"Mr. President! Mr. President!"
The secretary was rushing down the stairs of the Presidential Palace while I was walking to board my shuttle. He was usually a calm and cold-blooded person, so seeing him that excited was never a good sign.
I breathed in deeply and stopped walking in order for him to catch up easily. The two personal guards next to me stopped as well.
"Mr. President... Just like I told you. The North American Union and New European Union have sent us ultimatums. They don't want you or any government officials to participate in the commemorations. They say that it is going to worsen our relationships and that it may affect trade and business in the long run."
"Tell them to shut up." I said. "It was their fault for killing millions of civilians in the first place!"
My secretary looked at me, frightened.
"Sir, this is really not going to end well. We don't want to make them hostile to Mars again just for the commemorations, do we?"
"Do as I say, and tell them that they can go to hell!" I yelled.
"To... hell?"
"Diplomatically though, we have to talk a bit lighter, so the exact sentence would be something like: 'There should be no concerns of social disintegrity or unrest as the Republic of Mars understands very well that the unfortunate part of the history we are commemorating today was caused by chain events of failing diplomatic relations of sides.' or something."
"Okay, if that is what you wish."
- - - - -
It has been exactly one Earth year since planet Mars was struck by a powerful gamma ray weapon during the War of Sol, which had demolished (or quite literally vaporised) entire cities and killed millions of Martian citizens. Today was the first commemoration day for those poor souls who had lost their lives and homes during the attack. A memorial has been constructed right where the glorious Obsidian City used to stand, and as the now-elected president of the Republic of Mars, I had to be with my people during this important commemoration.
Despite the Republic of Mars being a part of the Solar Federation, other Federation countries weren't so happy about this Martian 'ritual' as they called it. On the surface, they were concerned about the fact that Martian people could start disliking the Federation again (as if a lot of them didn't dislike the Federation already); but they were actually trying to make people forget about the massacre, the older People's Republic, but most importantly... the very existance of such weapon.
To the best of my knowledge, that thing was still orbiting Sun as a top secret military project. No one but a handful of people knew anything about it. A couple of Martian citizens have been invited to participate in the project as a display of good will and mutual trust in the Federation, but even those in the highest ranks of the Martian Navy (at least those who had any real information) wouldn't share the secrets of that abomination. According to other scientists who were not involved in the project, it was impossible for our civilization to harvest, control and redirect energies of that magnitude, but the evidence was right where Obsidian City once was; the area where the signs of destruction were embedded into the Martian soil.
- - - - -
"Approaching landing site, sir. There is quite a crowd down there." my shuttle pilot said.
"Good to see, good to see." I said. "Take us down there, pilot."
"Yes, sir."
The shuttle deployed it's landing gears and made a soft landing near a large crowd. I exited the shuttle just after my personal guards.
"Sir, do you want a quick sweep before we head out?" one of the guards asked.
"Make it silent." I said. The guards nodded and started walking towards the crowd.
I didn't like having guards around me, but unfortunately, it was necessary for my safety. This had become apparent especially after a failed assassination attempt in the city of Cydonia.
The War of Sol had ended a while ago and the Martian National Assembly was rebuilt, but even after the (highly controversial) amnesty of Black Arrow and Mars Independence Movement parties, some small amount of people still decided to remain as 'freedom fighters'... or 'terrorists' as we referred to them. These terrorists could no longer outnumber our forces and invade cities as they did before, so they have started to operate in the shadows. It was now a lot harder to track down and catch them. Officially recognised as a terrorist organisation by the entire Solar Federation, they would instead plot assassinations of government officials and try to establish black markets to feed themselves.
Trying to get all those out of my mind for the moment, I started walking towards the crowd.
People were carrying flags of the Republic, banners and posters that supported pacifism and reminded people of the innocent souls who were murdered. There was some anti-Federation propaganda as well, but it was nothing unusual. The only problem was the flags of People's Republic of Mars, commonly called "the Old Republic" by people. That flag was now outlawed because of it's affiliation with the 'extremist' groups who wanted us to ditch the Solar Federation and return to the People's Republic identity.
If it was completely up to the Martian government, this wouldn't have happened; we would be very happy to see the Old Republic flag in the skies. However... it was the Federation's pressure which made us make those regrettable decisions.
Spacing out and thinking of all these, I could not notice the small group of people approaching me.
"Mr. President."
This was the very familiar voice of one of my most important supporters on the political stage; Minisiter of Foreign Affairs Nuan Qing.
With her, there was our Minister of Defense Vladimir Korolev, Minister of Education Ayla Maria, President of the Liberal Democratic Party Abraham Helfried, and a couple of other people I couldn't instantly remember.
"It is good to see you here with us. To be honest, I thought that you could have had second thoughts for a while." Nuan said.
"No way." I said. "I have been working on my speech for the entire month. This is all too important to miss."
Just then, one of my guards came running back towards us.
"Looks pretty much clear, Mr. President." he said. I nodded.
"Good to see that you are listening to my advice." our defense minister said. "But having your guards wear civilian clothes..."
"I don't want them to stand out in crowds." I said. "You are right that I could use some protection, but they can do their jobs without making regular people uncomfortable, can't they?"
"Discipline is so underrated." he replied and sighed. I wanted to change the subject.
"It is nice to see you here, Mr. Helfried." I said. "Having political rivals come together... This is such a nice example of how united Martian society used to be, despite all the differences."
"We are just doing our part as the Liberal Democratic Party." he said. "We live together, we are on the same boat. It sinks, it takes us all down."
Nuan lightly coughed.
"People are waiting." she said.
"Well, of course... We should get going."