The Unthinkable
Some time later that day, at Cors. Afternoon. Capital city's central governmental building.
After a few hours of preparation, the southern countries' presidents and Lýmoca's President reunited. They only had to clear their schedules, placing a lot of importance on this sudden, almost emergency meeting. After all, they all wanted the same thing, and Lýmoca obviously had plans to be recognized internationally. So, it wouldn't end there, with just a meeting and 'wait and see' attitude to see how the rest of the world reacted.
Unlike other countries, especially in ANS’s case, whenever they wanted to let their president visit elsewhere, they didn’t have to employ months of preparation. Cors had used formal and neutral decorations, but their attitude was cordial and respectful, something more than telling.
The meeting would take place this afternoon, and if things went well, then they might extend for as long as necessary until every party has reached what they wanted the most. Every country must be heard, and they will decide if everything’s correct. That’s the purpose of the meeting.
In a rather regular-sized, well-decorated yet humble and decent room. The presidents sat around a small but tall table, shaking hands with each other before flashing polite smiles and a few words before sitting down.
There wasn’t much idle chatter, except those from the island countries, Endesa, and Carnge, who talked a little with Luis. Even when their new presidents took office a couple of years ago, he was already acquainted with them.
After all, it was no hidden information that political parties have been positive towards Lýmoca in their countries since the establishment of such nations. One might argue it was intervention, and might be right, but the opposing parties to these were also in great terms with Lýmoca.
It wasn’t surprising that Luis knew them, more so with each president in those 4 nations with extremely good relations with Lýmoca mentoring the next, and so on. While the ‘objective’ of a reunification was only with the current political parties, the ‘other side’ never intended to divide or regulate such happenings when they won. All in all, Luis Heartez’s dream to peacefully integrate other countries, as impossible as it is, wasn’t out of his world’s scope after all.
Sitting down, they looked at each other and prepared their documents. Argopolas and Melenon’s presidents were present, calm, and confident. Likewise, the current senior minister of Terka and the person with most and largest voice from throughout Terka’s communities was also present.
They were here together, sharing 2 chairs and in the middle of President Luis and president Bernando P.; it was also quite telling.
Bernando finished arranging his documents before him and turned to look to his right, where Terka’s head of state was, and President Luis just past him. His eyes were narrowed as he formed a slight smirk before turning to look at everyone.
“Now that we’re all here, let’s discuss. This meeting starts now,” Bernando received nods, including Luis. He nodded back in return and continued, “I thank you for coming to my home. Today, we will be talking of everything we should be talking. No more individual calls and simple but too decisive agreements between ourselves; we will really talk now.”
Bernando received nods again. He looked at each before heavily nodding, “Before each single one of us gives out their concerns, we’ll hear from Terka, be it their ‘senior minister’ or this man over here. You both should have a chance to speak up.”
He then looked at Luis, slightly elevating his volume, “Is that alright with you, President Luis?”
Luis nodded, blinking his eyes slowly and gesturing with a gentle demeanor with his right hand. Bernando emotionlessly nodded before looking at the senior minister, who was slightly confused. After a bit, he stuttered a little and asked, “What would y- you like to hear from me?”
“Everything. From your perspective. I will also ask this to the man on your side,” said Bernando, slightly leaning forth on his seat and looking at them. The senior minister nodded. He gathered his thoughts and looked at the edge of the table before opening his mouth, head facing upwards.
“After Fox left Terka’s senior minister position to me, I faced a lot of issues.” He began, but Bernando and Collan’s president questioned, interrupting. “Was it because it wasn’t as good as it was told?” - “Did you find even more corruption than all ANS’s favored nations are plagued with?”
“No, no!” The senior minister twitched a frown before exclaiming. They looked at him, mildly surprised by his reaction. The other presidents, especially those close to Lýmoca, remained silent, letting him take it all by himself.
“There were many, oh, too many…” The senior minister relaxed and cocked his head, remembering his starting days as the head of a subsidiary state. Bernando and some presidents lifted their eyebrows, waiting for the second half of his words. He went, “Too much to work with. There were as many projects as any thriving nation would have it.”
“I was overwhelmed— at first. But the cabinet Fox left behind was… let’s say, somewhat military-disciplined. Not because of a militarization, but they were really concise, straight to the point, helpful when unasked, and, oh… they had quite the attitude.”
“Hmhm.” Some presidents chuckled. Luis directly blew from his nostrils, expecting that from Fox. Of course, he also read the reports’ changing after a few weeks since Fox took that charge from Terka’s lower cabinet.
