The Americans had to know what awaited them, he noted. There had been a competition, and in the correlation of national forces they had at long last been conclusively defeated. Their interplanetary traffic was dwindling, a shadow of what it had been a century ago. Their orbital insertion facility was used less and less. Their colonies on Mercury, the outer moons, and a few asteroids sputtered along. The Venusian terraforming project appeared to be going no place and that slowly. They did manage to divert an occasional shattered comet, associated water and all, into Venus. Did they know they had lost? The Americans encrypted everything, down to their laundry receipts. Whatever they were talking about, the rest of the world could not easily listen to those few conversations that leaked through their continental defense screens.
Nonetheless, orbital reconnaissance of America revealed a country whose population had plummeted from the half-a-billion it had been when the Azores Temporary Armistice was signed. Among those few hundred million Americans, now outnumbered 4 to 1 by the EU, there appeared to be 10 million who rejected modern technology, preferring to drive horse-drawn buggies between lantern-lit homes. The remainder apparently consisted of architectural fanatics whose ranch houses were ensconced in acres of manicured estate. Indeed, by any reasonable estimate, the bulk of American GNP must be invested in garden and lawn care. Perhaps, Rohan allowed, the Americans knew they had been defeated, and had resolved to live the good life until the last possible moment. Field Marshal Ivanov had noted an interesting historical parallel: In the early 19th century, when the Russian Empire advanced into the Islamic States around the Caspian Sea, Islamite weapons were badly obsolete, but the Islamic ruling elite made no effort to modernize their arms to match the hosts of the Tsar. They preferred to live their traditional comfortable lives until this choice ceased to be possible. Now the Americans were copying the Islamite response.
The Americans had no allies, not on this Earth. Some nations were isolationist, though not so much as the Americans, but FEU diplomacy and the FEU Security Services had penetrated them all, adequately to be sure that they were not negotiating covertly with the American challenge. Could there be off-Earth allies? The Americans had never mentioned meeting the Spiders, but then the FEU had never mentioned the Spiders to the Americans. Indeed, the FEU had not told its own people in any detail about the Spiders, the Line of Rotation, or the Alliance. The Union public was vaguely aware that in distant places StarFleet Europa fought border skirmishes to keep the American Menace and its hideous but primitive alien allies in check. Occasional live-action video reports, usually Marines engaging Wyvern conscript militia infantry, communicated to viewers the impression that American allies were backwards, dependent, cowardly collaborators having minimal fighting skills. Liberty was not license; there was no reason to alarm the Union public by broadcasting excessive details of the Spider host. Those who needed to know details were told the details they needed to know along secure channels. Those who did not need to know doubtless preferred entertainment programming, anyway, or the pleasant life at the neighborhood café. Accurate news was something one sent via land line to controlled addresses. Spiders were not mentioned on broadcast news. The Americans thus could have at best vague hints of the Spiders' existence, assuming that they were even looking for them.
He looked through the files on his desk. Operations. Supply. Training. Intelligence. Personnel. Inquiries. Operations, unsurprisingly, showed no events. Squadrons were moving into place, hither and thither, preparing for another offensive against the Spiders. Borders with the Americans and the rest of the human civilization were entirely quiet. Supply showed its graph of ships in production, from Vivandiere-class slow transports up to DeGaulle and Villars battleships and very soon the Europa-Class large naval combatants. Careful planning meant that every ship was indeed on schedule on its production track. Occasional proposals for faster schedules, even if there were occasional delays, were equally occasionally denied. Missing a deadline reflected badly on the efficiency of the Scotsmen who ran ship production. Furthermore, if a ship went over budget through excessive design changes, the cost might be blamed on thoughtless work by the original design team, leading to friction with the Greek and Italian groups who had designed the vessels. In the interest of maximum national efficiency, ships were built slowly, carefully, and without exception to their original plans.
