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Full Version: Friends, Rivals and Tenstions: The Summit at Tombstone
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Dia rose, as did a few before her. She attracted looks from all over the room, the Corsair girl who hadn't uttered a word throughout the meeting. Her movements were fluid, careful and deliberate. She walked behind her chair and meticulously slid it towards the table. As she laid her hands on the headrest, she gazed around the room, again with utter contempt towards nearly everyone in the room. There was a flash in her eye as she stopped on Megaera and then on Doc Holliday.

The pause lasted another few seconds as she weighed her next words carefully. She had hoped these would not be the first, and last, words she would utter on this day. It made her sad, in a way, looking at Holliday's family, that they had to endure this. But space was, indeed, dangerous and at last the frontier reached Gran Canaria.

Contrary to what anyone before her said, Corsairs were the only group with a vested interest in retaining the status quo. Years before, her predecessors promised the Zoners of Omega-49 protection in exchange for accepting Corsair immigrants. The Zoners held up their end of the bargain -- they gave disenfranchised Cretans a new home, a new life and a new hope. She would not forget her duties, and with the Bretonian invasion of the system, it was the time for her and her people to fulfill the promise and preserve the independence of the system.

The Custodi stood with the Zoners, against the decadent Bretonia, regardless of whether they wanted it or not. It was a matter of duty.

Dia sighed, and each word that followed felt like a ton of bricks hitting the floor.

"It's war, then."

He looked at the girl and heard what she said and in three short words she had single handedly closed the summit.

So be it. Came the response.
Megaera looked at Steiner

"What are you even still doing here? Was the arrival of the second Bretonian delegation not your cue to leave?"
Steiner looked at the girl, venom in his eyes and his lip curled in anger at her stupidity

There is only one Bretonian delegation consisting of two people. I'd have thought that'd be blindingly obvious by now, if you haven't figured it out, I suggest you take your own advice and leave the adults to talk.
She smiled

"Oh, so this is a good cop, bad cop thing? So what is the deal with him arriving only after I silenced you into a corner then? Was he tired of you talking his ears off, so he put himself on an escape shuttle to preserve his sanity?"
From the very first moment of this summit Alessa had the feeling that it was going to end as it happened. Out of the same reason that had led her starting the Sol Project and the foundation of the Consensus. The mankind had been stucking in an evolutionary cyrcle. Repeating mistake over mistake. However she still kept her believe in mankind. Alessa knew a lot people, who were ready for breaking this cyrcle. John was one of them. His pleasure he gave in this endavour was his believe in humanity, but the majority was not ready for this.
"I leave now." Were the last words Alessa noticed of one of the Coalition representatives. Thinking about the next steps it was very clear that war was not of an option. It had never been an option. And she didn't want this to happen for her relatives, her friends, her fellowship of her path. "I can't allow that." Again reflecting her options something came to her mind. An old secret she knew from a very old friend. Alessa typed something at the notepad and moved towards John and whispered that noone else could here it. "Please, I need to show you something." Both moved savely away from the crowd and Alessa turned the notepad that John could look at it.

Quote:Omicron Solar Rumor

While the Runner's don't spread them; themselves, it is heard that they have their own hidden system, called Omicron Solar, where the Solar group has set up a home and live there, working on projects, supplying their small fleet of ships and even work on colonizing a planet called Planet Rori. It has been also seen that the Runner's transport terraforming goods between locations but never seem to reach them however reappear with another cargo type as if from no where.

It is said however. To gain access to this system, you need to prove yourself worthy of the Solar Runner cause and must remain silent about where it is, and who runs it. Those that speak about it, seem to only make little to no sense of where they went or what they saw; however saying that the last thing they saw, was a towering dome building with many other domes around, surrounded by a massive sand storm and repeat the same of seeing people working on experimental things from nanite technology, to even multi-type vehicles made to counter all terrain types.

Weather any of this is true or not, remains to be seen and if any of it is, also remains to be seen if access is even possible, and if it is, to see what these people were even talking about.

Alessa waited till John finished reading the rumor. She touched his face softly and looked into his eyes deeply. "This place is lost, my love. We must leave. I know where we can go. Where we can live in peace. I know the secret." Alessa quietly revealed.
She knew that John's heart was strongly related to this place and to this house. Leaving this place would be a terrible step for him. Slowly moving her hand from his face to his chest both turned around, looking towards the crowd, who just called out for the war.
Without awaiting further reaction from John Alessa directly spoke to all delegates. "Dear guests. Following martial law, I demand a free pass for all evacuation and humanitarian vessels. Furthermore I want to point out that actions against civilian population is strongly prohibited. Any violation of these points is a war crime. Do I have the assurance these demands will be respected and followed?" It was pretty unusual that her tone was still polite and objective. Taking her glass and taking a sip she hoped that the people around were taking her words serious.

