After Ambrosio and his team packed up the terminal, and left, everyone returned to the Oracle courtyard. People were slowly arriving into the assembly hall, one by one, and Aiden, Aldegar and Synnove were sat opposite the Defense Corps building, an outdoor café often placed beneath the tree in the middle of the courtyard when the weather is clear.
"Y'know dad, I've never seen a lot of these people." said Aiden as he peered over Synnove's shoulder and towards the entrance to the building.
Aldegar shrugged. "Well, considering most who entered are stenographers, assistants, and technical support staff, it makes sense."
Aiden's words exuded a tone of light sarcasm. "The more you talk, the less this seems like a 'ranked officer only' meeting."
Aldegar sipped his espresso, also intently staring at the entrance. "It most definitely is, but, an assembly without support staff is a man trying to fight without arms. Stenographers keep tabs on everything to archive, assistants help pass around important documents and notices without disrupting the assembly, so on and so forth…"
"Well, are there any ranked officers I've missed?" said Aiden. "I've recognized a few. Ambrosio, Severo, Dr. Carruso…"
"Here's one you surely won't recognize." Aldegar said as he pointed his index finger towards the entrance to the courtyard.
At the gate stood a young woman with stunning, cascading white hair that shimmered in a slight blue hue under the sunlight. With rosy cheeks and a red lipstick that accentuated her full lips , she exuded a tone of regal elegance as she walked around in a dress-like armor that neatly grabbed hold of her slim body. Her staggering beauty was one that'd make you break your neck, just to catch a glimpse.
"That's Eira." said Aldegar as he waved towards her. "Eira Frostad. She's just recently been promoted, and is seventh in the Offense Corps. Quite a sweet girl, actually, despite her appearance making you believe she's someone with a big ego."
"Wow, she's stunning." said Synnove as she followed Eira's every step.
Aldegar nodded approvingly, before turning to face Synnove. "Certainly, but don't let her looks fool you. She's a master of combat."
Eira gently waved back, and soon too entered the building. Aldegar pointed to the gate once more, but this time, instead of a young woman, at the gate stood an extremely tall and muscular man. He had a neatly trimmed beard and short, curly hair. He was wearing a graphic t-shirt and sweatpants, wiping his forehead, and seemingly just coming back from a jog. His darker skin glistened as the sweat drops drooped down his face.
"That's Amaro. The gym in the Medical Corps building is his second home, if you couldn't tell." he giggled. He waved at Amaro too, but, he either didn't notice Aldegar, or ignored him.
And as Aiden was following Eira and Amaro with his gaze, suddenly, his vision went black.
"Guess who??" sounded a calm, female voice, before two hands raised from Aiden's eyes and a strand of curly black hair fell on his forehead and caught his attention.
"Khiara?!" he said as he threw his head back to see who stood there.
And indeed it was Khiara, her face painted with a wide grin. She was wearing an orange button-up shirt and a knee-height black skirt, her yellow eyes almost peering into Aiden's Soul.
"Hey, I haven't seen you in so long!" said Aiden as he got up to hug her. He didn't really know Khiara all that much, but after all, she's the woman who saved his life.
Khiara sat down and crossed her legs, she too intently staring at the entrance. "So, anyone familiar?"
And just like that, in idle chitchat and watching other members of the Oracle arrive, soon enough, the time arrived for the four of them to also head for the assembly hall.
They made their way to the entrance of the Defense Corps building, and as they walked in, Aldegar gently nodded towards the receptionist, who just nodded back and wrote something down on a paper. Khiara turned right and went up to the stairs, while Aldegar, Aiden and Synnove got directly into the elevator and headed down.
Aldegar inputted a password, and scanned his fingerprint, before the elevator began descending. The doors opened to reveal a spacious room decorated with ornate blue wallpaper, a desk to the left hand side with refreshments, and a receptionist to the right. A large, wooden door stood directly in front, with golden embroidering and golden door handles.
"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Silvius, Mr. Aiden, Miss Synnove." said a voice behind the reception table. Aiden's gaze shifted, only for a familiar face to appear.
"Nicholas?" Aiden's surprise was evident as he stepped forward and shook hands with the young man, who adjusted his glasses with a practiced motion. "Aren't you a driver? I didn't realize you were also handling reception."
"Well, I'm an assistant, not tied to any specific role." he said with a light smile. "I only act as Miss Cosineau's chauffeur because she specifically asked for me."
"Lieutenant Silvius, the time is 16:43. I advise you grab some refreshments, since, this clearly isn't going to be a short assembly."
Aldegar laughed, before he grabbed a water bottle from the near desk. "You are damn right, Nicholas. Has everyone arrived?"
