"We are here at the annual Senate meeting and this year sure is one to remember. It is the first time the mayors of all the provinces would be attending the meeting along with a record twenty four ambassadors from other species. This year, the President of the Senate has promised to find a solution to the brewing discontent amongst the people due to shortage of food in the North Eastern Provinces. The protests, which have been peaceful so far, are expected to intensify during the time the Senate is in session with protestors flying into the Capitol City in large numbers. Although a ban has been imposed on group passenger bookings by people flying from the North Eastern Provinces into the Capitol City, this doesn't seem to deter the protestors from getting their voice heard. This year, the new Mayor of the Human Provinces, Luke Jottingham, would be taking his oath in the Senate. The Human Province, which is still reeling back from the shattering corruption scandal under George Bennington, has voted Luke's party into power yet again in a stunning victory and this would be seen as a testament to the growing popularity of Luke amongst the humans. The Human Province, which lies adjacent to the North Eastern Province, has promised to send some relief food materials to the latter. But protests against the Human Province have grown multifold over the weeks, with people claiming that the humans had refused to send aid packages even as people were dying from starvation. Things do seem tensed between the two provinces for now..."

The reporter on the television continued her coverage of the Senate Meeting, highlighting the various issues which are expected to be addressed in this years' meeting. I was shuffling through the various papers and speech drafts on Luke's desk when the door slammed open and Robert walked into the office. "Luke is inside the Senate Hall. His speech is expected to begin soon. Thought you'd want to watch it." He said. "I'll be there in a minute." I replied. He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. Luke and I had been planning our strategy for handling the aggression being exhibited by the North Eastern Province. This was the D-Day. We would either come to a compromise or things would just go south. I picked up a few papers with Luke's speech written on it and walked out of his office, gently shutting the door behind me.

"Has he started his speech?" I asked Robert, who was watching the television with a glass of scotch in his hand. "You made it just in time." He replied, motioning me to take a seat alongside him. "Flamson promised to find a solution to this mess. And when the President of the Senate promises something like that, people actually expect results." He said. "Well, we are trying our darn best." I replied, pouring myself a drink and finally settling down beside Robert.

"All rise for the oath of Luke Jottingher, the Mayor-elect of the Human Province." The speaker said.

"I, Luke Jottingham, promise on the constitution of the Human Province and the Senate, that I would work to the best of the interests of the humans, and Photrox as a whole. I will not back down, even in the face of death..."

Luke completed taking the oath, which was followed by the Senatorial Anthem. Luke then started with the speech we had been planning since months. "All your hard work is finally paying off, huh?" Robert asked me. "I guess we will have to wait and see what the other side has to say before we call this a success." I replied. "Fair point." he replied. The both of us watched keenly as Luke spoke about how the humans had fought amongst themselves to a point where is almost led to certain extinction and how, if not contained, the present scenario would drive a wedge between the two species on Photrox as well. He spoke about how the Human Province wasn't able to provide relief and aid to the North Eastern Province as they weren't resource surplus till last month, but now that we were, we were willing to send relief to the North Eastern Province. This earned him a round of applause.

Suddenly, the screen went static. "What the hell?" Robert exclaimed. "We've never had a signal outage, especially when it's the official coverage of the Senate Meeting." I said. "It was probably some attempt by the protestors to disrupt the proceedings. I'm sure they have back up systems in place. Last time I heard, protestors had gathered in thousands outside the Senate Hall."  Robert said. "Let's wait for it to come back up. Anyway, once they get the information that we are willing to send relief to them, the focus should shift away from us. It is not a secret that the over-industrialisation led to the shortage of cultivatable land and hence the shortage of food." I replied. "Yeah, I guess it will." He said.

