The afternoon had come on strong in the low mountains.  The hills were becoming steep, though not too much, the beginning of the Italian Alps, the lowlands surrounding them, though still more inclined than Paris or most other places Ky had normally been.  Once he got out of the truck, he was taken aback by the things he saw.

The U.N. main building was one of three, all lined up  next to each other, connected by court yards of beautifully cut stone, walkways, trimmed bushes, green grasses, and exceedingly polished taste.  The main buildings all were built in the old style of Greco-Roman architecture, giant columns holding up a rather simplistic roof, at least in the front.  Ky took no time to waste, it was already about one, and he knew he'd be here until well after nine.  A few U.N. soldiers patrolled the picturesque grounds, armed with sword that were basically Seikishidan issue, though the hilts trimmed, smoothed and a bit different take on the grip, but t was definitely Seikishidan issue, just modified.  The soldiers wore a dark blue garb, resembling a suit, but not made of the material Ky knew he wore, though it had its similarities, Gestahl in the same attire, though he had no sword.

He walked past where the MT parked, on a cobblestone walkway, closed in by perfectly trimmed, luscious green grasses and rose bushes.  The entire U.N. summit was enclosed by guarded ten foot walls made of old block and cement, not very strong to Gear attack, but putting out the effect of beauty, like the rest of the compound.  After getting off of the cobblestone road, he came to a paved cement way, that broadened out and separated to three distinct ways.  One to the left, one center, and one to the right.  The road left took him to the Internal Affairs building, center to Seikishidan Affairs, and right to External Affairs.

This is all based on speculation and rumor, considering the U.N. kept a nice tight seal on the exact details of what they did and how they did it, but I have heard enough corroborating evidence from completely unrelated people who had never met to know that this is a fairly accurate representation of the real U.N.  Internal Affairs dealt with affairs that happened on the inside of the U.N., obviously.  Such as A.A. recruitment and teaching, their operatives and agents, where to send them and at what time, etc.  They usually worked in conjunction with the Seikishidan Affairs office, since most Internal Affairs were directly related to the Seikishidan as it were.  Though, there were sometimes cases of a rogue officer or a missing in action personnel that was Internal Affairs only, and in most cases, they shrugged their soldiers and moved onto the next matter of business.

Seikishidan Affairs was the big house among the three, and rightly so, being situated in the center of the three massive buildings, its size trumping the others.  Besides from obviously being the Seikishidan's direct U.N. contact, it was also the main meeting house of all of the U.N. senators from the nations around the world.  A few nations which did not exist any more, still had diplomats in the U.N., acting as "gifted personnel with valuable knowledge" in the decisions and things done and said by the U.N.  They weren't going to boot out a diplomat because their country did not exist, nor were they accepting many.  The U.N. had leadership how they wanted, and sat on their hands from there.  Anyway, back on track.  Whenever anything happened in the Seikishidan, they would question the soldiers involved, and take direct word-by-word recounts of what happened, save it in some file cabinet in a dark basement never to be seen again.  They wanted to know, sitting from their high riser seats, watching everything from that elevated seat of elegance, and occasionally lifting up a soldier they watched over and ask him "What happened?", at which he would respond, and then they'd throw him back down to watch the rest of what would happen.  Old literature gave me a real good way to describe this, I hope you understand.  Back in the day, they had these theatres where people would perform plays, and there was always a very...large women who sat with a very wealthy man, her acting lubby-dubby with him mostly for money, both obnoxious and needing, so a perfect match.  This women would lean over her special booth with a pair of binoculars or glasses, trying vaguely to see what was going on, always asking and interrupting, being outwardly annoying to everyone else who had any idea of even watching the production.  That fat woman was the U.N.

As for the External Affairs office, this was the slow office, usually new recruits sent here first.  They dealt with things that were important, but hardly ever used.  Gear movements, weather predictions, economic status of cities and their countries, as well as the current state of affairs in places known to be rather...suspicious, such as the previous United States, which was widely known to be over-run by Gears.  There was a small resistance in North America to drive back the Gears, led in part by a team of skilled assassins who grew in number the more they saved.  The External Affairs office would keep as many tabs as they could on things and developments such as this, but quite honestly, it didn't matter.

