by James Rosone
Stein felt caught off guard. “Humph,” he grunted. “My concern with allowing Russia unfettered access into this new frontier is that Russia would use these new-found resources and capabilities to rearm, and once again threaten the free world.” Stein had felt optimistic up to this point, but he was concerned that this might by the sticking point that would kill the whole negotiation.
Gromley assumed President Stein would fight him on this area; he also knew that he needed to assure President Stein that Gromley’s government was not interested in fighting America again. His benefactors wanted to return to making money, and they ultimately just looked forward to not having to constantly watch their backs because of the risk that they might possibly get killed by an American airstrike or Special Forces unit.
“This is a point I cannot negotiate away, Mr. President. I understand your concern and your unwillingness to trust or take my word that Russia will not look to find a way to restart the war. To give you a more steadfast assurance, what if we offered to have American or NATO observers work within our civilian space program? We are not asking for a joint venture, but allowing NATO to observe our civilian program would ensure that we are not militarizing our space industry. We can agree to a ten-year observation regimen. Would that be an acceptable outcome?” Gromley was truly hoping that they could come to an agreement on this area; if Russia was going to turn away from its military economy, then it was going to need to have a new sector of the economy to turn to and the space industry represented that opportunity.
President Stein hated the idea of letting Russia benefit from establishing a civilian space economy and industry. Russia had cost the lives of millions of people, and now they wanted to be rewarded with this new lucrative industry. However, Henry also understood that if an equitable peace was not achieved, it would only lead to further animosity and conflict. The US could continue the war until they had thoroughly defeated the Russians. The challenge was, if they did persist in the conflict, it would probably drag on for another year; hundreds of thousands of soldiers would be killed, and eventually, America and NATO would have to occupy Russia, which would bring its own unique challenges.
President Stein contemplated his options until he made a firm decision; he realized that not everyone would agree with his choice, but he hoped to be able to bring them around after logical explanations. Resolute, he responded, “President Gromley, this is going to be a tough sell. I need to consult with my fellow allied leaders before I give a definitive answer. If we do agree, we would want to have an observation group for at least fifteen years, not ten.”
Knowing that this was probably the best deal he was going to get while still accomplishing his benefactor’s goals, Gromley nodded in acceptance of President Stein’s terms. “If the other allied leaders will agree to these terms, then the Russian Federation will accept them. I understand a lot of other details need to be worked out, and you need to discuss things with the other allied leaders. I would like to request that we extend the ceasefire for the duration of these talks. The fighting can resume if the talks break down, but I would like to put a stop to the killing while there is hope that the war may finally be over.” Gromley hoped to gain his forces a bit of a reprieve. His forces could use the time to shift units around and prepare to restart operations, should the negotiations not progress.
“I am not willing to extend the ceasefire indefinitely. We will prolong the ceasefire for another five more days while I consult with our allies. If we are able to come to a consensus in that time, then we can move to formally end the war at that point. If all parties cannot come to acceptable terms over the next five days, then hostilities will continue,” Stein said forcefully. The two leaders agreed, and the meeting was terminated.
Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh, and then the excitement emerged. The thought of ending the war with Russia in less than five days was something that none of them had thought possible just two days ago. America had been planning for at least another year of conflict with Russia. American factories were now using a nearly unlimited supply of Tritium4; this allowed them to produce nearly 1,000 Pershing tanks a month, and close to 200 of the F41 Archangel fighters. As new fighters were completed, they were quickly being formed into new squadrons and deployed to Europe. With the Chinese defeated in Alaska and California, and Japan having surrendered and now fighting China, the US had moved the bulk of their forces to Europe; not having to fight Russia would allow America to consolidate their forces against the Pan Asian Alliance, and possibly end this war once and for all.
*******
The next five days were a flurry of negotiations between the allied leaders and military advisors as they collectively discussed the terms of ending the war. Most of the leaders agreed that an end of the war should be pursued. Most of Europe had suffered horrendous damage to their infrastructure and economy. Refugees had also become a serious problem as countries scrambled to find enough suitable places to house them; there was also a significant economic strain as many of the refugees required at least some government assistance. As the fighting continued and intensified in Eastern Germany, Poland and southern Europe, more and more people had been displaced from their homes. The idea of stopping this mass humanitarian crisis was very appealing.
The one aspect of the peace terms that the allied leaders were having a hard time agreeing to was allowing Russia to pursue a space program. The EU and UK were reluctant to allow the Russians into the space industry, partially because they also wanted to participate in space exploration and mining, and they did not want the additional competition in the market. President Stein lobbied hard for the proposed international monitoring force that could keep tabs on the Russian program. He also reminded the British and the Europeans that this was a necessary evil if they were to end the war. Stein also reminded everyone of the lessons of World War I; implementing punitive policies against the vanquished foe did not end well then, and no one was eager for a new world conflict.
