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Doc was seated as the Corsair dignitary arrived, winding his pocket watch. He wasn't happy with Corsairs nowadays but to preserve professionalism, he stood up to great him. He did only a fair job of hiding his look of disapproval but he returned to his seat. Looking up to the dignitary, he said nothing. He was prepared to listen.
Ezio entered, recieving Stow's salutations and returning both his and Hollidays handshakes firmly before taking to proffered seat.
As a man whose job it was to notice such things he could not help but notice the chill that had come across Holliday as he entered, like an old dog sniffing out an stranger.
But to the matter at hand.
He sat slowly, on the edge of the cushion, leaned forward into the conversation. "I thank you, Mr. Stow, for receiving me at such...long notice."
He cast his eyes downward, his eyelids drooping for the briefest of moments, as if in contemplation. "I would like to tell you, Signore, that I come for much the same reasons that I go anywhere; to make peace, calm tensions, to sooth the raw and open nerves that the Empire so often rubs and then salts. I would like to tell you that I am here to smoothtalk you into sitting on the sidelines you Zoners are so... wont to abandon in times of crisis. "
"That is surely why the Council, in their...infinite wisdom, chose to send me here, to ensure that your pesky.. neutrality, or lack therof, does not interfere with their plans."
Ezio paused for a moment, his tongue errantly seeking a broken canine in a nervous tic. "I would like to tell you these things, but I cannot, because they would be lies. I am here on a mission of my own choosing, and my own design."
He shook his head vigourously as if to clear it. "Tell me, gentlemen, do you truly understand the import of this fight? Do you understand what it is the Empire and the Coalition risk, what they seek, what they have already won and lost in but the opening moves of the grandest game, the first scene of this play upon your home that is to us but a stage?"
gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|
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Doc wasted no time in questioning Enzio, showing his displeasure as he did. He jumped to his feet, his voice raised as he spoke.
"I would suggest, Senor that someone starts telling those things that we're not supposed to hear. I've got citizens complaining of Corsair intrusion into their homes "looking for Coalition assets" while many a Zoner has taken up arms."
He walked over to Enzio, "You and the Coalition have made our home your battleground and over what, territory? Access to Bretonia? I'm sure you can annihilate each other in space and leave our soil out of it."
He snorts, "I see neither of you as any better than an encroaching government, the very governments you both oppose."
"The Coalition informed us that the Corsair empire claimed to want Canaria for itself," he continued, "While the Empire denies it, it certainly does looks true. I hear Corsair radio adds of song, your people singing of eating Zoner food. The Coalition has all but left the planet surface while the Corsairs stay. It's the same as a stranger entering your house and just staying. Then this Ladron, a baffoon in my book, claims martial law on Omega 49 only to say later that 'it's for the bad people.' If this continues, you're going to have more bad Zoners than you know what to do with."
He turned a bit, "I need not tell you that Zoners left the houses for the very reasons the Empire is doing. We sought freedom in a different way. I think I speak for many when I say that we won't sit on the sidelines when it comes to our home world." He turned angrily back to Enzio. As he did, his robe opened briefly enough to reveal his hardware, "I know I won't and I'm quite ready to die if need be."
At this point, Doc was beginning to seeth. He threw two pictures on Enzio's lap, both of the same thing, dead women and children from two different camps.
"Those are from your bombarded settlements, one Coalition, one Corsair. Do those children look like a threat? There are more dead like them."
"THEY WERE FARMERS!" he raged.
With that, Doc knew his control was lost, "Duncan, I need to cool off a bit."
He turned and walked to the door before turning back to Enzio, somewhat composed, "I'll repeat a demand I made before. All of you, go home and take your fight elsewhere. I won't negotiate that."
With that he stepped out. From behind the wall was heard a loud thud from him punching the wall with a following loud roar of rage.
Duncan sat in silence as Doc's rage boiled over. He sat silently as Doc spoke his mind, his hands crossed before his face. He gave only a small understanding nod to Doc as he left the room in rage. Then Duncan looked at Ezio.
" As you can see, tensions are high. Emotions are running high and uncontrolled. This world is a powder keg, and the Empire currently holds the match."
Duncan shifts in his chair.
