"Tachibana..."
"Sir?"
"I want you to plan an assault on this colony ship." I said. "Figure out the best way to bring this thing down, or at least cripple it so we can have enough time for a second attack until the AI can repair the damage."
"Sir, that's a tall order; although it seems to have almost no defenses on its own, this ship, and the overall situation is nothing like what we faced before."
He was obviously a bit reluctant to take on the task.
"Everything we are going to encounter from now on will be that way." I said. "You are good at thinking out-of-the-box, that is, coming up with creative ways to get things done. This is why I'm asking you."
"I understand, sir." he said. "What do I have at hand to get the job done? What assets of the fleet can I use?"
"You have everything the New Republic has." I said. "Just try to minimize our potential losses, that is all."
"I will be working on it, sir."
"You have one Earth day."
"One day!?" he first wanted to argue, but held himself back. "Yes, sir. I will report back in one day with a full plan."
"Dismissed, commander."
Tachibana saluted me before he got out of the bridge, so I returned his salute.
"Hey, Mei..."
"Finally..." she said. "I see you are done with everyone else, so we can finally talk about my problems."
"Your problems?"
"Specifically the one about how we managed the last fight." she said. "Missile cruisers are supposed to engage from a distance, but what we did back when we were handling that surprise attack was a little-"
"Mei, not now!" I said. "I want you to command a mining fleet to continue resource extraction operations. You will take all the mining ships, some cargo ships and a few warships to protect them in case they are needed."
"Mining?"
"Oh, and you don't get to take Lodos with you, admiral; she stays with me here, in orbit of Makemake."
"What!?" Mei was enraged. "I was just getting used to this ship, and you are sending me to-"
"You are not going to FLY yourself, admiral; you will COMMAND a fleet. There is a huge difference." I said. "You will have full control over extraction operations."
"Why do I not get Lodos, though?" she asked.
"Because Lodos is our symbol of power over The Order, being the president's protection and all." I said. "...which reminds The Council that if they want progress, they have to cooperate, because only we have the kind of power they need."
"You still have trust issues with them, huh?" she said.
"On your way, admiral, please. Time is of the essence."
She punched my shoulder lightly before heading off, indicating that she was pissed off by my behaviour. Just after she left the ship, Lodos got a contact request from the surface of Makemake. I went to the comms console to reply.
"This is Missile Cruiser Lodos III of the New Republic. We hear you."
"Oh, commander." said Professor Kukulkan from the other side. "I have news. I can get The Council to build your interstellar colony ship."
"That's great news." I said. "Than-"
"Before thanking me, hear this." he said. "I need your help with that."
"What kind of help?" I asked. "We have tons of material ready to-"
"No, not material help, although that too is appreciated." he said. "Okay, I know this will not sound nice, but... here goes nothing; *ahem*, you need to grant The Order independence."
"Wh..." I was in shock by the audacity of the request, even though the professor's words tried to prepare me for it. "What exactly does this have to do with the colony ship?"
"That is sort of complex." he said. "But if I need to explain... Well... The Core Council, you know, is more like a council of guardian angels for the people of Makemake rather than a government."
"I... have heard of that." I said.
"Yeah, we are almost a spiritual organization." he said. "And if people of Makemake, especially those high up in the hierarchy, you know, the people who will work on that colony ship, were to figure out that The Order of Salvation is an autonomous state within a larger state, that would not be good. The Council would be damned!"
"It is The Council's fault to begin with." I said.
"Yeah, whatever, we know." he said. "But it is a bit too late to discuss it right now. The point is, if our people will work together, The Order and the New Republic have to be equals, at least on paper."
"Is there no other way?"
"There is." he said. "If The Order was superior to the New Republic, that would also work; but I thought you wouldn't like the idea..."
"I hate that idea." I said. "We will have to enforce Republic superiority. I don't want The Council trying somethin-"
"Gosh, are you kidding me!?" said the professor. "You have a fleet of warships and the wealth of this entire realm, while what The Council has is some poor hydrocarbons and kitchen knives. I assure you that The Council wouldn't be able to challenge you even if they wanted to."
"I don't encourage The Council's manipulation..." I said. "But I don't have a better choice than playing along. What exactly do you want from me now?"
"Grant full independence to The Order." he said.
"Let me propose something else." I said. "I will grant independence to The Order, but..."
"But?"
"But the New Republic and The Order of Salvation will come together as a confederation."
"A confederation, you say..."
"One that has a strong New Republic influence." I said.
"What a way to insult a sovereign state." the professor said. "But I guess you DO have the power, so I won't be standing in the way. I will try to arrange a meeting with both governments, uh... How about we meet on that orbital station? Looks like the best neutral zone we can hope to have."
"Sounds okay." I said.
"And it would be a nice gesture if you kept your guns a good distance away from the station, at least for the duration of the meetings." he said.
"No way." I said. "We are not meeting to 'discuss' the confederation; we will simply propose and The Council will accept."