Ky walked slowly up to the Seikishidan Affairs building, large marble colonnades reaching up sixty feet, attached to a mock of a Greek roof, triangulated with Latin inscribed across the top.  Absit Casus Cunctus...weird.  I'll have to look it up someday.  The few marble steps stretched outward until they met parallel with the width of the building, a considerable length.  The columns were also pure marble, a beautiful sight to behold, though it drove Kiske insane.  How could an organization devoted to the world and the betterment of it be , greedy fools while people die in the world from things like starvation and no protection from Gears?  It would be different if they had people actually work for them, but they don't, it's self-contained.  U.N. personnel build these things, U.N. personnel do the trimmings, and they gush down funds.  On top of the ten or so steps was about twenty feet of open space, the floor also marble, a few benches and other spices of the architecture before he entered the real building, a normal rectangle that tried to be elegant on the outside, the Greek style only a porch.  As he entered, he heard Jaygus come in behind him, then Gestahl walk past both of them, urging them to follow him.

How exactly Ky got there, he didn't know, he got lost in trying to remember earlier.  Their first walk down the hall had doors every three feet between the last, leading everywhere, Ky could only imagine.  They look a left, then found a long hallway, barren, one doorway at the end, which they opened, faced with a left, right, or center.  Ky was lost now, taking the twisting turns and stupid decisions of architecture like a labyrinth.  A stair set, then taking a left or a right into a corridor, up a ramp, around a circular set, and finally in front of two tinted glass doors.

"Here we are, gentlemen.  The U.N. Summit briefing room.  Don't let them scare you, they're just trying to break you, Kiske." he said with a genuine tip in his words, not the U.N. bastard that Ky had expected.

"...Thanks." he said, unaware.  Then, Jaygus walked back up the stair set, going in the opposite direction they came in, reassuring them that he would be back to get them when the U.N. Summit told him they were finished.

"And before I forget, they wanted everyone they brought in to go before Ky Kiske, so it looks like you're up first, Jaygus."  Jaygus nodded in affirmation, then looked to Ky, smiling, then disappeared behind the very dark glass doors that swiveled inward as he walked through them, his shouldrs brushing them out of his way.  Light noises, talking and questioning could be heard inside.

Ky hated the U.N.  He had never been here before, but he had heard stories.  Also, this was his first time here, and as the commander of the Seikishidan, it wouldn't be an easy thing to get away with.  He gazed around, unsure and in a slight fear of what would happen inside, like a child the night before Christmas, except he wasn't in torment for a good reason.  Next to the double doors were sets of sofas and nice chairs, accented by large potted plants, shiny walls, perfectly tiled floors, and everything else in a sense of perfection.  The stairway was wide at the top, curved inward at the middle, then bellowed outward at the bottom, like a grand staircase from hundreds of years prior, two reflectively shiny railings held up on each side by white poles, wrapping up and around to two corridors on each side.  The halls had lights every ten feet build into the ceiling, a comforting white feel about them, but echoed being made off of the fortunes the U.N. had amassed by the median on the walls being made of stained wood, like a handrail, but more there for decoration, accenting molding and ceiling panels.  Much different than any other place Kiske had ever been.  Even the Seikishidan H.Q. was made from solid concrete, the most eccentric part being the ends of the floors where they wrapped around to meet each other, but besides that, it was relatively plain, even the railings which were three bars horizontal, traveling the length of the floor, held up by one vertical bar, welded to all three, every twenty feet.

A yell came from inside the room, catching Ky off guard.  It was only one yell, a simple scream of anger, but from whom he could not ascertain.  His attempts t listen in were vain, since only muffled whispers and echoes met his ears.  The wait was driving him insane, fidgeting in his chair, getting up and walking around, looking at the elegant U.N. reception hall, thinking to himself, all became mediocre and worthless after a minutes deliberation on each, leaving him with nothing to do.  What's going on in there?  What will they do?  They can't take the Order from me, the can't.  They'll try to, they'll try a plethora of things to try and screw me over, but I won't let them, I can't, not these U.N. dogs.  Not the U.N.  He stood and walked over to a secretary who was sitting behind a stained wood desk, a gold-plated pen in her hands jotting over papers.  Kiske wasn't aware she was there when he came in, and neither him to she, or if she did know, she didn't show it.