After three days of intense negotiations, the allied leaders agreed to the terms after adding several provisions to the stipulation about the NATO monitoring group of the Russian space program. With the final details hashed out, President Stein met one last time with President Gromley and laid out the minutiae of the agreement. After many hours of reviewing the document, which surprisingly was only 24 pages in length, President Gromley approved the terms and signed the document. They had effectively just ended the war.
The following day, a news conference was held, announcing to the world that the war between NATO and Russia had officially concluded. While not all the terms of the surrender were revealed, enough of the details were showcased to demonstrate that America and NATO had the upper hand in the negotiations.
The news, of course, was met with harsh rhetoric by the Chinese and the member states of the Pan Asian Alliance, who vowed to fight on despite the Russian treachery. China immediately cut off any ties they had with the Russians, and began to shift large numbers of troops to their northern border with Russia. As the intelligence community continued to monitor the troop movements, it was becoming clear that the Chinese were considering options to attack the Russian eastern territories since the Russian military had little in the way of forces in the area to defend against a possible Chinese invasion. The Allies had also devastated the Trans-Siberian Railway and road network that connected western Russia with their eastern provinces; this would make countering a Chinese move nearly impossible.
The Russians had anticipated something like this happening, and had begun to airlift thousands of soldiers to their military bases in the east. They also had several of their armored divisions withdraw from Poland and the Ukraine, moving these fighters towards their eastern provinces via the road network. As they would encounter a destroyed portion of the railroad, they would repair as they went. The Allies began to be grateful that they had agreed to delaying the drawdown of the Russian military by six months; hopefully, this would allow them time to resolv
e the situation with China.
The US also began to shift forces back from Europe to the West Coast of America, and all of the EHD Reaper drones were also brought back to domestic territory. New plans for occupying Japan (and assisting them in removing the Chinese) began in earnest. The US would need to use Japan as a base of operations if they were going to consider a ground invasion of China. Secretary of State, Jim Wise, also began secretive talks with Korea. The Koreans had stayed neutral throughout the war, per their agreement with China. Secretary Wise hoped to change that decision once they saw that China was going to be invaded. His hope was to gain approval from the Koreans to allow the US to use their land as another invasion point into northern China.
As hostilities in Europe concluded, Israel, the EU, and the UK began to move soldiers and aircraft to the West Coast of America. They would also participate in the occupation of Japan and the eventual invasion of China. It had been decided nearly a year ago, at the Saint Mary Islands Conference, that China would need to be broken up. No permanent end to the war could be achieved unless China became a less powerful entity.
Mr. Speaker
22 November 2042
Washington, DC
Capital Building, Office of the Speaker of the House
The Speaker of the House and deputy chair of the Freedom Party, George Fultz, was a close friend of President Henry Stein and his Chief of Staff, Michael Montgomery. The three of these men had fashioned the blueprint for the Freedom Party, and through their business savviness, self-funding, and brute determination, had formed a fierce political machine in Florida that saw them capture the Governor’s office and then the state assembly and senate. Two years after taking the Governor’s office, Speaker Fultz ran for Congress in 2030, and then began the grassroots work with Monty to establish hundreds of field offices across the country. They began to identify congressional districts that they felt they could capture and candidates that shared their same views for the country.
By 2042, the Freedom party had gained control of four-fifths of the governors’ offices and State legislatures. The party had pushed through a lot of changes in federal laws and the Constitution. They limited the role of the Supreme Court back to the original intent of the Founding Fathers, removing their ability to legislate from the bench. No longer would judicial supremacy be allowed. They also changed the tenure of the chief justices. No longer were they life time appointments; they were now limited in their appointments to fifteen years. Following their service on the Supreme Court, they were ineligible to hold any future public office. The decision to move in this direction was met with a lot of resistance from both parties; even some in the Freedom Party disagreed with it. However, the average tenure of a Supreme Court judge is 19.6 years, so establishing a 15-year tenure seemed fair. It also helped to ensure judges would not serve on the bench until they literally died in their seat.
On this Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Speaker Fultz was meeting with Monty to discuss a very important topic. He wanted to restructure the number of years in each Congressional, Senate, and Presidential term, and implement term limits. The Freedom Party wanted to get these changes passed while they still had the votes to do it. They needed to ensure the ideals and principles of the Constitution remained intact long after the supremacy of the Freedom Party.
Monty walked into the Speaker’s Office and saw George standing near the window with a glass of cognac in his hand. As he walked towards George’s desk, he saw a second glass waiting there for him and took it.
“I take it you have something important you want to talk about? That, or we are celebrating something,” Monty said raising the glass of cognac.
George smiled wryly as he responded, “I want to propose some legislation, and I want to know if President Stein will support it or be against it.”
“OK, what legislation are you thinking about?” asked Monty, hoping it wasn’t anything too extreme.