As Doc read the notepad, he didn't realize that his arm was around her waist, holding her close, while he read the information. It sounded so appealing but the very thought of starting over, walking away from all that he had built, was crushing. His children were born in this house, the gardens once flourished with flowers and plants from all over Sirius. Many friendships and diplomatic deals were born here and plastered all over were pictures of memories past, a past which no one would believe. They were in the form of old black and white pictures, old style weapons on display. As Doc finished reading, his heart sunk. He couldn't accept what was to happen. As Alessa began to speak, Doc found himself in a trance and started walking to his West room which wasn't far from where the delegation was. In his mind, his piano was calling.

Entering the West room, he put a log in the old wood stove and headed for his piano. Atop the piano was a picture of a time past, his late wife, Midori and the three children. The room was of an old western design and pictures of him with old friends from a lifetime past adorned the walls. As he sat at his piano, he took a deep sigh before he began playing.
Who Wants To Live Forever
As he played, tears began to fall. It was the song that he played when his old friend, Malaclypse, died. Now, as he did then, he kept playing it. As he played, it was the only time that the door to his personal room was left open so all could hear the music from within.

Emiko heard it. When he kept playing, she knew something was wrong and escorted Alessa to the doorway. Emiko looked at Alessa, "He's hurt. I'm afraid that he will do something drastic before returning to himself." She started crying herself and could only manage a whisper, "don't let him. I can't stop him. He's never acted like this before."
Nathan shrugged his shoulders, and signalled to Nova that it was time to leave. Whilst he wasn't surprised so much at the conclusion of the summit, he was surprised that the Zoners somehow managed to land themselves in even hotter water, rather than trying to minimalise the conflict.

Upon hearing Alessa's demand, Nathan reacted. "I don't know the extent at which The Core will get involved. We didn't think it would come to this". Lies. Whatever the outcome, at the least The Core would be able to turn a nice profit by distributing arms to the different sides involved. And in that case, he succeeded: war is good for business. "We have no intention of harming civilians".


They bidded the other delegates farewell, before departing in the shuttle with the rest of the marines, and returning to the Decimari.

The burden of John filled the whole house with this song and Emiko was in front of a following into a dramatic hole. The whole situation was one of the most difficult and emotional events Alessa had been part of. It took some moment that she was able to concern herself that she needed to be the harbour for this man and his daughter. The net that carried a falling person. She took Emiko's hand, stroking it slowly. "The sun will rise again, my dear." Alessa repeated once again and moved through the doorway towards John and sat down right on his side. Closing her eyes, her hand went through the hair of John and she joined him starting softly singing the last half of the lyrics of the song.

"Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Who?
Who dares to love forever
Oh, when love must die?
But touch my tears with your lips
Touch my world with your fingertips
And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today
Who wants to live forever?
Who wants to live forever?
Forever is our today
Who waits forever anyway?"


As the song faided out Alessa took John's hand, laid it on hers and started playing with her right hand new song. It took a moment that her left hand and John's above joined playing aswell. It was a song of hope that was called Bridge Over Troubled Water. After the intro was over Alessa started singing again, but this time in a warm tone, revealing an optimistic self-awareness.

"When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all (all)
I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you (ooo)
I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Sail on silver girl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
Oh, if you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind"

As the song ended both were sitting holding each others hands and forgetting about their guests, who were able to notice the emotional moment both had just shared. Alessa was just hoping that it helped John. She leaned her head on John's shoulder and whispered. "I will be on your side, we will go through this together. Alessa turned around watching Emiko standing in the doorway and implied her attending her farther. It seemed to Alessa that Emiko was slightly lightened up. Swapping the role to be in John's side with Emiko, Alessa gave both a warm touch and walked out of the piano room to speak towards the guests for a last time.
"With the result of this summit, we will act accordingly and initially will start with the evacuation of the civilian population of this planet. I want to thank everyone of you for the participation of this summit, but I want to officially end it at this stage and in the name of Doctor John Henry Holliday, I would like you to leave this house now. It was a pleasure to meet and listening to any of you and I am still hoping for the best." There wasn't anything else Alessa felt the need to be added, but she hoped that her demands some minutes ago, would leave Tombstone Estate heard and respected.
Megaera shrugged and left the house after retrieving her katana. She unsheathed it and inspected the blade, to see if they treated it well. Afterwards she slid the blade back into the sheath.

She leaned against the wall untill she saw Valkyrie come out the door.

"That was entertaining, but pointless in the end. When chaos brings better diplomacy than the owners of this planet, this planet is indeed doomed to the void. They are already starting evactuations."

She walked towards her.

"The result of this summit is inconclusive. The Zoners seem incapable of governing this planet, yet the corsairs seem less cowardly and refuse to submit to the Bretonians. I should have unleashed the alien creature stashed in my cargo hold upon the summit. That might have changed the current outcome into a more favourable one, or maybe it would not have. But it would at least be a new throw of the dice. For now, the rivers have calmed."
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