“Whenever I wanted to do something, I was questioned by my cabinet in a form that implies ‘why would I do that if I haven’t finished the previous works?’. It took me nearly a year before I realized they were actually asking me so they understand more.”
“They weren’t doubting or questioning me, they just wanted more details,” the senior minister shook his head with a thin, wide smile. “After that, I had a smoother workplace, so to speak. Terka has renovated their fearful past. Everything that was destroyed or turned ugly has become a land of people again. We are even creating new places for people to settle in.”
“With the lack of organized crime, it is safe to live anywhere. I can’t tell anything about cities, but while villagers are being formed everywhere, even expanding, towns are also being built by the communities. All they need is some governmental help with resources, which Lýmoca provides.”
The man beside him, slightly old and slender, repeatedly nodded with his eyes closed. Bernando had lifted his chin. He looked at the senior minister before pressing on. “But what about the people’s acceptance? It’s been almost 3 years. Are they as convinced as they were before?”
“They are! Lately, I have started offering guidance to some Ly Ters about the managing of small regions. In Terka, they do not see it as a 3-year period to decide if they return to their old lives with sovereignty guaranteed by Lýmoca or become part of Lýmoca. They see it as a 3-year period before Ters return to take office everywhere!”
“You gotta be kidding us!” Preato’s president exclaimed. The senior minister looked at him but didn’t say anything, just looking at him. Bernando frowned before giving the president a glance. Then, he turned to the senior minister, “Your manner of speech is concise. Do you feel beneath the seat of a president even after more than a year governing Terka?”
“I don’t feel inferior, but I do know my position. It isn’t that I am with Lýmoca. Terka is technically Lýmoca now, be it their people or their reason to exist. It is to live. Each with their own. It’s just that they are put together, no longer just Ly Ters, which has been returned as their identity.”
“…” Bernando slightly dropped his eyelids and looked at the senior minister before briefly glancing at Luis. He lifted his eyebrows before bringing the matter with the senior minister to an end, “That should be enough from you. I don’t want to hear more propaganda for Lýmoca.”
“Hahaha…” The other presidents laughed a bit. Bernando then faced the man beside the senior minister, “Sir, we would like to hear from you now. Whatever you have in your head right now should be what’s really in your heart. Tell us how you see Lýmoca’s actions to Terka.”
“Yes, my name is Sergio. I was selected by the communities of every settlement in my country to speak on behalf of them all. It is not my mind that I’m speaking with, or my heart, but those of all Ly Ters. Be it before Lýmoca integrated us, or the new from other places in this world.”
“First, I’d like to start by rewording your phrase. It isn’t ‘the actions of Lýmoca towards Terka’, but Lýmoca’s honesty shown throughout these few years. It’s not that we believe everything after they’ve helped us. We recognize their attitude towards us.”
“What do you have to say about your population? It has been growing a lot since the First Ters-Ly War, which only your people suffered from.” Preato’s president wouldn’t have it, so he leaned forth on his chair and questioned. The man closed his lips before replying, looking at the president with a pair of bothered eyes.
“I assume you want to know about the birth rate in Terka, but mostly of Ly Ters with Ly Ters, right?” The man worded, to which Bernando and some presidents nodded. He went on, “Just speaking about that, last year, we confirmed from the usual 400-800,000 to 1.2 million.”
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“!” The room was taken aback. Even the 4 nations closest to Lýmoca were surprised, and intrigued. The man looked at everyone with a concealed pride that only Luis recognized before adding, “There are more if you count those of Lys with Ly Ters and from other people receiving the nationalization. But that’s only one part of what we have now.”
“Before, we didn’t have enough attention to medicament, hospitals, and more so police. It was all left alone, as if that would improve by itself. Now, we even have our own national guard. Once that period is over, they would be equipped with light combat helicopters, and we’ll begin establishing the military forces.”
“To us, it isn’t needed to be clarified, but those forces are all of Lýmoca.” The old man looked at Bernando fixedly, “We will never forget where we live— Terka’s land. But that nation was ruled by greed, not even the 3 branches, let alone its people. We are Ly Ters.”
“…” The presidents looked at Sergio, who was serious and looked at them with ease. Bernando took his time breathing in, reclining on his chair, “Mr. Sergio, would you like to stay and hear what all of us have to discuss?”
“That’s what I’m here for. As Terka’s ‘spokesperson’, I need to be here so that anything related to my region can be confirmed. If you’re not conformable with me, then what’s the point of asking anymore?” Sergio replied, nodding and giving Luis a quick glance.
