Chapter 132: Section 210
"Here we go. The committee will come to order. Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment to address the guests in the audience. First of all, thank you for coming. We think engaged mystics are welcome and a valuable part of the political process. I do want to remind the guests in the audience that the chair is obliged under the rules of the committee to maintain order and preserve decorum in the committee room. I know that we have deep feelings on these issues and that we all may not agree on everything, but I ask that we abide by these rules and be respectful of our audience members, our viewers, and our witnesses. The chair appreciates the audience's cooperation and maintaining order as we have a full discussion on these important issues. The chair recognizes herself for five minutes for an opening statement.
"Miss Lovelace, you are here because you have been charged with the withholding of crucial information, abuse of power, violation of the Bureau agency recruitment law, and insubordination. The Bureau has also requested that you also be charged with terrorism and has accused you of being a member of the Serpent Society, a group that has terrorized the Mystic World's authorities for several decades. However, the committee has been advised to ensure these accusations take an inferior position throughout this case. The Alpha Sector is one of the biggest mystical organizations in all the realms and its mission statement was to uphold certain values. Values for freedom, human rights, and safekeeping. In recent years, however, the Alpha Sector has repeatedly chosen the path of more control, more isolation, more surveillance, and more manipulation. Your organization should be disbanded. I expect today you'll say anything to avoid this outcome. Like you are 100% responsible for what Alpha Sector does, that you suddenly endorse the standard of the Bureau code of conduct.
"That the recent mission in Dreieck was more than a necessary mission, that Alpha Sector does its best to protect innocent children of both the mystic and non-mystic world or that your possible ties to the Serpent Society are just a myth. We aren't buying it. Multiple pieces of evidence reveal the Alpha Sector has withheld the existence of several artifacts. Your employees said, quote, There are several missions which we've been asked to keep a secret. Alpha Sector has continuously performed multiple missions that have not been reported nor recorded. The facts show that Alpha Sector has become a platform with which you pursue your personal goals. Alpha Sector also recruits agents unsupervisedly. It has disregarded multiple rules and laws that govern the recruitment of agents and recruited children using false promises and preying on their innocence. The Alpha Sector arranges for them to be used as child soldiers, putting their lives in danger.
Ms. Lovelace, the committee has requested that Alpha Sector appear before us for a long time. For those we serve, we're glad the day has finally come. Today, the world is watching. The Bureau is watching. The Serpent Society is watching, but the answers you owe are to the free mystic and non-mystic people who cherish their God-given unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all they deserve the truth. Complete honesty is the standard and the law you are being held to before this committee as we seek to get answers in a full understanding of what happens at Alpha Sector under your watch. Thank you.
"Chair now recognizes the ranking member, Mr. Lionel for five minutes."
"Thank you Madam Chair. Let me say that I agree with much of what you just said, and I certainly appreciate your enthusiasm and your comments and concern about child soldiers. And I'm glad that we are having this hearing today. Mystical organizations are no longer what they used to be. When the first one was created, it was to keep mysticism a secret and soon several more followed with distinct mission statements that ensured a continuous and uninterrupted harmony in the mystic world. Today, several directors use mystical organizations for their selfish reasons, boosting their money, power, and reputation, negatively impacting the lives of millions in the process.
"In the past several congresses, this committee has heard from special agents of other mystical organizations about troubling and repeated instances where they put selfishness over selflessness, directors over people. Now, today, we intend to bring more transparency to the Alpha Sector whose leader has had several charges brought against her and while the Alpha Sector performed several missions that secured dangerous artifacts, the organization has also threatened health, the revelation of the mystic secret, challenge the integrity of the Bureau, and promoted violence. And I am not convinced that the benefit outweighs the risk that poses to the mystic world in its present form.
"... Our legislation codifies certain regulations, ensuring that organizations observe certain behaviors and decisions. I think it's time to examine the reforms needed to Section 210 of the Organization Decency Act. The liability shield for mystic organizations has for too long been abused and led to a lack of accountability for mystical organizations. So I hope we can find a collective path forward on that issue too. And I think the committee is having a hearing next month on it so we can stop the very real harm to our realms and secrets under the current law. I look forward to the discussion today as we continue to bring accountability to these organizations. And let me say to Ms. Lovelace, I know this is about the Alpha Sector, but I am focusing all my attention not only on the Alpha Sector but on these concerns, wide concerns about freedom, human rights, and the use of child soldiers in mystical organizations. And with that, I yield back. Thank you again Madame Chair for having this very important hearing."
The chair nodded before turning her head to a different seat. "Our witness today is Ms. Lovelace, Director of the Alpha Sector. You're recognized for five minutes," she said.