" Lets cut to the chase here. I know as well as the next person that this whole conflict bases on who controls the world and system. 49 holds special significance to both the Empire and the Coalition. It is the gateway to Bretonia. I hold no illusions that this conflict is anything more or less than a power play from both groups. Both the Empire and the Coaltion need to have passage through here for their continued survival. "
Duncan turns to look out the window behind him over the city below.
" Let us cut through these political games. Too many have suffered and died already."
Duncan glances back toward the photos that Doc tossed.
"And while we sit here and duel with silver tongues, more still suffer and die. Let me sum up how things look from my view. The Corsair Empire came here to get vengeance. Vengeance against the innocent farmers and civilians here for the actions of those they share heritage with. Now the Empire stays, Claiming to help but bringing only further problems."
Duncan Sighs.
"In any case, please, enlighten me as to the true nature of this conflict. All I see is two groups fighting each other over stupid pride and ideals. Doc's words hold much truth. Many Zoners are beginning to call for arms, they want this conflict gone from our soil."
As Holliday swept towards the door, Ezio jumped from his seat, as if to follow, but the powerful *thud* from outside set him.
He stood, still contemplating the door and the pictures he held, as he listened to Duncan, each word setting his shoulders as if he was made of stone.
When Stow finished, he spoke softly and harshly, as a cougar prowling through the brush. "You hold no illusions, do you?
You think this is all some chess move in a great game, some scheme or plot by which to gain more power or influence? You think us petty, mewling children, like you Zoners, like the Houses Governments, like all the rest of you soft greenworlders?
This is not about any goddamn politics, or ideals, it is about SURVIVAL at the very basest level!"
Ezio turned sharply in a military fashion, the soft smoulder plastered on his face proving Holliday's rage infectious. "For 700 years my people have hungered. For 700 years my people have suffered from radiation, and famine, and sickness, on the sun-blasted plains and in the jagged mountains of Crete, all our might and technology powerless, futile against the raw power of a bloated, dying sun and the dead, salt earth at our feet.
And so, when we had a chance, we struck out. For four hundred years we have taken what we need to survive by force, for there is no other means by which to acquire it.
We had no choice but to murder and pillage our way to power, and then YOU! You lot find .....this!"
He grew animated, gesturing in tune to his words. "This planet, this rich, vibrant garden, this Paradise, could feed the Empire, could feed a dozen empires. No more hunger. No more threat of famine. No more worrying about whether the piracy quotas will be met, or if enough rice from Samura will make it through, or if the Coalition will intercept the shipments we buy to make up the shortfall each quarter.
You have this beautiful, luscious emerald jewel, that my people envy, and that such weak men as you who have never known such suffering as we, do not deserve.
And you want us to leave it?
You have the food that to my people is life itself, a planet by which to secure our future, and is to you but another commodity to be bought and sold, and you want us to leave, leave so that you can have some ....freedom?
You want freedom?
Freedom from responsibility? Freedom from family? From duty? from honour?
Your pathetic freedom is naught but a temple to your own greed, a synagogue devoid of purpose in which the moneychangers and the prostitutes go about their business while the rabbi drones on, preaching to an audience who has long since stopped listening.
I mean, your "freedom" and neutrality kill more surely than any weapon. Every missile and ship you sell, every frigate you repair, every ship you let moor splashing just a little bit more red on your stations.
Where do you think we get the credits to pay for your food?
Every coin we have ever paid you with is covered in blood, gallons of it rushing in from the walls, splashing, covering everything with a dark, sickly sweet red and leaving the stench of death on everything it touches."
Ezio took on a mocking tone as he drew a coin from his pocket. "Buenos DIAS!, senor, I would like to buy a meal per mi mama, si?
Do not worry, good senor, see, I have the money, here, I took this from a trader right before slaughtered his crew and tortured his wife to death. Of course, I still had to threaten his own life, threaten to put HIM through those tortures before he finally gave me the codes for his bank account. Some people, senor."
Ezio shrugged comically. "Oooh, or, how about this one...ahem..... COMRADE, I must buy FROM YOU big weapons with which to purge the bourgeois Corsairs from their villages! Truly, comrade, it is a good day when I am allowed the HONOUR of mortaring the civilian population of Crete!"
All trace of humour vanished, dropping his face into a carven mask of sadness. "These are the truths that both sides of this see, and yet still, you think you lot are all so clean in this?"
Ezio began to pace, back and forth, in front of the window. "Think this has nothing to do with you? That we should all just pack up and leave, take our conflict somewhere else?
