Reaper's Crossroad

by Timothy Ellis

  "Anyone have any objections if I give Jack O'Neill Stars?"

  "He already has a star," muttered Vonda, and they all dissolved into giggles.

  I waited for them to get a grip.

  "I noticed Homer docked with Orion's Stars, and since Homer is owned by Jack, he's used to running a capital ship of his own, and has flag rank, so he may as well captain the carrier his own assault cruiser is docked to."

  "Good idea," said Bigglesworth.

  "But he'll need a command crew for when he and his wife go down planet," suggested Vonda, "or off on some boarding operation. At the least a damned good XO, who can take command while he's off the ship. Same as you did with George when you were off Sceptre."

  "Is there one?"

  "I can think of several," said Jedburgh. "We can certainly rotate a few people to put good enough people on board. But if we do this, shouldn’t we move all the teams to Star?"

  "Which means the next time we need people on the ground," said Vonda, "you'll have to take a titan with you, ready or not."

  "Good point. What about we put the crew on board now, make sure the XO knows a new captain will be coming, but not just yet. Will that work?"

  "Sure," said Jedburgh.

  "Which leaves us with the other two titans."

  Their faces went blank again. Mine lit up, and I flicked a glance between Bigglesworth and Jedburgh.

  "Oh fuck no!" exclaimed Jedburgh.

  "Don’t even think about it!" exclaimed Bigglesworth at the same time.

  I grinned at them, and both Walter and Vonda suddenly moved hands to cover mouths.

  "James. Darius. Haven't you always missed being in command?"

  "No," they said together.

  "Of course you have," I purred. "And you can do your jobs just as easily from your ships. Jane will get you hollo linked when you need to talk together. And both ships have more than enough accommodation for your staff. James, you take Valkyrie, and Darius, you take Trident. I think driving a ship will come back to both of you very quickly, and you don’t actually need to if you don’t want to. Good XO, or a good Helm, or leave the driving to the AI. Come now gentlemen. Isn't this the most exciting thing to happen all day?"

  I turned to Vonda before they could say anything.

  "And you could move your flag to Orion's Star, general."

  "I already proved I can govern, but I also proved running a ship or a fleet is beyond me. That's why we promoted you, remember?"

  "Fine, but at least you're on the ship as well, when Jack is off it. Puts a break on an overly ambitious XO, should that happen."

  "I can't argue that. But if we're moving troops around, I know Annabelle wants to stay with you, and you can house six teams, so we move all your teams back to BigMother, and Sam's and the SAS move to Star. I think Hobbs will want to as well, since he really enjoyed that last ground battle. He outranks Jack, but I don’t think he's going to care. And it balances Annabelle if the fleet gets split up with marines going both ways."

  "Make it happen." I looked at my top naval officer, and top fighter commander. "Gentlemen?"

  "Okay," said James. "You got me. Did someone mention those titans still fly like a fighter?"

  "Talk to George."

  He grinned at me, and I looked at Darius.

  "Got me too. I'm really long in the tooth for ship command, but you are right. Every Cruiser or higher captain misses hands on command after being promoted out of a ship. And it's only your unique style of appointing people where it's possible to do both."

  "Good. So let's get crews on those ships asap, get training underway, and firm up a command tree based on seniority, mainly for the lower ranks so we take into account who is due for promotion when opportunities arise."

  I paused.

  "Oh. Did I mention as ship captains you rate your own Excalibur or Lightning as a gig?"

  I grinned at them, knowing which would take which.

  Seventeen

  Almost like they were taking turns, the plants hit us during the afternoon.

  Susan took care of it with the four titans she had, as the battlestation had already moved to Karn. I'd opened rifts to all four locations, so Jane wouldn’t have to bother me for them again. When I got back to my desk, Jane played me a thank you note from Ainsline. Jane also commented about a meeting of delegations from Karn and Kelewan, which hadn't involved actual hatchets, and no sort of magic used. They hadn't re-built any bridges, but the ground work for foundations had begun.

  Jane also caught me up with the carnage going on in Crossroad, with no apparent let up, just fleets appearing as they arrived, and vanishing within a few hours of jumping in. Being in the military for each species must now be looking less like a career, and more like a death sentence. Assuming the numbers of destroyed ships and lost crews was actually getting back out at the same speed the ships were funneling in. But I guess it depended on each communication and media system, and we knew nothing about those so far.

  I sent for Jack, Annabelle, and Hobbs, and gave them the news about Jack's new appointment, and when it would kick in. All of them seemed happy about it and the redeployment, and confirmed they knew about the beach day for the marines.

  Given we had unused ship crews, I enquired if we also had unused troops, and found we did. At which point I had Jane bring Vonda in by hollo, and flat out asked why they were still unused, when we could have used them against the plants.

  The answer was simple. None of them had been duchy troops, none were even Australian sector, and effectively they were currently demobilized American, British, and German troops, with a few platoons of Canadians. Technically they were actually absent without leave from their units, but without ever being able to return to them. A few of the older sergeants were currently acting to train marines, but as civilians.

