NationStates Jolt Archive

It was a gloomy day in Kikoskriat, as usual. The air was cold and a soft wind blew between the high skyscrapers. What natural light that was actually mananging to get through the cloud cover was struggling to reach the roads that would usually of been teeming with traffic of all kinds. The dirty, yet well maintained roads however were bare at this time, when the rush hour would normally take place, instead there being only a single convoy of vehicles, four military APCs as black as the sky above them escorting a single, equally dark limo down the roads, either side the pavements teeming with life and activity of bustling people of all social standings. The din of people walking, talking, even screaming sometimes was completely dulled out by the heavily armored and soundproofed limo which, inside, had all the luxuries that many people would only dream of; plush leather seats, a mini bar with the finest wines and spirits, a HDTV and even a fold-out bed of suprisingly good quality. No exspense had been spared in transporting this woman, the woman that was so important to the day's activities, to the signing of the nonagression pact. The APCs were full of troops and even inside the limo there were two soldiers, one of them just a standard trooper armed with a combat shotgun and the other luitenant Golbern, a young man with short black hair and a serious expression on his face. He had even more superior armor and instead of a shotgun, he had a desert eagle holstered to his leg. Not wearing a helmet like the trooper that was sat but a metre from the most esteemed guest, Golbern looked out of the window and noticed the flashing neon lights of all of the stores, all of them government owned of course as it should be. The sight of a child gambling his pocket money in a corner casino made him smile, indeed it was good to be a citizen of Kikoskriat, the lack of open spaces and the near-impregnable wall of skyscrapers either side of their vehicle made him feel safe.

He then noticed that there was a group of people in the road, people who were poorly dressed and rough looking. He sighed gently, there would no doubt be trouble at this point, especially when he saw the driver of the limo turn his head and shake his head to Golbern. Great, just what he needed, trouble. And with such an important guest with them...
"I'm sorry ma'am," Golbern apoligsed to the guest sat among them, "But we're going to be delayed a little. Some troublemakers in the road, probably bread-riot stragglers. Damn morons just can't take a hint..." He remarked as the stragglers turned to see the convoy slowing to a stop...

-----

Porthos had been preparing the wine in his apartment, looking through his selection that were chilled to just the right temperature. his lucury penthouse suite apartment in thsi building was a little dingy for him, but it would have to do for this situation. Besides, it had just the right amount of security in it, he thought, as he looked to the machinegun turret in the corner of the room and the four troopers inside, standing stoic and silent, ready to lay down their lives if they had to. Porthos smiled, feeling the snug fit of both his suit and his second-chance armor under it as he sat down in his Chac Designer leather armchair, pouring himself a glass of the wine while he waited; what was keeping them so long? They should have arrived already. Porthos simply shrugged, perhaps there had been some traffic that he hadn't managed to divert that they had to contend with. The treaty was in front of him on the table and there were enough pens to sign every dotted line twice, and yet he still felt a little nervous. He thought nothing of it though after a while; perhaps all leaders felt like this. After all, first impressions were everything in politics...

President Jessica Lyndon looked at the soldier and smiled tiredly. "I understand, Lieutenant. Although, I don't see why you would call them morons. It is moronic for human beings to desire to fulfill the hunger raging in their bodies?" She ran a hand through her blond hair and looked at the ceiling, closing her eyes in fatigue. She had been up for a long time last night, dealing with many manners of state that had taken quite a bit of her time. She had processed all the embassy applications and had quickly begun the work on their new buildings. It was a long list of things to do that this current event had arrived on. A message had come from the one known as Porthos, asking her to come to detail a treaty between them. Nothing too out there, like military or an alliance. It was mostly to begin the road to diplomatic relations.

It wasn't going to be easy, though. She had studied what she could find on their culture and it was quite bizarre. They had an attitude that was quite different from back home, but then they hadn't made an effort to get to know each other. That was something they planned on correcting this day. She relaxed in the limo and waited to see what the soldiers would do. She hoped they would at least be not too harsh with these people. She wouldn't go as far as to try and stop them, it was their own country, but she couldn't be party to vicious beatings of people who only wanted to eat.

"This is Luitenant Golbern of the Kikoskriat Miltiary," Came the declaration through the limo's loudspeaker in-built to the top of the limo, the stragglers turning with looks of hatred and aggression, "You are blocking the passage of important diplomatic persons and thus are commiting a criminal offence." He didn't even know why he was trying, there must have been over a hundred men and women outside, all of them armed and desperate. He knew what was going to happen and was only hoping that it was going to be a one-in-a-million kind of day.
"Get lost! We'll be where we please and we'll do what we like!" One particularly loud voice from the crowd declared in anger, "And we'll take what we like too, since you won't even give us bread!" Oh boy, here we go.
"You are more then welcome to buy your own bread-" Golbern said when he heard what sounded like an impact on the side of the car. The driver confirmed it in agitation.
"They just shot at us." The driver stated. Golbern's face snarled briefly, then he went to a neutral expression again and looked at Jessica.
"...You may not want to see this," Golbern warned her as he used the loudspeaker again, "This is your final warning. By shooting our vehicle, you are openly attacking the Kikoskriat military. Any further agression will be treated in kind and in self defence of the innocents within this limo." At first, there was no reply, the people on the pavements having stopped to watch this. It almost seemed like the stragglers would break up, that thye could carry on...

...Then someone threw a molotov cocktail at the limo, bouncing harmlessly off it's armored exterior. A battlecry went up among the crowd and the bystanders fled as the group opened fire on the convoy.

