"Kagan, we are getting a transmission from The Council." Mei said.
"What? Really?"
"They wish to talk."
"Well, that chances a lot of things..." I said. "Speakers please."
"On speakers." said Mei.
"This is Commander Kagan of the Republic. We receive your transmission. Please state your business."
While I was talking, Tachibana just sat down in front of a console to relax a bit.
"Commander, this is Professor Kukulkan. I have an offer you might be interested in."
"Go on."
"I'm going to give Professor Yamamari back to you, however; I want a promise."
"A promise?"
"You will stay away from Makemake." he said. "The Council, although by an invisible iron fist, ensures the organization and peace down here. We can't let you disturb it."
"You have no power. We are taking over for a transition to a republic." I said.
"Huh, democracy or not, looks like you are no better than us..." he replied. "Look, if you want us to be enemies, so be it. The moment you take over, consider Yamamari dead."
That caught me by surprise.
"B-but... What is your reasoning here? Humanity will lose, and we will go down with it!" I said.
"And it will be your fault, not ours." he said. "Pres- I mean, commander; listen to me. We don't want to be your enemy. People of Makemake decided themselves that they wanted to be a part of this order. They are willingly doing the hard work we ask from them, and they are willingly staying within the limits we set. Only through this kind of hard work and strict rules can mankind survive - or at least this is our ideology. If you want to establish a republic, we do not oppose it. Just let us be in our own little space once we give you what you want."
"They are bound to The Order, because as refugees, they did not have any other choice." I argued. "I can also go one step further and say that you are manipulating them, but I can't prove it."
"That much is right, but now we are an established organization already."
"What does the rest of the Core Council say about this?" I asked Professor Kukulkan.
"The rest? I am The Council. I am speaking for all the members here. Say, I know you were wondering about me being the silent man in the middle."
"You knew?" I asked with a mild shock.
"Yes. As an observer, my job was to observe, and so I did observe you quite well. That's true... My only job within The Council was just to observe, nothing else. Until that day I've talked to you, I never talked to anyone else as a council member. What I did was simply observe The Council's meetings, for objective recording of historical information. You could say that I actually wasn't a part of The Council in the regular way. Since we were at the end of a golden era of humanity, we weren't sure who or what would survive and who or what would not. For the first time, you required my speaking. I broke my promise, and interacted with someone in person."
"That's why you didn't talk at all during the meetings, and-"
"And that's exactly why the rest of The Council was surprised when I spoke, yes." said Professor Kukulkan. "I don't know if what I did was right; after all, we are bound to our own strict rules as well..."
"So, what are you trying to tell me here?" I asked.
"Let me finish." he said. "I'll be honest with you. It is true that people of Makemake has been... 'persuaded' to follow us, The Council, as what you could call 'prophets'. We did use science for illusion, admittedly. But, on the other hand, we do have pretty nice records of entire known human history."
"I could guess that..." I said.
"So if you want to convert our followers into republic citizens, you are going to have trouble even if you defeat us, The Council." he said. "You are intelligent, and you know more than necessary about our inner workings. I propose..."
He took a deep breath before continuing.
"I propose that you grant us autonomy within the New Republic." he said. "Our goal is the same: saving humanity. We will support you with whatever we have, but please do not interrupt our sovereignty here."
"I'm not sure." I said. "Mars had an autonomous region, and that was where things started going badly before the downfall. And besides, your 'cult' will have to clean everything up once things start returning to normal."
"It isn't the same thing." said Kukulkan. "Fall of Mars wasn't Talossa's fault, it was everyone's."
A minute passed as I listened to white noise from the speakers, thinking of a reply.
"What do you think?" I asked Mei and Tachibana.
"If you don't want to bother invading them, sounds nice to me." said Tachibana. "Also saves us the effort of providing their citizens with a smooth yet quick enough transition."
"Mei?"
"I don't know, I'm a ship navigator." she said with no interest in the matter, playing with her fingers.
"In that case..."
I slowly turned to the voice input device on the comms console.
"Alright. You will be an autonomous region of the republic once we confirm Professor Yamamari's safe arrival."
"I hope we can have a mutual relationship." said Professor Kukulkan. "I would like to shake hands if you weren't hundreds of kilometers away."
"I appreciate the thought."
"We will be sending Professor Yamamari via a small passenger craft."
"Understood."
The communication channel was closed.
"Is this the first peace agreement done solely on a ship radio?" Mei asked.
"Could be." Tachibana said. "Eh, new era of humanity it is."
"Anything that reduces paperwork is quite welcome." I said. "Heh, they didn't even ask for the actual name of the state."
"Anything their people won't ask about, they don't need to know." Tachibana said.
"It is cruel though..." Mei said. "The Council won't even let their people know that they are actually a part of a bigger republic, or anything equally important for that matter."
"It wouldn't be any less cruel if we invaded the planet by force, though." I said. "For now, let's let them be, and hope The Council keeps their promises."