CHILDERS_Absurd Proposals

by Richard F. Weyand

  Policeman

  "I'm sorry to wake you, Madam Chairman," Jan said.

  "That's OK, Admiral. Whatever it is woke you, too. What is it?" Desai asked.

  "We've just had a courier run come in with an emergency situation. Becker is invading Tenerife. Twenty-four ships transitioned into the system and are advancing on the planet. Tenerife has no heavy cruisers after we cleaned them out during the Outer Colonies War. At the same time, after we decapitated the government, they've been trying to get a democracy off the ground. We're in a position to respond, prior to the Becker forces gutting the system of its orbital infrastructure and space industries. That is, if we want to."

  "Tenerife has been no friend of the Commonwealth, Admiral."

  "No, Ma'am," Jan said, "but the new government is at least trying to reform their system, and Becker is the worst sort of police state. Becker is actually coming under some economic pressure because, for all Tenerife's political chaos at the moment, its commercial sector is responding well to being freed up to compete. Becker is trying to head that off."

  "What do you propose, Admiral?"

  "I'd like to send drones to Tenerife, along with the Shiva and the Devi, and have Admiral Zhang warn Becker off."

  "And if they don't take a hint?" Desai asked.

  "Then Admiral Zhang will do what she has to do to protect Tenerife, up to and including the complete destruction of the Becker forces."

  "You don't have any concern the force you send will be able to do that without endangering itself."

  "No, Ma'am," Jan said.

  Jan could see Desai weighing the alternatives. It was unusual for the Commonwealth to ever send forces outside Commonwealth space, and never on behalf of someone else. It was a new role Jan was proposing. At the same time, Tenerife's current weakness was at least in part due to the Commonwealth's actions in the previous war.

  "This is a decision that needs to be made now, because we have a limited amount of time before the Becker forces are in range of the planet, is that right?"

  "Yes, Ma'am."

  "All right. You may proceed, Admiral."

  "Yes, Ma'am. Thank you, Ma'am."

  "Hyperspace transitions. Four contacts bearing five mark ten, distance ninety-five light-seconds. Two warships, light cruisers, I think. And two small contacts, like shuttles. Correction. Those small contacts are unmanned drones, not the heat signature of a manned vessel."

  Admiral Sean Chastain, Becker Space Force, considered his plot on his flagship, the heavy cruiser BSF Bouclier.

  "Anything more on those warships?"

  "Not an Outer Colony design, Sir. It's new to me. And to CIC. It looks from the heat signature like a Commonwealth design. And they transitioned well inside the inner system envelope. But it's a new ship class, whatever it is."

  Wonderful, Chastain thought. Just what I needed. This was supposed to be easy.

  Everybody had seen the system views of the Commonwealth's overwhelming victory over the attack force of twenty combined Outer Colony planets the year before, including Admiral Chastain. That had all been done with drones

  "They're transmitting, Sir."

  "Put it on the speaker, Comm."

  A woman's voice came over the intercom speaker.

  "This is Admiral Harmony Zhang, commanding Commonwealth Space Force Squadron 201, to the commander of Becker forces within the Tenerife system. This is not your system, Admiral. You don't belong here. Now behave yourselves and run along home. Zhang out."

  "Comm, record message. Message begins. This is Admiral Sean Chastain, commanding Becker Task Force 3. Admiral Zhang, you seem to have left most of your squadron at home. I outnumber you twelve to one. I don't think you're in any position to tell me what to do. I might also point out to you this star system isn't yours, either. I suggest you take your own advice. Chastain out. Message ends. Send it."

  "Transmitting, Sir."

  She's got a lot of gall telling me what to do, with her two light cruisers. She sounds just like my ex-wife, Chastain thought.

  "One of those drones is hypering out, Sir."

  "Fleet orders. Look for them to come in on us. Guns free. Fire at will."

  "Yes, Sir."