  No-one had thought to call them all up, since I wasn’t actually building an army.

  I told them to build me an army worthy of Mordor.

  Annabelle fell off her chair laughing, and I had to explain the joke to the rest. The best of them were to get marine training, so we could have at least two more marine teams, with the rest to be outfitted as light infantry. If we could fill both standard assault cruisers with infantry, Stars could be almost dedicated to assault operations. Filling Fearless as well, would be a bonus.

  It meant building more combat suits, substantially more belt suits, and a lot more heavy weapons, given all we had were the troops, and none of the equipment they needed.

  After they left, I went back to my office, and had David drop by. We discussed payroll for an expanded navy and army. I’d be paying for it myself until we had a government which could afford it, but I wasn’t waiting until then to begin things. We could need as many ground troops as possible as early as tomorrow, but a government earning enough to pay for it all could take years, since taxes on fifteen thousand people wasn’t going to generate much.

  Trade talks were going well, trade was actually happening all ways it could, the rift system of moving containers around was functioning well, and bringing in a nice income. But it was income for me, since I owned the stations on this end, and the government was going to need to find a way of generating enough to pay for a navy and army itself.

  Or move it up to alliance level, where everyone paid for it. But a formal alliance required us having a formal government in place first, and it still hadn't happened.

  Cue Amy Allen.

  She knocked on the door and walked straight in, nodding to David. He rose, nodded to me, smiled at her, and left. She sat down in the same chair.

  I hadn’t seen Amy since the decision to cease to exist. I didn’t even know what she was doing with herself. I might have guessed.

  "Boss."

  "Amy?"

  "I'm here to show you the form of government election information vid."

  "The what?"

  "I've been working for David for the last couple of weeks, first on documenting as much of the Darkness War as we c
ould for the presentation we did the night Arthur was here…" I thought Jane had done it all. Well there you go with assumptions. "…and since then been concentrating on creating a news service for whatever we choose to be governed by to use for propaganda purposes."

  "Propaganda? Sorry, what?"

  "Just kidding. I've been setting up a proper independent news service, using the funding you gave me."

  "Funding?"

  "Didn’t David tell you?"

  "Why would he do that?"

  She laughed, and kept laughing for a full minute.

  "Oh-kay. Should have seen that coming. Anyway, we're going to need a news service, no matter who funds it, and if the funds come from you, it can stay independent of government and alliances, which I think is essential."

  "And you'll run it?"

  "That’s the plan at the moment, unless we find someone better. But I'm having a hard time finding anyone who worked in journalism at all. They all seem to have gone to Gaia."

  "So what am I seeing on the monitors as I walk around stations?"

  "Mainly blank screens at the moment, but when something is on them, it’s the station AI improvising."

  "I guess there isn’t all that much news."

  "Oh there's plenty of news, but no-one with experience to prepare it."

  "And you're not?"

  "No. I've been doing the preparation for the election."

  "Continue."

  "We did a vid to explain the options for people, and how the voting will work. I'm here to get your approval on it."

  "Why mine?"

  "Because until we hold this vote, technically you're still our head of government. And even after, you'll remain leader pro-tem until the subsequent elections of an actual leader, because we can't prepare for that until we know what people want."

  "I guess."

  "Jane, will you play the vid please."

  She didn’t answer, but the wall opposite me lit up with Amy in a business suit, looking news anchory. She swiveled half around so she could look either at the screen or me.

  "Hi. I'm Amy Allen, and I'm honoured to give you a short presentation about the upcoming election for what type of government we wish for the future."

  She smiled out at the viewer.

  "The election will be held very soon now, and it is mandatory for everyone over the age of fifteen to vote. However, you will be able to abstain as one of the options, should you really not wish to cast a vote. But if a majority abstain, we won't actually have any form of government, so please think about casting a vote which expresses what you prefer."

  "As you should know, the Duchy of Hunter's Run ceased to exist at the end of the Darkness War, and since then we've been administered by a small team who did the administration of the duchy, led by now ex-Earl David Tollin, and supported by the station AI's."

  She paused for a moment.

  "Former Duke Jon Hunter has been acting as Admiral of the Fleet, in the war we currently find ourselves fighting, and has made it quite clear he will not be standing in any capacity as a civilian leader, since all his time is being spent keeping us safe, and building a new navy and army from the once duchy militia, and the few officers who chose not to go to Gaia. So please bear in mind, which ever government type you vote for, will never see Jon Hunter as our civilian leader. And for anyone asking, he has made it very clear we need civilian leadership from now on, and his future is military."

  She shifted position.

  "Voting will be very easy. At the appointed time, the AI of the station or ship where you are, will contact you directly, outline the options for you, answer any questions you might have, show you this vid again if you wish, and then ask for your vote. After you vote, you may be asked follow up questions in order for the election team to correctly structure follow-up votes on the structure of the type elected, and subsequent voting for people to fill offices. We want to get this right, and nothing will be imposed or assumed during this process."

