A Trial To Shake The Country
In the night of the 4th day, Fox was invited to dinner by Luis. The reason was simple, he had to go and meet the Supreme Court Justice’s Supreme Justice Minister. Another political ‘date’.
Fox arrived there on time, a restaurant of a rather good reputation, but more towards a wealthy environment, although it lacked some richness of even just nature or warmth. Regardless, there was some selectively poor lighting, so this should be a rather secretive meeting.
Fox saw Luis and walked to him, with the Supreme Justice Minister’s back facing him. Luis raised his hand, smiling at Fox in a greeting. Vanessa Valyer straightened her already straight back and sat up, which she also already was.
Fox walked around and sat on the Supreme Justice Minister’s right, on Luis’s left, looking at the President first before looking at her. “Vanessa Valyer, we are meeting again.”
“Fox, it’s good to see you’ve been doing well. I see you’re already working with your new funding. I didn’t expect such a move, and with such quality. I hope it goes well.” Vanessa Valyer nodded and raised a glass with water before drinking it. Fox nodded, looking at Luis to say, “What are we eating? I have been busy lately, and haven’t gotten anything.”
“Ask as much as you want, it’s on me.” Luis nodded and unhesitatingly gestured, pointing at the menu on Fox’s table. Fox looked at it while Luis and Vanessa exchanged glanced, silent and thoughtful.
“Have you…” The silence was broken by Fox, who was unflustered and unaffected to the awkwardness and seriousness in the table. They looked at him, with Fox concluding his words looking at the menu, “Spoke already? Thought about something? You have such long faces even though this is not our first time meeting. Oh! They have oranges?”
“Natural ones, I checked.” Despite being embarrassed as much as Luis is, hearing Fox’s last comment, Vanessa looked at Fox and expressed. Fox lifted his face, rising his eyebrows.
“We… are meeting here because she knows I know she’s assaulting me tomorrow. Fox, this is… just a small meeting.” Luis said with his hands in his pockets. Fox changed his glance to him. Luis continued, “We have to see what we’ll do, regardless of who wins, to keep the country at bay, so it won’t end in a tragedy… or inviting the uninvited.”
“Because no one wants Lýmoca to become Terka, mhm. And because both leaders of these 2 blocks don’t want anything to turn Lýmoca into a reason, an initiative for another. Then, I think this is obvious— how it can be dealt with.” Said Fox, lowering his menu.
“…” - “…” Vanessa and Luis looked at Fox. Vanessa lifted her left eyebrow a bit. Luis, on the other hand, looked at Fox with rapt attention. This was a new sight of Fox, and he didn’t know if he gave Fox a good maturing path, or a too-strong one.
“What do you propose?” Vanessa spoke first, although Luis didn’t need to. Fox knew he had Luis’s backing at all times. Fox nodded politely at her, leaning his body a bit forth, “Whoever wins has the right to speak, and the loser will have to listen. No matter what.”
“Is that appropriate?” Vanessa frowned, but it was Luis who spoke, relaxed and calm in his seat. Fox kept looking at Vanessa as he replied, “Mhm. Both have their confidence, but this should not put one of the 2 branches, powers of the nation, in jeopardy, but back it up and armor it against the possible… foreign hands. No matter the cost, Lýmoca is first. Regardless of personal profit.”
“Hmm…” Vanessa slowly nodded, seeming to think about it, when a waiter arrived. He looked at Fox first after giving President Luis Heartez a long look from afar, gulping down as he grew a bit nervous, “What would you, sirs and madam, desire to dinner?”
Luis and Vanessa asked first, with the waiter aware of who would be here, only not knowing Fox would also attend this essential meeting for the country. Fox looked at the waiter and asked, “I want 2 orders of this steak dish, 4 glasses of juices and water, 1… 6 of these desserts, 5 for take-outs, and 4 soups of this style. Oh, give me a bag, no, 2 kilos of oranges.”
Fox showed the menu and pointed at different things, not bothering with the names and property of ordering in such a place like this one. The waiter cocked his head a bit, which Fox ignored, and politely bowed, “I will bring your food right away, sirs and madams.”
“Oh, could you bring the…” Vanessa stopped him, looking at Fox with a side eye before whispering in the waiter’s ear after making him bow more towards her. “Surprise I asked to prepare last month? It should be prepared as intended, and as a take-out, as I instructed.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The waiter nodded and looked at Fox fleetingly before walking away. Vanessa then looked at Fox with her azure eyes falling on him, fully open, like expecting some sort of interest from him. Fox just looked at the menu and moved his cheeks in and out between his teeth.
