Scott nodded at the Doctor. "The most surefire place I can think of that would contain the evidence we're looking for would have to be the office of the JDF's top representative in Parliament, General Fyodor Kamarov. I know for a fact he's visited the prison complex at least once before on an inspection, so he definitely knows of their existence. It's likely he'll have either physical documents of it, or has access to that information from his personal computer station. But we'll have to be very careful. If security here suspects for a moment that we're trying to gain unauthorized access, they'll be on us like an angry hornets nest."
Scott took a moment to activate a smartpanel on the nearby wall, which brought up a floor plan of the Parliament building. After a minute of searching, he found what we was looking for. "There, just a couple floors down from the main Parliament chamber, in the JDF party offices," he said, pointing to their destination. He also took a moment to point out the location of the viewing gallery for the main chamber for Ziv, Robin, Ashwin, and Alistia.
"Right, let's get a move on. Parliament is in session now, but that won't last forever," he said as he led his part of the group to one of the elevators, pressing the button for the floor they were heading toward. The elevators were mounted in a shaft with windows showing the outside city, giving them an incredible view of New Moscow as they were ferried over a hundred stories upward.
Scott walked forward with a sense of purpose, with the Doctor again covering for their entry to the JDF offices section with his psychic paper. This time nobody got in their way as they proceeded further into the complex. Soon enough, they approached their destination, a corner office with Fyodor Kamarov's nametag on the door. An electronic door panel indicated that it was currently locked, and there were two separate security cameras monitoring the corridor that led up to the door.
"Alright Doc, do your thing," Scott whispered as they approached.
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Meanwhile, Ziv, Robin, Ashwin, and Alistia stayed in the elevator and went a few more floors up. From there, it was just a matter of following the signs to the viewing gallery overlooking the main parliamentary chamber.
It wasn't hard at all to find empty seating in the viewing gallery, as the seats were only filled up about half way. Each seat had a fold-out smartscreen that would allow any viewers to see the current composition of Parliament and the members currently in attendance, as well as information on the topics being discussed by Parliament for the day.
It appeared that there were three main parties that made up Parliament. The Citizens' Party was the left-most group, representing the workers and ordinary citizens that made up the vast majority of people in New Moscow, with a focus on protecting their rights and wellbeing. They were led by Representative Edward Lee, an African American man in his late 30s, wearing a standard black suit with a white undershirt and a red tie, with a rose pin on his lapel. They were the smallest party within Parliament, constituting about 25% of their members.
The Free Commerce Party was the center-right party, representing the majority of medium-to-large businesses and industries within the city, with an agenda mostly focusing on reducing regulations and restrictions on private commerce. Ostensibly this was in service of allowing the economy to fluorish for the benefit of everyone. They were led by Jeremy Fleming, an white man in his late 50s with neatly styled, partly greying brown hair, wearing a dark grey double-breasted suit with a beige tie . They made up about 35% of Parliament.
Finally, there was the National Defense Party, the right-wing bloc representing the Joint Defense Forces and all its branches, with its representatives all drawn exclusively from the military. They were the largest party in Parliament, making up 40% of its membership, and their stated agenda was the maintenance of peace and order, and the defense of the last of humanity. They were led by General Fyodor Kamarov, a lean white man in his early 60s with grey, close-shaved hair and a full, neatly trimmed moustache. He was wearing his full dress uniform, a deep, almost black shade of blue with gold buttons, a fairly large array of ribbon segments on his left chest, along with a few silvery pins above it, a nameplate on his right chest, and three thick gold stripes on his shoulder boards.
Currently on the agenda was a review of the government's current policy of stricter taxing of civilian assets and the expansion of the JDF's law enforcement powers.
"Fellow representatives, I feel that the today's events speak for themselves regarding the folly of this latest expansion of military powers," said Edward Lee, who currently held the floor. "The regular people of New Moscow are being squeezed tighter and tighter. Not only are they not being provided with adequate wages and resources to care for themselves and their dependents, but now certain departments of the JDF are insisting on violently suppressing the protests against their conditions. Need I remind everyone here that freedom of speech against injustice is a fundamental right enshrined in the United Earth Constitution's Charter of Rights? Yet elements of our government are trampling all over this sacred right in the name of "upholding law and order", while the rest of the government stands by and does nothing."
Edward Lee paused as a low din of murmuring passed through the assembly hall in reply. It was as this point that a white female representative from the National Defense Party rose her hand, her placard identifying her as Representative Susan Fletcher. "Speaker Lorenz, I motion to request one minutes of time to reply to Representative Lee," she spoke.
The Speaker of Parliament, Oscar Lorenz, was a heavyset man in his mid-fifties with greying black hair, who appeared to be of Mediterranean descent, wearing a one-piece grey suit with a light blue tie. He was listed as a member of the Free Commerce Party. He nodded in response to the military representative's request. "Motion is granted, Representative Fletcher. Per protocol, Representative Lee will be given equal time afterward time to respond."
"Thank you Speaker," Representative Fletcher replied. "Representative Lee, are you suggesting that the blatant acts of violence performed by on the steps of Parliament just minutes ago are in any way acceptable? Rioters literally tried to set the lobby of Parliament on fire! And similar acts of violence have been terrorizing the city for the last few months! These are not peaceful protestors advocating for a change of policy, they are radical insurgents who are deliberately trying to agitate lawless violence out of a deeply warped and misplaced sense of political entitlement. Our government has no place negotiating with those who recklessly court such destructive chaos, especially with the threat of the Scattered on the rise once more," she finished before seating herself.
Edward Lee chuckled instinctively at that. "Representative Fletcher, with all due respect, how do you suppose that this state of affairs over the last few months came to be? Popular protests against social and economic injustice have been flaring up for the past few
years now. And in spite of that, the military's budget has grown ever-larger, as have the subsidies for the corporate sector, and the common people have consistently been left with bare scraps, if that. People
have been protesting peacefully, and instead of listening to them and taking action, the military police administration has cracked down on them harder and harder, trying to silence them because of the "inconvenience" their protest represents. They are now resorting to riots and molotov cocktails because this government has pushed them to the edge of the thin ice, with no recourse!"
"Point of Order, Representative Lee," Speaker Lorenz spoke up, giving Lee a stern look. "Making unsubstantiated claims about the motives of the military police contrary to their lawfully-enstated policy is against the code of conduct of this chamber. Mind your behavior and stick to the facts of the matter."
Lee gritted his teeth in frustration. He very much looked like he wanted to bite back at that remark in particular, but he relented. The discussions of the chamber continued, with arguments and counter arguments regarding the civil situation and military powers continuing between the Citizens' Party and the National Defense Party, but it seemed that the NDP always maintained the advantage. It didn't help that Speaker Lorenz always seemed to find ways of siding with the NDP, either by sidelining certain pieces of evidence from the Citizen's Party or giving minor censure against heated arguments similar to Lee's.
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