Written in the style of A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine:

Mel had gone soft. She’d deceived herself into believing it was possible to rule without stepping on toes (Important toes—mind you—one does not ascend to the highest seat of power in an interstellar colony without betraying somebody). She wished to end her tenure in a way that future city historians would look upon favorably. She wished not to be overthrown by a violent mob (there was precedent). But now her plans were ruined; she’d been forced to play tyrant, all because some subversives had succeeded where she never could: by rousing the city’s populace from complacency to action.