CHILDERS_Absurd Proposals

by Richard F. Weyand

  But to transfer ownership of the base and the ships and drones to Galactic Mail, she had to go through the Council. Private briefings were set up, and the other ninety-five members were brought up to speed. The vote of approval came quickly.

  Desai was just about to compose a mail to Turner and Jan that the Council had approved the transfers, when she received a mail from Turner that the legislature on Earth had also approved the transfers.

  There was a line of hills separating the grassland on which Galactic Mail was building from Phoenix to the west. The road to Phoenix passed through a break in those hills.

  Those hills caught Pablo Johnson's eye as he supervised the construction on the site, and he added another project to the building. He directed the construction of three large houses on the shoulder of a large hill just north of the road to town, looking out over the grasslands and the Galactic Mail facility. One for the chief executive, one for the head of mail and freight operations, and one for the head of defense operations.

  It was just the way he thought.

  While it hadn't been officially announced, the news Jan Childers was going to retire and take on a new project spread through the CSF like a wildfire. People with their twenty-four in, or even their eighteen, started applying for retirement. So many applicants for retirement asked how to apply for a job wherever Jan was going, the Personnel Division started including an application for employment with Galactic Mail in the retirement information package they sent out.

  Faletti used CSF's personnel files to weed out the problem children, then hired the others and sent them on to The Yards to work on the construction crews.

  By the time the ceremonial first shovels of dirt were turned on the new headquarters building, they had to stage the photograph so all of the new construction already on the site wasn't in the picture.

  Press Bulletins

  Within a period of months, a series of press bulletins shocked all of human space.

  NEW YORK CITY, NORTH AMERICA, EARTH – Admiral Jan Childers of the Commonwealth Space Force has filed incorporation papers at the Earth State Department for a corporation named Galactic Mail And Defense Corporation. The incorporation papers list Childers as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the new corporation. Approval of the Earth State Department is routinely granted and is expected soon.

  Childers, 44, has been a member of the Commonwealth Space Force of the Commonwealth of Free Planets for over thirty years. Having been born on Earth, under the Citizenship Restoration Act, she is also an Earth citizen.

  No further details on the purpose or location of the corporation were immediately available.

  JEZGRA, JABLONKA, COMMONWEALTH OF FREE PLANETS – Admiral Jan Childers, a member of the Commonwealth Space Force for over thirty years and currently Chief of Naval Operations, has announced her retirement from the CSF. Childers, 44, is expected to pursue a career in business upon retirement.

  Childers' announcement is one of a string of recent high-level retirements from the CSF, including: Childers' husband, Vice Admiral William Campbell; Admiral Beverly Bhatia; Admiral Jacob Durand; Admiral Sandra Faletti; Vice Admiral Tien Jessen; Admiral Pablo Johnson; Admiral Nancy Joshi; Vice Admiral Stefan Lyman; and Admiral Jeanette Xi.

  NADEZHDA, DOMA, COMMONWEALTH OF FREE PLANETS – Prime Minister Alicia Petros announced today her planet, Doma, which has remained hidden since the war in which the Commonwealth of Free Planets became independent of Earth almost one hundred and fifty years ago, was resuming normal relations and travel with other planets. On Earth, Doma was believed to have been destroyed by the Earth Space Navy in what the Earth called the Insurrection, while in the Commonwealth, it had taken on the status of myth. Petros explained the planet had been rebuilt after the war, and has served as the Commonwealth's shipyards for naval research and construction ever since.

  The planet's major cities are Nadezhda, Vera, and Istina. It was in the city of Nadezhda the Charter of the Commonwealth of Free Planets was signed, in secret, in violation of Earth Law. This violation led to the war, which in the Commonwealth is called the War of Independence.

  NADEZHDA, DOMA, COMMONWEALTH OF FREE PLANETS – Jan Childers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Galactic Mail & Defense Corporation, announced today Galactic Mail has signed a long-term lease agreement with the Doma government to locate the headquarters and operations hub of Galactic Mail on Doma. The headquarters and ground operations will be located about thirty miles east of the capital of Nadezhda, while the space operations will be located in orbit above the planet.

