Chapter 12: A Unique Discovery and Solution.
It was later in the day when it dawned on him what was bothering him about the world Kellogg had told them about. His daughter may actually own that world. He did a little digging and later made a couple of calls.
“Princess,” Wilson was talking to his old friend on the communicator, “Could you, and Lady Gray, meet with me later today.”
“Yeah,” General Alphine said, “would 1300 be okay?”
“If it works for Lady Gray,” Wilson said, “Oh before you ask, I need you as Jill’s proxy. I want to talk about Ebio Planet Zulu Foxtrot 89. I have been talking with Larry and the thing that has been bothering me is that I think we can buy Ebio Planet Zulu Foxtrot 89 from Jill.”
“Oh I see.” The princess replied.
Several hours later, Larry Mercer, Lady Gray, and the Thonian Ambassador, were shown into Wilson’s office. Wilson had been talking quietly with the Galactic Council Representative as they came in.
“It’s your show,” The princess said.
“Okay Princess,” Mike started, “here’s the deal. Me and Larry have been looking over some interstellar law. We believe that since Jill is the biggest shareholder of Ebio, she could sell Ebio Planet Zulu Foxtrot 89 to us or just give it to us. But I am concerned that should the clones file suit against Ebio that we could lose the world.”
“Well it is not in Earth Space, nor is it in Thonian Space,” The Princess said, “So it would be hard to file suite in either of the Thonian or Earth Courts.”
“That is correct,” the Representative from the Galactic Council commented. “The interstellar court would most likely not take the case as a human rights violation. The worlds are not part of the council. From what I know you and your daughter have not had day to day operational control over the company it would be hard to sue you personally. I don’t know where they would be able to file.”
“According to Jill’s trust, everything you owned is now in her name.” The Princess stated, “So you couldn’t be sued anyway.”
The Galactic Councilor said, “I had also heard that you turned over most of your stocks and property to your daughter when you left the Empire, and set it up so the Princess and your stepmother vote her shares.”
“That basically correct,” Wilson said as the others wondered where the conversation was going.
“What I want to do is transfer Ebio Planet Zulu Foxtrot 89 to the Kingdom of Trena. How do we do it?” Wilson asked.
“You don’t,” the Galactic Councilor responded. “There is no precedence for this in galactic law, or any law that I know of. Your daughter is the owner of several Ebio Worlds. In some respects that makes her an empress in her own right. I am not sure what your status in the Empire is right now. While the company is divesting itself of some things, most of the worlds they own are not in the empire. Sovereign ruler may not be the right terminology. If the world was first colonized by Ebio and there was no native population, then you own it. It will depend on how the world is titled. If it is titled in Ebio’s name then you may not be able to do anything with it. If it is abandoned though, it might be claimed as salvage.”
“What if Jill owns this world?” the Queen asked.
“I would ask that she sell it to the kingdom,” Marshal Wilson responded.
“The galactic council would not stand in your way of that,” The councilor concluded. What he didn’t say was that the council had little or no jurisdiction over the Ebio worlds. If they had, some of the Ebio’s fangs would have been pulled years ago.
“Larry?” Wilson asked.
“He’s solid on the international law,” Larry replied, “though I am not an expert.”
“Neither am I,” The princess replied. “If this world is titled in Jill’s name then she can do what she wants with it. If it is titled in Ebio’s that’s going to cause some problems! She is not one of the company managers nor am I, or the admiral. We sit on the board of directors and there is some stuff we can do; but I don’t think we can transfer a planet to Jill that the company owns.”
“Is there some way to find out about the ownership,” the Queen asked.
“Yes,” the princess said, she brought up a computer and spent a few minutes working on the computer then turned to the group, “Well it took some doing; but I finally got a list of property owned by Jill. I knew it would be in her financial reports. But she does own Zulu Foxtrot 89. It is one of about thirty or forty planets, both inside and outside of the empire.”
“So where do we go from here?” Michael asked.
“Your lordship,” the Thonian said softly, “you have your daughter write a contact. The contract will be with the Crown here on Trena. This contract is to first check on the planet and to see what condition is it is. If the planet is uninhabited, the contract will stipulate that Jill representatives can make the planet ready for re occupation. Then write a separate contract or a codicil to the original with the Kingdom of Trena to provide people to settle it. By not calling it a colony and leaving it in your daughter’s name we get around the sticky business of the Queen’s charter and Trena’s constitution.”
“That will work.” Wilson said. “What will the galactic council say?”
“I think that will work,” the council representative replied, “the council was struggling with the Queen and her people colonizing another world. This will work.”
“Okay so we’ll need to talk to Jill.” Mike said.
“Mike we’ll work it out.” Larry said. “Let’s not worry too much about it now. Let’s get the world explored and see if it’s suitable.”
What Larry was thinking though was that as people left Trena; the nobles and politicians were going to want to retain the power they now held. That they would fill the power vacuum with their own idea of what a government should be and it wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing they developed. There were many in the Trena parliament who wanted to be king rat. They would be dictators if given the chance. By leaving Jill in control of the world they might be able to keep some of the political fun and games to a minimum.
“Sir Mike, the Thonian Realm, will without, saying support your decision and help to establish the people of Trena on Ebio Planet Zulu Foxtrot 89.” The Thonian ambassador stated.
“As will the people of Earth,” The princess added her support.
“Larry, get the contract written.” Wilson said, “Somehow I have to break this to Jill. This is going to be interesting.”
Every Last Mother's Child Page 77