The Four Chapter 4

IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
"Here, pass it over to me." Andrew threw the ball toward Julius. It landed on the table, sending papers flying everywhere.
Romulus exited the super elevator at just that moment. He looked disapprovingly at the situation. "I hope you two do decide to grow up sometime."
"Ah, we were just having a little fun," Julius protested. "No harm done."
Remus, exiting right behind Romulus, looked at the mess with displeasure. His papers had been scattered every where. "Come on guys, I spent all morning organizing those papers."
"How long is it going to take to get them back?" Romulus asked.
Remus waved his hand at them, casually dismissing the job. "I've got all the important information in my notes."
"Well let's begin then, shall we." Romulus gestured with his hands for everyone to sit down at the table, and they did. Then he himself took his seat. Remus noted with awe how professionally Romulus conducted himself now. Now that The Watchers took him seriously, he took himself much more seriously. He was no longer idealisticly dreaming with his friends, he was leading a mission of monumental historic importance, one that could very well be the turning point in Watcher history, from isolationism to being vibrantly involved in the happenings of Fabulae.
"I hope you all realize the significance of this meeting place," Romulus said. "This was known as location seven not all that long ago, the meeting place of Jistap and his team."
To Remus, the place was discomforting. He almost felt as if he could sense the ghosts of Sulla, Jistap, Bakes, Livius, and all the other members of the team who had been killed, not to mention the high number of people who had died because of the decisions the team made in this room. "I think I liked it better when we were meeting at your house," he said.
"So did I, but there are too many distractions there. We're here for business, let's get it over with, and then we can go have some fun."
Remus saw his cue and got out his notes. Everyone turned to hear what he had to say. Remus cleared his throat, and shuffled through the papers briefly. "Let's start with a little background information, shall we? In my research, I found out many things about Kalka. I guess geography might be a good place to begin." Remus reached down to the floor and picked up a map. The map took up all of the table, and then some. Andrew was forced to get out of his seat to accommodate the map.
"Think you have a big enough map?" Andrew asked, as he stood up.
Remus smiled. "I was going to program a little visual aid into a monitor to enliven this debriefing, but time is a merciless master. Anyway, here is the country of Kalka." Remus pointed in the center of the map. "I don't know if you realize where this is, so let me put it in perspective for you quickly." Remus pointed to the Coler Mountains. "This is where The City is located. As you can see, we're really not that far away from Calet, in fact some of the Colers actually border Calet. Notice how far away Kalka is from Calet. In fact, if I had a globe hear with me, Kalka and Calet would be on opposite sides of it. Interestingly enough though, the Kalka region was at one time part of the Caletian empire."
Andrew whistled. "That must have been a big empire."
"It was. This means, of course, that Kalka has been heavily influenced by Calet language and tradition. They still speak Caletian, so we should have no trouble communicating with them. Any questions?"
"I have one," Romulus said. "So far, you've called Kalka both a region and a country. Which is right?"
"I was just about to address that," Remus said, flipping through his notes to the right page. "When the empire of Calet was at it's prime, it proved to be too much for one man to rule over alone. Out of necessity, several other government positions were created. Actually, according to the Teacher it was the closest any country in Fabulae has ever come to democracy. The Emperor's position was largely hereditary, though often who ever had the most power would seize it. Many of the other positions were determined by a vote from the most powerful aristocrats. Among these positions, were governors of various regions. The Kalka region was named after the Caletian general who conquered it. About three hundred years ago, a nation in that region began calling itself Kalka, so the name could refer to the whole region, or just to that country. For my purposes, it refers to the country, unless I indicate otherwise."
Romulus leaned back in his seat, smiling. "What was the name of that one guy on Jistap's team, the guy who knew all about history?"
"Livius?" Julius suggested.
"Right, Livius. You sound just like him Remus."
"Livius knew this stuff right off the top of his head, I had to spend all last night researching."
"Remus, don't put yourself down, you sound just like him," Romulus said again.
"Enough with this history, let's just get to the point," Andrew said, somewhat irratantly.
Romulus dismissed Andrew's comment with a wave of his hand. "Like you have anything better to do anyway."