Training was its usual excellent self. The old apprenticeship system with industrial support had adapted itself most excellently to the new Europa of universal Commission-sponsored apprentice traineeships: Each student was fit into a future that guaranteed a job in a pre-selected position. Of course, some students lacked enthusiasm if they disliked the Commission’s selection of their future avocations, but that was certainly better than producing a generation of frustrated workaholics. The practice of discontinuing study of unused skills had freed time for the truly essential. Starfleet had made only minor corrections since eliminating, a half-century ago, hand-to-hand and close combat training for officers and enlisted men. After all, if there was one absolute certainty in life, it was that boarding operations against a starship were totally impossible.
Personnel made its recommendations, which were essentially always accepted. What distinguishes the truly superior fleet or flag officer? Comity. Grandeur. Seriosity. Ability to manage effectively the lower ranks. In the end, space warfare was conducted by committee. The men and women who functioned well in committees on earth were undoubtedly the best qualified to lead a starship Battle Management Committee. Rohan reminded himself that there was the occasional critic who argued that a flash of genius, a new Napoleon, might be more effective than the stolid staffers who had led France to victory in three world wars. So far as Rohan could tell, these critics served the valuable purpose of validating the collective wisdom of Starfleet Europa's senior officers.
Inquiries, the permanent operation for the study of mistakes, remained understaffed and underused. Of course, before they could study a mistake, some poor Spaniard or Rumanian or even Russian had to make it, and Personnel worked hard to make sure they never got the chance. Each national type had particular skills at which it excelled. Starship command and higher administration just happened to be the natural French abilities, even as staff support and lower-echelon leadership were the natural German abilities.
"Hypernet!" Rohan spoke. The display flatscreen was replaced with a display holo. Pale green lines -- the hyperlinks that formed the basis of all practical star travel -- spread their fractal lattice out from Earth. Now colors were superposed. Dozens of pastel shades for the Alliance. A sickly violet for the huge extent of the Spider and Wyvern domains or such of them as was known. It was the greatest struggle in the history of mankind. It was a shame that humanity did not face the struggle united under its natural, French leadership. The FEU faced the Spiders and Wyverns in the heavens and the rest of the world on Earth. The High Command's plans for Earth brought regular rejoinders from Rohan’s German counterparts. Germans wanted no major operations on Earth so long as there were major ongoing operations in the Heavens. What could one say? Three world wars had oversensitized the Germans to the hazards of a two-front war, fronts facing in disparate directions against disparate foes. Of course, twice they had been fighting France, which had guaranteed their rapid defeat. The third time internal dissent had momentarily provided a second front.
It was fortunate, thought Rohan, that nature only permitted fusactors up to a largest power output and screens with some maximum power density. As a result, while the EU remained damnably backwards relative to the Union's far older allies, its warships remained capable of inflicting serious harm on the enemy. More accurately, they remained capable --hence the meeting with T'renrensen -- when allies provided sensor and command link support.
The natural laws that governed economic growth also had their natural consequences. As confirmed by the other members of the Alliance, economic growth came asymptotically to a stop when per capita income was a very modest multip
le of the levels that the EU already attained. Indeed, even now the Commission was making certain artificial interventions to raise European incomes to that maximal level. Once reached, any expectations of economic growth would cease. Resources invested in buildings and engineering facilities could instead be invested for the greater social good.
Rohan returned to his examination of the hyperspace net. Here a fleet was assembling. There supplies had been accumulated. The Spider side of the hyperspace net was not known to any depth -- reconnaissance missions through enemy systems had zero probability of success -- but the first few links could be estimated. It was unfortunate that the Alliance did not have a High Command providing rational, meaning, naturally, European, leadership. Such leadership would ensure rapid victory. Perhaps unified leadership would come to pass within his lifetime. Demonstrating to the Allies how space warfare was conducted under Franco-German leadership would go far to show the Allies who should lead the Alliance. Perhaps he could even hope that he, personally, might lead.
