Senate Actions - Yes or No

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The Senate was in an uproar. Left and right dignitaries were talking, some even yelling, about the move of the Corporate Alliance, to send their battle droids into the Angel World. It had led to the direct cease order of the Senate, shutting down traffic between other worlds and the Human world, and recalling all people they had on the other sides. Not that there was much traffic or anything to begin with. Tiara was asked to attend and now was surrounded by the people of the Senate who seemed to never shut up, until one man walked into the halls, accompanied by the very reason they were in this situation. 4 brand new battle droids, pure white metal and red lining, some sort of special guard droid. The man was clothed in a black thrench coat, black hair combed backwards, kept in place with gel and boots, just as black as the rest of his attire. He walked up to the center of the Senate, his loud voice thundering through the halls and silencing all around him. "You all seem to have forgotten what we stand for. We are to help our allies and protect. We, the Corporate Alliance, have done what you as Senate could not, or worse, would not do. Without a major risk of loss of human life. You should be happy that we stepped in."

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"Allies?" Tiara couldn't stop herself from speaking out. She had been shelved by her father when all she wanted to do was be on the front lines helping push back the demon menace. However the Angel had not lifted a finger to help. She despised them, allowing innocent lives to be thrown away when they could have stepped in to help end the bloodshed.

"The angels did nothing as our countrymen died in a war they could have helped stop." She declared voice sharp. "We barely pulled through the last war and now when another appears you expect us to assist them? Why must we waste material that we barely have! Trying to enter this now will bring us the ire of the demons. We can not afford to have another war." She gestured to the crowd around her. "The Senate has already made their decision. Pull back your troubles or we will need to take action in containing this mess."

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He turned as she spoke up, looking directly towards her. It figured it had to be a military person, and especially her. The Star of the Human Army. The price everyone wanted, the one person who always showed her face to help the morale. But never lifted a finger. The closest she'd gotten to a warzone was almost a mile deep in a lake.

"You of all people shouldn't be one to talk. You present your pretty face all over the place, you're always telling people to fight for their homes. Let me ask you this, missy, what do you call someone who sits by and lets another man be murdered? Don't bother answering, wouldn't want you to break a sweat thinking about that one. It's called a coward, sometimes, even a traitor." The hall got rowdy again upon him uttering the word traitor. Regardless, he continued.

"They didn't step in because that was their council's decision. But there were Angels with us at the front. Mara was there with us, at the front. Fighting with us. And there were more. You actually say, that you would rather hold a grudge over those that told the whole Angel race to stand down, which leads to acutally innocents dying. Even knowing that we do have the resources and manpower to step in. You know what I call someone like that? A monster. Because their pride weighs more than the lives at stake."

He looked straight into her eyes, looking how the message hit her. He always had been good with words. In another age, he could've been a killer lawyer, but now, he was here to defend the honor of the Alliance, and preach their cause, and by god, prevent a civil war from starting.

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Tiara anger spiked before she squashed it with her training. It would not do for her to lose her temper, especially before the council. Acting like a child would only bring doubt on one's character and thus loss of support. She had played the political game far too long to know this, and her opponent knew the game just as well. Attacking at her trying to drag out a emotional response instead of a logical one. Cleaver but she could play this game too.

"Do you think I wanted to stay on the home front?" She bite back icily. It was well known that she had attempted to get to front lines via an aircraft and would have arrived if not for the unfortunate attack. She had survived along with a few others. Her popularity had spiked then, claiming that their angel could never die. To her disappointment that basically cemented her by her father's side for the remainder of the war.

"Because my options were limited I did what I could. I appealed to the masses to help defend their homes and land. I appeared at rallies to raise moral. I wanted to join the front lines but I because I could not I did everything I could to help from where I was." She took a breath and continued. "I do not deny that there were angels on the front lines and I thank them for it. However that does not change the fact that our country is still recovering from the war. Any material we have should be put forward to recovering not war."

"As I stated before, if the demons turn their attention back on us we will not be in a position to survive much less fight back. Will you doom the live of innocent men and woman just to attempt war to help our so called 'allies?'" She stopped here waiting for her opponents response.

