"Silence." His father made him freeze. It was not loud, but a weight it carried - it made him shiver. It was heavy with rage and... disappointment. "We will talk about your blunder..." His eyes landed on Jake's wounded hand, and he paused for a moment, "but first..." he turned his eyes to Chloe, who straightened at his gaze, a cold sweat started forming on her temple. "You are fired." He said a simple sentence to her.
"Is that so?" Jacob holds his response in, giving Chloe a reassuring look, before waiting for his father to get on with it.
"That is so..." The man said with a growl. "You were a bodyguard and pilot - and what did you do? You take my son into a literal warzone where he is wounded, almost killed!" "His orders-" Chloe tried with a shaking voice. "You had yours!" Father snapped. "You were there to protect him - even from himself!" "I thought-" Chloe tried again, her voice breaking. "You thought with your fucking cunt!" Now Jake's father raised his voice, shocking Chloe into silence. "What, you think I did not know? That your little flirting and eye lashing went unnoticed?" He asked as Chloe lowered her head, her face going red from shame. "You were supposed to protect my son - not allowing any stupidity that came to his mind, just because your cunt was hot for him." Shawn took a deep breath and leaned back. "You are going to be given your forward pay. After that, you are to leave Sanctum Mesa - if you return, you will be arrested for your part in the riots, and I will make sure, that your sentence is long, understood?" He asked. Chloe did not say anything, her face red from shame, tears flowing down her cheeks. She only nodded her head. "Get out." Jake's father said. Chloe turned, and left, without any word. "Now..." His father started as he looked at Jake. "Explain what you did, why you did, why it was stupidity and what will happen from now on."
Blake takes her hand in his "Dont worry Symania well be careful we will do a check on what motives they have and beliefs they have before seling to make sure we dont give weapons to some madman that will come and gun us down "He then turns to Charrlotte "If we are going this we need to make sure this they cant trace it back to us can you take care of that"Blake says
"Yes ALYSSA. Connect the call." Jean confirmed and then waited for her assistant to do so. When the gynoid had done so Jean greeted her agent. "Rie darling, wonderful to talk to you again. And while I'd love to chat with out about things this is a business call I'm afraid. As you may have heard, my husband's had a setback in his recent proposal to the senate and I'm looking to swing some votes. Tell me, do we have information on senators Villegas or Riba?"
Charlotte sighed and nodded. "Very well." She agreed. "So we have to find a group we would support and someone to deliver the goods... Do you have anyone specific in mind?" She asked curiously.
"Good day to you too, Mistress." The woman greeted the senator - she could never tell if the pleasantries were genuine with her... or sarcastic. "We possess some information about Riba but not the other..." She paused.
Jacob stands silently for several moments, before sighing. "You're a class act, dad." He plays the audio recording from earlier, starting with his delegation of responsibility from Chloe to himself, then moving on to record the events of the riot, how he tried to defuse the situation, and only got violent after the crowd tried to murder an innocent woman. "You know the media, they can spin anything anyway, but I'll take my chances with this." He gives his father one last lingering look, before turning and leaving without another word. "Hey, hey..." He catches up to Chloe on her way out. "He was bluffing. I'll make sure you keep your job." He puts a hand on her shoulder. "And the things he said about you... You've never been anything but completely professional with me. He just has... Well, he's not the biggest fan of women, due to my mother..."
As Jacob turned to leave, Alessa stood in his path, blocking his way. A moment later he could hear the door locking. "We are not finished talking about your foolishness." He heard his father speak. "You think that this..." He waved his hand at the recording. "justifies you?" He paused. "No... it shows your reclesness. You went against a corwd of... people, who came to this place with sole purpose of seraching for a fight. Thinking, that your words could... sway them, was naive. Foolish. From some perspective, it looked as if you were searching a fight from the very beggining.... You should have not gone there at all."
"I don't condemn that - I support it..." His father nodded his head - with, almost a respect? - "What I condemn, is the way of how you went to the task. You showed incredible stupidity and selfishness, in how you went about it - as if screaming of superiority..."
"I didn't really see another option. Maybe you're right - maybe it was arrogant to try and talk them down, I couldn't see another way to do it, except run away and pretend I didn't see anything."