This isn't about politics, Stow, it's about you. It's about the planet. It's about betrayal, and treachery, and fate, and what Canaria means to the Empire, and why the Coalition is so desperate to put it forever beyond our reach.
This isn't some desperate battle between good and evil; I obviously can't and won't pretend the Empire is full of cuddly kittens and rainbows, but we don't do these things for the fun of it. We don't wage war because we enjoy it.
And the Coalition? If you think they're some heroes, come to save the day and hand out free ice cream to all the kiddies..... It was not too long ago your predesccor had to help pull nerve staples out of their entire population."
Ezio shook his head. "The Coalition is just as bad as us; hell, most of the Coalition IS us. Far too many of my brothers have betrayed their duty to their families, to Crete, to take up arms under their banner."
He paused, contemplating carefully his next words. "You know, I envy you Stow. You still think you do what's right. Still think you serve the light. That you are in possession of an innocent soul. That you still have a choice to do what is right.
And I am very sorry, Stow, to have to swipe that illusion from you.
No matter what side you take, no matter what opinion you hold, you no longer can choose to do the right thing. Just which particular..... flavor of wrong, which sins you think you can live with."
Ezio turned to Stow, his face finally calm and collected behind what now is obviously a clever facade. "You can sit by, idly watching, as the Empire and the Coalition tear apart your planet in the coming war, hoping to get a fair deal from the victor in a year or two, watching all the while as city and homestead alike, as one innocent civilian after another is gunned down, marked in the books as "collateral damage".
You can take the Coalitions side, pushing back the Empire for a brief spell, and cutting us off from the food on Canaria that we so desperately need. Do you think you could live with that? Dooming an entire planet to famine and starvation, sons watching their mothers withering away, bodies piling in the streets because no one is strong enough to clear them away?
Or maybe you ally yourself with the Corsairs, complicit in your involvement with the daily horrors we perpetrate in the name of survival. The piracy, the extortion, the highway robbery, the murders."
Ezio snorted, his hand drifting up to scratch idly, nervously, at the nape of his neck. "But I did not come here to rant, despite my temper. I came here to tell you to pick a side. Any side. Beacuse, should you stay neutral in this, Stow, Corsair and Coalition alike will take turns screwing you right where it counts."
He drifted towards the door. "But I should be going. I have promises yet to keep, and miles to go......"
Ezio paused a moment at the door, allowing an opportunity for interjection, should Duncan wish to take it.
gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|
Duncan sat in silence, his outward appearance disguising his growing anger as Ezio continued to speak. He listened as Ezio raged about the past of the Corsairs, listened as he mocked the Zoners, and listened as spoke his ultimatum plainly. Once Ezio had finished, Duncan took a deep breath and steadied himself. Standing, he addressed Ezio.
" Mr. Fransesca, Do not seek to patronize me. The history of the Empire is a subject that I am all too familiar with. The misfortune of the Corsair people, while heavy, is largely irrelevant. Yes in the beginning, you all had no choice but to scrape whatever living you could out of the stars. But that was four hundred years ago, and it would seem that the Empire has advanced very little in those four hundred years. Your people remain thugs and barbarians, rather then the mighty 'Imperio del Corsario' you claim to be. Any people worth the respect you demand would indeed understand when it is time to move on, and time to rethink how things are done. Had your people moved from base piracy to more civilized methods of dealing with outsiders, rather than starting wars with everyone you encounter, the empire could be a mighty house. Rather than the backwater group of thugs it is."
Duncan narrowed his eyes, bringing his gaze up to Ezio.
" Do not stand there and treat me as a child. I know all too well where your money comes from, and the most likely uses for the items we sell. You could say that people like us fuel the blood flowing by our inclusion in the equation. As far as I am concerned, you would have likely killed those people and stolen that mans money anyway, regardless of whether I was involved or not. So why should I not stand to benefit? All life is a balancing act, balancing ones good fortune with someone else's misfortune. Out in these reaches of space, death is a constant companion. Why should I abstain from things solely because, big surprise, a corsair murdered somebody?"
"Perhaps the Empire would have found its way here to Gran Canaria first, had it not consumed all its time in petty, pointless wars. But regardless, you did not find this first. We Zoners did. And we have always tried to live in relative harmony with the Empire, never barring you access, never working against you. And yet time and again, the Empire has antagonized the Zoner people, has attacked us and persecuted us because we did not follow your ideals. Now the Empire shows its true colors it would seem. The Empire consists of little more than power hungry and bloodthirsty savages, taking by force that which their limited minds can not attain in more civilized ways."
