"Mr. President, please board the ship. You must take our people to safety in the rear."
"No, I cannot leave! I must stay with you! Humanity and I are sworn enemies. Even if I die in battle, I will never abandon you and run!"
"Mr. President!!"
The vice president clasped the Starfish president's hand, determination gleaming in its eyes, and firmly patted the president's body.
"This is not running away. We need a leader to continue leading our empire after our defeat. Our warriors may fall, our fleets may be destroyed, but there must be a leader to preserve our empire's last shred of dignity!"
"So, Mr. President, evacuate with the people of our Homeworld. Go east, to our eastern border. We still have a connection in the Blorg Hegemony. Perhaps they can give the last of our people a place to settle."
The president clutched its head with both fleshy hands and twisted it fiercely, its voice filled with grief. "Is the Starfish Republic truly doomed to perish?"
The Starfish civilization had endured for thousands of years, its influence once spanning the Sea of Stars. Was it now to become a stepping stone for an emerging civilization whose state had existed for barely a century?
Yet the number of ships alone made the war's outcome clear. Everything they were doing now was merely to preserve the last seed of the Starfish civilization and walk into death with dignity.
The Starfish president abruptly straightened, the worry vanishing from its plump face.
"You must leave with our last hope. As president, I will not take a single step away from our Homeworld! I will live or die with the fleet and our Homeworld!"
"As president, I order you to leave immediately!"
"..." The vice president's lips moved slightly as it tried