War Council
Five boys were lined up along the wall out side the staff offices, in no particular order. All stared pointedly at anything other than the human beings passing through the halls, preferring to contemplate different articles of their new uniforms, which were expertly tailored, finely made, and extremely uncomfortable for those accustomed to the freedom of movement and practical nature of their own choice of dress. The pedestrian traffic slowed to a trickle, and all five would breathe a little bit easier when it had slowed to a stop, or when whatever the problem that had cropped up in the office was resolved, which ever came first.
"It just doesn't make sense" Trowa said suddenly.
"What doesn't?" Wufei wanted to know.
"Why us…why here?" Trowa struggled to organize his thoughts, "why, after all this time – what has it been now, almost a year- would they bother, would they go to all the trouble, of pulling us from our homes, our colonies, our families, our jobs, and send us to an earth school, a private earth school, that must be costing the state thousands?
"It is the law that minors must go to school" Wufei answered "and it is not a new one either."
Heero butted in. "Even before the war, the colonies had their hands full and their minds on other things. Issues like the housing of orphans and keeping kids in school were pushed aside. Now that the war is over, old laws and customs are more prioritized."
"Especially the 'keeping kids in school' bit." Duo added his two cents worth. "Back home, there reached a point in time when everyone was so desperate for manual labor that even little kids were silently encouraged to help out and find jobs."
"There's a lot more going on here than child labor laws and keeping kids in school and off the streets." Gentle, soft spoken Quatre instantly had their attention, for they respected his views, and his ability to analyze a situation.
"First there's the political factor, and matters of public view." He looked down at his palms, and seemed to be ready to count off something. "Our involvement in The War to End All Wars was no secret, and many people may believe that they owe us, if not only a debt of gratitude, but a manner of honor, and may be monetary compensation for service as well. People are most familiar with man's action being only for self gain, and people as a whole may not understand that victory, and the completion of our goals, was all any of us ever wanted."
Each boy took a moment to reflect on the extremely materialistic society they had encountered upon trying to dwell among their fellow man.
"And like it or not, we're going down in history. We're probably figureheads or symbols to many people, although I'm not sure what we would represent. No smart politician would want us to fade into obscurity until they can figure out what to do with us; they'll want us within arms reach."
"That's still no reason for us to be attending a foreign school." Trowa restated his question. "International boundaries still exist – and if we're such important symbols, wouldn't the governments of our own colonies want to keep us?"
Quatre thought for a minute, and then gave his reply. "We may never know for sure why we all ended up on the sphere instead of our respective colonies. It probably had some level of political debate over it. There are a few possible arguments. For one thing, if we are politically and publicly valuable, or if they really were trying to repay us in someway, then they might have sent us here simply because they're trying to give us a leg up by sending us all to a prestigious school.
"Did you see the camera?" Duo cut in once more. "I bet that our mugs were all over the evening news." He stretched into his trade mark position, hands behind his head, and leaning against the wall with his ankles crossed. "If that is any indication, this school is about to get a lot of publicity off of our backs."
"That may be exactly why they agreed to take us." Quatre's acknowledgement of Duo's genius observation skills made the long haired boy smirk to himself. "All available funds are being pumped into the war recovery act, and all sorts of similar civil functions. There's no way the government could justify wasting thousands on tuition and supplies on five people alone. This school may have agreed to waive entrance fees and donated room and board simply for the prospect that families world wide would be regularly bombarded with images of their school."
"You're forgetting that this place is already the foremost school on the planet. All sorts of rich and politically tied families send their kids here. They don't need any more publicity." Heero spoke in his usual monotone. "And you still haven't come up with a reason for our colonies and governments to want to get rid of us."
