"Get me on line, quick!" I said to Aziz while putting the headset on.
"On channel, sir." Aziz said.
"This is warship Lodos of the People's Republic of Mars Naval Forces. I am Commander Kagan, the commanding officer of the Republic fleet in orbit of Luna. We are answering your hail."
"This is Nuan Qing, People's Republic of Mars' ambassador to the Alliance of Asian Nations. I am currently aboard a civilian Federation vessel. You are formally requested to leave Lodos and board spaceship Equinox for a diplomatic meeting with the Federation officials as soon as you are ready."
Hearing Nuan's voice so soon again... She used to make me sick, yet, I was unexplainably happy now.
"Understood, ambassador. I will be on my way in a few minutes." I said.
"No, please leave all military equipment back on Lodos, and wait for Federation shuttle Orca to pick you up, Commander. Thank you." she said, and the comms channel was closed.
I put the headset away and got lost in deep thoughts... What was I going to do in there? Security!? Of course not...
Maybe...
Maybe they wanted me to attend to the meeting as a sign of mutual trust, because I was the one in charge of the Republic fleet attacking the Earth-Luna system.
"Hey? What is going on?" Mei asked. "What's with the grin, was it your girlfriend?"
"Hey, what? No!" I said. "The Republic is negotiating with the Federation. They want me to come aboard the civilian vessel."
"Okay, hold up." Mei said. "Everything going on here has been a little too suspicious." Her words caught the attention of the whole bridge crew.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"We were just winning a war, but then Mars suddenly gets hit by an overpowered fantasy weapon, Republic makes a ceasefire, this admiral guy comes in charge and the Federation sends a ****ing bus to negotiate in space." she said. "Sounds like a Federation officer made all this up to bluff and mess with us."
"I might agree." Karl said. "Sounds like a really bad fiction novel."
"Yeah, I see your point, but what if it isn't?" I said. "What if a 'fantasy weapon' really hit Mars and obliterated entire cities, and Republic made a ceasefire, and so on?"
"Look, there are only two corvettes out there. We can take them out before they even have the chance to shoot back, and they know it." Mei said. "They are making up fake messages and bluffing!"
"But these messages were using Republic formatting and encryption systems, weren't they?" I asked Aziz.
"Yes." he answered.
"But still, I support Commander Mei's argument. What if they somehow broke the encryption keys and... you know..." Karl argued.
"It is near impossible." I said.
"It is NEAR impossible." Karl repeated my own words, emphasizing on his argument.
"Look, I talked to the Republic's ambassador to the Alliance. I know Nua- I mean, the ambassador. It was her voice."
"Why the hell is the Alliance ambassador there in the first place!?" Karl asked.
"Maybe because we are allied with them?" I said.
"Recording and synthesizing human voices have been a thing for quite a while, you know that, Commander?" Karl kept arguing.
"Hey, I have an idea." I said. "Look, Mei. You will be in charge while I am gone. If anything suspicious happens, or if I give you a signal to do so, you can blow everything up in the vicinity, okay?"
"What about you?" she asked.
"I signed up for this." I said.
"We won't leave you on your own in case of trouble." Mei said.
"You-you..." I couldn't form a sentence like I wanted. "If you smell a trap, walking directly into it is not the best option."
"So, what is it that you are doing right now?" Mei replied.
"I am trying to save the lives of innocent people back home!" I yelled. "This war should have never happened, but we can at least admit our mistakes and finish it now."
Mei couldn't say anything afterwards. She rolled her eyes and looked at the floor.
"Sir, a Federation shuttle is entering Lunar orbit to rendezvous with us." Aziz said.
"Tracking the shuttle now..." Karl said. "They should arrive in like an hour or so."
"Sir, we... I mean, you have a new message from Olympus Mons HQ." Aziz reported. I went to have a look.
'--==DECRYPTED OUTPUT==--
MJD 217353
People's Republic of Mars Naval Forces - [Officer #████████]
Mr. Kagan, congratulations on your promotion to the Naval Forces rank of Admiral. You now have the ability to:
- Command civilian or military ships of unlimited tonnage
- Command civilian or military fleets of unlimited size
- Command marine forces of unlimited size
- Divide/merge fleets and assign commanders of inferior ranks to separate battle groups
- Sign war-related treaties and agreements (joint training, military cooperation, ceasefire, peace, military research, intelligence sharing) in the name of People's Republic of Mars***
- Take part in Naval High Command meetings
- Promote/demote officers up to the rank of Rear Admiral (not included).
The Republic recognises all your efforts and salutes you, comrade; for you shall lead the proud Martian nation to a better tomorrow.
*** Treaties and agreements have to be approved by Martian National Assembly to come into effect.
--==END OF DECRYPTED PACKAGE==--'
I was speechless. In Martian Navy, the time served by an officer was not important, so there was no limit to how fast someone hardworking could rise... But skipping all the ranks between 'commander' and 'admiral' was, needless to say, incredibly rare.
"Oh my, I am jealous!" Mei said. She was just standing behind me.
"You were reading!?" I asked. Mei ran into the middle of the bridge with an evil smirk.
"Attention! Admiral on the bridge!" she shouted. The whole crew stood up and saluted. With no option, I saluted back.
"Stop being like a kid." I told Mei.
"Okay, I want a promotion now." Sungho jokingly said.
"You have all seen quite some action." I said. "You are no longer the people you were when you first stepped aboard this ship. You deserve a lot, but promoting you to higher ranks will require some time and paperwork on my part."
After all the stress, action and terror we've been through; this moment was a good chance to put a smile on my crew's face. Not only the bridge crew, but all our comrades aboard Lodos deserved it.
The hardworking engineers and doctors...
The marines running from one deck to the other, risking their own lives to save others...
The scientists helping Lodos to navigate and communicate properly in the harshest conditions of outer space...
The fighter and shuttle pilots who willingly leave the protection of Lodos, and fly into space in unprotected tin-cans during wartime...
And the commanding officers responsible for the lives of all those people...
Everyone deserved a smile.