The door suddenly slammed open and Daniel from the Intelligence Wing of our Communications Department walked into the room, his body postures screaming that something bad had happened. "What is it?" I asked him, rising from my seat. "There has been an explosion in the Senate Hall." He said. "What the hell?" I asked him. "We have sketchy reports that there has been a huge explosion at the Senate Hall. We do not have any other report yet and the status of Luke remains unknown. We need to get you to a secure location immediately." Daniel said, barking out instructions into his mouthpiece. "C'mon, let's go." I said, and Robert, Daniel and I made down to the emergency bunker which is used only when there is a Level One emergency announced. We made our way to Level Minus Twenty Eight where the bunker lied and within seconds we were safely inside the impenetrable walls of the bunker. "Daniel, tell me the sequence of events from the beginning. What the hell is happening?" I asked, my mind spiralling in confusion. "As soon as the signal went dead, we lost communication with our security personnel inside the Senate Hall. Soon, all our communications with the Capitol City collapsed and we could not contact any of our people present in the Capitol City and we soon realised that we had lost communications with anyone outside our province. It was sabotage. Someone deliberately cut our comms. We have people working on it. One of our security personnel finally managed to get through the comms blockade, which further strengthens our belief that this was an act of sabotage and said that there had been an explosion at the Senate Hall and that there probably were no survivors. And with that, we lost contact with him as well. There is something terribly wrong in the Capitol. We are trying our best to restore communications with any of our neighbouring provinces." Daniel said. "Oh my god." I exclaimed, not being able to take in so much of information at once. "Also sir, as we have no confirmation if the Mayor is alive or not, you will be taking over as the acting Mayor. the official statement would be sent out soon. What are your orders, sir?" Daniel asked. I gulped down the anxiety and tried to assess the situation. "How is our border looking?" I asked him. "The border is peaceful for now. Most of the protestors are at the Capitol. There are no disturbances for now." Daniel replied. "I want you to double the security at both the outer wall and the inner periphery wall. Tell security to keep their eyes pealed. And also, I want you to declare a red alert in Lockertown." I ordered. "I will send out the orders accordingly." Daniel replied. "As the defence secretary was at the Senate Hall too, you will be taking over as the acting Defense Secretary." I said. "I'll be honoured." He replied. "Alright, let's get down to work and figure out what the hell is going down." I said.

Daniel walked over to the conference table and said that we had managed to fix a part of our communication system and that we were now able to stream the news from the Capitol City. He walked over and switched on the television. And the scenes were terrifying. The screen showed an inferno in the place of where the Senate Hall once stood and the emergency services were struggling to control the flames. "Oh my god." Robert exclaimed. 

"We are watching disturbing scenes at the Senate Hall, which burst into flames after a series of explosions ripped through the building and the emergency services say that the chances of finding survivors is very slim. With the all the members of the government attending the Senate Meeting, the explosion wiped out the chain of command and the government and all the other provincial governments around the globe remain leaderless. The law and order situation in the Capitol City remains tense with the police ordering curfew in many areas of the Capitol City. Most of the other cities have declared red alerts and have heightened security. Meanwhile, coming to the cause of the explosions, the video evidence clearly shows that it indeed was bombs which caused the explosions, a fact which has been corroborated by the first responders. It should also be noted that the explosions also rocked the front entrance where there were protestors gathered and the explosions also caused a severe loss of life amongst the protestors. There are rumours spreading rampant that the humans had something to do with the attack and that this was their way of getting back at the protestors. Although nothing is confirmed at this point..."

"What in god's name?" I shouted, bolting up at the mention of the words humans. "Are you kidding me?" Robert muttered. Suddenly the anchor dropped the bomb.

"We are getting breaking news at this point. A video has been released by the Office of the Mayor of the Human Provinces with regard to the attacks. This video truly is shocking and confirms the rumours."

I found my face on the screen making a speech I've never made. 

"We, the humans, have been demeaned and humiliated for long. Our species has been looked down upon and always treated as second class citizens. But this ends today. This is our act of rebellion. The war has begun. We are going to fight back for control of this planet. We will fight back for our rights. Long live the human province. This is our uprising."

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-Rithvik.