  "Multiple hyperspace transitions. Thirty contacts. All drones. They're all around us, Sir, on our beams. Distance eight light-seconds. They're firing. The Casque just blew up. They've hypered back out. Only one of them fired, Sir. They never came within our range."

  "Incoming message, Sir."

  "Put it on speaker."

  "Admiral Zhang to Admiral Chastain. I can just as easily order all of my drones to fire on the next pass, Admiral, and, if you don't turn around and get out of this system, I will do just that. Zhang out."

  "Well, that's the end of the party. There's no way we can survive against those drones of theirs. We know that from what they did to everybody in the last war. Fleet orders. Flip ship. Accelerate for the outer envelope and proceed to Becker."

  "Yes, Sir."

  "Comm, record message. Message begins. Admiral Chastain to Admiral Zhang. We are pulling out of Tenerife, Admiral. There is no way we can fight against those drones of yours. Yet. Perhaps another day. Chastain out."

  The Shiva and the Devi remained in position for the eight hours it took for Admiral Chastain's forces to reach the outer system envelope and leave Tenerife.

  When the Becker task force had left, Admiral Zhang paid her compliments to the government of Tenerife, and the Shiva, the Devi, and their drones hyperspace transitioned out of Tenerife and spaced for Jablonka.

  It was mid-afternoon when Jan spoke again with Desai.

  "Madam Chairman."

  "Hello, Admiral. I take it you have news from Tenerife?"

  "Yes, Ma'am. We've had news back. Admiral Zhang destroyed one Becker heavy cruiser with impunity while demonstrating she could just as easily wipe out the entire Becker task force. She allowed the Becker admiral to withdraw from the system with his forces otherwise intact. The Shiva and the Devi are on their way back to Jablonka."

  "So Becker lost one heavy cruiser and, what, twelve hundred spacers?"

  "Out of twenty-four ships and twenty thousand spacers. Yes, Ma'am," Jan said.

  "And we had no losses?"

  "They were never within their range of any of our forces, Ma'am."

  "So that worked out well. I have already received a personal message of gratitude from Tenerife's new president, so we may be able to do something with that going forward as well. All in all, well done, Admiral," Desai said.

  "Thank you, Ma'am. One thing I will point out. The Becker admiral, on announcing his withdrawal, said there was no way they could fight our drones. Yet. His words, Ma'am."

  "I understand. You're saying they're working like crazy to try to duplicate or steal our technology."

  "Yes, Ma'am," Jan said.

  "Which points out the entire problem we face in the future. We can't be the policeman of the galaxy. We're going to be right back where we started if we don't change the game somehow."

  "The existence of the colonies will do some of that, Ma'am, as we've previously discussed. Admiral Durand and I are working on something right now that may help further. We're not quite ready with a proposal yet."

  "I look forward to hearing your proposal when it's ready, Admiral. In the meantime, please convey my regards to Admiral Zhang."

  "Yes, Ma'am."

  A Second Buy-In

  It was Jan's monthly meeting with Durand and Bill in the Intelligence Division building's basement conference room.

  "On the Becker incursion in Tenerife, we did not see that coming. We knew there were increasing tensions there, but we had no indication Becker was going to act so soon," Durand said.

  "What about now? Is anyone else working up to something similar?" Jan asked.

  "There were a couple of other arguments going on that were escalating, but they've begun negotiating again, so the Tenerife incident with Becker may have pushed people to get back to talking by
taking other options off the table."

  "Well, that's positive."

  "Yes. We're hoping it becomes a trend."

  Durand shuffled his notes.

  "On that topic, we've been analyzing your latest outside-the-box proposal," Durand said.

  "Have you come to any conclusions?"

  "Yes. For the most part, believe it or not, we think it would work. We also have a couple of suggestions that would even improve the chances of it working. One is to require the chairman of the board to remove one board member at the end of the second and fourth year of every five-year period."

  "Require it?" Jan asked.

