Federation Interlude #2

Sixty-three years ago, I was born on a sunny day on Uvarth’s shores. Now, it was a sunny day. The House of Parliament shook from the Tyrants’ artillery but I wasn’t worried about it. These despots were all the same. They were going to go through that door and gun us down man-to-man. Our defeat had to be symbolic, some kind of “proof” the billions of Mankind didn’t deserve to decide their own fate.

I held in my loathing and took a deep breath. I wondered for a moment, if things could’ve been different. If history remembered us at all, it would remember me as the Federation’s last Prime Minister. I think as far as politicians go, I was good. My twenty-year term started slow. I wanted to make good on my promises for more infrastructure. Hospitals for the frontier, new roads for the core.

There was some tension on the the Vrakaks border but I thought little of it. I pushed parliament to approve a higher budget for the fleet. It eked out a win, 198 for, 17 against, 45 abstaining, but we had to make some concessions for the Market Party. What else could I have done? The little aliens invaded. They ignored our diplomats but at least had the courtesy to send them back. The same frontier I wanted to revitalize was ripped open. Millions died, on both sides. Our fleet was decimated. Admiral Perkins won pyrrhic victory after pyrrhic victory and the media had me to blame for it. Part and parcel of being a Prime Minister. I took it in stride.

After the Vrakaks decided to cut their losses and try again in a generation, the Eternal Empire launched an invasion. They didn’t even give us a formal declaration of war. Our Federation was “illegitimate” for the lack of inbreds forcing their will on billions. I hoped against hope, but the war in space went about as well as I expected. They ignored our terms, demanded we submit our democracy to their despotism. Now, I could’ve called an executive order and bent the knee. I was well within my rights. I might’ve even been rewarded, but when I entered this office I swore an oath to uphold the ideals of the Federation.

I held a vote in parliament. 213 against, 39 for, and 8 abstaining. My heart sank but my spirit soared. I issued a rejection to their armada and watched the orbital defenses that had kept us safe for centuries disintegrate. It hurt to see but I figured as much. The wetbags at the Market Party ran for the hills and the Ecologist Party showed its true colors, but the rest of us, at my own Federalist Party and the Peace Party hunkered down. We intended to make a stand. No less symbolic than their invasion. In the end, I suppose I did all I could do. That’d have to be enough.

The door started to rattle. Their jackbooted thugs were beating it down. I didn’t make any last speeches or bold proclamations. I checked to make sure my pistol was loaded. My coworkers did the same. The metal bar we’d laid across the slats started to crack. We could hear the lead brute howling for blood on the other end. I gave my last words.

“Friends, it has been an honor.”

The door swung open.