  The shareholders of Galactic Mail are the governments of the Earth and the Commonwealth of Free Planets.

  Turning over the first spades of dirt at the new site were Childers, Earth President Jake Turner, Commonwealth Chairman Miriam Desai, Doma Prime Minister Alicia Petros, Doma Minister of Trade Morgan Saunders, and Galactic Mail Facilities Director Pablo Johnson.

  NEW YORK CITY, NORTH AMERICA, EARTH – Galactic Mail has split its stock. Three non-transferable shares have been issued to each known human-settled planet.

  The company has also announced its first shareholders meeting, to elect a board of directors. Each planet will have three votes for each of the sixteen initial board positions. Eight of those elected will serve ten-year terms, and eight will serve five-year terms. The shareholders meeting will take place in three months, in New York City.

  Invitations to the shareholders meeting sent to every planetary government were digitally signed by Earth President Jake Turner, Commonwealth of Free Planets Chairman Miriam Desai, Paradiso President Harold Anderson, Tenerife President Pavel Ustinov, Horizon Mayor Mark Lieber, and New Earth Governor Maureen McClintock.

  Galactic Mail will dispatch fast ships to all human planets attending, to transport shareholder representatives to the meeting.

  NEW YORK CITY, NORTH AMERICA, EARTH – Galactic Mail released its mission statement today, months in advance of its first board meeting. The mission statement is contained in its by-laws, which under Earth law for this type of corporation cannot be changed.

  The mission statement reads:

  Galactic Mail and Defense Corporation will serve its shareholders by:

  1) providing fast and secure mail service to all human planets.

  2) providing fast and efficient freight service to all human planets.

  3) defending all human planets from interstellar incursions.

  4) distributing dividends in equal portion to all human planets.

  Reaction

  "That's a hell of a surprise. Doma? After all these years?" Durand said, shaking his head. "Did you know about this?"

  "I've only known for a few months. Jan told us at that first staff meeting. She actually figured it out the first time she went to The Yards. She said she got off the shuttle, and it was so much like Earth, it had to be Doma," Bill said.

  "Yeah, that was three, four years ago now. She got off the shuttle and she just stopped dead. I thought something was wrong. And she didn't say anything."

  "Nope. Not even to me."

  "I'll be damned," Durand said. "No matter how long you've been in this business, you can still be surprised."

  "Did you see this?" Fred Murphy said.

  He set a printout on Turner's desk. Turner glanced at it.

  "Oh, they finally announced it? About time," Turner said.

  Murphy gave him a sort of congealed look.

  "Relax, Fred. They just told me a couple months back, when I took that Friday trip to Jablonka and didn't take anybody along. They wanted to make sure I wasn't blindsided."

  "Well, I'm blindsided."

  "Yeah, but we didn't do anything in that time that would have made me say, 'Hey, let's hold up on that,' or something like that. I mean, we didn't do anything this would have made embarrassing after the fact. That was the point. Look, this was held really close. Childers knew – she actually figured it out years back – and she didn't even tell Bill Campbell," Turner said.

 
"Hmph."

  Murphy sat down in the guest chair. He seemed to calm down a bit.

  "It is pretty stunning news. What, almost a hundred and fifty years they kept their secret? And we never suspected. Doma. That's amazing," Murphy said.

  "Yeah, but we knew they had to have a secret shipyard somewhere. We were never able to find it, but we knew they had to have one. It's just a little surprising where they had it. It's also surprising nobody went there to check up on it later. I mean, we had the coordinates all that time."

  "Yes, Sir, but everybody knew it had been destroyed. Why bother? And it wasn't like now. A hundred and thirty light years was, what, almost six weeks' spacing?"