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He opened his arms, presenting Tiara to the Senate."And this, is our fearless symbol of hope and trust in our leadership. She urges us to fight for our homes, for our right to exist. But now it's the Angels that need our help. And despite the fact that they refused to act, there are Angels out there, dying this very minute." He turned directly to Tiara, his eyes betraying that he had her in a position he wanted her.

"You claim we have no resources, yet several of our major corporations contracted each other and together built this droid army which is already proving effective. Your point is void, we have the resources, that much is apparent. Secondly, was it not by the decisions of our own Navy, that we lost a Dreadnought in Urlen?" His question was met with a small silence that he broke himself when he invited someone into the Senate. "I'd like you all to meet Naomi Ishu. She's a survivor of Urlen and told me of the day the city fell. Please, tell them what you told me."

He left her the central stage, the woman clad in tattered robes and vestments unsure what to say. After another nudge from the man, she spoke, to him directly, as that was more comfortable to her but loud enough for the whole Senate to hear. "We were outside, performing our marriage rituals. The strongest would match to the strongest, and the weakest to the weakest, it's. It's our tradition. But the first round hadn't even been finished before we heard the roaring thunder of engines. We were warned of the threat, but never thought it actually would come to us." A small break followed, as she collected herself again. Clearly, the story brought back memories she preferred remained buried.

"The battle that followed was gruesome. In the air, I saw our fleet getting control and winning, but on the ground it looked different. We weren't even prepared for a battle, only a third of us even got their hands on weapons, and the Army came way too late. By the time they had men in the fight most of our people were dead or dying. The Navy saw this as a loss, and to... to hit the Demons, they evacuated their lead ship and just. Just dropped it on us. They dropped, a bloody ship on their own people!" The last sentence came out half distorted by her emotions, tears in her eyes and rage on her face. The man walked to her, patting her on her shoulder letting her know it was ok, before letting her go back to the antechamber.

"And this is a decision of our Navy. But, the Navy doesn't throw its resources away with that careless nature that was displayed in Urlen. No, that came directly from the Senate. So, miss Tiara, if I may ask. Is that a Senate you wish to follow? Is that leadership?"

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A sad story, but Tiara was hardly moved. Was this suppose to be a joke? There were hundreds if not thousands of people who had suffered in the demon attack on Arakai. Did he want her to drag every survivor to the stand and repeat their trauma? No, this man was clinging to emotions that had not place in the room. She was not in charge of the Senate nor the Navy and yet he was accusing her of the battleship falling? What idiocy.

"I would ask you to stop twisting my words." Tiara replied pointedly. "Or are you so deaf that you can't hear them? I did not say we were out of materials, I said that we should place all materials we had into rebuilding instead of another war." Murmurs rose from the crowd in agreement. "Further more while I am sorry for the loss of Miss Ishu, there hundreds of families affect by the war. Most notable Arakai which was attacked by the demon forces. They have also lost their entire livelihoods due to war. Let me ask you. If we asked the people or Miss Ishu whether we should go to war, I am confident they would stand against it."

Tiara looked to the man with a fierce gaze. "We are the senate and we stand for people. Instead of drones and tools for war, we should funnel our efforts to rebuilding our towns and our lives. Putting resources to another war we do not support is a foolish move that will only end in our destruction."

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He looked at her for a moment, amazed that she completely missed the point of what he had revealed. "I'm sorry but, you just ignored the fact that our own navy, our own military, intentionally dropped and blew up a Dreadnought on top of a town that they failed to properly defend. And you have the guts to say that there are people like her? You have the gall to stand there and tell her that it's ok, to murder your own people, because others suffered just like they did? Here's a newflash honeybunch, nobody suffered like they did. Urlen is gone. It's a ruin. A wasteland. Arakai still stands, it's bruised and broken but it stands."

