Shi Lang got what he wanted, three days after, one of the arcadian insiders agreed to hold a eting on an unmanned teor at the edge of the two empires. The insider had one request. They wished to et with soone responsible for leading the neomonian troops in the war.
The war was inevitable at this stage. Shi Lang accepted the request and at this mont, Nexalia and the rest of the loyalists were sitting inside the courtroom. Aris said, “Terran representative, Captain Ace, please step forward, and state the first issue to discuss.”
Shi Lang nodded and stood up from a chair. He stood in the center of the court and said, “As so of you may know, the finance minister and the head of the intelligence departnt had been sentenced to death. They were hung till death this morning for the cri of treason.”
He waited for the courtiers to register this before he continued, “At this mont, the Empire of Neomon, faces a threat of war from the neighbors, Arcadia. The details have been confird by her majesty.”
An elder stood up and asked, “Shusha Ace, with all due respect, how can we trust the authenticity of this news?”
He was not being disrespectful to Shi Lang but needed to know the reason completely. Shi Lang nodded and said, “What you said is correct? Allow to present an audio clip. This clip has been recorded by General Aris herself.”
The people nodded and Aris said, “I swear in the honor of my family, that what I will show you is truth and the truth only.”
The video clip showed the entire process, how Chol and Abbey told everything they knew. After the video finished, the old minister asked, “Your Excellency, what do you suggest we do?”
Nexalia has taken down the biggest opposition and now the court and the empire belonged to her. The loyalists were happy to see that and thus they did not waste any more ti acknowledging the lady.
Nexalia nodded and said, “You all have my gratitude for standing behind , to support . However, at this mont, rather than celebrating, I would like us all to focus on what lies ahead. We are going to be at war with Arcadia. Their military forces outnumber us by two tis. I have a proposal.
We announce an alliance with The Federation. Have the treaty of non-aggression signed and face this threat together.”
The ministers all nodded and said, “We support you, Your Excellency.”
After all, they all could tell that it was a wise plan. What was there to hesitate and deny? Nexalia nodded and said, “The second proposal is to have Captain Ace here, act as the Commander In Chief of the allied forces.”
The ministers were surprised, and even Shi Lang was surprised, when Nexalia said, “I understand your worries, however, it was because of him that we could even uncover such truth. I will place Princess Nexa at the front with him. You do not need to question anymore, do you?”
The ministers were aware of the skills and prowess of Princess Nexa. The Empress nodded and was about to pass her decree, when Shi Lang said, “Your excellency, I beg your pardon, but I have sothing to say.”
Nexalia was surprised and nodded for Shi Lang to continue. The young man said, “Your Excellency, I will not take the position of the commander in chief. You can call it my foolishness or my selfishness but I will not agree to this responsibility.
I have no experience in handling such a big force, also, there are very capable officers in the Federal Military to assist you with this. I hope you forgive .”
His argunt was sound, he was too young to lead such a big force and more than that he did not want to bear the burden of so many deaths on his shoulders. He was selfish here. But a single man can only do this much before he grows up to be the mountain people see in him.
Nexalia nodded after so thought and said, “I would talk to the president of The Federation about this matter. What else do you need from us?”
Shi Lang asked, “I would like the permission to attend a eting with the Arcadian insider. The deputy director of the intelligence departnt has paid great costs to arrange this eting.”
The old minister asked, “Why do you volunteer, any Neomonian can attend this eting.”
This reaction was sound, how can you allow an outsider to take part in decisions regarding their ho? Shi Lang said, “You lack the cunning and I do not think we will get another chance. I will extract all that I can from this insider.”
The minister wanted to say sothing when Aris said, “Captain Ace had asked for help from the Federal President even before her excellency agreed upon the alliance. If he and the Terrans are ready to place so much in us, can we not trust them? We trusted Abbey and Chol until a few nights ago.”
She then turned to face Nexalia and said, “I apologize for speaking out of term, Your Excellency.”
Nexalia shook her head and said, “That was the correct thing to do. Neomon is not an empire that does not know how to repay the debt. To be honest, I had to go behind your backs and get the president of the federation to send so aid. These young n and won, who ca into our ho and helped us, and now we cannot even trust them? Is there anything more shaful than this?”
The ministers cald down. Nexalia said, “I will now tell you, the shield of the Throne is you, but rember that the throne also has a sword to protect the interests. I do not an to say that I will be an iron-clad ruler, but anything that is harmful to my empire, my ho, and my family, I will crush it.”
The words were dominant and the face was cold. The deanor of a ruler had manifested unknowingly.
Nexalia cald down and said, “Captain Ace, prepare for the eting, you can leave now.”
Shi Lang said, “Your Excellency, I would like to take Zysha along with . She will be of help.”
Nexalia was reluctant, after all, this big cat had been following around and giving her so real boost. In the end, she sighed and nodded. Zysha, however, was already standing beside Shi Lang. The two ca out of the courtroom and Nexalia began to mind the official work.
She commanded to announce the alliance and sent the pri minister to the edge of the border to sign the treaty. Then she commanded the delegates to co back ho and that the Princess will directly be placed in the forefront to work and learn from Shi Lang.
This young man was the scariest person she has ca through. In front of him, her dead brother was nothing.
…
Shi Lang had Aris set up a spaceship beforehand. As he arrived at the spaceport, this ti with a new steward, the last one was a homie of the forr finance minister. The officers were all cleaned up too.
Shi Lang and Zysha changed their clothes, the forr wore a black spacesuit while Zysha had been given a special suit too.
The big cat said, “Lang, I do not like this, I cannot move my tail as I wish.”
Shi Lang chuckled and said, “Mother, please tolerate it for so ti, we will be back soon.”
Zysha agreed reluctantly. The two boarded the spaceship and flew away. Shi Lang had given commands to his team, to coordinate everything with the Neomonian intelligence departnt. The Deputy Director was now the shot caller.
Shi Lang arrived at the decided coordinates and found a rock floating in space. This was unusual because this rock was stabilized here by manual effort. Shi Lang waited for a couple of hours before he contacted the intelligence departnt.
“This is peace star, co in,” said Shi Lang.
“Go ahea, Peace Star.” said the person on the comms.
Shi Lang asked directly, “Any word from the insider? I have been waiting for the past couple of hours. The other party is a no-show?”
The other side, replied, “I will check it up with the Director.”
Shi Lang had an exasperated expression and gazing at Zysha he said, “Can you imagine, this bitch put on hold.”
Zysha rolled her eyes and said, “Yo, that star is flickering too fast. Why are there other stars flickering?”
Shi Lang cast his gaze in direction and it seed to him like the star was really flickering. Suddenly his scanners showed him sothing bad. The comms sounded, “Our contact is being chased, you are permitted to intervene.”
Shi Lang replied, “I can see that you dumb shit. Learn so professional ethics. Useless bunch of trash.”
He was pissed, his ship did not have much firepower. With a sigh, the man pushed the throttle and the ship moved.
“This is peace star, we are going into battle.”
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