  "Yes. If it's an option for the chairman to remove board members, he could just keep doing it until he had whatever board he wanted. If you limit it to one a year or one every two years, he may never do it, and then it can become seen as an extreme measure no one would take. If you require one board member be removed every other year, it works. What is most frustrating for a chairman of the board is not when people disagree, but when the whole board descends into factional infighting. But if board members know they can be removed for annoying the chairman, they all tend to play better together."

  "Does the board have to concur with the choice?"

  "No," Durand said. "Then it can become pro forma. You know, the chairman names someone because he has to, and the board votes 'No' every time."

  "I see. Aren't you going to lose some good board members that way?"

  "You could. You probably will. But having no option to get rid of troublemakers, and not having anything hanging over people to encourage them to behave, is much worse. In any group of fifteen people, no matter how good they are, there's bound to be at least one person who is not up to the same level as the others. And you have his replacement stepping up from the runners up in the last board election. So it's not going to be a big problem."

  "What's the other suggestion?" Jan asked.

  "Fewer electors from each planet. We think the sixteen board members is probably a pretty good number. More gets unwieldy fast, while fewer gives too much power to each. Eight electors from each planet, though, is probably too many."

  "What do you recommend?"

  "Either three or five is probably best. Probably three. You want it to be an odd number, we think," Durand said.

  "And other than those changes, do you think it will work?"

  "Actually, we do. What ends up happening is the parties get encouraged to negotiate more, such as we are seeing now after the Becker incursion into Tenerife. After a while, people gain confidence in the system, and they start asking, 'Why are we spending all this money on warships we can't use.' Rather than spending more and more money on defense to gain an advantage, they will wind down their spending on defense, and spend the money on other things."

  "Is there historical precedent for that, or is this conjecture?"

  "No, there's historical precedent from pre-space Earth, in two ways. When the defense mechanism is not trusted, or when it's ineffective, nations will continue spending on their military. In the cases where their defense was guaranteed by a third party who was both trusted and effective, nations wound down their militaries."

  "Do you think we can get a corporate charter with those features passed by all the planets?" Jan asked.

  "We don't have to."

  "We don't?"

  "No. You establish the corporation, and have the corporate by-laws in place, then issue dividend paying shares to all the planets. Are they going to turn down the dividends? Not send delegates to the board elections? Tell you not to defend them? Unlikely, in all cases."

  "Can corporate shareholders or the board amend the corporation by-laws, though? Morph this into something uncontrollable?" Jan asked.

  "In most cases, yes. We think we can structure it so they can't. It may take a change in the incorporation laws on Earth. Of course, that law could be changed, too, but we think a change in the law on Earth plus some grandfathering clauses could protect against both of those. This is a legal issue that needs some further work, but since it would be incorporated on Earth – which I agree is the best course, by the way – it needs to be done by corporation lawyers familiar with Earth law."

  "So we're ready to go to Chairman Desai."

  Durand looked at her for a long minute.

  "Yes, I think so. With an initial proposal, at least," Durand said.

  Attending the meeting at the Chairman's Residence were the Chairman of the Commonwealth Council, Miriam Desai, the Foreign Minister, Sally Howell, the Justice Minister, Frederick Harrigan, the Defense Minister, Richard Wong, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jan Childers, her strategic planning head, Vice Admiral Tien Jessen, the Chief of Naval Research, Admiral Kurt Wisniewski, the head of the Intelligence Division, Admiral Jake Durand, and his chief of staff, Vice Admiral William Campbell.

  The last to arrive was Desai, from her office down the hall, once everyone else had arrived. Everyone stood as she entered, then sat once she had sat down.

  "I understand this is your party, Admiral Childers. You may begin," Desai said.

  "Yes, Ma'am," Jan said.

  Jan walked up to the display and keyed her first slide. The following logo appeared on the screen:

  "This meeting is an introduction to a proposal I made to Admiral Durand a couple of months back. It is an introduction only. The full proposal for your consideration will be distributed by mail when this meeting is over.