Walking towards the two leather chairs in his office near the fireplace, George took a seat, and signaled for Monty to join him. “I want to redo the legislative terms and term limits of our elected officials.” Monty raised an eyebrow, but didn’t bring forward any objections.
“…I also want to redo the Presidential terms,” added George.
Chuckling softly, Monty downed the rest of his drink and looked for a refill. “For a second there George, I thought you were going to talk about something really ambitious…you really want to move forward with this?” asked Monty.
“I do. The Freedom Party has done a lot for this country. We have given the USA new life and a new start at greatness. However, we may not always be in power. We need to use our influence now while we have it, in order to set our nation on a better path. If we don’t do this, you can bet the government and our elected officials will return back to their old ways. They always do. We need to be the ones that break the cycle.” George said with conviction. He believed Monty and the President wanted this as well. At least he hoped they did. Power can have a strange way of corrupting people.
“George, this has always been a goal for the President and for me as well, you know that. What do you have in mind?” asked Monty, leaning forward.
George tried to read Monty’s response for a second before replying, “First, I’d like to address the Congress. The two-year election cycle can be convenient when you want to get rid of a Congressional member you dislike, but it also presents a real problem. They are always having to campaign and raise money. They spend most of their time fundraising, and not nearly enough hours doing their jobs. This needs to change. I am proposing we change congressional terms from two years to four years. We will also set term limits of no more than five terms. That way a person can only serve a maximum of twenty years; no more of these Washington dinosaurs that hold on to power until they die. As to the Senate, their six year terms will remain, but they will be limited to no more than three terms in the Senate. For the President, I am proposing a more radical change. One seven-year term as President. Typically, most of the President’s first term is spent preparing to run for his or her second term; that mentality needs to end. I know President Stein was never like that, but we need to make sure future presidents are not stuck in that same cycle.” George was excited to have an old friend to share this idea with, especially now that they were in a position of power to make it happen.
Monty sat back in his chair, polished off his second glass of cognac, and poured himself a third. “I like the idea. I know Henry will as well. But I sense you have something else you want to propose? Am I wrong?” Monty had a quizzical look that said he knew Fultz had another trick up his sleeve.
George snickered before answering, “Am I really that easy to read? Yes, I do have one more thing I want to propose. I want to overturn the 22nd Amendment, which as you know, limits the President to two terms. Of course, this will become a moot point after we enact the new legislative terms, but for the time being we need to change it (I think we can get enough governors to vote for the change, as long as they know that this new legislation will make it impossible for future presidents to run for endless amounts of terms). I want to know if you can convince Henry to run for a third term? We have a national election in 2044, which is sooner than one might think, and one of the things I would like to do is propose that we place the new proposed term limits on the ballot and give the people a chance to vote on them at that time. This will add further legitimacy to the change and ensure the term limits are not challenged in the future. Following the election, President Stein would then serve a seven-year term and then be done. But this way, we ensure we have Henry at the helm for seven more years to see our country through the post-war years and our adventure in space.”
“Hmm…that is going to be a big ask. Henry will certainly go along with the ballot initiative, but I am not sure he will want to run for a third term, especially a seven-year term,” Monty said, his voice dripping with regret.
George was a bit taken aback; the President was
going to turn sixty in April, he was still more than capable of serving. “Really? You don’t think Henry would want another term? His vision is not complete yet--doesn’t he want to finish the work he has started?”
“It’s not that he doesn’t want to serve any longer. I think he is physically and mentally beat. The war has really taken a toll on him, and I do not know if he can handle another seven more years. I think it might be too much for him,” explained Monty, who was a bit disappointed as well.
Fultz absorbed the information, and though for a moment. “Perhaps he just needs to take another vacation for a little while and rest, plan out what else he wants to do and then make that determination. Can you please convey my message and idea to him? I have a lot of things to get finalized before the end of the year if we are going to get these initiatives on the 2044 ballot.”
Monty nodded, and George indicated that their meeting was done. As Monty got up to leave, he assured Speaker Fultz that he would convey the message to the President and do his best to get him onboard with it.
Space Exports
15 December 2042
Lunar Base Stargate
Dr. Karl Bergstrom was still in awe of what they had accomplished on the Moon’s surface these last eight months. The SpaceX transports were making a delivery of supplies every six days, bringing back tons of partially refined Tritium4 and Helium3 Isotopes. The mining operation had increased dramatically as well. With each trip from Earth, the transports would bring additional building materials and personnel. It had taken several months to construct the initial buildings on the lunar surface, but now they were complete. The first two structures were the farms; These buildings were 300 meters in length, 260 meters in width, and 75 meters in height; each one provided nearly 75,000 square meters of warehouse space to grow food for the burgeoning colony. The third building was the same size but divided up into different sections to house the livestock (since the experiment in raising chickens had been going well, they were going to try raising goats as well to provide a source of milk and cheese). The key to establishing a permanent colony on the Moon, was establishing a means of producing a sustainable food sources.