He turned away from her shaking his head in disbelief. With a sigh he looked back at her. "The Senate stands for its people. You're right. But it's obvious that there's a significant amount of people willing to help the Angels. What use will it be if we rebuild our towns. Repair our shops. Replant our gardens, if we know that the price for having our lives back, is in the blood paid by the Angels. And who is to say that after the Demons are done with the Angels they won't turn back to us. They are occupied now with trying to hold down the Angels, and if we want a fighting chance, at all, now is the time." He again shook his head.

The Senate hall had gone perfectly silent. This was clearly no longer a discussion in which actual Senators were involved, but a direct battle between Tiara and the Alliance representative. The 4 battle droids still stood in a box around the man, in case any of the senators would be crazy enough to launch themselves at him. He knew that the Senate had already given orders to lock everything down, this building and the Gateways. Barricades everywhere. But he also knew they would do whatever they could to avoid war. The only problem they had, was that no matter how they looked at things, it'll always result in war. Either against the Demons, or against the Alliance.

"You said, why must we waste what material we barely have. Yes, you said we were out of material, or at least close to. So I'm not twisting anything. On top of that, you deem the human deaths and destruction of Urlen at the hands of our own navy as a perfectly normal event, just because 'it's war', and many others in this war suffered the same way. And now, with our neightbors at each others throats, you want to rebuild, while people are being eradicated out there. I'm sorry, Tiara, but I can no longer take you seriously if you are so irresponsible and ignorant to what's going on around us. The war has already started. You cannot walk away from it anymore. So stop hiding from what's so very obvious and make a difference. If we show the Angels mercy and kindness, and honor, the worst that can happen is that they ignore it. But we still fight for what we believe in. Life. And I'll bet you that any man in our military would gladly put their lives on the line to fight those Demons and show them that they cannot just walk in and destroy the house of someone else after they tried it with us."

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Tiara sighed unable to comprehend the man before her. It was if she was talking to child who had grabbed several random strings of details and decided that wrapping them together would create a coherent argument. He declared that the Urlen incident was a cause for war? Such a tragic loss of life due to a foolish man’s decision was somehow proof that they had material to spare? The dropping of an airship meant that they were ready to fight the demon army again? Yet he had the gall to call her irresponsible and ignorant. However, Tiara kept her temper down and began.

"The destruction of Urlen was horrific. I did not deny your claim nor did I ignore it. The man who ordered that inhuman act against our people was punished for his deeds. However, a single man’s decision should not be a cause to look down on the entire Senate nor the Navy. We did not choose to crash an entire ship to kill our own citizens. There were also several officers aboard the ship that tried to stop the order from being passed down.” Tiara’s fist clenched at her side.

“Furthermore, how does this horrible incident justify going to war? The tragic loss of human life that happened on that day was in excusable. Yet, you want to send out more to the slaughter? Why are the lives of the rest of our citizens worth so much less than the men and women of Urlen? I agree that the people of Urlen have suffered, but why must the remaining citizens be forced to suffer as well?”

“I agree that majority of our citizens would go to war if we ordered it. Forcing them to take arms again after such an exhausting and vicious war. However, I firmly disagree that they would do so of their own volition. I watched as families were reduced to tears as their fathers and sons went to battle. How woman sobbed over the bodies of their fallen family. I doubt anyone else wants to feel such pain.” Here Tiara’s look shot daggers into the man’s eyes.

“Yet you say that a significant amount of people will be willing to help the race that refused to lift a finger in our time of need? If we went to war moral would be terribly low. In addition, food and supplies would be nearly nonexistent due to the damage to fields and ports. How can you justify war when our infrastructure is nearly in shambles!?”

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He pointe dhis finger at her a couple time, as if giving her a talking to for having stolen a cookie. "Exactly what I mean. One mans decision should not affect the fate of his entire people. But earlier, you said exactly that about the Angels. Their leadership refused to help us, and now we punish all Angels for what their leaders said. You essentially say that if it's good for us, we cannot blame the people for the decision of their leader, but if it's a bad time, such as now, suddenly the Angels are all gonna be left to die because their leaders decided not to help us."