  "What I am proposing is the creation of a corporation, whose working name is Galactic Mail And Defense Corporation, which would provide mail and freight service to all human-occupied systems in the galaxy, now and into the future, and use the proceeds from providing those services to fund the defense of all human-occupied systems against incursions by others.

  "The Commonwealth's recent defense of Tenerife against an incursion by Becker notwithstanding, it is not tenable for the Commonwealth to be the galaxy's policeman. What I propose instead is we form a police department, to defend us all, and tie it to a funding mechanism that makes it a viable organization going forward.

  "Clearly, the major issue with establishing any such organization is to limit it to its stated goals, so as to keep it from becoming a galactic government. To effect that goal, I propose it be organized as a corporation. The makeup of its board of directors then becomes paramount, and I will devote considerable time to the mechanism for selecting and controlling the board.

  "The essence of the corporation is each human-occupied system has one share. Each human-occupied system receives equal dividends and equal defense. Revenues are made by charging for the carrying of mail and freight throughout human-occupied space.

  "Defense of each system would be accomplished much as we did in Tenerife last month. Warn the incursion forces off, and then take such measures as are necessary to enforce that warning. This would be done by drones and cruiser destroyer ships of the type we and Earth are now operating.

  "The corporation would be incorporated on Earth, as the only system with both the history and current status to claim a unique position among human-occupied systems. The corporation's assets could be deployed wherever required to provide the best service.

  "This would not be the imposition of a government on anyone, as it is a corporation and the systems themselves are the shareholders. It is instead a commercial institution for common defense."

  Having given the introduction, Jan proceeded through the governance of the proposed corporation, such as the selection of the board of directors, including the modifications proposed by the Intelligence Division.

  "Are there any questions?"

  "Where would the initial equipment and funding for this corporation come from, Admiral?" Desai asked.

  "From Earth and the Commonwealth, Ma'am. We have the technology and the production capability now. We would control the actual act of incorporation, including the establishment of the by-laws as outlined, with just two shareholders and without any need for agreemen
t or buy-in. We would then issue additional shares, per the by-laws, to the other systems."

  "And if they object?"

  "To what would they object, Ma'am? To the provision of mail and freight services, to the defense of their system against invasion, or to the payment to them of dividends?" Jan asked.

  "Ah. I see. Clever."

  "Thank you, Ma'am."

  "Wouldn't the Outer Colonies have a majority of electors, Admiral?" Desai asked.

  "No, Ma'am. By the time we can get this seriously underway, the New Colonies will outnumber the Outer Colonies, the Common-wealth, and the Earth, all taken together."

  "And every system gets an equal vote."

  "Yes, Ma'am," Jan said.

  "Wouldn't we be giving up the right to defend ourselves, Admiral? Turning it over to a third-party organization?"

  "No, Ma'am. We can still maintain the Navy, and whatever number of ships we feel is necessary. Hopefully, if this organization works out, systems will decide they can spend less on defense and spend that money on other things. The Commonwealth included. We rarely send our ships outside the Commonwealth."

  "Although we have done so four times in the last fifteen years, always under your leadership, Admiral," Desai said.

  "Yes, Ma'am. Although under this system, none of those would have been necessary. That's part of the point."

  "I see. This plan is to be carried out together with Earth, is that correct?"

  "Yes, Ma'am," Jan said. "I don't think it works if Earth is not involved. If we're agreed, then we would take it to President Turner."

  "Admiral Durand, your organization has analyzed this proposal?" Desai asked.

  "Yes, Ma'am," Durand said.

  "And Admiral Campbell was similarly scrupulous in his non-involvement with that analysis, as last time?"

  "Yes, Ma'am," Bill said.

  "Has the Intelligence Division analysis concluded this approach will accomplish its stated goals, Admiral Durand?"

  "Yes, Ma'am," Durand said. "Though we make no recommenda-tion from a policy point of view. We don't say whether it's a good idea or a bad idea, merely that it will accomplish its stated goals."