab in, it will keep the first crab in the bucket with it. A mentality that is seen relentlessly in humanity."
Ergnes greeted both parties. The two groups greeted him back. "My apologies for interrupting but I must steal away Her Highness, Princess Selena, as we will miss our reservation for lunch if we don't leave now."
"We will have to catch up another time," Selena nodded to them before leaving. The group nodded to her as Mikael left with her.
High Chancellor Luka Ivanov did not leave with them. He excused himself as he had prior engagement as well. Cagalli and Athrun watched them leave.
"They seem close," Cagalli never saw the two interacting before. Selena let out a laugh as Ergnes smiled. Athrun nodded in agreement. He glanced around to see Nahe Herschel speaking with some of the representatives.
"It's must not be political as Nahe and the High Chancellor didn't go with them," Athrun spoke his thoughts. "I knew the two were on good terms but we can't come to any conclusions. It could be just two leaders having a private meal together away from politics."
Kira came over to them. "Don't worry. So far it seems like she's our on side for now. The others are just not brave enough to go against Earth Alliance. Let's go, we will be late for our lunch reservation as well."
"Is Lacus not coming?" Cagalli glanced at her.
Kia shook his head. "She still has her duties as Supreme Councilwoman for PLANT. She will be eating lunch while going over PLANT business. She'll have dinner with us tonight. Don't worry." The three of them headed off to lunch as well.