Rumors of Salvation (System States Rebellion Book 3) (24 page)

There
was a pause as Ogawa pondered Drake’s proposal. When he spoke, his voice had
lost its panic and even had a tinge of friendliness. “Well, your proposal
certainly has some appealing aspects to it. What it doesn’t address is the
issue of ownership of that island. As with most colonized planets, the original
settlers of Midgard claimed ownership of the entire planet. We’ve set up a
corporate entity to hold that claim, with shares distributed among the original
settler families. I happen to be the Chairman of the Board of Directors of that
corporation, so I can negotiate what compensation the corporation will receive
in exchange for permitting your people to take possession of that island. Do
you have some ideas in that regard, Fleet Commander?”

Drake
chided himself for not considering the question of ownership. Ogawa was quite
right. Claiming ownership of an entire planet was a common and accepted
practice by each colony’s first group of settlers. The hope of establishing
wealthy dynasties for future generations was one of the motivations for risking
an unknown ecology and the years of hard work and lack of civilized comforts
that original settlers typically faced. The flip side of that ownership coin
was the presumption that the original settlers could enforce their rights if
later groups of settlers simply landed wherever they pleased. That principle of
possession and the ability to defend territory ultimately trumped any claims of
ownership by first settlers. Usually, and later on, both groups of settlers
would agree to some kind of compromise in order to maintain cordial relations.
Drake now realized that Ogawa’s seemingly friendly tone was actually a
negotiating ploy to get a better deal. Ogawa might be in a mood to negotiate,
but Drake wasn’t.

“Let
me ask you something, CEO Ogawa. Given the relatively small size of your
population, I’m guessing that there are a lot of specialized types of equipment
that would normally be imported from Earth because your colony doesn’t have the
capability to produce those items yourself. Is that a correct assumption on my
part?”

“Well…yes,
there are a few things that we can’t produce ourselves but I don’t see—“

“The
reason I ask that question,” said Drake cutting him off, “is that once we get
the volcano shipyard and the mining operation on the moon set up, we’ll be in a
position to manufacture just about anything we want. After all, a ship is more
than just a hull and engines. It includes a lot of very specialized electronic
equipment. I didn’t mention selling this type of product in my proposal,
because establishing a large scale trade in food, fish for land-based
agricultural output, seemed to offer the most benefit to both sides, but when
it comes to high tech products for civilian consumption, our new settlement
will not need a lot of that, and we can therefore satisfy our own needs quite
easily. We won’t need to export those products to the mainland. Let me put it
another way. In terms of maintaining your current level of consumer technology,
you’ll need us more than we’ll need you. I don’t think your citizens will thank
you ten years from now if your colony loses mass power conversion technology
and has to revert back to a more primitive technology base, while we on our
island continue to live with unlimited power and contra-gravity. So it seems to
me that allowing us to settle on that island without having to pay compensation
is actually to your collective benefit. That being the case, it hardly seems
fair for us to pay you for the privilege of helping you maintain your level of
civilization later. If compensation was going to change hands for us settling
on that island, then you should be paying us. I will also point out one more thing.
Sooner or later, Majestic will show up in this star system with armed ships. If
I were you, I’d be very careful about not pissing off the only people who can
save your life and the lives of those you care about, at the risk of their own
lives. Am I making myself clear, CEO Ogawa?”

“It
was not my intention to generate any ill feeling, Fleet Commander. You’re
clearly an excellent negotiator, and you have a stronger negotiating position.
I hope you’ll forgive me for trying, though.”

Drake
didn’t want to forgive anything, but he knew that sometimes you have to hide
your true feelings in the interests of being tactful. “I understand that you
had to try, but I hope you understand that I’m not in a mood to play a game of
corporate brinksmanship. To me this is a matter of life and death, and
therefore I’m prepared to ruffle a few feathers, and a lot more if necessary,
in order to do what has to be done. Are you prepared to provisionally concede
ownership of that island to us in order to facilitate the exchange of food
resources as per my outline? I’m sure the deal will have to be ratified by your
Board of Directors, so what I’m asking is whether you will support and vote for
that arrangement?”

“You’re
quite right that any deal we negotiate will have to be ratified, and I am
prepared to support your plan, including the transfer of ownership of that
island without compensation. I think I can safely say that the Board will
approve the plan, and therefore you can begin to bring your people down at your
convenience, Fleet Commander. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

“Not
right now, CEO Ogawa. Once we get our people settled and the base set up, I’ll
fly over to pay you a visit and formalize these verbal arrangements. One of my
ships will always be in orbit and will act as a communications relay in case
you wish to communicate with us. Eventually we’ll put up a satellite to handle
that. Thank you for being so co-operative, CEO Ogawa. Good-bye for now. Drake
clear.”

With
that issue taken care of, Drake sent his wife the pre-arranged ‘all-clear’ code
to bring her ships down as well. Over the following six days, the shipyard
equipment was offloaded at the volcano site, the robotic equipment was set up
at the same location on the moon as before, and volunteers from the main colony
were transported to the island where they began to cut down trees for use in
building temporary shelters for the shipboard refugees. During this time, Drake
kept his cruisers in low orbit on constant alert. When he finally did visit the
CEO, he ordered Europa to land at the main colony spaceport so that everyone
would know he had arrived. Crowds were starting to gather at the edge of the
landing field by the time he slowly walked down the ramp to be greeted by Ogawa
himself. It was clear to Drake both from the way Ogawa kept looking at the
growing crowds and from his expression that he wasn’t happy with all the
attention Drake was getting. Ogawa managed to put a half-hearted smile on his
face and extended his hand when Drake stepped off the ramp.

