by Don Koch
"We have deliberately structured the program as a means of bringing a large number of Gar on board the stations. The 'upgrade' training will be aimed at new trades, new skills, new languages. We will have aptitude testing to help determine what they might want to consider as a new direction. There will be components that describe the other races with which they will come in contact. What those races like and dislike, what are their sensitive views and attitudes; a litany of components that are aimed at socialization. We also hope to find a number of Gar with telepathic capabilities who would join us. The stations are going to be multiracial, make that multispecies, in terms that few have dreamed about and we will all be better for it."
"Are there any additional questions or comments? If not, the videos will be aired in about an hour and then the work will begin. Remember, these folks are our guests and now our allies. Their belief structure is different than our own. They have a very strong sense of honor. They have much to learn but so do we. Be firm but treat them nice."
### An Hour Later ###
The invitation broadcast featured Lord Dranz, Meri, Hank and Sam. Following an introduction, Lord Dranz opened the presentation stating, "Citizens of Gar, you all know by now the poor reputation our people and planet has earned in this part of the galaxy. Even though our actions were driven by our previous monarch and were the result of manipulation by General Brondin of Arber, we must still earn our way back into the good graces of our stellar neighbors. As a result we will have a fairly small standing military force henceforth and that force will be focused on planetary security and needs on Gar. The Antoran Fleet will be providing our external security. Gar had the good fortune to be opposed by a force led by the human you see before you, General Henry Stone, commander of the Antoran fleet. Many of you are familiar with the pledge you made before him on your Taju. His unprecedented restraint saved millions of Gar lives, not to mention the untold millions of lives we were directed against. He managed to preserve what honor was left to us. For those efforts, he and his staff have my undying gratitude. One of the side effects of our defeat is that we must downsize our military that as you also know is by far the largest form of occupation for our people. Our problem has become, what do those persons do now that Gar military will be vastly reduced. General Stone has extended an invitation to our citizens both military and civilian alike that I believe offers a remedy to the dilemma we face. I support his invitation and ask all of you to consider his offer. General Stone, would you please speak to my people."
"Your Majesty, it is my pleasure. People of Gar, about a year ago, I made an offer similar to the one you are about to hear on Earth and in a two-month period we had about 3.7 billion Earthians partake of the offer out of a total population of about 7 billion. Your economy has for hundreds of years been directed at raising a huge military, training it and aiming at an enemy not of your choosing. Since that effort has been ended, you must now consider how you can redirect your focus and move on to something else. This will require a huge effort in retraining and reeducation and in many cases, new goals and occupations. I for one believe you can accomplish this but I believe you can use some help. This help will not be forced on you. It can only be accepted voluntarily and individually. Starting at the end of this broadcast, you will find communication poles that have been distributed widely about Gar. All you need to do is to approach one of these devices and announce to the device that you are interested in considering the offer."
"Here is the offer I make to you. The offer is to spend three to four weeks on one of our stations. The first day will be a day of orientation and introduction to the stations, their mission, their capabilities and the like. It will include aptitude testing to give you some idea of the other things you might do. It will also be a day to make choices about what you want to learn and where that fits into what you want to achieve. We will offer counselors to provide assistance and guidance where desired. After that first day or two, there will be about two weeks of training and education. This will occur through a device that looks very much like a sleeping platform or bed. The devices work while you are sleeping and are capable of providing in two weeks, training equivalent to four years in a conventional school. During the hours you are wake, you will meet with and interact with Antorans, Earthians, and Glarin. They all speak your language and hopefully you will learn theirs."
"Following that two weeks you will be given choices with what you then know. These choices include: return to Gar, hopefully with some new usable skills; remain on a station as one of our military people or in a civilian undertaking; volunteer for paid reconstruction work on Cler, Fullus, Linan, or Antor while becoming expert in your selected trade or occupation; become a part of your new merchant marine or, join a colony world. Each colony world is self-governing. You can select a world that is peopled by multiple races or just your own race. At this time we are able to make available a large number of billets on our stations."
"Some of these stations are shortly to embark on a two year exploration of this arm of the galaxy and we will need a wide range of talents. Your planet will also need many of those same talents, if not now, certainly in the near future. If you elect to go to a station or a colony, the training will continue, not with the same intensity but it will continue. We will teach you some additional languages. For those of you thinking in terms of the ships you have been on in the recent past, our stations travel at least 40,000 times faster than your old ships, so you will be seeing much more than was possible with the slower ships. A trip from here to Earth takes only 5½ days."