"Well," said Nicholas, as he grabbed a clipboard and glanced through the attached papers. "Disregarding Medical Corps fifth rank, Gabriel Silva - as I was told… that only leaves you three, fourth rank Khiara Al-Zaydan, and Captain Tosetti."
"Fornicus still hasn't arrived? I mean, I guess it makes the most sense that he'd enter last, but still."
"I've known Mr. Tosetti for only a few days, dad," said Aiden with a light chuckle. "But even I see that he's a bit lazy."
"Well, I wouldn't say lazy. He's just… casually determined."
Aldegar pushed open the large door, and revealed a huge, pyramid shaped conference room. The three sides were lined with three high stands, each with seven main seats, adorned with dark oak wood and red leather, and above them, slightly less eye-catching chairs, with plush on the seat and back rests. In the middle stood a singular standing desk with a microphone and a lamp. From the top of the room hung a large, also triangular, screen - which appeared to be showing the identical content to all three Corps benches.
The stands to his left and right were all full of Oracle officers, and various assistants. Aiden could only think that the one at the very end of the room was the Offense Corps one, considering it still had missing room. Behind them also entered Khiara, and they four headed to reach their seats.
Aiden was starstruck by the sheer attention to detail and beautiful design of this room. Every millimeter was lit up, the floors were carpeted, there wasn't an echo… the walls were decorated with paintings, and memorabilia. It was beautiful to see. But his attention was grabbed even more by the officers of the Defense and Medical Corps. Other than the ones he met recently, a rare few were familiar.
He recognized Sondre, because he was a good friend of Aldegar's, and Arden too, because he always visited in Emberfell to do regular monthly check-ups on Aiden and his siblings. Thankfully, he was mostly in good health.
They made their way to the bench furthest away, and sat. Khiara and Aldegar found their numbered seats, and Synnove and Aiden placed themselves on the chairs directly above Fornicus and Aldegar's.
"Here," Aldegar said as he passed Aiden and Synnove two devices of some sort. "These are receivers. If you want to say something, you press that big red button, and it places you in a queue. The higher rank you are, the earlier you'll get your chance to talk. The white button below it…"
"That's yield. If you press that, you let the person before you in the queue skip you, and go first. Considering you're the one who fought Benoit, you'll probably be among the first to talk."
He returned to his chair properly, and pointed to the big overhead screen. "Up there, you can see who is currently talking, how long they have, and who is next. And on your receiver, you can see yourself, and who is ahead and behind you."
Aiden analyzed his receiver. He tried pretending as if he was unbothered, but, he was sweating bullets. The fact that he not only had to speak to such a large and important crowd, but, that all eyes will be on him - made him feel nervous. "I see… I expected a more complicated system, to be honest."
"Well, it's complicated behind the scenes. General assemblies are always densely packed with topics, so, we need a highly precise system."
Aiden's gaze turned to the right of Aldegar, noticing all the other Offense Corps officers.
"You going to introduce me to the others?" he said.
"I mean, you'll see their names when they speak up… but, for the Offense Corps." he said, as he peered over Monique's shoulder to make sure everyone is right spot.
"You know Monique and Khiara already. Five is Amaro, and seven is Eira, you saw them in the courtyard. Six is Claire Deleau," he pointed over to the second to last chair, where a woman with blue hair sat. She was facing directly ahead, and Aiden couldn't see her face at all.
"Alright, quiet. Here comes Fornicus, so, we're about to begin."
Fornicus walked in through the main door, and closed them after his entrance. He turned the key, locked the door, and placed the key in his pocket. The click of the lock wasn't very loud, but, it made everyone's hairs stand up. Locking the door was not standard protocol, so, everyone already knew just how much gravity the following topic carried.
He approached an assistant which stood by the door, and took a clipboard and a pen, and began tapping the pen against the surface.
He slowly walked up to the pedestal in the middle of the room, and a camera began recording him, his face zoomed in on the big screen.
He pressed a button below the stand, before gently tapping the mic and speaking. "Ladies and gentlemen of the three Corps, welcome to this year's first general assembly…"
His gaze heavily sweeped across the room, everyone at the edge of their seats. Aiden's grip on the receiver's microphone tightened, as the realization that he's the only one who witnessed Benoit's corruption first hand sunk in even deeper.
"As I believe you all know, this assembly is of an emergency nature, and does not fall in our standard two assemblies per year plan. Sadly, I have to confirm that its emergency nature is more than justified. We will prepare to face a threat we suspected was only a threat in theory, not in practice. And to only make things worse, our enemy is someone who is prepared, well thought-out, and ready for everything…"