Righteous Reign
Page 46
Step four is securing the situation. Once we are sure all opposition is contained, the Emperor will demand his constitutional edits are dealt with in the Assembly. He will ask for ground forces as a means of quelling potential violence and calming the situation. General Malcolm will deploy forty thousand troops to the Capital at the Assembly, the Council and the Emperor's palace; and ten thousand to Headquarters on Rigil. The show of force should not just prevent a rebellion. It should shake the Assembly into approving the new constitution. Remember that, only two thirds of the members need to vote in favor. Once passed the Emperor will sign it into law. Pro democracy forces will remain in place for at least thirty days to ensure stability. Any attempt to break the democracy will be dealt with as a rebellion. Meantime, the C&C will go about their business ordering Quadrants One and Four to concentrate forces on the outer ring of our territory. Quadrants Two and Three will appear to be doing the same; but they will concentrate four Fleets of each Theatre on the outer ring. The others will stay very close to Earth and Rigil. We will all stand down, after two months.
Any subsequent investigations should exonerate any of us and prove that we only acted in the bests interests of the King, the laws and the constitution of the realm; as, they were at the time of the incident.
Over the next year, the Quadrant One and Four Commanders will be replaced by loyal Theatre Commanders; unless, they turned and acted with us during the skirmish. If they are replaced, you will get a Theatre Command within a year. Someone else will take over your new department. What do you think?" Bryant asked me.
"I think it sounds good. But its a little thin. I think we need more thought on the Emperor's role. I believe he should play a bigger part. For instance, when the First Minister tries to step in, I think he should ask the OESA for assistance and accuse the First Minister of attemptiing to overthrow the government. That request gives us legal authority to take all the actions you are fostering. There's also the timeline. When does the Emperor make his first request? Then, there's my new staff. It's already too small. I can see that. If I am supposed to already be conducting investigations all over the realm; and then, I have to arrest people in Headquarters and conduct investigation in Quadrants One and Four the staff is not going to be able to cope with it. Remember, half that staff has to run the department; so, the other half can do their jobs. If I need a thousand investigators and enforcement officers, two thousand forensics specialists and a thousand legal people, then, I will need four thousand to support them. We are looking at more like eight thousand people just to start; and, it may take more. We won't know until we run for awhile and see what the load requirement is. The one good thing is that, around the eight thousand mark, you wont need to add support staff for every one in enforcement. You might need a few more people every time you add another hundred." I observed.
"Did you catch all that, Bill?" George asked.
"I did; and, I agree about the Emperor's role. He could make our end easier and safer. As far as the department goes we guessed at forty-six hundred; so, accounting did a pro forma on that; and, we doubled it when we went to the counsel and assembly. You are clear to nine thousand, if needed. The budget approved should give you the funds to equip and run a staff of ninety-two hundred travelling field personnel. Does that allay your fears, Kurt?" He finished as I nodded.
"I nevet would have imagined it... here I am in a plot to overthrow the Emperor that is the scheme of that very Sovereign. The irony is not lost on me." I chuckled as I mumbled feigning my most niaive look.
The tension in the room dropped as everyone broke into laughter.
My enunciator sounded. "Excuse me for a minute I said." as I rose and called up the mail.
MEMO
From: Commodore Rohkea Sielu Deputy COS Theatre Two Command
To: Admiral Kurt Brubacher Commander OESA Inspector General Branch
Re: Promotion and reassignment
Date: June 1, 2257
Admiral Brubacher,
I received your offer for the elevation to Rear Admiral and assignment as Chief of Staff of the Inspector General Branch, with some surprise. I was not expecting any offers under conditions that currently exist in the service.
Please advise me of the date you would like me to start; so, I can arrange transportation. I acceept your offer.
Commodore Rohkea Sielu
MEMO
From: Admiral Kurt Brubacher Commander OESA Inspector General Branch
To: Commodore Rohkea Sielu Deputy COS Theatre Two Command
Re: Promotion and reassignment
C.C. Fleet Admiral W. Stephenson OESA C&C, Admiral G. Bryant Commander Fifth Mobile RAC, Vice Admiral Helena Leeds Commander Phoenix Fleet.