"Excuse me" he said softly, the secretary looking up at him apathetically.  She knew he was Ky Kiske, but didn't care.  "How long are they going to be in there?"

"Until they are finished with him, then you." she said, looking back down at her papers.

"Excuse me" Ky said more forcefully, her looking back up, the words annoyed plastered across her expression.  "What do they do in there?"  She rolled her eyes and sighed, then told him.

"They question you, they try and take evidence to pin a reason why it happened, and they want to know the exact events of why they called you here.  So, they want to know about the Parisian Headquarters attack.  Good luck, sir." her least sentence was dipped in malice and annoyance as she looked back down to her papers, continuing.  Ky took a deep breath, then walked away, keeping his temper down.

He paced back and forth waiting, and finally retired to the sofa again, looking at the secretary who seemed oblivious of it all, engulfed in her papers and utterly infatuated with reading and writing all over the documents, her pen scribbling across, her holding it up to examine under a set of thick glasses, then writing more, grabbing another paper from a heap of documents, and doing it all over again.  Kiske leaned his head back, sighing with boredom.  He closed his eyes, trying to pass time by falling asleep or something like that, he told himself.  Slowly, he fell in between the world of awake and asleep, where the events of the world are known and heard, but seem distant, far away, like you're sailing away, halfway dreaming and halfway paying attention, the two lapsing in an unnerving concoction that served to scare Kiske awake, his dreams mulling over the dead and the Gears, both two things he would be asked about and hated.

He knocked himself awake, looking around lazily, rubbing one eye, when a distinct set of footsteps echoed from the darkened room, further blinded by the dark glass door.  It slowly opened, the uniform of a red-level sergeant coming out, Third-Class, as signified by the notches on his draping rank indicator between his legs, tucked under the belt, which started at the top of his chest and ran down to his shins, constricted to his waist by the belt, then coming free underneath of it.

"They want you now, sir." Jaygus said, seeming as if there was a sour taste in his mouth, but still polite to Kiske.  "They'll try and break you, try and pull the dirty cards.  Don't let 'em, Mr. Kiske." he said confidently, his mind elsewhere.  Ky nodded, then grabbed the door from Jaygus as he walked to sit where Ky had been seconds before.  The solid glass door, half an inch thick and darkly tinted, had a solid brass O going through two holes in the glass, handles protruding on each side to grab, small brass hinges on the edges too, connecting the large glass pane to the wall.  He looked back again at Jaygus, who smiled briefly, then disappeared as Kiske walked into the corridor.  It was thirty feet long, a wood trimming a waist level, as it had been previously, though the walls were now a crude, reflective metal, like aluminum, that seemed to vibrate the coldness of the U.N.

The walk seemed to only magnify his nervousness, something the U.N. probably planned.  He could see only a brief light at the end of the corridor, nothing more.  As he neared, more of the scene opened up from the small square he could see out of.  Setting foot outside of the corridor, he stood on a half-circle plateau, a railing around with a hand rest to lean upon in the center of the lion's den, the lions facing him.  Rows upon rows of U.N. officials sat in a bleak darkness, all eyes bearing down on the central point, the plateau.  No real light permeated the room, only dim ceiling lights that cast down rays of eerie amber, caught in the wrinkled skin and foreheads, leaving eyes in darkness, and movements cloaked, a ghastly portrayal of the faces it poorly lit.  The faces ranged from a mid 40's, to a lingering grasp on life, the older years where dots on their skin, and wrinkles counted years.  Some of the officials had been in the U.N. so long, their countries no longer existed, and all they had was the U.N.  The actual United Nations committee couldn't dismiss them, so kept them onboard as "content advisors", so they still had say in rulings and judging, especially since the U.N. had such little trust for any people, they wanted to keep who they could, and for as long as possible, because finding a replacement would mean finding a new person, untrusted and unsuitable for the U.N., until proving him or herself.