"But, you're right. That accident doesn't justify us going to war. In fact, it only shows us how incompitent our own navy and military is. Which begs the question, who's fault is it that the last war was so devastating for us? In fact, it was majorly the simple fact that the Demons were incompetent, that won us the fights, rather than us being so good. Now, you have an army that's quite literally programmed for combat. And you sweep it away. In fact, some of these Senators even discussed detaining all who are involved with the Alliance. Now if I were to walk in here and hear all of this, I would really doubt whether this Senate, even this Republic we have, even works. And that brings me to another very serious point."

He couldn't get enough of this. He had her pinned down, and the Senate just as well. The Senate had made gross errors, and Tiara was just a puppet used by them to make them look good. "Now to your last point. The morale. If you send people to free the people that left us for dead, yeah, you'll have a morale that's lower than sea level. But as a propaganda tool, especially you should know that for morale, it's sometimes essential to lie. Don't tell them they abandoned us at our hour of need. Tell them that their leadership abandoned us, and now their people pay the price. Appeal to the good heart of our people. And you'll find that most of our actually competent military will volunteer. And we don't even need them to begin with. You have an army at the ready, you have the tools, you have the opportunity. The only thing that's holding you back is the grudge you have against their leaders that's making you stand by and watch people die."

He let the arguments sink in for a couple seconds, then continued. "I had a friend once. Feathered friend, back in the Monster World, he was just a kid. A man had just killed another man over some petty fruit or something. They cuffed the murderer, and threw him into a lake. The family of the victim then had a choice. They could let the man drown and forever live in grief and sorrow, or they could save the man, and move on. If you let the man drown, you'll carry that with you your entire life. If you save him, you'll have grown above petty revenge. Right now, this entire Senate, and you, are letting the Angels drown, simply because their leaders didn't want to get involved. We have the means. We have the insertion. We are there. And your petty hurt pride is the only thing standing in the way."

The Senate broke up in an uproar, senators yelling at the man, some even calling in security to arrest or even execute him. The guard droids instantly went from calm to alert, their weapons ready for anyone that would try to harm their master. It was clear that no compromise was gonna be found today, and maybe not ever. Instead of the diplomatic discussion, this had turned into a full shaming of the Senate, and their star, Tiara, with it.

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Tiara quickly raised her hand quieting the senate instantly. She eyed the droids warily, well aware of the damage they could inflict. She had armor, but more than a couple of shot from those guns and she would feeling the consequences. Once she had measured the machines effectiveness, she returned her stony glare to the other man.

"You claim this is about wounded pride and childish grudges? No, clearly you missed the facts I have been laying before you. Ignoring the fact that you want to lie to the populous, you dismissed the fact that we have no food and rations for our troops." Tiara shook her head at the man's arrogance. "We could lie to the people and raise moral but they would starve on the front lines. Don't pretend we are ready for war when we can't feed our own soldiers."

"On top of that you called our Navy and Military incompetent, once again judging it on the fact of a single act. yes some of the military leader could be replaced for better army. However training said officers will take time. Furthermore, the demons are no fools. If they were as feeble minded as you say, they would still be attacking us as we speak, dying in hordes trying to win. However they retreated and built strength. We don't know their army's size nor strength and yet you want to blindly attack them."

"You brought up an example of us being the watchers as the angels drowned. I think it is a fitting example. We are bruised and beaten after the war. We could barely keep our heads afloat in a sea of war. However if we were to swim out and try and save the angels, we would drown ourselves. You claim we have the means to fight and yet you couldn't be further from the truth."

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"Are you blind? I laid it out for you on a silver platter several times already, we have. A functional. Droid. Army. It's out there, right now, ready to fight, if not fighting already. And please, we both know we're not gonna send the people in there to fight. We have rations in the barracks. Move the troops, and you move the rations, it's that simple. And even if we somehow lack them, the Angel world also provides food, water and nourishment. Rebel cells can aid us with support. You're making a bigger fool of yourself here than the Senate is."

