August 5th 2047
The conference room had a fantastic view of the Rocky Mountain range. Just 40 miles away was Souhan, the premier tourist lodge for skiing, hiking and pretty much whatever else someone with money wanted to do in winter. His majesty Jonathon Haverty, looked out the windows and thought to himself. Behind him, his staffers laid out carafes of water, snacks and briefing papers. This would be the first time in over a year that a complete meeting of the Cabinet would be held. Fleet Admiral Marco Braley and his aid had already arrived as had the leading representatives of the three major political parties in the Senate. The other members of his cabinet were still filing in and getting themselves seated. He fingered the laser pointer in his pocket and wished he had remembered to bring his AID with him. The phone sized AID had his files on it ranging from phone numbers, addresses, Politico Notes, Todo lists, music, a much played solitaire game, an addictive game called Doom II that his grandson had given him for his 62nd birthday, and even his clothing sizes. He was bored and had been waiting for almost an hour while everybody else arrived. Just one of the things you have to deal with when you arrive early, he thought ruefully.
Behind him a small discreet chime sounded. Ah, he thought, now we can get this ball rolling.
He turned around and walked to he seat while indicating to Robert, his Chief of Staff, to begin.
Robert, a thin graying man in his early fifties, cleared his throat. "Gentleman and ladies. Welcome. We will begin our meeting with a general appraisal of our kingdom. Samantha?"
Samantha Holmes Salzburg, a big boned blond woman in her early forties, spoke," Our treasury is still showing a deficit, as it has been showing for the last ten years. However, our technology and ship sales have given us large infusions of cash and will permit us to continue to operate as is for the next two years at least. our trade convoy from Washington doesn't add significant funds, but every little bit helps. The fine details are in Appendix three of the report."
"Thank you. Gonzales?'
Hayzus Gonzales, the Minster of Industry, spoke quietly yet clearly. "Our choice to build up our industry has paid off. We have nearly %20 more factory complexes then our nearest rival, the Republic. We have built a new research complex to replace the one we sold to the Imperium and have completed the first production run on the Sparrow Mk II's that the Navy has been asking for. The bigger warhead should provide 50% more damage potential then the Mk I. The current project is yet another research facility then we are slated to start working on the Colonial Government Offices. Afterwhich the queue is to continue to produce factory complexes until we reach 300 or so. The navy request for additional jump gate components is just going to have to wait for higher priority items to be finished. Our Mars and our Washington colonies have finished at least one terraforming center and are either working of more factories or mines. Our new colony in Chicago is awaiting mines and construction facilities of its own. My most pressing concern right now is our lack of availability of Bulk Carriers. All are presently in use either transferring minerals in Washington, supporting the jump gate construction effort in Washington at the San Francisco jump point or attached to the colony fleet. The Colony Fleet as is, can not ship enough infrastructure to keep up with colonist drop offs. At least three more ships need to be built and allocated. This is only for immediate needs, not for future expansion. My department has run the numbers and our four shipyards are clearly insufficient for our near and long term needs. I know that we are constructing a new freighter for delivery in mid October, but we need more! At least two more shipyards should be built and dedicated to freighter and construction ships. My report is Appendix Two and provides the necessary graphs and data sources. Thank you." He leans back in his chair with a nod to Robert.
The looks in the room were thoughtful, but focus was on the next Cabinet member, Fleet Admiral Marco Braley.
"Marco?", said Robert.
The Admiral leans back in his chair and locks eyes with his king. "Bad, potentially very bad. The Republic has just finished a class of three ships that they call the New Hope. Intelligence seams to think that they are colony ships. This left their shipyards empty and they filled them with four more Tatsumaki's. They will be completed about the same time as both our larger Portland class cruisers. This will give the Republic an edge in firepower in earth orbit that will be devastating. Our plans have always included having the firepower of our Spruance class missile ships back up our planetary silos in any engagement, but with the numbers that we are now facing, we are looking at the elimination or near destruction of most of our fleet in the first exchange of fire. The only way to prevent this would be to move our Battle Fleet units to the moon or some other near location that would force the Republic to come to us through a missile storm in order to hit us. Our Portland Cruisers will not be available until early January and mid June of next year. However, our first missile collier will launch in mid to late October of this year and will permit us to carry a resupply of missiles just in case we have to have an extended engagement. Our total fleet presence in both military and non military ships is as follows:
Bulk Carriers: 9 +1 building
Construction: 1 (and options for a second one for future expansion.)