"Thank you, Chair Vincent, ranking member Lionel, members of the committee. I am Camille Lovelace and I am a nature spirit or nymph, if you will. I am the director of the Alpha Sector, a position I've held since the agency's inception. I was born and spent a large chunk of my childhood in the now-extinct city of Rooqla, a city in the Southeast that was destroyed and its people massacred by the Serpent Society. Somehow, I survived and was taken in by Hecate's coven, a family formed and led by a member of the council of mysticism, Councilwoman Hecate. I served the coven for almost six hundred years and left because of an opportunity presented to me by another councilor, the lord of the vampires at the time and the first vampire, Sirae.
"As chief of the Alpha Sector, I've done my best to uphold this agency's mission statement and we have made sure to do our best when it came to safekeeping, human rights, and freedom since day one. Every agent in the Alpha Sector is over the age of eighteen and while we do have people aboard Sector 5 who aren't up to the age of majority, they are there after being rescued from abusive parents or guardians and are mystics with high potential and low control of their powers which makes them a risk to other children if allowed into the Bureau's guardianship program. They aren't agents and the training they participate in is only as a form of self-defense class.
"The operation in Dreieck was not sanctioned by the Bureau nor was it reported to them because we had reasons to believe the agency might have been infiltrated by the very group we sought to take down. As stated in part 2.1 of the Transparency Act in the Bureau's code of conduct for mystical agencies, the chief reserves the right to withhold information from the Bureau if the revelation could cause harm or danger or compromise lives, properties, or operations. That is all, thank you."
The Chair adjusted her mic before speaking. "As you know, the testimony that you're about to give is subject to Title 17, Section 1004 of the Bureau Code. As you stated in your testimony, You left the coven after more than half a millennium in the group, did you leave on amicable terms with your sisters?"
"No," Camille shakes her head.
"I thought so," said Chair Vincent. "The reason I ask you this is because coincidentally you left around the time Hecate announced a new order to hunt and kill all members of the Serpent Society."
"That was as you said, a coincidence. I left the Bureau for a completely unrelated reason."
"Can you reveal why?"
"I don't think I'm allowed to. As I mentioned earlier Madame Chair, I am a nature spirit from Rooqla, the Serpent Society killed my parents and --"
"Ms. Lovelace, isn't it true that your father died months before you were born?"
"That is correct."
"And your mother died during childbirth?"
"That's right."
"So your birth parents passed away long before the Rooqla massacre?"
"Yes, but I lost my adoptive pare --"
"With all due respect, you did not lose your parents, Ms. Lovelace." The chair declared. "You talked about how --"
"Hold on," Camille cut her off. "I'm sorry to interrupt but you sit there and you say my adoptive parents aren't my real parents because they didn't birth me but who are you to say that? I've never met or seen my birth parents, only thing I know about them is from stories others have told me. These people, my adoptive parents, are the ones who took me in, sheltered me, gave me food, gave me all the resources I needed to succeed and never once asked for anything else in return. So you can have your opinion on everything else but not this, they were my parents because they did everything required of one. Thank you."
The chair shifts a paper on her desk almost nonchalant about the red-eyed woman's speech. "That's a good story but I'd advise you against interrupting," she said.
Among the audience were Skylar and Hunter. The medic rose from her seat and turned to Hunter. "I want to stretch my leg for a bit, why don't you come with me?"
...
They walked around in silence, only enjoying the beautiful garden until Skylar broke the spell. "How are you feeling? You'd be one of the witnesses tomorrow."
"I'm ready," Hunter replied. "I'll try my best to see that all the charges are dropped and Camille is acquitted," the sprite stated.
"That's not possible. Karl must have already told Olivia about you intercepting the twins, he'll probably twist the story to make the Alpha Sector look bad, I'm sure he's still hung up on what happened at the harbor, and let's not forget about the death of his nephew. Olivia would be happy to oblige, the Alpha Sector has been hard to control in recent years. I'm sure she's already given the committee a directive to punish Camille for her actions so the committee will do and bring up anything to ensure they get there. That's why they keep mentioning the Serpent Society even though the Society hated nymphs and almost killed every one of them."
"But I thought the Chair said the accusations about her being a member of the Serpent Society should take a backseat throughout the hearing?"
"That's all for show. Why do you think she mentioned the possibility of Camille being a member of the cult in her next sentence and all her questions so far were about the society? They don't care about that, their duty is to make sure someone pays for what happened to the Retribution. Our duty - you, me, Diana, and Camille is to make sure all the punishment falls on Camille."
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Chapter End Notes:
The Bureau's Criminal Code, Title 17, Section 1004's statutory terms are violated if someone:
1. "falsifies, conceals or covers up by any trick, scheme or device a material fact,"
2. "makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations,"
3. "makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry."
...
Section 210 of the Organization Decency Act states that "no agency or agent of a mystical organization shall be treated as the cause or reason of any damage during an official mission."
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