Date: June 1, 2257
Commodore Sielu,
You are needed, immediately. A vessel will arrive for you at sixteen thirty hours on June 3; and will convey you to the Valhalla, at high speed.
You will arrive here twenty-two hundred hours June 5. Please report to me at eight hundred hours June 6, 2257.
Just a note to inform you that, after being familiarized with all aspects, requirements and objectives of the department, the staff will be considerably larger than previously discussed.
Admiral Kurt Brubacher
I tap send and both messages go out. A few seconds later, there are chimes in the room. I motioned to Helena and mouthed her a message. "Can you arrange that transportation, please?" She nods and begins tapping on her pad. Bill and George both look up from their pads with smiles.
"I'll get you a warrant." Bill says.
"Is everyone satisfied? There is still time. We can brainstorm and refine the plan, over the next couple of months.' Bryant offers. 'We've got to get going. It seems business is continuing, as we are sitting here." He adds with a smile.
We break up the meeting. I walk out with Helena. "Thank you. You did me a big favor." I say with a smile.
"That's okay. You'll pay for it, tonight. Can we get together tomorrow about the wedding? I know you're busy, today." She asks.
"Yes we can. I would like nothing better than to get at least the major planning going. I am sorry we have to dance to the OESA tune." I reply.
"Oh don't worry about that. Every girl wants a royal wedding. I'm happy it turned out this way. I just don’t know where I’ll be able to find a pair of glass slippers." She answers with a giggle.
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I am very relieved. Commodore Rohkea Sielu has arrived, we met and discussed the situation. Roh and I have agreed on a general contstruct for the department; and, both feel we need security investigators, first. All our people will have to be vetted carefully. There can be no question of their honesty. But, there also has to be no question of allegience. I prefer to have those with no feelings on the monarchy. Allegience to the Empire, itself; and the constitution will be the primary objective. Then, we need all personnel to have superior qualitfications.
By the time that discussion was over, Admiral Bryant was ready to do the honors. Roh was elevated and assigned. We had a small cocktail party with only people withn our little secret group. Roh was gently brought up to date; while, we all watched her intently.
"I find it unbelievable that people would resist democracy, in favor of dictatorship - no matter how benign and beneficent that dictatorship has been. The Emperor is right. It could turn to an autocracy, any time after he passes away. And, I find it sad that, people are not more receptive to his needs. It sounds like he's actually in pain." She observed in no uncertain tones.
We cornered Malcolm during the reception; arranging to meet immediately after the party.
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"Ian, we have gone over all the objectives of the department and have agreed with Bill and George that, the original staff requirements for this operation were sorely underestimated. The Branch will need nearly double the original deploym
ent planned. We have a list of our initial requirements for you; but, the most important, now are security investigators. We need twenty-five people from you qualified and experienced in security investigations; and, deserving of promotion. In additon, we need people that, you know are pro-democracy or at the least, pro-constitution and very loyal to you. We will need one at the rank of Lieutenant, we can promote to Captain. That officer will head the twenty-five man team and should be moved first; so, he or she will have a say in the company. These people will thoroughly investigate and vet the ones to come; so, their status should be unquestionable, now." Ian cut me off.
"Admiral, I have your man, now. He is the Deputy Chief Security Investigator in my own team. He knows the others I will recommend, personally; and, will be able to correct us if, we are making a mistake in that first group of twenty-five. He is a Captain now; so, it would be wise to promote him to Major for the new job. I think you will find you'll need a level four, anyway. If, your staff is going to be that big, you will need a larger group than twenty-five in the security division, by the time everything washes out. Designating it a battalion Commnand, from the start, would be smart. That way, he'll have the capacity to create teams. Ten man platoons in two plantoon companies. Four companies in the Battalion. I would say forty-three is the minimum. That will allow four teams to work at the same time; allowing much more throughput. You can meet him and interview him right after we're done here, if you wish." He finishes.