"To the point it is," Remus said, rolling up the map of Fabulae. He reached down to the floor and picked up another map of the same size. "This, is a map of Kalka itself. As you can see, the darkened areas are were the famine is the worst. Now, so far we have about fifty volunteers."
"Is that all?" Romulus asked surprised.
"You expected more?"
"I thought the appeal of seeing Kalka first hand would have attracted a lot of people, if nothing else," Julius said.
"Well, we only have fifty," Remus answered. "Perhaps more people intended to sign up, but never did."
"Maybe, if we ask people, instead of waiting for them to sign up, we could get a lot more," Romulus thought out loud.
"I don't think fifty is a bad number to start with," Remus said. "Van only allotted us three ships anyway."
"What kind are they?" Romulus asked. "Are they big?" Remus shook his head. "Each ship will only carry ten people."
"Why that little son of a bitch, there are hundreds of ships in the hanger, and nobody's using any of them," Julius said angrily.
"He said if we things were successful, he'd give us more ships," Remus related.
"He's treating us like kids again," Romulus said. "If we do okay with the ships he gave us, he'll give us more. I'd much prefer he'd leave the number of ships up to our discretion."
"As would I," Andrew agreed, "but that being said, perhaps it's best to start small. Let's get our feet wet a little, know what we're getting into, before we just plunge into this thing."
"We've done the research," Romulus responded. "We know what we're getting into, why go in slowly?"
Remus decided to put a stop to the argument before it could begin. "There's no point in debating this. The decision has already been made for us. Now as you can see on the map, I've put down three x's where I think we should send the ships. They're positioned in such a way that they are a good distance from each other, but they are also in a spot where they are deeply needed. I have a list here of the first thirty people to go in the ships." Remus handed a list to each of the other three at the table. "Each of you is in charge of one of the three ships, on the list is the other nine people who will accompany you."
"You're not going?" Andrew asked, surprised.
"I don't mind sitting this one out, there will be other opportunities."
"It looks like we've covered everything," Julius said.
Remus laughed slightly at the idea. "Not near everything, but enough for now."
Romulus licked his lips, nervously. "Well, there is one more thing," he said. Everyone turned to him. He paused, before saying quickly, "I promised Lauto she could join the Kalka project."
"As a volunteer," Andrew asked, knowing before the words had even left his mouth what the answer was going to be from watching Romulus' expressions.
"No, as one of us, as one of the four."
Julius' jaw dropped. "You can't do this to me."
Romulus shifted his weight, uneasily. "Julius, please I don't have a choice."
"This is our project, Romulus, we're in charge. If we don't want her in, we can just tell her that."
"She'll never forgive me if I don't let her in."
"I'm not working with her. If she's in, I'm out."
"Julius, please, don't make me choose between you two."
Remus raised up his hands for silence. "Romulus, you don't want her to join, but she's insisting on it?" Romulus nodded. "Then, gentleman, I believe I have a solution. Lauto, along with the rest of the surviving members of Jistap's team, are banned from holding any political office. She can volunteer, but take no part of the leadership in The Kalka Project."
"But the Kalka Project is civilian run," Romulus said. "Its leadership isn't political."
"The Kalka Project will have more political ramifications then anything since Haket stumbled upon this city a thousand years ago. More important than our change to democracy, or than The New World order. We can easily hide behind that law if we want."
Romulus nodded in thought, contemplating the idea. "Alright, we'll do it." As the words were leaving his mouth, a thought struck him. He turned to Julius. "Your sister won't mind, will she?"
Julius shook his head. "She's not interested in leadership anyway, but count her down as a volunteer."
Remus glanced over his lists. "She's already signed up."
"Well, I guess we got everything taken care of," Romulus said, as he rose to his feet. Everyone else followed his example. "I want to lead our first mission in three days. Talk to the people in your ship, make sure they're ready."
Romulus headed towards the door, everyone followed his lead. Arriving at the super elevator, Romulus stopped. "After you," he said, gesturing to the others to go ahead. They went into the elevator, with Romulus entering last. The super elevator zoomed them off to another location.