The annunciator rang its half-dozen notes. Rohan stared at his desk, within which appeared the beautiful face of his Flag Captain. "Admiral, Commodore Wilhelm Beyerlein is here at the appointed hour." Indeed, it was precisely 10:00 A.M. Rohan keyed his door. Beyerlein entered, marched briskly to precisely the prescribed two meters from the Admiral's desk, and snapped a stiff salute, clicking his heels as his hand touched his brow. Rohan returned the salute, waited until the doors shut firm closed, and rose.
"Wilhelm, it's good you could be here," Rohan said. "Coffee? Or shall we advance with your report?"
"You are most kind, Admiral," Beyerlein answered. "My usual, and my report." Beyerlein waited for the autosteamer servot to prepare his demitasse. Neither man remarked on the swarm of sniffers searching every corner of the room for snooping devices.
"I was here at six," Beyerlein announced. "Villiers and I did a thorough sweep of this office, finding the usual pair of probes. She or I has been in front of your door continuously since, ensuring that no one entered even the security airlock."
"We are likely free to talk," Rohan agreed. TheAdmiral nodded. "A year ago, I brought you on board as Fleet Intelligence, second because you have impeccable intuition and first because you might, might, just might be able to find out what is happening around the ring. Is there progress?" Rohan hoped the answer would be positive. He had hoped to have Intelligence in some sort of order within two years, and between the Americans, the Spiders, and the Alliance he had needed it in order six months ago. There was the enemy the FEU had been fighting, the enemy the FEU was currently fighting, and the loyal allies the FEU was of course not fighting, and precious little was known about any of them.
"Progress? Only recently, but a great deal of it. I have a display." He passed goggles to Rohan. "Observe. The left column gives the official expenditures and their principle objectives. The right column reveals where these funds are actually going." Rohan compared, left and right.
"The official budget focuses half on the Spiders, half on the Americans, and bits and pieces on the rest of the world. Officially, we do not spy on the Alliance," Beyerlein noted.
"Most certainly not," Rohan agreed.
"However, whenever there is a special project, the money is stripped from the American side of the budget. This has been true since the turn of the century. Furthermore, while we do not spy on the Alliance, we do have a large, oh 30% of budget, 'Collaboration and Amity' fund, dedicated to lubricating our relations with the Felifers, the Gisbures, and the dozen other nearby Alliance members. How do you collaborate in friendship? Why, you learn exactly what your friends want, and what they have to offer. Of course, this is not spying." Beyerlein took another sip of his citrus.
"Naturally," Rohan said. "If I read this correctly, you finally traced all the numbers, and almost half of our American espionage budget is actually spent on not spying on our allies? As well as a significant piece -- from the numbers here almost half -- of our nominal anti-Spider budget?"
"That's correct," Beyerlein answered.
"Well, I'm glad to learn that someone has some sense around here," Rohan answered. "Until now, I've wondered if I would need to divert ship construction funds into learning better how to work with our good friends. But where are the reports on our allies? I never see them, so I had assumed they do not exist."
Beyerlein produced a card from one pocket. "I finally deduced that you were not reading the 'Collaboration and Amity' reports. It seems that your predecessor viewed them as uninteresting, and removed his name from the circulation lists. Every single circulation list, so that you never saw the Collaboration and Amity Fund mentioned in any context."
"I see," Rohan said.
"This includes the two primary lists, on which your predecessor was the sole recipient, because the data was viewed as so sensitive that only the High Admiral himself should direct its dispensation," Beyerlein said. "Those reports have been stored unread for some years now."
"My God. Reconnect me at once. And tell me the reports are entertaining, so I may have them as 'entertainment reading' outside of my two and thirty," ordered Rohan.
"Indeed, I imagine you will be highly entertained," Beyerlein said. At least, Beyerlein thought, you will be highly entertained if your tastes run in the direction of the Marquis de Sade. Of course, given your current choices of English mistresses, perhaps this is not beyond the bounds of the possible. "And I am making a thorough and systematic search for lists that you are supposed to be receiving, so that we have a clear and logically accurate picture of what has been in the past been found to be unnecessary."