Bernando lifted his hand to cover his face for a bit. At that moment, Preato’s president stood up, looking at Luis. “President Luis, I’d like to ask how do you plan to keep Terka from rebelling once they have amassed enough forces to oppose you. You are giving them your technology, after all.”
The president’s face was challenging, steeled, and demanding for an answer. Luis looked at the president, remaining seated as he answered, “Any question towards me on the process and future endeavors with the rest of the ‘new land’ should be carried out after everyone has spoken.”
“…” Luis looked at everyone after speaking, noticing they were eyeing at him, wordless. He added, “Don’t mistake me. We can also go through all the questioning towards me about this right now. Then, we all speak. This was merely to let you formulate questions whose answer you want to hear and will know if it’s true or not. We came here for truth, instead, no?”
“Fine, then let me start with this. Because, President Luis,” Bernando stood up and commenced, his tone direct to the point. “We are all dissatisfied with your nation trying to take everything from one moment to another, just because you won wars.”
“…” Luis gazed at Bernando, still without standing up or elevating his tone. He didn’t even respond. Bernando nodded at the momentum he built before gazing at the others, “Everyone will word what they think. We might see things we thought weren’t there or were already talked:”
“What do you say?” Bernando nodded upwards. Luis then finally leaned forth a bit, looking at the presidents before falling silent, looking at empty space.
“That isn’t enough,” said Luis before shaking his head and facing Bernando. He gave everyone another glance before standing up, his hands pushing his body up from his knees. Standing up, Luis appeared composed still as he gestured with his right hand like a gentleman.
“If what you want is to talk, then what do I want? It’s simple. Lýmoca taking those territories and being acknowledged by you. All of you. I don’t intend to unify everything in Moonblue except the unmentionable. This did go out of hands, but as shown with Terka’s region, one of the things we want is to join our peoples as one.”
“Don’t say it’s impossible,” Luis continued. “It’s already a fact that many states in one nation, small or big, won’t have even half the similarities between each other when they are far from each other. At least in most cases, and for those nations who didn’t adopt ANS’s governance.”
“I’ll save the rest for later. For now, I also believe every single one of you should not only speak their mind, but also talk about what you want for your country.” Luis gestured around himself to the others, “It’s nothing new that we all know what our people and our predecessors wished for.”
“This might not be Safe Haven City, and it won’t be necessary. This is Moonblue, and we are more than the simple majority of the nations in this supercontinent. Our word matters. Here, we will talk and decide with each other.”
“So, why not invite ANS, too?” Mount Veneta’s president, the second female president besides Meztle Island’s president, Carlotta, questioned.
The room fell silent. Luis turned to her and kept observing in silence before placing his hands in his pockets, “ANS gave arsenal of all types to the south. I’m trying to place well-being in the hands of the territories Lýmoca is now the precedent national authority.”
“But to answer your question, I will never invite any Leaftree people to converse with the south about its future progress. Else, it would turn into ‘its weaponized future’.” Luis concluded before looking at Bernando again. “I only care about the ‘always there’ peoples’ approval.”
“…” Bernando returned the stare, which was a little lost now. Luis had noticed, and of course he did, that it must be ANS who railed Cors, Collan, Preato, and Mount Veneta to doubt Lýmoca.
“I think, since Terka has now spoken, it should be presidents Gustavo and Marco’s turn. I believe this can shorten our meeting for a day.” Luis turned his head to the Valad and Avican presidents. They looked at Luis back and nodded, when Bernando interjected, “But-”
“And then, the territories who have only been discussed, such as Endesa, Carnge, Pyot Island and Meztle Island, can be heard later. They might save us another 2 days altogether. This might only require a week. How about it?” Luis interrupted Bernando, adding.
The room felt lighter, and Bernando relaxed a bit as well. That was doable, because after that, each day, Preato, Collan, Mount Veneta, and Cors would be left to speak their minds without buffering with the other nations close to Lýmoca.
However, now it felt a bit different. Even for those 4 nations, it seemed like it was more intriguing to hear what the pro-Lýmoca nations had to say. Bernando sat back down without speaking another word after nodding in approval.
“Now, please. If you could. I suggest starting with president Gustavo.” Luis gestured to the 2 presidents before sitting down with mild elegance. The Valad president finished accommodating his tie with a crooked smile, embarrassed.