He turned around for a couple seconds, unable to believe what he heard, before turning back to her again. "We have the rations. Otherwise our people would be starving right now. I'd rather they starve fighting for honor and the greater good, than have them starve while cowering in fear. And, yeah, the Demons left. Incompetent doesn't mean the same as stupid, we both saw their tactics were flawed. It was only after their defeat at Centauri that they started to get a coherent organisation. Like their terrible leader got himself killed and the brains got control. So don't try to pin this down like I'm making the Demons out to be some braindead zombies that mindlessly march to their deaths. You know better than that."

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If we aren't sending human then why in the world did he bring up lying to them to boost moral? Tiara thought. Why did he say that the country men would be willing die on the front lines, when he never intended on sending them? No this argument had come full circle and yet the man still argued trying to get to a point that wasn't there.

"Then you can confirm that your droid army can beat the demons back with no repercussions to our world? The demons already despise us. If we intervene then they will send their armies back to us en mass." Tiara shook her head. "And we certainly aren't ready for that."

"You claim that we have the ration and we certainly have rations for the struggling economy. With a good 65% of our fields destroyed we are digging heavily into our food reserves just to make up the deficit. However if war comes again we will have widespread starvation. Unlike your precious machines a starving man can barely walk much less fight. You also claim that the angels will help us will help us with supplies? That rebel cells will aid us in our need? Please stop joking. They didn't support us when they had the materials, and they certainly won't when they don't have materials to spare."

"I certainly hope you have meet with these rebels and are not simply assuming that they will give us their aid and materials."

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"For the love of god please tell me you're smarter than this in the commercials. Haven't I said it explicitely enough, even by your own example that the Angels did not stand by looking at us willingly but that, like our little dreadnought adventure, their leadership decided for them? Which shows by the fact that there were most definitely Angels supporting our cause. Yes, there are rebel cells in the Angel World, in fact we've established contact with one, though they're holed up in the far mountains. We cannot get to them yet."

"And no, I cannot confirm that our army can beat the Demons back but you're an adult. Think, do the math. We have our own army, the men and women that defended our homes against their invasion. On top of that, we now have the droid army that's giving their invasion force out there a hell of a hard time. That's a two front war if they decide to invade us again. They could not muster the manpower to reinforce their position in our world, so what makes you think they have the ability to fight a two front war in two different worlds, and defend their own home from invasion? Do you know anything about war?"

The man had clearly gotten aggrevated. He wasn't sure whether Tiara was just a dumb puppet with no brain acting as if she knew what was going on and trying to be the people's hero, or whether she was just screwing around with him. Either way if she didn't get serious soon, this would be over very quick, and the Alliance may very well secceed from the Human Republic and form their own country in the South. He'd planned ahead, in case it would come to that, and they would without any problem be able to take most of the southern checkpoints and bases, and their army could easily salvage Cynabal. Droid weren't bothered by radiation, after all.

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"BUT!" Tiara began again however she was cut off.

"That's quite enough Miss Dunaine." A senator called out stopping her mid-sentence. She looked back to the man in confusion as he roughly pushed her aside to talk to man surround by droids. "We have heard quite enough of your mindless arguments. We, the senate, have already declared that we will not join the angels in there war. They abandoned us when we needed them thus we have no need to help them in return. If you continue to help them you will be declared a traitor of the state and we will take action. We are done here, please leave." A moment passed before the man turned and left the room his droids following behind him. Tiara breathed a sigh of relief. Finally it was over.

"As for you young woman." Confusion bloomed in Tiara chest as the man turned to her. "What was with that pathetic display you put on. You acted like a child and made us look like fools!" Tiara winced at the man's accusation. "It is clear to me that all this power has gone to your head. You think you know what is best for this country but you are a naive doll in a glass case."

"I was trying-" She started but was cut off again.

"Enough! Just because your father is a senator does not mean you can act like one yourself. You are not only a disgrace to your father but a disgrace to the senate. Get out or we will call security to escort you." With that the men all turned and funneled out of the room leaving her along. She had tried to defend their honor but instead ruined it. She clenched her fist, thinking back to the argument wondering where she went wrong. She bit back the tear like her father had taught her. Do not show weakness. Head held high she left the room, even if her insides felt like a storm of confusion and grief.