"State your name" a cold voice said to Ky's left.  He couldn't see where, the orchestral like surrounding dome echoing the words in a lingering cacophony.

"Ky Kiske, Commander of the Seikishidan." he said back, his own words bouncing about and around him, like asking "Is this true" to himself, as the words wrapped around him.

"The Parisian Seikishidan Headquarters incident...what do you have to say for yourself?" another cold voice asked, without emotion or a wavering concern, almost robotically.

"Say for myself?  We were attacked, ambushed, and few of us survived." he said back, a bit of his temper flaring in the first few sentences.  This is gonna be long...

"You were attacked.  Does that save the..." a flipping of pages echoed past Ky "5600 dead?"  The Seikishidan Headquarters could hold 7000, as I said, but it wasn't full to the brim, and some soldiers were out on missions, other bases, and whatever else.  Just like the MTs weren't at the Parisian Headquarters at the time, the cargo bay empty when they ran out to attack the Gears, in the beginning of the story.  Anyway...

"They were not unprepared, they were in the Seikishidan."

"If they were prepared, why did they die?"

"We were not totally prepared." Ky spat back, his voice low and growling.

"Well, tell us your version of the story then.  We gathered evidence ourselves at the scene, and we have the sergeant’s testimony, so we need yours."

"I don't have to answer you, to incriminate me, so you can try and get me out of the Seikishidan anyway you can." Ky said back menacingly.

"We need to do this for the records, Commander Kiske.  Oblige with our requests." the cold voice repeated.

"And if I do not?"

"Then you will be 'out' of the Seikishidan."  Ky made a low tsk noise, unable of what to do, then finally made up his mind.

"Just because you're the U.N., the power in the world, so to speak, does not mean you can control me.  Soldiers follow leaders, not bureaucrats."

"This is turning to be a rehash of the Tiber hearings.  Do you know the facts of that case, Mr. Kiske?" the voice sharply said, a stabbing with the frosty words.

"Yes, I know about it." he retorted.

"Well, let's bring it up, just to jog your memory." the cold voice said, a flipping of pages being heard.  Ky was becoming irritable, he knew about Tibet, he knew all about the events, but they were trying to grate on him, trying to break him.  "Here it is.  Kliff led a force of...ten thousand, it says, up the largest mountain, Mount Everest, in the southern Tibet region, where Justice had been confirmed to be.  The mission was a success by name, but only twenty one survived, including Kliff.  Is that a victory, Mr. Kiske?"  Ky stood silent.  "Just like you could say that this whole Seikishidan Headquarters incident was a victory because you survived, but is it really, Mr. Kiske?"

"Don't dare try to impugn me on whether or not my life is a factor of victory or not.  We were ambushed, many died, but this was not a personal fault, or something to be blamed.  You U.N. pigs try and blame me, try to blame anybody, to destroy and pillage through the Seikishidan.  You don't know...you're just politicians."

"We're not here to argue politics, we're here to hold an informational meeting."

"Whatever you call this." Ky said, looking around to all of the stone faces looking down at him unrelenting.  "Fine, you want the facts for your report?"

"Yes, start at the beginning." an echoing frozen voice responded, no life in the ice covered words.  "At the first knowledge of the attack."

"First knowledge?"  The office, the soldier.  "It was...three days ago, early in the morning.  Activities started around the base an hour prior, I was at my desk, and a soldier runs in with reports that the inner security perimeter saw Gears.  The inner perimeter is at 20 miles from base, a circle perimeter with eight towers each looking one direction, shift changes every 12 hours.  The outer perimeter must have been killed, the 50 mile towers, before they could radio in, and the inner perimeters told us, which gave us only about an hour to prepare, no one was ready.  I assembled the troops in the cargo room on Floor C where we ran out to meet the Gears."

"You ran out to confront them?" the voice asked with a sharp edge.

"Yes" Ky said, stopping his fluid storytelling.  He then coughed, reassumed his story telling, a little hazardous at first, then lapsing into recalling the events as they happened, sort of on another plane of reality, replaying them in his mind and narrating.  "Anyway...we met them on the grasses of the Seikishidan Headquarters, where the structure was built into the hill, and they drove us back.  Testament, Justice's right hand man was there, and we were driven back into the H.Q.  At the back of Floor C, after we were pushed that far, we mounted a resistance, and nine of us survived, including me and Jaygus."