"No i dont unfortunately i havent kept traced of the various extremist groups that have appeared and as of who to deliver the goods someone loyal and doesn't ask to many questions would be preferable "Says Blake
Slam! His father's fist slammed against the desk. "You behave like a damn cutthroat! Not thinking - or rather thinking with your guts!" He growled. "Nothing you could do? Who are you!? A senator! A man who has direct contacts to the most important people on the planet! You have called the police chief - in a matter of minutes the place would be swarming with police! You could have called the military! You could have even hired merceneries with our own cash! Or you could go smart about it and manipulate the things with the news, talk with the people who organized the marches! But NO! You had to solve the problem with your fists! Like a damn street gangster - not a senator who was chosen to represent his people!" He took a deep breath, and calmed himself. "No. That was not 'maybe' arrogant. That was arrogant and stupid." He leaned back on his chair. "Are you not a senator? A person who is a leader and representative?" His eyes turned to the TV - it showed the clash between two marches. The sirens of police and ambulances were already visible. "And now... this mess."
Symania bit her lip, then slowly nodded. "I think... I might have someone who could help. They were working in elven resistance years ago-" Challote raised her hand, stopping the elf. "That's enough for us to know. What we don't know, we won't tell." She said. She then turned back to look at Blake. "Should we search for appropriate group to support inside the Republic - whom we could steer to do some of our bindings or should we avoid working on our backyard?" She asked.
Jacob doesn't have a response, he simply stands there for a moment. "I guess... You're right. In the military, if you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself. You didn't get respect by getting others to do your dirty work. But I guess this world, politics... It's different. You can't lead the charge every time." He sighs. "What now? I had my plan to handle this, but I'm guessing you want me to do something different?"
The man shook his head. "Is that what you think the officers are doing? Are the generals charging head first in tanks into combat? Are admirals sitting in starfighters and charging into fray? No. They command, delegate, coordinate." His father sighted with disappointment. He closed his eyes and stayed silent for a moment. "Do you know, why I so readily fired that pilot? To teach. To teach you responsibility. you took an action, and have to take responsibility for it. You have to understand that there are consequences of your actions... as well as hers." He paused. "That idiot pilot of yours, fired a live round in the middle of the city. Should she miss, and hit one of the bystanders, I would have her arrested, tried and voted for the harshes sentence possible. Why? Because we, as the representative of people, have to be accountable. Protecting her, would just turn people against us. We have to show people, that we can be trusted. That we are not above the law..." He shook her head. "That's why, that loose cannon had to go." He looked at the screen. "As for your mess... I don't know." He shook his head. "I guess... it's a good chance for you, to grow up." He looked at Jacob. "To take responsibility for your actions and solve that mess..." He paused. "I will contact you with political advisor who will aid you, but this mess... it's yours."
"I was never an officer, dad. You didn't want me to be, and neither did I." He sighs. "Alright, but... Chloe was acting under my orders. That makes me responsible. If the generals don't have to have bullets flying at them, they should have to take the consequences instead of their subordinates. Besides, she was doing precisely her job: Protecting her principal. I'm a senator in my own right, and I can choose who I want on my staff. She's someone I know for a fact won't run when the going gets tough. If I throw her to the wolves, what do you think the headlines will be then: "Coward senator places all blame on patsy". Instead of having one segment of society against me, all Sanctum Mesa would know that when push came to shove, I was willing to sacrifice someone else to save my skin. No one will vote for me if they think I'm a coward, not even taking into account that it would be morally wrong." He moves to leave, guessing that now that his father has dismissed him, Alessa should be willing to move. "I just wanted not to step on your toes further, dad. I'll handle this my own way." He heads out, and calls Chloe, as he heads back to his apartment.
"You still don't get it..." His father sighted. "Do you know, what is a responsibility of officers? To spend the lives of their soldiers, wisely. The same goes for politicians - you can't stay in the politics, if you are not willing to make sacrifices. Because in essence the politician is a person who makes compromises." His father was silent for a moment. "You want to fuck her? Do so. But, do you really think I am throwing her under the bus by firing her and banishing her from the planet? On the contrary - should she stay here, she will be dragged through courts and humiliated. Maybe even sentenced to prison. Are you ready to take that risk? And if it will become apparent, that you will not be able to save her - would you take a fall?" He shook his head. "Few years out of the planet would give things a chance to calm down, for people to forget... but if you want to risk it..." He sighted. "It's your mess. But be aware - I will not help you, when the consequences of your actions come bitting you..." He waved his hand, dismissing Jacob. On the screen, he could see cars burning and crowd clashing, just as number of police formed a shield wall. Alessa stood to the side of door, and bowed. As Jacob left the office, she followed him.
"Fuck her? What...?" Jacob blushes. He can't deny that he's attracted to Chloe, but that's genuinely not why he wants to help her. Still, his father has a point. Either way, he can't leave it like that. "Alright, whatever, dad." Exiting the room, Jacob turns back to look at Alessa, while still walking toward the exit, and to his own senatorial office. "Um, Alessa... Are you just making sure I don't try to go back to bother dad more? Because, I'm not really interested in going back to see him for a while. Is there...something you wanted from me?"
