Missing Peace: Chapter 16

United Nations Security Council's chamber, New York:

James Dalton allowed his gaze to wander around the council chamber, being careful not to let his nervousness register on his face. The conference table was surrounded by various international leaders, no doubt each waiting for their chance to grill him on what had transpired over the last few days.

Meeting with Steven and White Diamond without consulting the international community was always going to have been an unpopular move, but Dalton and Azarov both felt it had been the right call. In the chaos that followed Rose Quartz's transmission, there hadn't been time to even consult the other leaders, much less plan a meeting. Every hour they wasted was an hour that Facet 31 could use to radicalise more Gems, and put more human lives at risk.

And so, both leaders had given their blessing to Steven's low-profile mission to Homeworld. If they were going to get raked over the coals now, so be it.

As the last of the leaders took their seats, the talking from those already seated died down. "Alright then, let's get this over with" said a somewhat disgruntled looking woman from the other end of the table.

Marie Bujold was the current French President. She was a severe yet attractive woman, a good head shorter than most of the people seated around the table, and currently wearing a scowl that she was making no effort to disguise.

Thanks to the Gem tech each of them wore, those present could tell what she was saying without the aid of translators, but Dalton suspected that wouldn't help matters. Thus far, the ability to understand each other hadn't made it any easier to understand each other.

He found it more than a little ironic that everyone in the room was motivated in some way by their fear of the Gems, while simultaneously making use of their technology without a second thought. After all, while some of the antipathy aimed at him was because of his admitted breach of international protocol, another large part of it was undoubtedly the fear that Steven's mission would provoke some retaliation from Facet 31. They were directing their anger at Azarov and himself in order to vent their own feelings of helplessness.

He snapped himself out of this train of thought as Bujold began speaking directly to him:

"President Dalton" she began, "we've all read your explanation of your actions in Beach City, and, while it is your right to make determinations regarding the fate of Gems living on US soil, I must state in no uncertain terms that France will not be excluded from the decision-making process again."

He found it remarkable how well she was composing her statement, despite her barely contained rage. He knew he should probably be focusing more on his own reply than her words, but years in politics had taught him to instinctively psychoanalyse anyone sitting opposite him.

"President Bujold, I can assure you the decision to meet with White Diamond was not taken lightly, and was done in the interests of preventing what I deemed would be a national emergency. Also, I'd remind you that it was White Diamond herself who requested that the meeting be restricted to the US and Russia."

"That is precisely what worries me" Bujold shot back. "These 'Gems' possess incredible power, and we have only their assurance that they won't use it to bring us harm. And now, we have a human citizen murdered by a Gem, and the Gem leaders meeting in secret with two nations exclusively. Tell me, Mr Dalton, wouldn't you be suspicious if you were viewing this from the outside?"

Dalton had to admit that he would. If White had elected to meet with Azarov alone, he would probably have assumed that something untoward was going on. Still, he knew he had to defend his point.

"Madame President, all international leaders reserve the right to request private meetings with their allies. You and I have had many discussions to which the rest of our colleagues here were not privy. We all agreed to extend that right to the Diamonds at the Beach City conference."

"That may be true" replied another voice; that of Richard Cowell, the British Prime Minister. "However, it's a different matter when we're dealing with a superpower on the level of the Gems. A discussion the United States might have with Britain wouldn't be viewed with the same curiosity as one you'd have with China or Russia, for instance. Homeworld is powerful enough to be an era-defining ally or enemy to every country on Earth. Any interaction with them has huge ramifications."

Dalton rebutted the Prime Minister's concerns, and those that followed from the other present leaders, as best he could. Though essentially all he could do was assert America's right to make the decision, and offer some platitudes about including its allies more in future. The Chinese president remained strangely silent throughout, evidently content with observing, knowing that all his concerns were already being included in the others' questions.

After a few more rounds of questioning, the council evidently decided it was Azarov's turn to be grilled, and turned their attention to him. He had been dismissive of the notion that Russia had to justify its actions to anyone, but had attended this meeting to ensure that he wasn't left out of any future contact with the Gems. He knew he would be considered a liability after his agent had incited the Facet 31 incident, and he wasn't about to let his one link to Homeworld slip from his grasp. So, he sat, and took the questions as Dalton had done.

Now that the attention was off him, Dalton took the time to collect his thoughts. For the hundredth time that day, his eyes darted back to the clock on the chamber wall. It had now been almost 18 hours since he had seen Steven's group off, as they left for Homeworld. Even at the mind-boggling speeds at which Gem ships travelled, crossing galaxies took a while. "You'd better get there soon" he thought to himself, "because there's a limit to how long I can hold things together down here..."