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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/kiwispacemarine on 2025-12-20 22:44:46+00:00.

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Vienna - Federation of Earth Territories Capital, Federal Republic of Austro-Germany, Earth, 2357 A.D.

Federation President Dutoit stared balefully from behind her brass-lined mahogany desk at the Minister of Extraterrestrial Affairs, Mae Sung.

“You’re quite sure of this?” she asked pointedly.

“Yes ma’am,” Minister Sung replied, “The message came directly from Representative Singh’s party on Impartial.”

“And I imagine you want to use this to advance your earlier plan, of aiding the Krellac against the Drellan?”

“If we don’t, who will?” Sung pointed out, “Besides, I believe we should take any chance we can to weaken the Drellan. It’s also just the right thing to do.”

The two women were inside President Dutoit’s office in central Vienna. Also present were the Chief of Defence Force, General Hofstatder, and the Minister for Federal Defence, Ethan Cartwright.

Dutoit sighed. Standing up from her desk, she looked out at Vienna through the expansive window behind her. The historic city was easily visible through the glass, the urban sprawl neatly bisected by the Danube River. On the horizon, clusters of kilometre-high skyscrapers could be seen poking out from beyond the more historic buildings, a sign of the frequent collision between tradition and progress in many of the Federation’s older cities.

“Minister Sung,” she turned back round, “It’s not that I don’t want to help the Krellac. God knows what the Drellan are doing to them... but can we afford the escalation? Do we even have the material reserves to support the Dominion, without leaving our own systems vulnerable?”

“I’d hardly call it an escalation, Madam President,” Minister Cartwright said quietly, “We’d only be giving the Dominion surplus equipment from the pre-Collapse era. It’s not as though we’ll be flying in guns blazing.”

Dutoit turned to the defence minister, “What about the material? How much of the old reserve is still serviceable?”

Cartwright looked at Hofstadter.

“General?” he asked.

“Madam President,” the General said, “As I’m sure you’re aware, during our period of hostilities with the former Hyades Collective, we built up an impressive Strategic Response Reserve, consisting of hundreds of thousands of armoured vehicles. We also expanded the Space Force to include hundreds of now-mothballed starships. Furthermore, we…”

“Spare me the history lesson, General,” Dutoit snapped, “Get to the point.”

Hofstadter grinned apologetically.

“Forgive me, Madam President,” he said, before continuing, “At the request of Minister Cartwright, I recently made a personal inspection of one of the storage facilities for the Strategic Response Reserve. All vehicles have been kept in a well-maintained condition and are ready for reactivation on-demand. I have also received word that this situation has been mirrored in most of our other SRR facilities and our orbital drydocks.”

“So, we do have the material to support the Krellac, if we choose to do so?” Dutoit asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

The president leaned forward on the desk for a few seconds as she pondered her options.

“And if the Drellan decide to assault us directly?” she asked.

“If they try anything foolish,” Hofstadter’s voice dropped to a whisper, “Space Force is more than capable of swatting them aside.”

Dutoit straightened up.

“Very well,” she said determinedly, “I will call a meeting of the Federation Parliament tomorrow, and we will vote on the matter.”

“A vote, Madam President?” Hofstadter repeated in slight disbelief, “surely this is too important to be left in the hands of the GA?”

Dutoit shrugged.

“That’s the way the system works, General. Minister Sung, gentlemen, I think that will be all for today. Dismissed.”

===/===

Federation Parliament, New York City, Federated States of America, Earth.

The Federation Parliament’s General Assembly Hall was packed with delegates from across the Federation. The one-hundred and eighty-nine nations of Earth, the Lunar Colonial Alliance, the Martian Union, and the twenty-four autonomous extra-solar colonies were all represented within the great chamber.

The building that housed the Federation Parliament had previously served as the United Nations building, until that entity was disbanded and its functions subsumed by the Federation in the late 22nd century. The General Assembly Hall, though, was largely unchanged from those bygone days. The only obvious visible change was the replacement of the relief of the U.N. crest at the far end of the room with the Federation’s own symbol: an eagle spreading its wings over Earth, ringed by twelve stars that represented Earth’s original extra-solar colonies.

