"Shoot the traitor!" I ordered Ling.
Ling glared at my eyes.
"Sir, our duty is to protect the diplomatic-"
"He is retired already, and I am the one in command here!" I shouted.
"Save me!" Eren said. "Your job IS to protect us, and HE is the traitor!"
Ling was having a dilemma. His team was targeting us, but it wasn't clear if their intention was to arrest (perhaps shoot(?)) me or Eren.
"Mr. Ling..." Nuan tried to interrupt.
"Commander, please get away from Mr. Eren." Ling said. "I am taking the command back. You will be questioned."
"Then..." I said. "Then I demand you arrest Mr. Eren as well. He is the real danger here, and you can not ignore this statement."
"Unfortunately, I can not take orders from you at this time." said Ling. Two police officers from his team started approaching.
"But you will listen to me, Mr. Ling." Nuan said. "Commander has a point. Take both of them."
Ling turned to have a look at Nuan, who was still holding a gun aimed towards my general direction.
"Ms. Nuan, I assure you, the wrong course of action will complicate our relationship with the Republic." Ling said.
BAM!
Nuan fired her gun.
Eren made a weak sound, and his head turned to the side. He was shot.
"Thank you gentleman." said Nuan. "This is practically an internal matter of the Republic now, and I wish to discuss it with a Republic officer."
Ling was shocked by the insouciant solution of Nuan. So was I.
"Nuan..." I said.
"What? I saved you once again." she said. I swallowed my words. I was frozen by Nuan's cold-blooded actions.
I spent about a minute processing everything in my head. Meanwhile, Ling was standing still. He could not make a clear desicion. A Republic envoy had just shot another Republic civilian in the Republic territory he was supposed to protect... under the command of a Republic officer.
I came back to my senses after a while.
"This will be a minus point for your reputation, mister." I said to Ling.
He was frusturated. He just turned around without saying anything and went out of the embassy. The police team followed him in silence.
"Call the medic team." Nuan told me. I took a look at the dead body on the ground.
"I am calling the police." I said. "This isn't how we handle things."
"Well, how do you handle things!?" Nuan said. "How were you going to get yourself out of that situation if I wasn't here?"
"You can't brute force your way through problems." I said. "I am calling-"
"Well, go ahead and call the police, idiot; they were already here, literally a few seconds ago!" Nuan said.
"You know... I am not willing to call the Chinese police on you, but if we weren't in a war, this would easily put you in a jail." I said. "Right now, I need you. The Republic needs you, and the Alliance simply doesn't want to get involved. And believe me when I say that this is the only reason you are still here!"
"That!" Nuan said. "That is the thing you need to realise! We are in a war, and things don't work the way they used to during peacetime!"
"I thought I knew you, Nuan." I said. "Even though we were only together for... you know..."
"Look." Nuan said. "Just get this over with."
I approached her. She watched me worryingly.
"Don't worry, I am not going to hurt you damn it." I said. "Take this."
I handed over the device that contained a copy of the data fragment which I have discovered inside the Federal DSN complex.
"What is this?" Nuan asked.
"Inside this, there is a really important evidence. Something that really could pull Alliance to our side of the war." I started.
"Can you hear what you are saying?" Nuan asked me.
"It is true." I said. "This is a decrypted data fragment I've found in a Federal Deep Space Network complex."
"You were... You were away, spying on the Federation!" Nuan said.
"Shut your mouth." I whispered. "Yes, that's why I was gone. But you will have to keep it a secret."
"Anyway, what is the data about?" she asked.
"You will see when you read." I said. "Basically, the four countries leaving the Federation... It is a lie. It is a planned move by the Federation. They are just trying to create a buffer zone between the Alliance and the Federation territories."
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Nuan said.
"They think the Alliance can try to strenghten it's relationship with those countries once convinced, thus allowing the Federation to gain some extra time." I said. "Plus, when the Federation starts the attack, the Alliance won't be able to directly march into the Federation territory, reducing the Federation's losses."
"This is insane!" Nuan said. "But... What is the Federation waiting for? Why not attack just now, if that is what they want? They have everything they need to get a decisive victory."
"But not without heavy losses." I said. "So, there is a theory. This was actually..."
"Actually what?"
"This was Eren's theory, so I don't know how much I can trust it; but this is the only logical explanation." I said.
"Just tell." Nuan insisted.
"The Federation is preparing something that can make short work of the Alliance in a war." I said. "Whatever it is, when it is used, the Feds don't expect the war to last too long before the Alliance asks for surrender. In fact, they think that the war will be short enough to avoid an Allied land counter-attack."
"Slow down, Commander..." Nuan said. "If what you are saying is true, this information can change everything."
"It must." I said. "If it doesn't, it is 'game over' for us. There is no other way!"
"So... What is this 'thing' that the Federation is preparing?" Nuan asked.
"It can be a diplomatic trump card, or it can be a plan of civil unrest." I said. "And, it can sound crazy... But I think that might be what happened on Mars."
"You mean... The civil war on Mars was..."
"Yeah." I said. "It could be the Federation's doing. They wanted to weaken us and break our national unity before the war began."
"I am having a hard time believing it." Nuan said. "Do you think the Alliance will share the same fate?"
"No. The Feds will never want a war on Earth's surface, because it would affect them badly too." I explained.
"So?"
"That's where Eren's theory comes in." I said. "Basically, the Federation is building a superweapon, and the Allied countries will be knocked out of the war before the war even begins."
"Excuse me... A superweapon, you say?"
"Exactly." I said. "I don't know the details, but this is the most plausible explanation."
"There is something bothering me." Nuan said. "If it was Eren who came up with all this to help the Republic's cause, then why did he attack you?"
"I... I wish I knew." I said. "I don't want to complicate things, but I think the Federation may have found out about our operations. This could be the effect of some clever counter-intelligence."
"You mean the Federation tricked Eren into attacking you? Don't be funny. You sound like a conspiracy theorist." Nuan said.
"I know, but look..." I said. "This whole war is like a big conspiracy theory."
"I hate to agree with that." Nuan said.
"Anyway. Changing the subject back... I want you to present this evidence to the Allied diplomats." I said.
"Sure thing." Nuan answered. "What will you do?"
"I will investigate the motivation behind Eren's attack, and if I can, I will find more about this superweapon... or whatever it is the Federation is trying to do."