"Shit!" Golbern delcared to himself, then pressing a single red button next to him in his chair. It sounded a warning siren blasting out from around the limo and suddenly the miltiary forces whirled into action. Folding out of the top of the APCs were machineguns, controlled from the inside by clever computers and a man aiming it using them. Pouring out of the APCS were their cargo, troopers equipped with heavy armor and shotguns who, under the hail of small arms fire, threw their smoke grenades into the middle of the masses as they had been trained to, the gas seeping out and slowly obscuring the stragglers vision and choking them. In such a situation, the small battle suddenly degenerated into a no-win situation for the stragglers who were being mowed down by the machineguns, with those that managed to get out of the smoke who were firing at the troopers being blasted by the shotguns that the military were so renown for using with great skill. Even though there were over a hundred in the opposing side, it took less then thirty seconds to kill practically all of them, the smoke clearing to reveal the dead bodies of those that had struck out against Kikoskriat with violence. Those that were not dead and torn apart by the machinegun bullets were dying without mercy or pity from those that had dived for cover in stores and behind benches. One straggler who had seemingly managed to survive with just a flesh wound staggered up and saw the death that had suddenly become his situation and then gazed at the miltiary soldiers for a moment before dropping his gun and turning in retreat. Golbern's eyes narrowed.
"He knew the penalty for attacking the military was death..." Golbern muttered to himself, shaking his head as the machinegun on the APC riddled the lone man with more bullets then was nessecary. Blood was splattered on some of the windows of the limo, blood that was washed off by the automatic window washers on the vehicle as the troops louded back onto the APCs, only toting one casualty who had sustained a leg wound. Within a minute, they had started to continue to drive towards the building they were destined for, driving only when the few soldiers who hadn't boarded their rides had shifted enough corpses out of the way so the limo could get past. Golbern sighed deeply.
"...I'm sorry you had to see that," Golbern told her, "They get more and more arrogant each time it happens. I don't like doing it, but..." He shrugged, "...If we hadn't of, they'd of started looting. And when that happens, there are civilian casualties, ones we have to stop happening."

Jessica winced at the words of the Lieutenant. They were only people wanting to be fed, did they have to be so rough with them? That was one of the things she would have to bring up to their leader. If he needed help, the Republic could send food to feed these people, there was no need to resort to violence. She listened as he mentioned it would be a criminal offense and she started. Blocking a vehicle was a criminal offense? That was rather extreme....She heard their typical response and when the soldier mentioned they could buy bread, there were dull thumps against the car and she jumped.

This was...frightening. They fired on the armored car. She almost laughed morbidly at that; at least she was getting her first trial by fire as president. She heard the Lieutenant say she didn't want to see this and then gave a final warning, which implicated they would respond in kind if they continued to attack. Her eyes widened; they wouldn't....They did, as the stragglers opened fire and they were mowed down amidst the smoke of the grenades they launched. She averted her eyes as she struggled to contain her anger at this situation. The soldier came back down and told her he didn't like doing it but they would start looting and it would cause civilian casualties. She glanced at him coolly.

"And those weren't civilian casualties, Lieutenant? They were merely hungry, a state of being citizens of a nation should not be in."

Golbern sighed slightly as he looked at her, then looked down at his own feet for a moment. He wasn't entirely sure if it was his place to say what he felt he wanted to, especially to someone so powerful as her. However, the burning desire to do so was redically overpowering his own feeling of insignificance and so he cleared his throat and looked her straight in the eyes.
"I don't know how things work back in your own nation, but I have to tell you Kikoskriat runs a lot differently to most places I have heard of and I have to say that is how the people want it," Golbern began, "Porthos will probably say the exact same thing I will be now so I guess it's a fair warning for you if you don't know, but most of us in this fair nation are hard working people, we graft for every ultimac we can get. And you know what? We like it that way."

Goldern shrugged then as he continued, "Porthos and his government cuts people no breaks; it's up to the person to make his or her own. If you study hard at school and university and work hard at your job, you'll do just fine here. We pay our income tax - which I've heard some people say is steep - to maintain the quality of life we have, which I have to say is astounding compared to places I have been on holiday to. I don't want to have to spend some of MY taxes on helping give handouts to those who can't be bothered to work for their food and a roof over their head," He then quickly added, "And please, don't give me the bull that some people can't help but be poor because that's utter nonsense. If you can't afford to pay for your education, then you can start from the bottom and work your way up. If you lose an arm, you can work with it. Heck, I know a guy who has only one eye, is deaf and in a wheelchair and he still manages to bring home the bacon for his wife and child and let me tell you, they don't live in a shabby part of the Metropolis," He then decided to conclude it, "If those people wanted bread, they should be working to get that bread and if their jobs means they can't afford it, well obviously they've got to either get a better job or realise that they got their priorities wrong and get rid of some other luxury. After all, they had guns but were complaining they had no food? Just sell the gun and stop buying ammunition for it. Problem solved."

He remained silent for a little while then as they finally stopped outside the apartment block that Porthos was in. As the door to the limo was being opened, Golbern added one more thing.
"If you want an example of a success story from rags to riches, you need look no further then the man you're about to see. He started with nothing and look where he is now." And with that, he held the door open for Jessica, with an aide flanked by troopers waiting to escort her up to Portho's apartment.

-----

"She's here? Good. Send her up immediately." Porthos said over the intercom as he then made sure his hair looked good, washing his face one last time. He sure was nervous but he was trying not to look it, but how could he after what he had been told had happened happened? That wouldn't shine well at all on him and he was trying to think of things to say to make her not hate him on sight; this wasn't going to be a good night after all...