Atop the dais at the front of the hall, President Dutoit stood a few steps behind a podium just below and to the right of the large relief of the Federation crest, looking at the assembled delegates. Seated on her left, behind an impressive oak desk, was the Speaker of the House.

The Speaker was an older, well-built gentleman with a face that indicated he had seen it all when it came to politics.

Glancing at her watch, Dutoit nodded at the Speaker. He took up a gavel and banged it several times on his desk. The congregated delegates fell silent as the sharp crack of the gavel hitting the desk reverberated around the giant chamber.

“I hereby call the six-hundredth-and-eighty-sixth session of the Federation Parliament open,” the Speaker announced, his gravelly voice booming across the Hall even without the aid of microphones, “I now hand the floor over to the 29th President of the Federation of Earth Territories: Ruth Dutoit.”

There was a smattering of polite applause as President Dutoit stepped up to her podium.

“Fellow delegates,” she began when the applause faded away, “An urgent matter has come to our attention. As many of you are aware, two months ago the Drellan Republic invaded their neighbours, the Krellac Dominion. There has since been a development in the situation. One week ago, at a special session of the Interstellar Amalgamation Council, Krellac representative Kanlarn called upon the other races of the Amalgamation to aid his people against the Drellan invasion. A vast majority of the council voted against sending aid.”

A concerned murmur arose from the Assembly.

“Order…” the Speaker warned, glaring balefully around the room.

“This invasion,” Dutoit continued, “Has seen mass civilian casualties and a deliberate targeting of critical civilian infrastructure by Drellan forces. Our intelligence services estimate that if aid is not sent to the Krellac, their core planets will fall in approximately three months.”

Dutoit swallowed slightly, before continuing.

“Therefore, on the advice of the Minister of Extraterrestrial Affairs, as well as the assurances of the Minister of Defence and Chief of Defence Force that we have the means to do so, I propose that, pending a vote by this body, we send direct military aid to the Krellac Dominion, to help them in their fight against the Drellan Republic.”

There was several seconds of silence as the delegates processed what she’d just said.

Then the Hall went wild. Dutoit stared in resigned silence as the delegates loudly and fiercely debated the prospect of aiding what amounted to a former enemy species.

“We can’t aid the Krellac! They’re filthy aliens!” someone called out from the crowd, “As bad as the rest of them!”

“Shut up, you racist!” came a heated reply.

“We can use this chance to weaken the Drellan!” someone else countered, their voice rising above the din, “They’re still our enemies, after all! Look at the sabotage they’ve been doing in the outer colonies!”

“There’s no proof of that! You’re just stuck in the pre-Collapse mindset!” a fourth voice broke in, “You just want to revive old hatreds!”

“Hey, just because I can see further than the dotted line on the energy contracts the Drellan offer you!” the third voice shot back.

“Slander, Mr Speaker!”

“Better a slanderer than an alien fifth columnist!”

“I will not stand for this! You retract those remarks right now!”

“And if I don’t? What are you going to do about it, traitor?”

Before the situation could devolve into a physical brawl, the Speaker banged his gavel down hard on the desk.

“ORDER!” he yelled hoarsely over the chaos, “I will have order in my General Assembly!” he punctuated each word with a smack from his gavel, as if he were personally clubbing each one of the unruly delegates.

The sound of each crash was enough to end the heated discussions among the delegates.

“Mr Speaker,” a new voice spoke up from the Assembly, “I wish to address the House.”

The Speaker waved his gavel magnanimously.

“The House recognises Minister Beranek of the Demeter Colony,” he announced.

“Thank you, Mr Speaker,” Minister Beranek replied.

Dutoit narrowed her eyes. The Demeter colony had been the site of the disastrous first contact between the Federation and the former Hyades Collective, and had been under a harsh Drellan-led occupation prior to liberation. What the minister said now could either propel her motion through the House or condemn it to a quick death.

“Mr Speaker, Madam President, fellow delegates,” Beranek continued, “As you all know, my world suffered greatly at the hands of the Drellan when they invaded forty years ago. Our cities were razed from orbit, our people rounded u...

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