Waiting for another 2 minutes with another silence, the waiter returned with drinks for everyone in the table, but for Fox, he brought an entire pot with hot chocolate. Fox looked at it with shining, polycoria eyes. Seeing this, Vanessa further widened open her eyes, glowing more than Fox’s as the waiter placed a base and then the pot on top. Fox grabbed the glass for hot chocolate and drank up before the waiter retreated.
Fox drank twice before looking at Luis, “Want some?”
“S-sure,” Luis looked at the hot chocolate in the pot, after seeing Fox drink twice like it was water and thirsting for days before nodding, letting go of his status.
“And you, Vanessa?” Fox then looked at Vanessa Valyer and asked, lifting his glass a bit. Vanessa gently shook her head, blinking her eyes in a rather slower than slow manner. “You enjoy it. I don’t really like sweets.”
“What do you like more?” Fox nodded and asked. Vanessa blinked, a bit speechless, before responding after a few seconds of consideration. “Quite… typical things. Not really as… niche as some might think I am, or do things. It’s a bit embarrassing to say.”
“I see, that is quite normal. Since… siigh, we are all Lýmoca, then there is no need to think too much about it. All we have to do, in the end, is work together. Am I wrong?” Fox drank another glass of hot chocolate while Vanessa spoke before saying those words.
“Maybe I’ll need some more convincing. How about we… eat as we march?” Vanessa, lowered her eyes before looking at Luis, her eyes showing a glint of craftiness, but also shuddering with a new light. Maybe a new turn of conviction.
‘Did… Are Lesly’s efforts proving fruitful?’ Luis frowned, looking at the Supreme Justice Minister’s eyes back. Meanwhile, Fox nodded before exclaiming, already going for the fourth, “Wah! This chocolate is so good. How is it this good?”
“Actually, it is from a source that is difficult to get. It is usually planted in Lýmoca’s Lymaospasó, but some exit their cultivation stage earlier, no secondary effects. They must have gotten some difficult time to obtain it. They must‘ve really spend quite some connections’ favors and money.”
“Hm,” Fox smiled and narrowed his eyes. “Then, it shouldn’t be wasted.”
“There is more in the back, so drink as much as you need, I could drink these instead.” Vanessa nodded before taking some of his drinks, which she drank right away. Fox shrugged, serving himself the fifth hot chocolate, while Luis closed his eyes, flavoring his.
. . .
Hours passed…
In the 4th day's night, when the governors and mayors of Lýmoca's states and municipalities were shown into light, the counting for the presidency ended. Luis ended with that 79.1%, with the backing of more than 280 million people's choice. In a first, most of Lýmoca's states became governed by the National Front political party, of which only a couple remained in the opposition. For this matter, only NSH gained 2 states, while NF 'won' Preut state.
Regardless, the night of the 4th day to the morning of the 5th was silent. Even in the presidential precinct, of which President Luis remained there, showing his confidence, celebrated with silence with his new cabinet. Esmeralda was there, joyous to see her father triumph yet again.
The opposition went silent, nobody congratulating Luis, which happened even in the past, first consecutive term he had. Now, nobody seemed alive from their part, with their social media only showing some last words of dictatorship and bla bla bla a few hours ago before going silent.
The world was also moving to see Lýmoca’s election day finally end; the ‘last’ election day in the year. The first to voice their thoughts, of course, were Zyckevele and Knight Assembly Association. However, there were a few others who were fast to congratulate President Luis after some Moonblue southern countries that have always had incredible relations with Lýmoca.
Safe Haven City, Iztos, Merula, Xeoxia, and the EPA Commonwealth showed their ‘joy’ of the President’s second consecutive term, with the first 12 years of Luis’s presidency showing great results. Furthermore, nobody really doubted the results. After all, the first war was ‘burst’ and won in his second term’s last year, in just 3 months.
Regardless, the morning of the 5th day came, and just as the cabinet was preparing to give guidance to the next members, and the old governors were to give the mantle to the new ones, as well as the mayors…
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
The morning was further welcomed by the Supreme Court Justice’s notice, resuming the trial that was once stopped due to the Ters-Ly War. Since the war was over, and the elections as well, the trial would thus follow.
The entire country felt aghast, more or less. Their vote had been valid, and they had marched, but there was still the Supreme Court Justice. What could they do? Everyone was tired, and they wanted to bring their families, themselves, back home and resume their work.
Fortunately, there was no calling of their President, whom they now accepted, and quite exposed their desire to let him keep working for them. Instead, President Luis Heartez made a quick video an hour before showing at the entrance of the SCJ building.
