Our fleet consisting of the single warship and the cargo and mining vessels under it's protection was stationed near Makemake. If the citizens were to leave their underground city and look up into the sky, they could see tens of ships cluttering their view.
The Council's self defense force on the other hand, consisting of about a dozen converted passenger ships, was trying to reach us from their previous orbit.
"The Order's traffic control has made a contact request." Mei said.
"Let's see..." I said, walking over to the communications console and routing the voice output to speakers.
"Unidentified spacecraft, please identify yourself with ship type, name, allegiance, and if available, armament."
"This is the warship Nor... uh... Lodos III of the New Republic. We are in possession of a classified number of anti-ship and flak missiles, as well as hypervelocity projectile launchers. We wish to speak directly to The Council."
The traffic control went silent for a while.
"Lodos 3!?" Mei said in the most irritating way. "Are you kidding me? What next, Lodos 4: Electric Boogaloo?"
"Shut up, I couldn't come up with something." I said.
"Well, you could use the real name of the ship!"
"No. I couldn't risk them finding out more about the ship's capabilities through their archives." I said.
"Oh..." Mei lowered her voice. "Makes sense."
"The Council will speak." traffic control suddenly came to life, and gave us a new comms frequency to use.
"The Council is listening."
"Councillors, I am speaking to you from that giant, scary and all-powerful mighty warship overhead."
"Any more adjectives you want to add to that?" a council member said.
"Terrifying."
"Fair enough." they replied. "First of all, congratulations on your successful mission, commander."
"Thank you. Now, I will ask for your cooperation." I said.
"You already have it." they said. "We are expecting you back on Makemake for a new set of missions."
"No, that's not it." I said in return. "A cooperation... but with my rules, not yours."
"That didn't sound very... positive." they replied. "But we are ready to hear it."
"I want you to hand over Professor Yamamari to the warship; safely, healthily."
"Why?" they asked.
"I need his expertise to plan our ways to restore human rule on the Solar System."
"That's exactly what The Council is doing." they said. "We fail to understand."
"Your ways and our ways look very different." I said. "Release him."
"Otherwise?"
I turned to Mei, annoyed.
"What do these guys think they have to bargain?"
"I don't know, maybe they are playing their last cards, trying to look tough." she said. "Just as we do, usually."
I turned back to the comms console.
"Otherwise, I'm afraid we will have to take over Makemake." I said.
The Council was silent for two minutes straight, before they talked back.
"This is unacceptable." they said. "If you don't deliver that warship to our defense forces, you will be considered a rival, Commander Kagan."
"So be it." I said.
"Kagan!" Mei yelled. "Their defense fleet is approaching. I count... thirteen ships."
"How far do you think they can shoot?" I said.
"Not far, at least not far accurately." she said. "I don't think they can shoot further than a few kilometers at most, and still hit the target."
"What is the armor rating of this ship?"
"Not very good." Mei said. "This is a torpedoboat, designed to engage from afar and have good agility. But... we can take some beating. Why?"
"I don't want to be the one to shoot first, that's why I'm asking." I said.
"I have an idea." Mei said. "Let's drive one of our cargo ships in between and use it as a bait."
"The cargo ship will be ripped to pieces." I said.
"We can just transfer cargo and crew to another ship before it happens." Mei said. "We still have time before the enemy fleet arrives."
Following Mei's suggestion, we put an empty cargo ship ahead of us as a bait. This was pretty unnecessary in a tactical sense, but since a 'war' has not been declared yet, I didn't want to be the one to make it official.
"Now we wait." said Mei. "What do you think of doing once their military is defeated? Land there and conquer the city?"
"How funny." I said with an unamused voice. "I plan to broadcast propaganda. That's the whole plan. I will promise the recapture of Earth, democratic elections, material wealth, goo-"
"Okay, okay, I get it." said Mei. "And people will figure things out themselves."
"Yes." I said. "We won't see fighting inside the city."
"Oh, look." Mei said. "They are almost here."
"Action stations! Main engineering!" I shouted at the intercom. "Make sure the vessel is configured for battle! I need the silos at maximum reload rate, we have quite a few ships to shoot at!"
"Aye, sir!" Omar and George acknowledged.
The ship had a total of four silos, so if we were to shoot down the enemy fleet of thirteen ships, we had to load new torpedoes fast enough.
"Mei, to the helm."
"Yes, sir!"
As she sat on her seat, I took the torpedo launcher controls.
"Wish we had a few more hands aboard." I said. "Sensors, comms, damage control etc. will be both of our jobs then, Mei."
"Yes, sir!"
"Here they come, into our effective engagement range..."