Enterprise: 11 (we are assuming that 003 has either been lost with all hands or has been captured.)
Hamden Collier: +1 building
Iron Fist Transport: 2
Luminus Colony ships: 3
Portland Cruisers: +2 building
Spruance Mk IV: 5 (all Spruance class missile cruisers have finished refits as of two months ago)
Texacos: 3
We now have 220 Sparrow MkII's in inventory. They have the same range specs as the Mk I, but carry a 50% larger warhead. It still has only 66% of the damage potential of the PDM missiles, but the PDM's are three times larger as well. Our inventory of Sparrow Mk I's are 238 exclusive of the ones in the Spruance magazines.
"Sire, it is important to note that we have several inhabitable planets with good mineral supplies located already. I would recommend shutting down or at least limiting new exploration until we have these planets up and going. None of our colonies have thier own defenses and our ability to produce missiles is equal to the Imperium and less then half that of the Republic. Further more, the Republic outnumbers us by almost 100 million people. This give them an edge that we may not be able to equal in the long run. We need to coloniz and build up our outsystem ability to do research and even construction capability. I'm sure that Macdonald can fill you in better then I can on our colony potentials right now, but I do agree that additional colonial lift capability be established and perhaps even a second colony fleet be built up. Our outsystem colonies , last I checked summed up to maybe five million colonists. Plus another 6 million or so on Mars. If we want parity or even the ability to stay in shouting distance of the Republic in the long run, we need a larger population and construction base then what we have. I'm sure that Hayzuz's numbers will back me up on this." He glanced at Hayzuz and saw him nod in affirmation. "As matters stand right now, we cannot go to our colonies aid without leaving earth uncovered. Our 21 missile bases are formadible, but the republic has 18 and the imperium has 8. Considering our diplomatic closeness with the Imperium and his Imperial Majesty Sevrin, I don't forsee any problems coming from him. In fact, He may provide us with a partial solution to our problems in the form of a defensive alliance." he looked over at the plump fifty something man in a meticoulsy sewed three piece suit that reminded one of 1920 America. "What do you think Joseph?"
Joseph Salenwick, the Foreign Minister, rubbed his chin for a moment before speaking. "They, too, are worried about the potential dominance of the Republic. While to the best of our knowledge, the Republic has no offworld colonies, this will change. The Office of Strategic Services has determined that the three ships that have just been finished are colony ships and that they will be paired with a newly produced Triumph jump ship and a fueler has been desiganated to follow them out in 2 months. Further more, we know that they have built at least two jump gates fo far. The first leads out of this system and the other is in the next system. you don't spent the kind of resources that a complete jump gate requires unless you are aiming to go somewhere. Henry , at the OSS, has determined that the new sysem is called Zalaf, but we don't know quite where it is.
It is important to note that while there is some strain between us and the Republic, we are not at war. NOr should we ever be so ,unless something goes terribly wrong. The Republic can't defeat us on the ground, but they can take out our current space capability according to our good Admiral. The immediate solution is obvious. Move our fleet to Mars. Tis will difuse the tension in orbit right now. When our Portlands are finished then the balance is somewhat equaled and can be bettered by making yet more Spruances. Though, if I remember our numbers correctly, we can build Spruances faster then we can build missiles for them.?" He looked at Hayzuz who nodded agreement. "This is the best compromise that we have until the situation changes. It may even be useful to grant the Denver System and everything beyond it to the Imperium in order to secure a full alliance. At that point we may be able to share research and production potentials between us. The Republic will not be able to match that anytime soon."
"The King nodded, pleased that his Cabinet had come to the same conclusions he had while on the flight over here. It was time for dinner and getting down to the nuts and bolts of what was to happen next. Then home to his wife. He hated late night, well more likely early morning in this case, flights, but she was seeing the doctor to see how her chemotherapy was progressing and he wanted to be there to support her.