  "Each way. And since you knew it was destroyed, and no resupply, you would have had to take extra supply containers latched amidships, rotate containers with the shuttles so you could access them from inside the ship, worry about zero-g water connections in the field a long way from home – lots of hassle, and not a little danger. So nobody bothered," Turner said.

  "We'll have to re-write the history books."

  "Just a little editing. It does erase a pretty nasty blot from Earth's history, though. That's no small thing."

  "Begging your pardon, Ma'am," George said from the doorway of Jan's home office.

  "Hi, George. What can I do for you?" Jan asked.

  "Well, Ma'am, the other staff and I were talking, and most of us have our twenty-four in. Well, we were wondering. Are you going to be needing a household staff on Doma, Ma'am?"

  "As it turns out, George, Pablo Johnson surprised me and started building three houses on a hill next to the Galactic Mail site, much like here. It'll be a while before they're finished, but, yes, I am going to have to staff a house on Doma."

  "Well, Ma'am, we would like you to consider taking us along. We've been your household staff for ten years now, and we have a good team. We'd sort of like to keep on doing what we're doing. Most CNOs, when they come on, they bring their own staff, and you didn't. You kept us all on. And we'd sort of like to return the favor, I guess."

  "There won't be a house for another six months or so, George."

  "Then we'll have time to properly train our replacements, Ma'am, so Admiral Ming won't be inconvenienced."

  Jan had learned better than to argue with the household staff. They were inexorable, like a glacier but harder to argue with. For all that, she had no complaints. They were very good at what they did, and she had wondered how she would get along without them.

  "OK, George. That sounds good to me. Let everybody know they can retire CSF and move to Doma with me once the house is finished."

  "Yes, Ma'am. Thank you, Ma'am."

  "Do you believe the gall of these people?" said Becker Chancellor Alexandre Fournier. "Who the hell do they think they are?"

  "If they have those godawful drones like the Commonwealth and Earth, they can make it stick," Foreign Secretary Marc Laurent said.

  "This just really sticks in my craw. They can't do this. The time to challenge them is now, before they really get off the ground. They can't handle us all at once. Not yet anyway. We need to get in touch with some of the others. Guernsey, Stadt, Seacrest, Drake. Make our move now. Show this whole thing to be empty rhetoric. We'll do it during their shareholders meeting. Childers will be there, and not minding the store. We'll give them a black eye they'll never recover from. And get me a commander with some spine. Chastain never should have run from them, like some child."

  The Shareholders Meeting Begins

  "I expect some of them to try something during the shareholders meeting," Jan said.

  "Yes, if they figure you being otherwise occupied would somehow blunt our response, or maybe we aren't really up to speed yet," Jessen said.

  "Exactly. So you have to be ready to respond to multiple attacks. They still have to spend weeks in transit to get to their targets, but the timing of our shareholders meeting is public, so they can aim at that two-week period. You may have a busy time of it."

  "We can handle it. Even though the drone tenders aren't available yet, we have two squadrons of cruiser destroyers ready to go. Unless they can stage more than sixteen attacks within a timing window of hours, we should be good."

  "Just so you're ready for it. That's the main thing," Jan said.

  The shareholders meeting was held in a large rented hall. Shareholders sat at long banquet tables facing the stage. There was a variety of free beverages and snacks available at tables to either side of the hall.

  Attendance had been taken at the door. A total of just under a thousand shareholder representatives had shown up: a hundred and two from the Earth and the Commonwealth, over three hundred from the Outer Colonies, and over five hundred from the New Colonies. There were some heads of state, but the representatives were usually the foreign minister and a couple of his juniors. Some of the Outer Colonies had eschewed participation. Nevertheless, Jan had a safe quorum when she called the meeting to order.

  Jan rapped the gavel on the podium three times.

  "If you could all take your seats, please."

  People found their way to seats. It took several minutes for everybody to be seated. On the stage behind Jan were the people who had sent the invitations: Earth President Jake Turner, Commonwealth of Free Planets Chairman Miriam Desai, Paradiso President Harold Anderson, Tenerife President Pavel Ustinov, Horizon Mayor Mark Lieber, and New Earth Governor Maureen McClintock.