"Most of all we want you exposed to peoples of other races and to learn new and useful skills whether you elect to remain on Gar or to go into space. We will have counselors available to you to assist in answering questions to help you make decisions. Decisions to leave Gar are family decisions. We are not in the business of breaking up families. We will also be doing some screening to assure that you are compatible with the decision you make particularly if it is to go into space."
"That my friends is my offer and that of the Antoran Fleet to you. This offer will be repeated every two hours for the next week. In between these announcements, we will be running a description of the stations, life on the stations, life in our military, and information about the other worlds in our sphere of influence. So the choices are yours. No coercion will be applied or tolerated. This is not propaganda or brainwashing. Obviously the things we will teach you are from our point of view. It is likely that some of the preconceived notions on both sides will be dispelled. This is an opportunity for you and for us. But do come and see what your options look like. We will continue this offer for the next 45 days so you have time to consider. Each family will be provided housing on station that will probably surprise you since they are spacious and the recreational opportunities are very broad. Our stations can house a considerable population and we would welcome you if you elect to live on station if only for a short while. Thank you and I hope to hear from you."
The invitation was broadcast and there was no response until after the second showing of the broadcast had started. Many who delayed, waited until the first showing of information about the station was complete and then went out and accepted the invitation. By the time twenty-four hours had passed, there were 100 million acceptances of the invitation. By the end of the second day that number had grown to 250 million and by the third, it was up to 800 million. Interest was higher than expected. To keep the process manageable, Hank decided to limit the “upgrade” to 600 million per session. The applicants readily accepted this and were provided information packets to review while they waited for their session to start. Testing for telepathic capability was done in the same manner as in the past program. The surprise was that the incidence of telepaths was higher than other races previously tested by a factor of 2, but very few were active. Most had surprisingly good personal shields. The telepaths were segregated as in the previous upgrade program so that specific assistance could be provided as befo
re. True to form, all of the spouses of married telepaths and their children were also telepaths. Applicants continued to pour in at a surprising rate. It appeared that the entire population might eventually apply.
### On Station 1 in Gar orbit – June 18 – C Day 292. ###
At the end of the first week, Hank and Sam had a meeting with Lord Dranz and Meri to update them on progress. Hank was concerned that the result of the program might be too large a drain on the Gar population and expressed these concerns. Lord Dranz was laughing about Hank’s concern and responded by saying, “Friend Hank, for once I feel like I am back in a semblance of control of something. I say this because I know your intentions for this program are positive and well meaning. I am laughing, not at your discomfit, but because I know my people. It would not surprise me if everyone on Gar were to accept this ‘upgrade’ of yours. My people have a large dose of curiosity and for the first time in hundreds of years, they can allow this attribute to have some freedom to operate. For most, this will merely be the trigger or the catalyst to explore more areas. This will be a very healthy thing for them. It will be a renaissance for many and we need that just now. I would not be concerned if half the population were to apply for off-planet opportunities because everyone will have had his or her tail yanked and his or her rump kicked, so all of this will have more of an impact than you can imagine.”
“The excitement I see in my people since the offer was made has been amazing and not the least bit alarming. People are realizing that a new day has indeed arrived. Many who will want to leave for their own reasons will likely want to return someday. They need to know that they have the freedom to make that choice. Many will move on to other things, some on your ships, some to explore, some to fight when necessary, some to other worlds and some to things we have not yet considered. What better legacy can I leave my people? Trust me my friend, this is all a good thing. If I had to guess how many will want to leave in the immediate future, I would guess at 25 to 30% will apply. For us, this will be a tremendous relief valve. For them, an undreamed of, opportunity. I am glad I am alive to see this.”
“I was also happy to see a fair representation of our own history in the curriculum you have set up. This will certainly give my people something to think about. The comparison with the history of your own world was equally surprising. Your history has been nearly as bloody as our own. That bit of honesty and candor coupled with your recent handling of the threat we posed will go far to show our people that you have the interests of all of us at heart. The opportunity for inter-species discussion is a stroke of genius. I am heartened that our people will be back in space so soon and with such a partner. To recap, do not worry about reducing our population to a point of harm. We will be resilient. This may, in fact, provide each of our civilizations an opportunity to be better than we were separately. For now we wait and see.”
### On Station 1 in Gar orbit – June 26 – C Day 300 ###
The first of the “upgrade” class had finished the training phase of the program and was now being briefed on their options including an offer for advanced training after the upgrade program had been completed. This would be for those who would be returning to Gar. It was expected that those electing to stay on station or one of the other options would be continuing their training anyway. The application process had begun.
