Once again, the Hall of the Political Bureau was in uproar. This time, fear was clearly audible in the voices of several Ministers present. The last time the aliens had been attacked, the missile had been launched from another country, and apparently none of the aliens had actually been hurt. Still, that had been bad enough. This time, the assault had very obviously come from United Jerr soil, and to make matters worse, the alien leader had been killed.

There was a very real chance the aliens would seek retribution, Namir thought. He was deeply upset by the situation. The arrival of the aliens was perhaps the best thing that had happened to Jerr since… well, he couldn’t really think of a comparable moment. They should be welcomed and learned from, not attacked. But the attack had happened, and now they once again faced the uncertainty of how the aliens would react.

“Silence!” Chairman Patek shouted once more. Lately, that seemed to have become his primary role in the People’s Council, as if his title had ceased to be a euphemism for “Supreme Leader” and had suddenly taken on its literal meaning.

“We are, once again, at the mercy of the alien visitors,” he declared, as soon as his voice could be heard over the commotion. “We know very little of what has happened. Apparently, one of our own comrades, a disgruntled factory worker from the looks of it, decided to make a statement of his own and assassinate the captain of the alien ship. It is now of utmost importance that we distance ourselves from his actions.”

“There is, however, one slim silver lining,” he continued. “Before the assassination, the alien captain asked about our plutonium enrichment program. We do not know the technical details of how they came to believe we had one, but it seems they felt they had reason to suspect United Jerr was working towards producing atomic weapons. The good news is, before she was shot, I had the opportunity to explain to her that she was mistaken and that United Jerr is not pursuing atomic weapons. Now the aliens no longer believe we are enriching plutonium. With our atomic weapons program secret again, we are in a significantly stronger position.”

Namir All was dumbfounded. Of all the idiotic statements he had heard Chairman Patek make from the pulpit, this one surely took the prize. That said, he wasn’t exactly surprised. It wouldn’t be the first time a national leader had fallen victim to the seductive practice of starting to believe his own lies. The particular untruth Chairman Patek seemed to have embraced was the lie of his own extraordinary oratorical abilities.

The Chairman concluded his speech by leaving the floor open for suggestions on how to handle the anticipated alien response. The first to rise was Minister of the Interior Tomar.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“We appreciate the Chairman’s contribution to national security, as he singlehandedly got the aliens to back down from their investigation of our plutonium enrichment program,” she began. Namir knew Minister Tomar well enough to recognize the ironic tone in her voice, though he very much doubted Chairman Patek picked up on it.

“There is, however, some information the Chairman is not yet privy to,” she continued. Now Namir’s attention sharpened. This, he had not expected her to say.

“The name of the assassin is Jumrel Rem. He is thirty-four years old and holds the rank of captain in the Committee for Jerrassian Security. When assassinating Captain O’Sullivan, he acted on my direct orders.” The last part of her statement was drowned out by the rising roar of voices in the hall.

One of those roars came from Chairman Patek. As he stood, he towered over the other delegates, waving his arms in an instinctive attempt to intimidate them. “What did you do?” he shouted to her. “Do you understand what you have done?”

“I had very good reasons for doing what I did,” the Minister of the Interior replied calmly, though there was a hint of anger in her voice. “During our last emergency session, this council decided to welcome the aliens with open arms. I believe that was the wrong decision. It should be obvious to anyone who listened to Captain O’Sullivan that they do not share our values. They are not ruled by their peasants and workers, nor do they believe in the supremacy of the Party—or any single party, for that matter. Yet our people already look up to them. If they stay, the aliens will spread their poison, diluting the integrity of our ideology in the process.”

Namir All didn’t quite know what to think. On one hand, he vehemently disagreed with her assessment of the aliens. No matter how hard he tried to see her side of the argument, he could not perceive them as an ideological threat. On the other hand, he was thoroughly impressed by her willingness—and her ability—to use violence to protect the ideological integrity he so highly cherished.

Chairman Patek was still roaring in anger. Namir wouldn’t be surprised if the confrontation turned physical. If that happened, it wouldn’t be the first time the Hall of the Political Bureau had seen bloodshed between Ministers.

“I should fire you!” the Chairman shouted. “I would have fired you, had we not been living under the scrutiny of the aliens. But in the current situation, the People’s Council must present a united front, and firing you now would be tantamount to admitting responsibility for the assassination.”

He glared at the Minister of the Interior with hatred in his eyes. “Rest assured, once this crisis is resolved, we will have a talk, you and I, Minister Tomar, about how you had to step down from your position due to health reasons and how you want to spend the rest of your days knitting on the porch of your vacation cottage on the Tober Coast.”

Minister of the Interior Tomar’s only response, as she sat down, was a string of rather explicit words describing the surprisingly short evolutionary distance between Chairman Patek and the orvat-var.