In it, he talked to anyone who was watching, Ly or foreigner. It was short, but as he spoke, the camera zoomed out, with his cabinet showing more, and his image being slightly lost in the shot, but he was still there. He simply asked the people to remain calm and confident.
… In the SCJ building, the supreme courtroom had been prepared for a week already. Every public servant was readied, with the private guards hired to protect the building looking at Luis with serious eyes. Some wanted to salute, but they didn’t dare.
Luis walked to the courtroom from the entrance outside, giving some people and all the news reporters a glance of his visage before going in. His steps were calm, his expressions taciturn. But it made the other guards forming 2 lines before him, and the public servants waiting and watching, look at him with curious, somewhat complicated emotions.
He walked with Roam on his right, and Lesly and Butler on his left. Entering the unnecessarily long gates, somewhat goldish, Luis went in without any momentum. He stepped through the gates and looked slightly down, accommodating his semi-empowered nuclear suit.
Everyone was there. The stands this time were a bit more circular, with a center in the middle, close to the glass walls, with a worse-looking podium than the one for the accused.
Luis silently went to the podium, looking at his left, where the people on his heart sat and looked at him. The cameras were rolling, and the right looked at him like a piece of meat whereas every thinkable beast stood on his right, which had become carnivorous and he was the last, remaining piece of juicy meat in existence.
Luis looked first at Fox, who sat there, with other Bloods positioned for any thinkable possibility. After the war’s secret world battle, there were all sorts of security measures for the cabinet, more than before, when the lagjs and organized crime were still something.
Furthermore, it wasn’t like PSD didn’t detect any issues in the President’s security during the Terkan war, be it intelligence theft or threats to his and others’ well-being.
Then, Luis looked at Lesly, who made him grow calm, his restlessness leaving his body. Then, Luis looked at Esmeralda, who sat there, beside Lesly, looking at him with a strict, serious expression. She looked as beautiful as ever.
“I thus declare the adjourning of this session, this supreme trial will be reinstituted, and the crimes of the President Luis Heartez will be added, but his charges will remain equal.” Vanessa Valyer looked at some more papers before declaring at the courtroom.
The Supreme Court Ministers’ seats were a little closer to each other so everyone was now behind Vanessa, behind the opening from the glass walls to be seen by everyone at the same time they are looking at her. Furthermore, there was a lower step, where Vanessa’s seat was, letting 2 seats behind her become visible, at least from their faces.
Their ‘servants’ were no longer folding their legs and sitting on them on the floor, but on a chair. While the Supreme Court Ministers’ seats were more practical and less showy, they were still a bit tall, but their attendants now had chairs to sit on, and wore more formal clothing. Instead of those representing servitude that didn’t even belong to the Lýlaco Empire once upon a time.
On the other hand, the Supreme Justice Minister’s seat was much shorter than theirs, let alone her previous seat. The attendants around her had their chairs, a small footstool below their feet, cushions for convenience, and a small side-table at their ribs’ level.
It was a small, aesthetical change, but it meant a lot, especially coming from the Supreme Justice Minister, Vanessa Valyer.
Everyone drew their attention to the Supreme Justice Minister, looking at Vanessa, not noticing the change in the Supreme Ministers’ stands. Vanessa nodded before lightly tapping her desktop.
“I will now name the same clauses I did when the trial was first held,” Vanessa nodded at everyone before standing up. She grabbed her documents before letting them down on her desk, looking at President Luis Heartez, who looked back up at her with serenity.
“The accused has 5 charges, all against the Humane Key, and his role to protect the people of Lýmoca. The first charge— you have failed the people of Lýmoca to protect them from daily criminal activity due to connections with the organized crime and their profit, shared to you for personal benefit.
The second charge, you have failed to differentiate between civil security and military intervention between your own country, dragging its destruction as a result. This resulted in tremendous collateral damages, which only the civilians in the country pay for.”
“The third charge— you have deliberately ordered the massacres, and allowed more massacring to occur within the people of Lýmoca, sacrificing many lives for unknown reasons. First at a district in Proteros City, then in the entire country. Hence, this is a hegemony, tyrannic act, which is unacceptable.”
“The fourth charge— you have protected and still offer protection to one of the responsible ones for causing these massacres. You refuse to disclose these people information, and their delicate and detailed information despite the screams and wails from your people.”
“The fifth charge— you have raised a hand to the humane, violating the intellectual privacy and social standards of the people, making them worry, fret for their business, fear for their lives, and bring an incredible state where the incoming entering Lýmoca are reduced in the greatest score in hundreds of years. This, as a mean to encourage the support you would be shown for falsely accusing those being massacred, shoving this guilt to them instead of you, for also monetary prices. Hence, you are also suspect of wasting the supplies that might’ve saved Preut in its most intense state of war.”