"But what is 'Project 13'? I thought I knew all the primary Projects of Fleet Intelligence," Rohan asked.
"Project 13 takes the rest of the American budget, half the budget for the rest of the world, and another section of the Spider budget," Beyerlein answered.
"I see what it takes," Rohan answered, "Now that you have found it. Where does it go?"
The Commodore shifted uneasily. "I spent most of the last year searching this out. Carefully. So I would not get caught." He paused. "Project 13 funds are under the direct control of the President of the Republic, as are the matching Project 13 funds in every other component of your budget."
"The President of the Republic? Every single budget component? How much money?" Rohan asked. A number appeared briefly before his eyes. "Twenty trillion Euros? That's an eighth of the Fleet budget! Of course, he is a man, but...how many mistresses can one man satisfy? Three? Six?"
"Actually," Beyerlein answered, "The ladies come out of Party funds. Of course, those are also taxpayer funds, but it's a different piece of the Commission budget. No, Category 13 is a defense budget. It defends us against our internal enemies."
"Internal enemies? I thought counterespionage and antiterrorism were in Bureau 7." Rohan shrugged.
"Entirely correct, Sir," Beyerlein said. "All our efforts against Japanese, Cantonese, Gujarati, Iraqi, etc. spies and troublemakers are in Bureau 7. Those people provide our external internal enemies, However, we also have internal internal enemies. For example, we have economic dislocations resulting from trade and datalinks with the Alliance. But no industrial firm can be allowed to let anyone go, just because some Felifer gadget has made them obsolete. The industrial payrolls while they transform must come from someplace. It comes from us. If it doesn't, the firm ceases to function, and we have discontent. Similarly, despite nearly two centuries of socially advanced school curricula, the more remote fringes of the continent continue to have malcontents who don't understand their place in Greater Europa. They must be observed, paid off, or isolated."
"Forgive me, but what is the 'University Counterespionage' you have highlighted?" Rohan asked. "Spying on foreign scholars?"
"Admiral, it's actually investment in our own research projects," Beyerlein explained. "Recall that over a century ago the Union restructured all university and research facilities along the highly rational lines already in use in F
rance and Germany. The most senior staff, those whose ideas have been most thoroughly proven, identify the topic and plan of research, and identify the junior staff most qualified to perform this work. The junior staff then vigorously attack their assigned studies in accord with the detailed instructions they have been given as to what experiments to perform, what results to obtain, and what theories are to be verified. It is entirely logical that this is the most effective way to run any research operation." Admiral Rohan nodded. "Indeed, the very limited number of people chosen to have their longevity amplified includes in particular these senior scientific and engineering leaders who choose the direction for research. However, despite two centuries of indoctrination, one gets a certain fraction of the junior staff who think they should work on their own ideas, or who use their two-and-thirty to work other than on their assigned projects. They even lobby their fellows to change the rules that Commission has so wisely established, so they may do this in the open."
"Yes?" the Admiral agreed.
"The real instigators -- not the loudest grumblers, but the people who might actually incite support rather than grumbling -- are recruited to special institutions filled with their kind," Beyerlein said. "Otherwise they would cause trouble out of proportion to their numbers, or worse become politically active. There are not many such people, nor many special institutions, but they are in very pleasant places. Tahiti. Pago Pago. Bermuda. The potential serious troublemakers are identified, given generous though not fabulous budgets, and allowed to work as they see fit. Of course, most of their ideas are odd and pointless, else their mentor would have appropriated them, but a modest fraction proves profitable."
"Why not just fire them?" Rohan asked.
"My God! Admiral, firing a university researcher is even harder than firing a civil servant. When it is done, the resulting dissension is disruptive. The orthodox procedure funded here requires only a modest capital investment," Beyerlein explained, "an investment that is sometimes returned many times over."
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