That would be great, and thanks for the advice. I will take it; but, can you spare that many investigators?' I ask as he nods. 'Our needs for the other marines are much greater than originally believed. Based on the needs set out by Bill and George, we will need to be able to conduct several field investigation, at the same time and over multiple locations. Our new projections indicate the need for four hundred intelligence and investigators, four hundred enforcement and seven hundred military marines. We don't necessarily need them, right now. We can get away with half; and build over four months; but we will need to have seven hundred fifty vetted, trained for our specifics and in place in six weeks. Are either of those targets a problem?" I ask.
"I have seventy-seven hundred security investigators deployed through the Fifth Mobile Fleets. There are another one hundred and eighty between the three Command Vessels and another eighty-five in my staff. There are the same number of criminal investigators in Mobile Fifth. There are three times that many enforcement officers in Mobile Fifth and there are ninety thousand troops to draw from for military strength. Your needs will create a slight temporary reduction in our efficiency; but, if I distribute those losses properly, it should barely be noticed by the remaining team.' He assures us. 'I have lists prepared based on your previous requirements.' He said as he tapped his data pad. Mine chimed a few seconds later. I openend the e-mail; the, the attachment. There was a spreadsheet six hundred names long with affiliation, service number, rank, length of service and a ranking number on each line. The scoring was explained at the bottom. 'Would you like to meet the Captain, now, Kurt?" He asked.
"Yes General, can you sit in with us?" I asked.
"Certainly.' He said as he tapped his internal communication module. 'C. Sparks." He said; and paused. 'Captain, could you come to my office, please?" The General said.
Two minutes later a young man walked up to the doorway, snapped to attention and called out. "Captain Christopher Sparks reporting, as requested, sir."
"Come in and relax, Captain. I want to introduce you to Admiral Kurt Brubacher our new Inspector General and Rear Admiral Rohkea Sielu his Chief of Staff in the new OESA Inspector General Branch. Admirals, this is Captain Christoper Sparks. Chris has a masters from the Academy in Criminology and a Bachelors and Masters from the University of Florida in Psychology; which has served him very well in reading people. He can smell a rat from a mile away. We commissioned him a Lieutenant when he came to us from the Academy four years ago. He ran a four squad platoon of investigators for two and a half years. They did some impressive work. We promoted him to Captain; then, and gave him Command of a Company that runs four platoons like the one he had. The distribution of his platoons include three security investigation ones and one criminal investigation group. His criminal investigation team was the one that came to the Loki, when you called for help, Admiral. Chris is a fan of yours, I must tell you. The nitty gritty is in his file; but, I can tell you that, I trust him implicitly; and, would recommend him for any Command up to and including a Regiment level post." The General finished.
"May I call you Chris, Captain?' I asked as the young man nodded assent. 'Well Chris, I deeply value General Malcolm's appraisal of you. He is a man I have been involved with for a long time; and, he has the complete trust and confidence of Admiral Bryant; which is enough for me. I have couple of questions for you. They are hypotheticals. The first is about your loyalties. I will give you a little scenario. You are pressured by two groups. You are unsure of both. You don't know their real motives or objectives. One Group is espousing something that seems to contradict the law or constitution. The other is espousing something that appears constitutional; but, unethical. You do not have enough information to determine which is really correct and are torn between them. General Malcolm gives you orders that support the first group who appear might be breaking the law. What would you do?" I finish and pause. There is a long silence. I could see he was weighing all the facts I had given him. It was a good two minutes before he responded.
"Based on the fact I do not have all the facts on either group; and, both seem to contravene my internal sense of right and wrong, I would defer to the General's decision. General Malcolm is an honest and fair commander who acts based on the facts; so, I would have to assume, he knows more than I do; and, is not generating an unlawful order. I am loyal to him and the Empire; but, in this case, I would follow him." Chis answered.
