Transform

Chapter 1: Branson

6 places in the world had beacons. These beacons were the only thing that allowed the world to be connected. If these went down, the world would fall apart. And over the weekend, one had been destroyed.

The President walked through the giant doors to the congress room. In it, there was a long table with 23 people representing the 24 different states of the world. This was known as the Congress

As he sat down, he glanced at them all.

“Thank you all for coming at such short notice gentlemen.” he said.”As you are all more than well aware, the state that I represent, Alpha, was invaded on Sunday night. The force that invaded was an army of an estimated 10,000 soldiers. We were able to defend ourselves against them successfully with minimal casualties. Another attack occurred the previous day, with the bombing of Beacon 5.”

He held a glass remote in his hand, and with it turned on a projector that immediately shined a picture of a crater in the wall.

There were gasps from the Congress.

“This gentlemen, is what is left of Beacon 5. Our top agents have been working hard on who the culprits were behind these attacks. They have come to the conclusion, that it was in fact one person, by the name of Anya Simmons. According to our men, she is an Imperialist Revolutionary who has led hundreds of protests over the last twenty years and has apparently decided to use force to support her cause. The attack on both of these mean that reparations must be made in order to sustain peace.”

“What sort of reparations do you suggest we make President?” said the Minister of Rho state.

The President put his hand on his mouth.

“I have been thinking about it every day since the attack on my state, and I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that I must be given emergency warfare power. We must also enroll soldiers, and build weapons and vehicles” the President said in disgust.

After a moment, he Minister of Beta state stood up, and respectfully said: “I second the motion.”

“As do I.” The Theta Minister said as he also stood up.

All of the ministers sitting at the long conference table began to stand up while raising their hand.

“Thank you gentlemen. With this, I will be able to defend our Union against these terrorists and bring back the peace.” Said the President with delight.

The ministers all began to clap as the President smiled.

“Wait, hold on…” said the Minister of Gamma State.

All of the Ministers slowly ceased to clap, and sat down. The President however, did not, but his expression turned to displeasure as he looked at the Minister.

“Why would you need to do that?” the Minister blatantly asked.

“On Sunday night, we were barely able to hold off the enemy, and we were using all of our available soldiers. We need to build up a stronger military so we can fight back and stop this from happening again.”

“But, didn’t you say that there were 100,000 soldiers? If you were able to defend that attack, you must have quite a powerful, capable military already. Also, in order to defend an attack such as that, you must have had to deal a significant amount of damage to their force.”

The President was completely calm. All the ministers were constantly in awe of how he deals with the situations that he is put in.  He can take trash talk from countless people, and be able to respond calmly, and wisely. This is why he was President.

“The Rebel army had 100,000 soldiers to attack us with, and we did repel the attack, but that was because we destroyed their bombers and tanks, forcing them to retreat. We did not win by dead count. We just gained the upper hand. Wherever they got their soldiers and vehicles, they will go back and get more. This was a victory on our part, but there will be a rematch. This is why we need to build up a larger military. We need to end this rebellion at once. The conflict will only last for around a month if we tackle it with all our might.”

This is President Branson. The political genius who prevented civil war dozens of times in the Union of Craigavon. He was a phenomenal speaker, and inspired all of the Union’s citizens. He was a hero among all the people, and was considered a spitting image of freedom, loyalty, and justice. Every man woman and child would gladly take a bullet for him. It was him who had kept the empire together for twenty years. It was President Branson that overthrew and exiled the old monarch of the ‘Empire’ of Craigavon to turn it into a democracy. Without his bravery and heroism, the people would still be living miserable, opressive lives as they once had under the rule of the Emperor. This made Branson a hero. He was loved by everybody.

But no one in the Union knew the real Branson.

Beacon 5 being blown up and the attack on Alpha state was no accident. President Branson organized a militia of soldiers to terrorize Craigavon so that he would get more emergency power and have an excuse to make chemical weapons. All of the conflict happening was because of him. And all of it was going as he had planned.

Branson was the most Corrupt man in the entire government of Craigavon.

Branson walked through the capitol building’s hallway until he stopped in a large empty room with a large window looking over Alpha State.

Branson sat down in one of the empty chairs looking through the window. In the distance, he could see all of the factories in the State already at work building weapons and tanks, and planes. The factories’ smoke stacks were releasing their fumes into the air. They were hard at work. They were hard at work without knowing what the work was. For all they knew, they were temporarily building up the military of the Union to defend themselves against terrorists. Once the terrorists were crushed, they would not need a military. They were after all, not an empire anymore.

Branson had not overthrown the emperor to bring peace and happiness to the people. He wanted to be emperor. And to do this, some sacrifices would have to be made. Necessary Sacrifices. Sacrifices for the greater good.

Branson was a political genius. His plan to abolish the congress and senate was more than impressive. It was astounding.

The astounding part was that no one could imagine Branson doing such a thing. He was the one who overthrew the Emperor. He was the one who sustained the empire of Craigavon as a Union. He was the one who cared for the people. He was the one who prevented civil uprisings for two decades. He was the one who exiled the old leaders and power-hungry tyrants of the Empire to the wastelands. He would never be the one to betray his people and turn the Union of Craigavon back into an Empire. He would never.

But he was.

He was the one who organized the militia to terrorize his people. He was the one who spent his energy working against all he stood for.

He was an enemy of the state. And he was the state. How terribly confusing it all was.

Branson sighed. This work was all very tiring. He figured that he had better get his rest in his quarters. Branson stood up. He turned to the door, and walked toward it. But before he left the room, he looked once more at the fumes leaving the factories.

Everything was going accordingly.