Quatre was not offended or put out by Heero's interruption or his attitude. Instead, he tried to lend a personal experience to aid his explanation. "When my oldest sisters were in high school, they attended the "most prestigious" school of the time, and institute somewhere in North America. But after a few years, some of my sisters started coming here instead. Prestige is a fashion trend, it comes and goes: this school may just be trying to hold onto its top billing a little while longer. And if you continue on that line of thinking, they may have more lasting goals in mind, i.e., going down in history as the alma mater of yours truly and present company." Quatra read the faces of all his friends and could see what they all were thinking. He stopped all their comments by saying "it is true that Relena Peacecraft Dorlan attended this school at one time." The other four stepped down, their unspoken question answered. "But she eventually moved on to other things, with out even graduating. Besides, there were many other influential people in this war that attended other schools, and she is just one name among many. But a school that boasts not one, but five widely known graduates has a true claim to fame. Perhaps that is the answer to the political question as well." Here Quatra turned and addressed Heero directly. "If the school was desperate enough for the eternal spotlight, they may have used the universal language, a.k.a…"
"Money" Trowa, familiar with the circus's workings, and the business practice of paying for favors, caught on instantly. "A place like this is bound to have some extra funds stored away, and with all existing governments sending aid to damaged areas, everyone's a little short, and looking for ways to get something extra."
"We've been bought and sold" Wufei elaborated aloud. "Like cattle, or toys, or slaves."
"Or weapons." Heero added glumly.
"Let's not make any hasty judgments." Quatre cautioned. "Like I said, we simply don't know. This is all purely speculation." There was a moment of silence as each boy mentally catalogued this conversation as 'theory' instead of 'fact'.
"The only things we know for sure are the excuses they're giving." Duo murmured.
"The laws." Heero corrected.
"Laws about soldiers." Wufei said.
"Laws about children." Trowa said.
"The main one would be the 'education for veterans' movements. With the armies dismantling, that's a lot of men and women who are going to be unemployed. It's a smart move, politically speaking." Quatre once again had their undivided attention, as he tried to give them a glimpse into the heads of the people who were controlling all their lives. "Statistically, most petty crimes are done by people with out work. By giving veterans a degree, they not only give them a better chance at a good job and a substantial paycheck, but they also can let them trickle out gradually, so it's not as big of a shock to the economy. Also, since these are ex-soldiers, they don't want to risk them becoming unhappy with the ideas of total pacifism, and trying to start trouble."
The other four were nodding their heads in understanding, so Quatre continued. "Another group that the politicians are wary of is the appalling number of war orphans." Quatre risked a quick glance at his friends. Family was an uncharted territory between these five, mainly caused by the suspicious lack of it. "This is a generation who has been desensitized by the violence around them." He continued cautiously. "And like us, many children around our age have felt the responsibility of looking out for them selves, and may be supporting them selves independently. They may have little or no faith in the government, or adults in general. The sooner the government can pull them back into the fold and turn them into upstanding citizens, the happier they all will be.
Quatre sighed inwardly at a job well done, and gratefully moved onto less rocky terrain. He turned back to his hands. "Okay." He said. "We've got political symbolism, school ambition combined with available funds, the fear of how warriors will react to becoming useless, and the idea that kids like us may take some extra convincing to shape up and fly straight." He ticked them off on his fingers. Then, as sort of an afterthought, he said "And we might as well take into account that Miss Relena has a personal history with all of us, especially Heero." Heero grumbled at the last part.
"Alone, these laws might have overlooked us on a technicality, despite our fame, but together they make a web we cannot avoid. We came to this planet secretly and anonymously, we answered to no authority, we saved them from them selves. When the fight was over we left abruptly, and made our way to the abyss."
"All combined I'd say that our major mistake was that we were trying too hard to be, well…" he struggled to find an alternate word, but failed, "…normal." The others looked impatient for him to continue, so he hurried on. "We weren't there for the politicians to refer to, we weren't actively supporting the new governments, and we weren't expressing our happiness with how things were going. And to top it off, most of us joined the most problematic group of people – the young, uneducated ex-military who have experienced personal losses due to war and have no recognizable positive influences."
Trowa summarized. "We were practically begging to be exploited."