### On Station 1 in Gar orbit – July 10 – C Day 314 ###
The first group had completed their “upgrade” and those wishing to return to Gar had done so. Those applying to leave Gar had made their application and almost all were accepted. Since a large number of the applicants were actually former military, it was not surprising that the first had a 40.1% application rate, with the majority of those seeking an on-station military assignment. Hank knew this would change in following sessions.
### Royal Palace on Gar – September 12 – C Day 378 ###
Hank and Sam were at the Royal Palace to report on the results of the Gar Upgrade program. Lord Dranz, Meri and a number of the Gar Royal advisors were present. Hank started the report with, “Well your Majesty, you sure hit the numbers close. We pretty much had your entire population go through the ‘upgrade’ program. You were exactly right about how your people would react to our offer. You were also very close on your estimation of the number of your people that would apply for the stations or a colony. There were 817,285,176 that have applied and that is roughly 31% of your population and that is very close to your estimate. We can place all accepted applicants in their requested billets. The next step is for you to approve the change in allegiance. With that done we can get the assignments underway and station reassignments posted. We also want to get our exploration underway. I have to go back to Earth for a bit to take care of some of our projects there but I expect to come back through here sometime in the next two months to see if we can finally resolve the Arber situation. We also have colonists to drop off at Artemis, Betina, Cecilla, Diana and Janice. We are ahead of schedule with that program so that is a plus. The reconstruction efforts with Antor I, Cler and Fullus are progressing nicely. We have been able to help most of the survivors and they are adjusting well. Fortunately the station medical facilities were up to the task and the Cler and Fullus people seem to be pretty resilient. They will need help for a while but they are going to make it."
Chapter 5: Assignments
Station 1 in Earth Orbit –
September 24 - C Day 390
Hank had called a meeting of all his station Commanders to lay out the revisions to assignments for the fleet. He noted that in many instances, a response using a full Division was probably overkill. He opined that he was going to make some shifts in assignments, not because of any shortcoming with the way things were progressing, but because he wanted to offer a "change in scenery" for the crew and citizens of the various stations. He said, "We have a number of general kinds of assignments. First and foremost, every station is part of a battle fleet and every station must maintain battle readiness. The assignment categories are Active Expedition, Battle Fleet Standby, Defense Guardian, Reconstruction, Colony Preparation and support, and Exploration. I will do my best to rotate assignments but that is somewhat dependent on conditions and demands at the time. The fact that you are in one category now, does not mean that you are locked into that kind of assignment forever. The first thing I want to do is to get our exploration mission back on track. We need to know quite a bit more about the Orion-Cygnus Arm of this galaxy. It is where we live and it is where we want to focus our efforts to assist those who need our help. Effective today, Divisions 4, 10, 17 and 20 will prepare for exploration duty. I would like Divisions 4 and 20 to head in the general direction from here past Arber and Divisions 10 and 17, the opposite direction."
"Our reconstruction project at Cler with Division 3 will be complete by the end of the month. Likewise, Division 7's project at Fullus will be complete about the same time. Both of those Divisions will be placed on standby following completion of their projects, with Division 3 at Janice and Division 7 at Frote."
"We have five Divisions currently establishing colony infrastructures and those will be complete by September at which point all five Divisions will go to Battle Fleet Standby postings. Division 15 will be posted to Antor 1 to commence a reconstruction/colony preparation project there. Antor 1 will again be occupied but this time by multiple species."
"The Arber expedition will continue to operate but now with fewer stations. Division 16 will continue to do the honors with the temporarily attached stations from Division 5 taking on Guardian defense postings. New postings will be announced later for September 30 along with transition routings so everything stays covered."
"I also have one more little surprise for all of you. AI Briana has been taking a hard look at how we get about and had noted that when we pass through the 150,000 xSL, speed there is a shift in the tuning that limits us to 250,000 xSL. She figured out how to tune that shift to our advantage and the result is that a station can achieve
about 600,000 xSL without an appreciable change in fuel consumption. There is a secondary shift as you pass 500,000 xSL. She believes that we should get this even higher. It boggles the imagination. On my order she has sent instructions on how to perform that tuning to all stations. In any event, the tuning takes about two hours to perform for a station, so before anybody goes anywhere, retune your drives. That extra speed may be critical if we have to do a recall or an emergency arises. Let's have it in our quiver of arrows. Once that is done for the station, your AI can program all your ships for the same thing. The corrections on your warships can then all be done automatically. That is a tenfold increase over what we were capable of doing only a year ago. Thank you Briana. "