Vanessa sat back down, grabbing a small bottle of water and drinking it after talking. She cleared her throat and looked at her left and right to the stands, while everyone waited. “Now, I will listen to one of the senators who have moved me with her clear words.”
“Words that have spoken of things that have been kept away from the public due to fear and the incertitude of the government’s new powers, as well as their ultra militarization that now threatens the country.” Vanessa declared before pointing to the left at a fat woman.
A brown woman, tall, with nice-looking black eyes and hair stood up from her booth. She seemed to say something, but nothing was heard. Nobody from the right reacted and looked at her, clapping until Vanessa Valyer spoke up with her glass microphone. “Miss Senator Ol’ Pak, you must walk to the podium. There is a podium there for you to speak, please make use of it.”
The woman stopped before looking at the podium in the middle in front of the stands. She smiled, narrowing her eyes as thin as possible before walking down with a humorous, ‘oops’ attitude to the podium.
Meanwhile, in the left, some people discussed, including Armando Peña, whose wife, Yue, wasn’t here due to having a belly to take care of. He stood up and walked to the podium before senator Ol’ Pak noticed her voice was mute.
Armando banged the glass a bit, but Vanessa Valyer looked at him and pushed down with her hand, gesturing him to ease up. Of course, this also meant another thing, one that wasn’t there before: ‘you can’t talk unless I want you to, or let you’.
“As I was saying…” The senator touched the podium left and right, up and down a bit, before finding how to turn it on while Armando returned to his seat frustrated. The senator stopped before rearranging her words after showing a distracted visage. “Thank you so much for your permission, Supreme Justice.”
She faced the center and the left stands before speaking, “The doings of the president are out there for all to see. You think he wanted this war? He wanted to give up day 0! You believe it was him who prepared the army to fight the Terkan forces, but it wasn’t his government but us who prepared the project to bring forth this advancement of technology to the army.”
“Only long years can give rise to this type of rejuvenation… like those of several terms— this president has nothing to do with the protection of this country!” She added with a frown.
“Don’t you understand it? It’s the soldiers who died, those tens of thousands, who won the war, not just one person! Stop believing his words! You don’t understand he’s brainwashing you, and he hopes to govern this country like he is our country. We don’t have nobility here! The high class won’t allow it! Never! Nor the middle class!!”
“His ‘National Front’ is a copy of our National Scholars of Honor party, only weaker, and worse off than the Lýmoca’s Vanguard party. Even then, they cannot compare and can only rely on the votes of the majority to win. This is a sign of weakness and guilt!”
“Guilt because they know they cannot be right, because their ideals are wrongdoing Lýmoca, against the Lys. And once the tip of the blade they’ve sharpened to misuse learns they have been used against those they are to protect with their lives, be it they starve, dehydrate, don’t sleep, or are injured but still in the job— they will rebel against the authoritarianism!”
“There’s also that Phesx Caolia! Fox, as most of you call him, because he wants you to forget he comes from Preut!” Ol’ Pak’s words made Vanessa’s eyebrows frown a bit, just a bit… She flung her arms strongly towards Fox before lowering her voice, growing tired of doing just this little bit of movement.
“Or is he?” Her lower voice caused the Supreme Court Ministers to discuss in low volume, while Vanessa narrowed her eyes with her hands rubbing together behind the left side of her jaw. Ol’ Pak carried on, “We know he was in Preut’s Disastrous War, but how do we know he is from Preut? What if he’s from Dawn or Twilight? Wouldn’t this mean and expose the president’s connections with those people from the east? This is a clear sign that the country is being misled! Fox’s origins are unknown, and something like this shouldn’t be overlooked!”
“He killed 3 heads of states in Preut, what was his answer to this? Just because he could!” Ol’ Pak became a bit flustered, clearly engrossed. “What did he do this year, just a few months ago at most? He killed the Terkan president! Innocent for his supposed crimes, and the president even put the cabinet general in a ‘temporary’ head of state position. But this is just a puppet!”
“The Terkan army acted again Lýmoca, not its government, and yet, the Lýmocan government used this to abuse a justification. Now, there is this!?” Ol’ Pak looked around, donning slightly furrowed eyebrows, before returning to look at Luis, who never turned his head to her.
“You are also suspect of Linda Zebel’s murder.”
Clamor clamor clamor!
The supreme courtroom became wild, but only the left reacted to it, while the right seemed to grow furious instead, as if they were finally contented to see the truth coming out to light.
…