“Welcome
to Midgard, Fleet Commander Drake. As you can see, your ship has generated a
lot of curiosity. It’s been a long time since any spaceship has visited us.”

Drake
shook Ogawa’s hand and glanced at the crowd. “Glad to be here and to finally
meet you in person, CEO Ogawa. I’m still surprised by the public reaction.
Europa isn’t any bigger than a typical freighter. You did tell your people that
we came here to protect Midgard from the Empire’s rogue computer, didn’t you?”

“Oh
yes, I told them exactly that, and I think that’s why they’re here. Public
reaction to the news can be described as equal parts fear and relief that
Midgard will have its very own space force.”

Drake
saw some of the people in the crowd wave to him and he waved back. A thought
occurred to him. “What do they think is the relationship between you and me?”
he asked.

Ogawa’s
expression lost its smile. “What do you mean exactly?”

“I
mean what status do they think I have here in relation to your Administration?”

“Well
ah…I explained…that is to say…they may have gotten the impression that you
agreed to put yourself and your cruisers under the authority of the Office of
the CEO.”

Drake
gave him such a hard look that Ogawa felt compelled to look away. “I did no
such thing, CEO Ogawa. We never discussed any such arrangement. I assumed that
you understood that I would be the acting leader of the island colony in
addition to my rank and position as Fleet Commander of an independent military
force composed of my ships, the volcano base and mining operations on the
moon.”

Ogawa
was now looking at him again. “I over-estimated my influence with the Board of
Directors. If I hadn’t made that claim, they would never have approved the
transfer of ownership of the island. In spite of my efforts to keep that issue
secret, it got leaked to the public who reacted with surprising enthusiasm to
the idea, and by that point it was too late to try to deny it. I don’t expect
you to take my orders, but I’m asking you to go along with the pretense in
public. If this Majestic computer shows up and there’s a battle, you take
whatever actions you deem appropriate, and if the issue comes up afterwards,
I’ll say that I gave you complete freedom of action due to your extensive
military experience. If that’s not satisfactory and you deny it in public,
you’ll lose a lot of goodwill among the public, and that could get relations
between your people and mine off to rocky start.”

Drake
wanted to curse out loud, but held his tongue. Damn the man for putting him in
this awkward position. The problem wasn’t in going along with the pretense now,
it was in the potential complications in the future. Sooner or later, the
entire planet of Midgard was going to need one government if his long range
plans for setting up a successor to the Federation was to have any chance of
success. That was his project, and he doubted if Ogawa shared it as a personal
goal. That meant that he, Drake, or his successors would, at some point,
essentially have to takeover control of the main colony. Taking control as
Ogawa’s equal was one thing. Engineering what would be seen as a coup by an
apparently untrustworthy subordinate was a completely different thing. Drake
had no desire to be an unpopular dictator. He’d much rather be a popular
leader, and Ogawa had just made that goal that much more difficult to achieve.

“I’m
not making any promises about going along with this pretense in public. I’ll
make my decision on that if and when I’m in that kind of situation. Let’s get
the formalities over with. I presume that there are some documents that I have
to sign? There better not be anything in writing about me being subordinate to
you or anyone else.”

“I
can assure your there isn’t. The only document you need to sign is a simple
acknowledgement that Midgard Colony has transferred legal title to the island,
which by the way we’ve previously named Avalon although you’re free to call it
anything you want. The signing ceremony will be witnessed by members of the
media and will be transmitted live via video to the public. I took the liberty
of telling the media people that you’d be willing to answer questions from them
afterwards. I hope you won’t mind that little bit of political theatre. Think
of it as a chance to make a good first impression on the people here.” He
stopped talking when Drake’s expression looked like he was about to explode.
However Drake quickly calmed down. Perhaps making a good first impression on
the public wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“Fine.
Let’s get this over with,” said Drake. They got into Ogawa’s groundcar, and
Drake was surprised to see Ogawa pilot the vehicle himself instead of setting
the auto-pilot. As the vehicle approached the gate behind which waited the
crowd, Ogawa slowed down.

“I
think they’re going to expect you to smile and wave, Fleet Commander,” said
Ogawa as he started doing exactly that himself. Drake had already figured that
out for himself based on the smiling faces and waves from the crowd. He put
aside his anger at Ogawa and waved to the crowd as the vehicle passed by.

That
experience put him in a better mood by the time they reached the Colony’s
Administration building. Ogawa led the way to a large room with a table and two
chairs at the front. The rest of the room had rows of seats for the media
people. Drake was certain there were videos cameras somewhere, but he couldn’t
see them. Ogawa invited him to take one of the seats, and Ogawa took the other.
He then leaned forward and spoke about the historic nature of this signing,
etc. He took a large data tablet and with a stylus signed his name at the
bottom of the displayed document. Drake took the stylus and quickly scanned the
document. The room fell silent. Drake heard Ogawa cough, which he interpreted
as Ogawa’s urging for him to get on with the signing. Drake smiled inwardly. If
the pause while he read the document became awkward for the CEO, then that was
just too bad. Satisfied that the document was exactly as advertised with no
duplicitous clauses, Drake signed his name with what he hoped was a dramatic
flourish. The applause from the media people surprised him. When the applause
had died down, Ogawa announced that the Fleet Commander had agreed to take
questions.