The Avican president nodded, remaining in his seat and spreading his arms a little on the table. The Valad president recomposed a moment later, relaxing in his seat as Gustavo looked left and right, “Ladies and gentlemen, Melenon was immediately faced with a drastic choice…”
***
Late evening, Zyckevele’s southern HQ. Just 250 km from the ‘balloon’ shaped territories the anti-Zyck southern coalition occupied.
Chuf chuf chuf chuf, chuff~. The 10 helicopters and 6 drones flew over, landing with ease and smoothness. The drones remained in the air for half a minute more, with the choppers side gates opening. Special agents came out, some hurrying to the drones as they descended.
Fox walked out of his helicopter with ease. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t exquisitely received by a pair of beauties, so he would have to go find them. He moved to a building quite a bit away from the hangar, with more than 2 dozen agents following him near.
They were the chosen Fox has selected so far, each well-thought of and further tested one last time before giving them the green light and proposal. Naturally, they all accepted.
While it could be considered betraying PSD, following Raging Blood wouldn’t be. Whatever might happen in the future would be different, but for now, everything was in PSD’s sake. Furthermore, their Raging Blood was so attached to Lýmoca that it hardly meant anything else.
The building Fox headed to was the central building of the HQ, whose construction began when Zyckevele was being formed. Improved through time, it was a perfectly built fortress, untouchable to aerial bombardment and artillery.
… About 20 minutes later, Fox was brought to the building with a few vehicles carrying everyone, not just Fox’s chosen agents. He went in after passing through the numerous guards nodding at the expected newcomers.
“Fox, the mobilization is being prepared. It might take up to 3 days to begin.” As soon as Fox stepped through the wide gates’ step, a slender female officer walked to him with her hands behind her back. She kept Fox’s pace and went on, even as Fox looked at her, startled.
“The general in charge is busy for now, but he’ll be available next early morning. PR’s local commander will brief you everything you can move later. For now, know that your ideas are being expected, and we wish you can brainstorm with everyone together.” The official stopped when they were near an elevator, with the other agents passing in front of her.
“Also, congratulations,” she added. “As of tonight, late at night, Zyckevele will reoccupy lost territory. Every Zyck is thankful, Fox.”
Fox slightly nodded in acknowledgement before the elevator doors closed. The official had an expectant glint in her eyes, but a smile of encouragement was on her lips. Not towards Fox, at least not solely; to Zyckevele’s prospect, for everything looked just great!
In the elevator, Fox thought a bit to what just happened. The agents in the elevator looked at him, feeling the pride he didn’t. Their stares didn’t last long, being too respectful to ogle him so ostentatiously. Besides, they knew their Raging Blood best.
Ding. Once the doors opened, Fox checked his WID information with his left arm’s improved infrastructure before heading elsewhere alone. The special agents chatted a bit before moving to their respective recess areas to meet their comrades and see what has transpired in the south.
There was a bit of jealousy from those who weren’t chosen, as of today, to those who had been ultimately chosen and others who were doing good. The latter were the most, with some being directly rejected. Fox simply didn’t ‘choose’ them, he didn’t do anything else with them.
While they went ahead, Fox arrived to a room. This was the one Nala and Esmeralda messaged him, where they’ve rested without him. Fox looked down at his WID, this time out, before opening it by pressing it on a device attached to the doorstep.
Beep- clock. A little noise went off after the device beeped. Fox lightly pushed the door, only to meet Nala’s shoulders, as her hands were already around his neck and pulling him in. Fox felt his forehead bumped onto lightly and a familiar nose against his. Meanwhile, Esmeralda loudly exclaimed a little from the side, “You’re finally here!”
Nala lifted her head enough to look into his polycoria eyes. From up close, she looked breathtakingly godly. Fox fell mute, when she spoke, “You took longer than expected. Forget everything about that but this. Come here.”
Nala opened her mouth wide and ate his mouth, daintily closing her eyes. Fox reciprocated with what he could, his hands caressing her sides up and down while Esme’s little steps sounded, closing in on them.
He still had to get a laptop with ‘the rules’ that PR and Zyckevele forces had for him in a few hours. Fox didn’t know if there was an ‘upgrade’ from before, which he hoped there was, or else his machinations would be for naught.
But, for now, he only had one task at hand…
Fox slowly walked to the bathroom while Esmeralda began undressing him and exchanging brief, sweet pecks with Nala from behind him. Those two really had it for each other nowadays.
‘Did they think something might have happened to me?’ Fox wondered. They seemed worried, but he was also already feeling them getting him ready and going for a night that would be best described as not long enough to them.
…