  "You can take your time casting your vote, but everyone will want a result as soon as possible, so please don’t take too long."

  "Option One is to continue as a Duchy. There would be a subsequent election of the Duke and possible Earls and Barons, who would form the government, with advisors appointed by them. If you vote for this option, you will be asked about your opinions on what should constitute each level. For example, each station and planet could be a Barony, or an Earldom based on size or population."

  "Option Two is to become a royalty based Kingdom. We would initially elect a King or Queen, who would appoint Dukes, Earls, and Barons themselves, and whose children would be first in line for succession. Should a dispute arise over a succession, the claimants would be subject to the same sort of vote which elected the first monarch."

  "Option Three is to become a constitutional Kingdom. We would initially elect a King or Queen, who would preside over a parliament of elected representatives for life, or until a majority of people call for an election to replace a monarch not considered to be doing the job up to expectations, or the monarch abdicates due to age or infirmity. If you vote for this option, you will also be asked questions like how many people the parliament should contain, and how often should there be elections."

  "Option Four is to become a presidential democracy, electing a President for a fixed term to lead a congress of elected representatives. You will also be asked to suggest the term of office for President and representatives."

  "Option Five is to become a parliamentary democracy. This involves the formation of political parties, who would field candidates for both a house of representatives, and a house of review. The party electing a majority of candidates to the House of Representatives would form a government, and elect one of their number to be Prime Minister, and another to be Speaker of each house. You will also be asked to suggest terms of office, and conditions under which a government may be forced back to an election when a majority of people ask for an election to occur outside of a normal term."

  "Option Six is to become a military dictatorship, with the highest ranking officer becoming our civilian leader as well. We present this as an option, but should it be elected, it may prove unworkable, not the least because it is known Admiral of the Fleet Jon Hunter will not support this option. If you vote for this option, you will be asked further questions about how to proceed without Admiral Hunter's involvement."

  My eyes flashed at Amy, and she shrugged. She knew damned well I’d resign immediately, appointing Bigglesworth to take my place, and me and my team would vanish into the galaxy. Or find a way back to Gold Coast and build a new life there. Which was actually the same thing if you thought about it.

  "Option Seven is to elect a small council from nominations. Anyone would be able to nominate themselves or be nominated by others. Further questions would include the number of councilors, the term of office, number of nominations before being included on the next ballot, and if the leader should be voted on separately, or appointed by the committee itself from one of its number."

  "Other options have been considered and rejected as unworkable. We are after all a society of less than twenty thousand people, and complicated governmental systems will not work for us until we reach a level of being a society of millions. With this in mind, all options retain the ability for us to change systems any time in the future, if what we decide now stops working for the majority."

  "For those who wish more information, please ask your AI. Please vote sensibly. To repeat, Jon Hunter will not be participating in any form of government structure we elect with this vote, so please don't assume he will just because people want him to. In this election, he has a single vote the same as you do. And those of us who know him can tell you he won't change his mind just because we want him as leader. As a citizen himself, this is his right, and we must respect his decision. Thank you for your time."

  The vid ended.

  I sighed.

  Amy swiveled back to face me.

  "
Any problems with that boss?"

  "No. I think you laid the options out pretty well."

  "Thanks. There is a second version of this for the refugees on Haven. It starts with the question of do they personally wish to join in our society formally. If they answer yes, they get the same options for what they think is the best government type to select. But it will be spelt out their vote will not count in the election, but will be used later as a vote for joining us as a group, with their preferences available to see if they will indeed fit into our society or not."

  "Sounds fair. If necessary, we could find them a planet elsewhere. If we get too many we may need to anyway. And those would then join the alliance instead of us."

  I looked at her, and she smiled.

  "When's the vote?"

  Eighteen

  Having been reminded of it, I put on the original miniseries of B5 for the team that night.

  The plan was to binge watch all five original seasons over the next couple of weeks. And I seriously felt the need for some decent escapism. The team surprised me by accepting the species readily, and actually debating the likelihood of us finding similar species 'out there'. I stayed out of the discussions, and so I noticed, did Aline.

  She seemed to be following me into my dark mood, and while I made an effort, I'm not sure she noticed me trying. Or maybe I wasn’t, and so she couldn’t? Neither of us were in the mood for bonking that night, and even Angel picked up on the difference to how we normally were.

  The carnage in Crossroad went on, but now they were back to trying to blockade each other. Several times one species actually achieved this, but the damaged fleets were not enough to hold, when fresh fleets jumped in on them again, and they never were able to be reinforced first. None of them had early warning of a new fleet jumping on top of them like we did, so holding depended on your reaction times, and although they were good, the fleet jumping in still had the upper hand since they knew exactly when they were jumping, and only had to aim when they got there. Seconds made all the difference.