"We made our way back to the cargo bay to get out, but the Gears had destroyed it on their way in.  We had killed all of the main force that attacked us at the back of Floor C, but there were still Gears lingering on other floors, outside of the complex, all over that branched off from the main offensive.  We thought the only way to get out would be the sky light, since it was pretty well shut on Floor C.  We went around to the secret warehouse on the same floor, that was out of service for years.  When we got there..."  You're leaving out Darton.  Shut up.  "we were attacked from behind by the rest of the Gears, and had to run for the elevator.  We got there, lost two men, and got to the top.  At the top, we lost two more, and I was knocked out, and got an injury on my back."

"I awoke, and Jaygus had gave me medical attention, sewed up the wound.  We moved out, the five of us left, and got to an elevator shaft on Floor E.  We pried it open, got inside, and went up to Floor F.  From Floor F, we were searching for ways to get out, then a Seikishidan soldier dropped in from the sky light, and we were attacked by the last of the Gears.  We lost three men there, me and Jaygus making it out."  He stood silent, his words echoing back to him, reassuring himself of the facts and saying exactly what was and wasn't needed.  A scribbling of pen was faintly heard, his words being recorded syllable by syllable.

"DO you know any of the names of the deceased?" the cold voice asked after a minutes pause.

"Yes..." Ky trailed off.

"And they are?" the voice said with trepidation.

"Quint Darton" he said stagnantly.

"Any others?" the voice asked coldly, without resolve.

"No."

"You don't know any of the names of the other seven soldiers you spent time with?  And how about the hundreds of others dead?"

"I knew some names, but in that state of frenzy, I did not know them.  If I could tell you their faces, you'd know.  Their deaths are stuck in my minds, their voices, their faces, but a name, I cannot say that.  I know names of other soldiers, though I cannot confirm those as K.I.A. or not."

"What leader can not vouch for his soldiers?" the voice said again, level as always.

"I will not let you incriminate me." Ky said with a dull force, one that would be brought down upon that voice with the sheer force of a blunt object if needed, and if anything would hurt more than a blunt object, he would use it.

"We are simply ascertaining the facts."

"You are trying to make me admit to something that is not true, to make me seem like less of a leader, to make me seem somewhat lesser than you think I should be.  Guess what, to all of the U.N.  Kliff elected me the leader of the Seikishidan, and I am the leader.  I know bylaws and everything else, there is nothing you can do about that, until I die, or I resign."  He stood defiant, his words spearing everyone of the faces, each of them turning to each other, a low murmur filling the U.N.  The cold voice cleared his throat, the large auditorium centered around Kiske suddenly going silent.

"We are not here to make you resign, we--"

"That's a lie.  That's the U.N.'s job, the Seikishidan Affairs, to pester and destroy what the Seikishidan has in every facet.  You want to ascertain the truth?  Get on the battlefield, get down their with me and my men, fight the war, instead of sitting here making decisions high and mighty, see where it really happens, where humanity is put on the line every day.  Have you ever seen a Gear?" he asked, violence tinged on his words.  The room was silent.

"Have you?  Ever seen how Justice looks through it, how its eyes roll in its head?  Ever had to kill one?  Then another?  Then a hundred?  Don't tell me what to do or when, you don't know, bureaucrats.  You don't know." Ky's last words bounced off of the walls in the room, them coming from him without thinking, his true feelings towards the U.N. and his own prejudices coming to life.  He stood defiantly, looking over the hundreds of faces looking down at him with a cold resolution, no emotion or changing disposition, just a frozen apathy, but a silence followed his words.  While the silence wasn't good, it certainly proved to Ky that his words were being considered and thought about, a mild victory in itself.

