Snippet #2476900

"Indeed the people of Terra aren't the only ones I need to please," Rhea replied agreeably. "But you aren't currently one of them," she added. "Thinly veiled threats won't get you anywhere," she informed him pleasantly. "As I understand it, your recent return to power was orchestrated not by your own people, but by the UCON?" she inquired. "Word has it that your position remains precarious at best, and that your Empress is off gallivanting around Terra doing gods only know what."

Rhea shook her head. "No, it's not you I need to please," she reiterated. "Of course, you're probably already mulling over ways to quietly make me regret my words, and you may even try to have me killed for my audacity. You may even succeed. But in the end what will it gain you? Not a whole lot. A few moments of satisfaction and any hope of maintaining the precarious civility between Terra and the Aschen. Not because you may or may not be found out, but because I'm probably the only candidate for Prime Minister that views the Aschen Empire with a sense of amiability. Whoever takes my place will just as likely close the doors to your Empire and be done with it. So let's do away with such pettiness and get down to business."