" And while we are on the subject, you need not fear that the Coalition shall emerge as 'heroes' from all this. I am all to familiar with there people as well. I was there for the Nerve staple incident. I witnessed firsthand the results of that event, and the resulting wars. I know how they operate, and like you, they too seek little more than power, influence and resources. The only difference is that they, unlike you, understand the importance of diplomacy and subtlety."
Duncan stops to take a breath, shaking his head gently.
"You can take what you will from this conversation, and I am quite sure you will spin the tale to the Council to make me sound like an unreasonable Coalition loving warmonger. But know this. We Zoners will act how we choose, and no amount of threats from you and yours will change that fact."
Duncan's gaze shifts to rest firmly on Ezio.
"If I know anything of the inhabitants of this world, they would sooner glass the entire planet than allow the Empire to conquer it. Thus the choice is the Empires. Keep the resources they have currently flowing, and allow themselves to get stronger. Or try to take this world, and lose not only the potential resources they would gain, but also one of the few peoples that will actually deal with a Corsair. You will find that even the 'mighty' Corsair Empire will have to deal with the repercussions of its actions, and that the Zoners are more dangerous than you give us credit for."
Duncan Sighs loudly.
"If your view given today is also the view of the Council, then it heralds the beginnings of much darker times indeed. Regardless, take this back to the Council. We will not sit idly by as the Empire attacks Gran Canaria and its people. The question they must answer is whether the benefits of this new campaign outweigh what could be lost. The choice is theirs."
Duncan's posture stiffens up, and his gaze reflects a fierceness he rarely shows.
"This meeting is over, Mr. Fransesca. Now get out of my office."
After Ezio had left, Duncan reached for the button for the intercom to his secretary. He had plans he needed to set into motion.
"Kelly, would you mind locating Doctor Holliday and asking him to come back into my office? I also need you to locate and inform all the other directors to come to my office immediately. Thank you."
With that, Duncan sat back in his chair, his mind racing with the implications of what has just transpired.
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Doc re-entered Duncan's office, gently closing the door. He walked slowly and sighed as he entered. It was obvious, he was still trying to settle himself. He stood a few feet from Duncan and almost appeared shameful.
"I do apologize for my outburst, Mr. Stow," he said softly, "it's been building for some time and today, well, I lost it."
He took a look around, "I see our Corsair friend has left. I'm presuming to tell his Council of our defiance."
He sighed, "I've dealt with many of them in my own home. Did you know that the late leader of the late Omega Pirates Guild once tried to justify it's piracy to me? He calculated every item we transported, the cost to buy it and the profits we would receive to justify their "take."
He began to pace, "One of them threatened my own wife yet I've treated countless amounts of them in my medical facilities, continuing my policy of treating all regardless of affiliation. I think my judgement was wrong."
"Mr. Stow, I've received numerous messages. Zoners taking up arms to protect their homes, to drive back those who take from them and some threatening assasination. I feel that we have all but lost our influence, at least, I have mine."
He then removed his cloak, revealing the three heavy sidearms he kept on him, "I won't sit idle, Sir. I think it's time that we work together......but.....how? "
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After a short silence, Doc reviewed a transmission he received from an anonymous Zoner. In fact, he received several. He got a bit upset as he read it and then looked to Duncan, "This Voncloud of yours, what is he trying to accomplish by having Zoners disarm? The Corsairs won't leave willingly."
Duncan shook himself from his thoughts. He had been trying to think of the words he needed to get his point across.
"Sorry about that my friend, Seems I got lost in my thoughts."
Duncan looked to his own comm panel and reviewed the various messages there. He then leaned back into his chair, a concerned look on his face.
" I have no idea what Mr.Voncloud is doing. But he can explain himself and his actions to us soon enough. I have asked that both He and Director Kelly come here as well, we have much to discuss. I know full well the Corsairs wont leave willingly. That Mr. Fransesca made that perfectly clear in our meeting, after you left. They intend to wrest this planet from the Zoner people and absorb it into the Corsair Empire."
Duncan paused for a moment.
"I hope I wasn't too far off when I told him the people of this world would rather glass the entire planet than surrender it to the Corsair's."
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