Chief of Staff Dan Quayle stayed behind on the Osiris, while Anton followed Captain Shepard into the limousine sent by the Athens Autonomous Committee to meet with the president of the committee.
The building of the Athens Municipal Council is magnificently built, with a huge statue of the goddess Athena on the roof. As soon as they got off the car, Shepard said to the secretary of the president who sent them here: "The committee building is really grand!" Anton muttered secretly: "It's just like the parliament building in Mycenae..."
As soon as you enter the hall, it becomes even more magnificent. Almost every pillar is decorated with gold, and you can see unique carvings every few steps.
"The committee is really rich," Anton said.
The secretary smiled: "Because we can do business with HER. Of course, you can rest assured that we will not do business involving arms."
"Afraid of being accused of delivering weapons to the enemies of our fellow Europeans?"
Shepard glanced at Anton and motioned for him to be nice.
Anton scratched his head: "Sorry, this building reminds me of the 'Mycenae' parliament building..."
The two were led to a conference room with velvet carpets. The secretary took custody of the weapons Anton had brought before entering. There were three people sitting in the conference room. When they saw Shepard come in, the middle-aged man in a white suit came over and held Shepard's hand and greeted him warmly: "Comrades Shepard, long time to see you! I am Athens." Borough Council President Hearn!”
Shepard replied: "Thank you, President Hearn, for the invitation, but I am no longer in the Star Alliance. Just call me Captain."
President Hearn nodded with a smile and motioned for everyone to sit at the conference table and chat.
Several people sat down, and President Hearn stood up first to introduce Captain Shepard to the history of the city of Athens and the history of the Athens Municipal Autonomous Committee.
"After the colonial satellite 'Mycenae' surrendered to HER, you were unwilling to join in the same crime. Our committee greatly admires this. Please allow me to pay tribute to you on behalf of the citizens of Athens!"
President Hearn actually bowed to Shepard as he spoke.
"Don't dare, I can't bear it."
President Hearn raised his head and asked in an intriguing tone: "Captain Shepard, what do you think of the current city of Athens?"
Shepard looked out the window: "I'm sorry, I've only been in Athens for a short time, but I think this is a beautiful city."
"Yes, Athens is beautiful! It was once infinitely glorious and brought time to the entire Mediterranean, but it also declined. If there are no outstanding people to govern Athens, Athens will not be glorious again."
"I agree with you, President Hearn."
"Unfortunately, I am not an outstanding person now. I alone cannot bring Athens back to its past glory..."
Shepard did not answer this time, and watched quietly to see what Hearn had to say.
"You just said that Athens is beautiful, yes. But because of HER's invasion of the earth, beautiful Athens has to be surrounded by that high wall!"
President Hearn pointed to the steel city wall along the coast of Athens outside the window, showing an expression of great regret. Anton asked: "Didn't you build these walls?"
"How could the Commission allow such an ugly thing to appear in Athens?! It was built by force from the New European Union (NEU)! Even though Athens was elected as a protected neutral historic city, the NEU did not stop work."
"Listen to what you mean, don't you like ancient Athens very much? I believe ancient Athens also had city walls, and Athens needs to be protected."
"Yes..." President Hearn put down his hand and said, "But it won't be this ugly."
"What exactly are you going to say?" Shepard asked.
"Sorry, Captain Shepard, I can't control myself when I talk about beautiful Athens being shrouded in ugly walls... What I want to say is that NEU has interfered too much in Athens. Now Athens is autonomous. It does not If we need the protection of NEU again, of course we will not seek asylum from HER."
Shepard felt that this conversation was going in a bad direction, so he tried to change the subject: "Ahem! President Hearn, I'm sorry to interrupt you. You promised to provide sufficient supplies and supplies to the Osiris before. support…"
"Don't worry, Captain Shepard, I was about to say this. Because of this war, Athens has a chance to be reborn. I want to restore Athens to its former glory! But this cannot be under the rule of the new EU and HER. Athens must be reborn under the leadership of the Autonomous Council!"
"What exactly are you going to say..."
"I mean, I want to lead Athens to independence!"
Shepard showed an unhappy look: "President Hearn, I am a soldier and don't know much about politics, but I feel that now is not a good time for Athens to become independent. Whether to become independent also requires the vote of the people of Athens. It cannot be It’s all up to the committee to act arbitrarily.”
President Hearne waved his hand: "Those citizens? They don't understand anything. When I bring Athens to glory, they will be grateful to me! As for you saying that now is not a good time, I cannot agree. If it were in peacetime , NEU will definitely send troops to control Athens. Without HER to cause chaos, how could those colonial satellite city-states in the universe succeed independently? What I want to do is to turn Athens back into a city-state."
"You are not a cosmonaut, so I'm afraid you don't know much about colonial satellite city-states. Take my hometown 'Mycenae' as an example. It surrendered to HER shortly after it became independent. Moreover, do you think that Athens is now a neutral city? , won’t NEU send troops here?”
President Hearn showed a mysterious smile: "I know they are coming back, but it's different when the Osiris is here."
"…What do you mean?"
"The Osiris has no backing now, and Athens is willing to pay huge sums of money to hire the Osiris to protect Athens! Captain Shepard, are you willing to join hands with me to make Athens glorious again?"
I just went around so much, but it turns out it was all for this. Captain Shepard stood up and said with a serious face: "Sorry, President Hearn, I led the Osiris to become independent to fight against HER. But according to you, you just want the Osiris to become the home of the committee. Dog, forgive me for not agreeing! The Osiris will leave Athens today."
"Don't worry, Captain Shepard."
President Hearn knocked on the table three times, and a group of guards with guns rushed in. Anton wanted to take out his gun to protect Shepard, but when he touched his pocket, he remembered that the gun had been taken away before entering the conference room.
"Damn it!"
"President Hearn, are you going to detain me?!"
"No, no, no, I don't dare to detain you. I just want to keep you for dinner. I hope you can think carefully about what I said while waiting, Anthony?" Hearn called a young man to introduce to Shepard: "This is my son. He is the director of the committee's security department. If you figure it out, please knock on the door and let him know."
President Hearn left with the others, and Anthony led four guards to guard the door of the conference room.
Anton asked Shepard with an annoyed look on his face: "Captain, what should we do?"
Shepard was also very angry. He looked out the window and said: "The Osiris is in danger today..."