"I have just one more question for you. If the Emperor came to you today; not me or General Malcolm; but the Emperor himself; and, said to you he wanted to change the constitution and make the empire a true democracy; how would you respond to him?" I ask.
"Well sir, that one is easy. He is the Emperor. He has the power and authority to make that decision and to change the constitution. I also think that, despite his nature we are always at risk of an authoritarian in the future; and, we should be mature enough to be able to run our own affairs. So, I would support his decision without reservation. - Hypothetically, of course, sir." He said seriously and without reservation.
"Those were excellent answers Chris. I want to offer you a new position. When we came in here I was looking for someone to head up our security investigative team. But, that battalion would fall under a regimental commander who would direct security, criminal investigation, enforcement, intelligence and a sizable battalion of infantry to exert force, if needed. This is a large force in terms of our department; but, a relatively small one in military terms; so, it would be Commanded by a Lieutentant Colonel. That Colonel would have Battalion level Commanders to handle each group who are expert in their area of command; which, kind of takes the pressure off of having to be a great infantry tactical commander. Would you be interested in Commanding our entire Marine contingent? I am prepared to offer you a promotion to Lt. Colonel and assign you as Regimental Commander of the Marine Forces of the OESA Inspector General Branch. It is a daunting job. You need to help build your Regiment from the ground up. There is nothing in place, yet. We have lists supplied by General Malcolm. Your investigative, enforcement and intelligence people would have to be vetted very carefully; because they will be doing some of the work clearing everyone else in the Branch; and will be investigating remote Commands, as the need arises. You and those personnel would have the highest level of security clearance in the Empire; so, we cannot make any mistakes in these areas. You would work very closely with my COS and General Malcolm; since, he is supplying most of your people and will be an excellent advisor for you; though, you will no longer be at
tached to his Command. Would you like to take on the challenge?" I ask and pause. Again the pause is long as Chris appears to weigh everything I've said, carefully.
"Sorry, sir.' The wait had been nearly five minutes. 'I was just considering your hypotheticals against your actions when you took over Phoenix Task Force One; and, the details of the assignment you just offered. And, I was thinking of General Malcolm who is sitting here in support of you; and, my trust in him. I would be happy and proud to command the Regiment, sir. I accept your offer." The young man says with a smile.
"Good, I'm glad that's settled. I couldn't have held my breath, any longer.' I comment and pause as everyone chuckles. 'You will have to concentrate on the security personnel, first; and your Deputies. We need you to be in a position to start clearing a lot of other people, we need. The Branch will have a staff around eight thousand. Your contingent is going to end up around twelve hundred. It will be something like a company of forty-three security, a battalion of two hundred criminal investigators, a battalion of two hundred enforcement, a battalion of two hundred intelligence and a battalion of five hundred infantry personnel. You will need to vet your security company commander yourself. Then, the two of you can clear the platoon commanders together. The four of you can assess your squad commanders. And the group can work on clearing the squad personnel. Once, you have enough in place, we can begin sanctioning investigative and intelligence people for those sub-commands; so, you can enlist them to aid in the clearances, over the short haul. When those groups are strong enough, we will begin moving droves of people to us. During all this, we need to authorize a deputy Branch Commander, a deputy COS and the department heads for the Chief's staff. We require completion of all those positions in two weeks. We must be in a position to hire the rest quickly over the following three and a half weeks. We need to be at a strength where we are operational in five and a half weeks, from now; and we need to be at full strength in four months. It is daunting; but, you have to remember that, most of the people you are clearing have already been investigated and authorized before; albeit, in a less stringent process. You must unlock all their closets to find any skeletons that might be obscured. You have another advantage; in that, you have worked with many of the peoople on the General’s list and already know who are good at their jobs. The one proviso I have to set in your cleaarances is that; you ask each and every one the same two hypotheticals, I asked you. If the don't respond in a like manner to you, I don't want them in our service. They must be loyal to you, our new Branch, General Malcolm; and most of all, Emperor Edward III, the man. Do you understand the task at hand and the obligations you are taking on?" I ask.