"Great." I said. "Not only you dive right into the subject, I assume you also accept the accusations I did not yet even mention to you, professor."
"I easily can, because what matters when law is not in your hands?" he said. "It is sort of amusing to see giants fall."
"What do you mean?"
"The New Republic." he said. "YOUR Republic. It might be very young, but by what it inherited from the Old Republic, it does rule over quite a large territory and a large amount of resources."
"The Republic is nowhere near the point of dissolution." I said, angrily. "And it is not MY Republic, it is all people's."
"Is that so?" he laughed. "Then, say, what happened to the PEOPLE'S Republic? Unfortunately, Mr. President, most people will not see it the way you do."
"What do you think you are doing?" I asked without thinking much.
"You have no clue, eh?" he said.
"For such a talkative person, you know how to hide the important details, I will compliment you that much." I said.
"It will be over in a few days, so it doesn't matter that much, really, what I tell you and what I don't." he said. "Your own people are revolting against you, Mr. President, I guess you figured out that much already. If you didn't dodge the bullet, you wouldn't get to see this with your own eyes. But, on my part, I did what I could to save you from that unbearable sight. Shame, such a shame..."
"The next time we talk will either be in a cell, or hell itself." I said.
"If blasting me is what you have in mind, don't hold back." he said before the communications were cut.
"He is openly challenging us, but with what?" asked Mei.
"Remember we are just sitting here with nothing in our hands, and our navy doesn't respond to us?" I said. "Maybe he knows it."
"Oh, right... He sure does." said Mei.
"The police is out of reach, the army does god-knows-what, the navy doesn't respond to the President of the Republic..." said Nuan.
"The Republic guards turn against us..." added Frans.
"And we have no power, basically." I said.
"I still don't see what could've driven people for a revolt." said Nuan. "People actually support a stable, democratic Republic; and the current president was chosen by a clear majority of votes. It can't be the Federation this time either, as we are literally allied to the Federation in politics."
"The Alliance?" I asked.
"No. Firstly, they don't have the will to do such thing; and secondly, they can not do this against a Federation member." she said. "There must be something else going on..."
"Something in Talossa?" Frans asked. "It has a sizable population."
"Speaking of Talossa... You look very suspicious, Mr. Jalmari." said Mei. "You come and try gaining our trust by seemingly being on our side, while Talossa suddenly, and with no warning, goes on a rev-"
"Mei!" I angrily yelled.
"What? I'm using my freedom of speech." she answered.
"There are better ways to use it." I said.
"Alright, Kag- I mean, Mr. President..." Mei said. "Remember when you said that I was to go on a journey with this unarmed ship?"
"Yeah?"
"Good call." she said.
"Shut up, Admiral." I replied. "You know why I said that."
"Good call, Mr. President." Nuan joined Mei.
"God..." said Frans. "Give him a break."
"Sir!" the only other bridge crew member said. "Two Republic Navy ships approaching. Fleet Carrier Lotus and Gunship Granite."
"Maybe someone finally heard us." I said.
"Sir, both ships are in combat settings!" Mei yelled.
"Did I just understand that right?" Nuan asked in mild panic.
"Stealth mode!" Mei ordered.
"No use, they already know where we are." I said. "Activate shields, and prepare to accelerate towards prograde direction relative to the Sun."
"Aye, sir." the only bridge crew member said (apart from Mei herself, that is).
"You control the ship, you idiot." Mei said to me, annoyed.
"Oh, really?" I said. Mei came by and pushed a slider next to the commander's seat. My helmet display suddenly changed.
"There we go." I said. Now, the ship's hull was transparent for me. The helmet was displaying what's behind the walls, so I had 360 degrees view of the whole space around the ship. With my command, the view then changed to third-person perspective. I could now see the ship's representation as if I was outside, and I could also see whatever the ship's scanners were picking up. I tried switching between tactical and scientific modes.
In tactical mode, the interface was much simpler and the data update rate was much higher. In scientific mode, everything was more complex, but detailed. I decided to keep it in tactical mode.
Now, on my orders, Lodos' electric and magnetic shields were at full power. Since neither a fleet carrier nor a gunship carried beam weapons as a dominant striking force, there was no need to use the power hungry extreme-reflection hull mode.
"Hail them." I said.
"You do that too, Mr. President." Mei said.
"I mean... yes, sure." I said. I tried contacting the gunship first. The gunship received my hail, but did not send a reply back.
"Sir!" Mei yelled very loudly, almost destroying her lungs. "They are shooting!"
"I see, I see." I said, calmly. "The problem is, they are not shooting us."
"How is that a problem?" Nuan asked.
"The fleet carrier is deploying drones!" Mei said.
"I thought that we were done with the civil wars and all that..." said Frans.
I didn't answer anyone, and tried contacting the fleet carrier this time. To my surprise, for the first time, I got a reply from a navy ship.
"Rear Admiral Tachibana, reporting in, sir." he said. "Make it quick, Admiral, I am not in a good situation here."
"This is the President of the Republic of Mars." I said. "Admiral Mei, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the official governor of Talossa Colony is with me. Tachibana, what are you doing out here?"
"I am trying to protect you, Mr. President." he said. "You would really help if you just ran away right now, before that gunship can attack you. I would like to rendezvous in orbit of Ceres as soon as possible. I have information that might be important to you."
It was so sudden.
"Understood, Rear Admiral." I said. "Meet you in Ceres' orbit."
"Oh, and one more thing." he said. "Don't rely on your title of president for now. Have a good journey."
The communications were shut.
"Alright." I said. "Everyone, we will be on our way to Ceres. Rear Admiral Tachibana wants to meet us there. Apparently, he has some clues."
Under my control, the ship reoriented itself and engaged it's main thrusters - the nuclear salt-water drives.
"How nice of you to furtively hijack my ship." said Mei.
"This is not your- Shut up, Admiral."