The colonel made a gesture, and the silent guard walked towards a cabinet that was in the room. He placed two glasses on the table, grabbed a bottle from the cabinet and filled the glasses with seltzer. Without a word, he put the bottle back to the cabinet and stepped back towards the door. Once the doctor sat down, the colonel followed suit and grabbed one of the glasses. "I understand your commander's concern. Half of the sector are prejudiced against Gallia by now."
Taking a sip from the glass, Maximilian listened to the doctor's questions. "What happened to Gallia, you ask?", a serious frown crossed the colonel's face. "Treason, doctor. On multiple levels. First, there were power-hungry revolutionaries who sought to undo everything the Kingdom stands for. They capitalized on the war and advanced towards New Paris."
The colonel ran command on his computer, and old news articles appeared on the holoprojector. "And then, we were betrayed again. By the very people who were trusted to safeguard the Kingdom while the bulk of the fleet was away. They yielded to the rebels, in an opportunistic attemt to seize power from the Crown. Or maybe in an attempt to bargain for their hides, lands, and titles.
Even a part of the Royal Navy disobeyed the orders to protect our people in the Hebrides. They fled to the Core Worlds to join the usurpers, and blamed us in spite of their treason. It all happened so quickly, in a matter of a month or two, so some people might not have noticed it. Simply because this hasn't affected their lives... yet."
Maximilian made a pause, letting the story sink in. He took another sip from his glass, before continuing: "Of course, that's a very abridged version. Suffice it to say that at this point, the powers that be in Gallia are probably blaming us for everything bad that happened during the war."
A sad smirk crossed Maximilian's lips as he thought of something: "But then again, there're multiple powers fighting over the corpse of the old Kingdom now, despite claiming to have reached a consensus. Minarchy, Republique, Duchy... Vultures, all of them." The man put the empty glass on the table, his head lowered, deep in thought. The topic was obviously a very personal one for him.