"We have your testimony, you are dismissed." the cold voice said with a raptorial bite in his sentence.  Ky stood, looked around at the faces once more, hidden in darkness, only shown by small dim slats of light that barely showed anything but outlines of faces, all bearing down like they were swooping vultures, waiting to pick flesh from bone off of Ky, once he broke and died, but he didn't, he fought back and proved to them, the U.N., that he wasn't a child, enough to be broken, or to not put trust in for the Seikishidan.  He turned slowly, and walked, each step an accomplishment over the last one, he had won, if even slightly, but he felt better, saying what he felt, and letting the U.N. know, as well as proving to himself that he was ready.  Kliff, you would be proud...

"You've been silent, sir, anything wrong?" Jaygus said, arms folded and his body swaying with the ruts in gravel the MT slowly traveled over.  Ky looked up, deep in thought, then smiled slightly.

"No...it's just that I'm glad we came today."  Jaygus was confused for a second, then shrugged the statement off and tried to rest some more, it was a long ride back to Bordeaux.  Ky hadn't talked since they left the U.N. Seikishidan Affairs building.  They had gotten into the truck, and it started moving, ten minutes out, Jaygus worked the nerve to ask him, but the answer was odd, so he just thought it better to leave it be.

"Howdy" a friendly, American voice echoed to Quint.  He looked to his left to see an obviously American descended man, taking off a cowboy hat to show a ruffled and curly red-hair, above a friendly smile.  He extended out his hand to shake Quint's, but was only given a cold stare.  The American then looked at both of his wounded arms, and muttered an "Oh, sorry".  He turned over to Bianca, who stood about five feet to Darton's right, and started to speak.  "So, this here is your friend?  We can fit him.  Come this way, partner." he said, turning, nodding to Bianca, and walking forward.  Quint followed him, but slowly, so that Bianca could catch up with him, then he leaned over to her.

"What the hell are we doing?" he whispered to her, as to make sure her "friend" wouldn't hear him.

"He has a boat, he'll get us down the Seine until we get picked up by the Neo-Troy external crew."

"Neo-Troy external crew?"

"Yeah, every month they get together a bunch of idiots to go outside the city, gather things it may need, or for personal profit, and they set up pick-up points and times."

"...How?  I never heard of this." Quint said hazardously, looking forward to make sure her friend didn't look back at them.

"Of course you didn't, you're Seikishidan." she said teasingly.  "We'll get to it later, just let's get there, okay?" she said, looking over to him, his face close to hers from his whispering position.  He looked at her for a second, his head still leaned, her looking back, square in the eyes, then he moved back t his walking position.  What the hell...was that a "gazing deeply into each other's eyes?" romantic crap thing.  Whatever, let's get to Troy, gotta see if some scavenger took my knife, and find a place to get a nice rest.  Maybe with her.  What's with me all of a sudden?  I haven't thought about women like this since...before I joined the Seikishidan, but even then, I had other things on my mind.  Oh well, I got time now.  Things are different than they were, you don't have to "avenge" your past, or do anything else.  You're out of the Seikishidan, going to live a life outside of the rest of the world, maybe it is a good time to find a girl to sit down and settle with.  Yeah, right.  Just get to Troy, then you can decide all the shit you wanna do.

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Zeronova's Notes:
Well, we got the U.N. meeting out of the way, yeehaw.  I was always thinking "How am I going to do the U.N. scene and bring it across effectively?"  I think I did it pretty well, the reality of the war, and how others don't understand like someone who does on the battlefield.  Also, I am trying to add more of a governmental level onto the world of DG, since it is there in GG, and I think it's coming pretty good.  And, 105k, I surpassed 100k.  Yeehaw again.  Oh yeah, remember the Tibet thing I mentioned before?  Yeah, it's real big, don't forget it, as well as it being mainly Samuraiter's idea.  When it is important, I'll bring it up again, but don't forget it.  You may be thinking "What's with Zeronova and Samuraiter?".  Well, I am using Jaygus, his idea for Tibet...he will be using Darton, as well as bits of my story in his, they kind of co-exist with one another in the same timeline (fleshing out events in the GG timeline that aren't really told, in fan fiction form, but also a retelling/new view of canon things.  Maybe I should dub this something like Fan-Canon...yeah, sure, I'm trying to write a Fan-Canon, heh).
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