  Once everyone was seated, Jan rapped the gavel once.

  "I call this shareholders meeting of the Galactic Mail And Defense Corporation to order."

  One of the representatives from Becker, Foreign Minister Marc Laurent immediately shot to his feet.

  "I object to this whole proceeding. You have no authority to impose a government on all human planets."

  "You're out of order, Mr. Laurent. But, in any case we are not imposing a government."

  "You've announced you will fight any navy outside of its own star system. How is that not a government?"

  "What we've said is we would defend all planets against interstellar incursions, Mr. Laurent. You object to that, so I ask you: Which of your fellow shareholders were you planning on attacking?"

  "This is outrageous. You accuse us of planning an attack, when all we demand is our sovereignty."

  "Mr. Laurent, your sovereignty does not extend to other star systems. And I sincerely hope you are not planning an attack on one of your fellow shareholders, as your navy will find us more than up to the task of defending your victim. But, as I have said, you are out of order, and you will be silent or be removed."

  "On Earth I have free speech rights. I can say what I want."

  "Which is not true on Becker, as many of your fellow citizens have found out to their peril. But even a cursory examination of the free speech provisions in Earth's Charter will demonstrate you have the right of free speech outside, on the public sidewalk, which is where you will find yourself if you persist."

  "You can't do that, Childers. And you can't impose this government on everyone –"

  Jan banged the gavel four times, which was a signal to the sergeant at arms. Two men, very large but impeccably well-dressed, walked out into the hall, picked up the spluttering Laurent and frog-walked him out the door.

  The other shareholders had taken sides during the brief debate. Some of the Outer Colonies representatives supported Laurent, while other Outer Colonies representatives and all of the New Colony representatives supported Jan. They laughed at her verbal hits on Laurent, and cheered as he was shown out.

  "If anyone sees Mr. Laurent this evening, you can tell him he will be readmitted tomorrow, and can remain until and unless he once again forgets his manners. And I really do hope Becker isn't planning an attack on any of you, because it will not go well for them.

  "Now let's get underway, shall we?

  "On stage here with me are the heads of state who invited you to this meeting, from Earth, from the Commonwealth, from the Outer Colonies, and f
rom the New Colonies. I would like to introduce President Jake Turner of Earth, to welcome you to this meeting."

  Tenerife

  "Transition complete, Sir."

  "Scan the system," Admiral Jacques Berger said.

  "What we expected, Sir. Two squadrons of light cruisers and two squadrons of destroyers, one each on patrol and one each on rotation."

  "Plan Alpha. Make for the planet. Warn off the light cruisers and destroyers."

  "Sir, they're scattering. One hyperspace translation out of the system. Looked like a courier drone."

  "Let 'em scream for help. Nothing's gonna help them against this."

  Twelve Becker heavy cruisers, twelve light cruisers, and twenty destroyers began accelerating to Tenerife.

  "Incoming emergency drone, Sir. From Tenerife."

  Jessen looked at the incoming plot.

  "And so it starts."

  He considered the numbers.

  "My compliments to Captain Demarest. Dispatch GMS Promise and six hunting parties. Engagement Rules Gamma."

  "Dispatching the Promise and six hunting parties. Rules Gamma, Sir."

  "Sir, message from Control. The Promise and six hunting parties to Tenerife, Engagement Rules Gamma."

  "Sound general quarters. Stop spin and transition."

  The general quarters alarm sounded, and the Promise began slowing its spin.

  Five minutes later it transitioned to hyperspace.

  "Hyperspace transition, Sir. One ship and two drones bearing zero mark zero at ninety light-seconds."

  "Incoming message, Sir."

  "Put it on speaker," Berger said.

  "This is Captain Demarest of the Galactic Mail Ship Promise, to the commander of the inbound war ships. Admiral, you are in violation of Tenerife space. Surrender or be destroyed. Demarest out."