The Insurrection

Chapter Seven

"Failing to plan is planning to fail." ~ Alan Lakein

"Maybe we went about it the wrong way," Mila says.

I nod at her to elaborate, "With Day Zero, we wanted to bring down the entirety of UniFed House with the Chiefs and Royalty in it. I am not meaning to take away from what we did, it definitely helped us succeed in rallying Citizens of the World and it sent a message to UniFed. But even if we brought all the Chiefs to the ground, the UniFed system will still exist."

Zahra's husband, Anwar, makes a sound of agreement, "She's right, we need to dismantle UniFed's system altogether to really make a difference."

"How would we do that?" Leon asks.

We throw around some ideas before dad speaks up and says, "If we already have the numbers from the people, then why don't we use that to our advantage?"

"You mean protests and riots?" I ask.

He nods, "It's traditional, but it worked in the past."

We all think about that for a while.

"It can get really violent," Nicodemo voices what we were all thinking.

Dad shrugs, "Nothing good ever comes easy, and big changes like dismantling a governing body will never come peacefully."

"Would it be like- a war?" Taika asks quietly.

War. We haven't had a war since UniFed was established hundreds of years ago. There was no need for war since UniFed merged the entire world into one entity and everything you did was up to them. The only possible way there could ever be war was if it was against UniFed itself.

"Hopefully it won't come to that. War takes a huge toll on both sides." This comes from Zahra.

How much more can we stand to lose?

Leon hooks me up to the comm feed with people of the World later that day and I organize my thoughts before going live and speaking to them for the first time since Day Zero.

"Good afternoon, people of the World. It's me, Alan Gunner. I am here to tell you that we are alive and safe, and we are back thanks to you all. It has been a week since Day Zero and when we faltered you didn't. You picked up right where we fell off. To briefly fill you in on what happened, we brought down UniFed's House to the ground along with most of UniFed Chiefs and Royalty. Forty-seven Chiefs managed to escape and they are now in hiding with their families where they will stay there for the next three weeks. In the meantime, I will ask you to do what you are already doing, continue your protests and your riots. We will fill every street in this World with our voices and burn down every UniFed building until there's nothing left for them to come back to when they crawl out of their bunkers. We are so close to ending UniFed's rule, so don't give up now."

I log off the feed and my shoulders sag. Dad rubs my head just like he used to when I was younger and it brings a smile to my face, "You did well," he says.

"What if it doesn't work? All of this," I wave my arms around, "will be for nothing."

"Hey," he raises my chin with the tips of his fingers, "It will work, UniFed is incredibly weak right now, you've cut them off at their knees by more than half."

I search his eyes and I wonder if he really believes that or if he's just saying it to make me feel better. I nod and he excuses himself to go discuss mobilization with Zahra.

I look for Leon and Taika and find them in the cafeteria having a light lunch.

"Hey," I greet them.

"Well, well, well, he finally decides to join us," Leon says in good nature.

I laugh and tease, "You know I'm too good for you now."

"Yeah, yeah get over here."

I sit down across from Taika and she gives me a small smile before getting lost in her own world.

"What's up with her?" I ask Leon.

He shrugs, "She's been like this all morning."

"I am right here, you know."

"Right," Leon and I both say, laughter in our voices as we dig into our food.

"Hello? Earth to Taika," I wave my hand in front of her face.

"What?"

I shake my head, "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." She says too quickly.

I give her a pointed look before she exacerbates, "Damn, can't a girl have some privacy in here." She takes her leftovers and exits the cafeteria.

"Should we be worried?" I ask Leon.

"Nah, she'll come around and tell us eventually."