Part III: Aftermath
“Greyson! Greyson! Greyson!” shouted the exuberant crowd that were packed into Trafalgar Square. Commonwealth Secretary of State, Tyler Greyson, looked to his beloved wife Elizabeth, and his two daughters, Isabella and Julianna, who were off to the side of the platform, with a soft smile on his face and a look of hopeful determination in his eyes. Tyler had decided upon running for President in the two minutes before the Flare hit, when President Baruk proved that he wouldn’t be the one to lead the Commonwealth into the future. He also had two other minor goals….to be the youngest Commonwealth president, and to be the first president to walk on another world that was not in visible sight of Earth. So far, his campaign was doing quite well, though it was possibly because Baruk was doing so poorly.
Thankfully, the Department of Commonwealth Affairs managed to avert a worst-case scenario by shutting down the Net and major power networks before the Flare hit, but still, many isolated pockets were affected and other disturbances did occur. The Lunar population had been safely relocated temporarily, with return to the Near Side in just short of a month.
President Baruk however did not fare as well. The Commonwealth Senate, led by Minority leader Daniel Osterheim, called for a special prosecutor to see where the blame fell for the Arcean probe still being active and sending out highly sensitive intelligence before the Flare hit (which effectively fried the probe, but to make sure, it was completely disassembled and melted down, the ability to still operate even after a crash landing outweighed the possible benefits seen its constant research). Also, Baruk failed to see the precarious situation the Commonwealth now found itself in. With hyper drive technology now available to possibly all advanced cultures in the galaxy, it was only a matter of time before one) colonization efforts seriously got under a way and 2) that one of them would come knocking on Earth’s door…and maybe not in a “bringing some apple pie to my new neighbors” kind of way. He had become a recluse, and his poll numbers were showing his inactivity quite visibly.
Greyson quickly distanced himself from the President, though he never once publicly made any negative comment about the President himself, he often would make overtones to the Commonwealth’s lack of future growth and not seizing its potential.
Mouthing a silent “I love you” to his wife, Secretary Greyson turned to the crowd before him.
“My fellow citizens, a hundred and forty years ago the Chinese Premier, Liu Bai, wrote and fought for the passage of the Bai-Young Commonwealth Interplanetary Expansion Bill. Shortly thereafter we colonized Luna. We did it. We made the giant leap that Neil Armstrong had stated over a century prior when he first walked on our moon. And then….we stopped.
We have prospered in the years since, but we suffered greatly too. We lost our brothers, sisters, friends, and strangers that we did not know to a conflict that knew no bounds. We rose yet again from the ashes, intact and more powerful than before only to be handed a blow by Fate. And yet, as I stand before you today, we have risen yet again, even more powerful and united than at any time prior in our history.
And if Fate wishes to keep knocking us down, then so be it, but we shall rise from the ashes stronger and better than before! But my friends, to sit idly by as the universe rushes past us is to invite disaster and for Fate to cast a final roll of her dice.
We must finally reach out to the stars and become what we have always dreamed, and are beginning to know what we can be, a truly great race, that will spread our goodwill, creativity, and compassion, and showcase our stubborn but joyous spirit throughout the galaxy.
It is time to embrace our destiny.”
And the crowd went wild.
* * *
“Mr. President, I have those requests you asked for.”
Newly elected President Tyler Greyson politely took the data pad from his secretary and gave him the nod that he was all set. It was a decent winter day in Paris, though Greyson was wishing he could be at home back in South Carolina with his daughters. But thoughts of home quickly turned to the matter at hand.
So Domestic Affairs has allowed for ten districts, though two of which were already being used by the Capital and the Terran Interstellar Starport.
Greyson knew one thing that Earth excelled at, especially the United States and Western Europe where most of the districts were located at anyhow…and that was raw production power. It was what gave the US its edge in every single war since its Civil War onward, and what had allowed the EU to become the most powerful of the nation-states prior to the unification of the Commonwealth.
Greyson sent back his revisions to the proposal, with manufacturing centers in New York, Western Europe, the Western Sahara, the American Plains, and California-Mexico; a vast entertainment complex in the American southeast (which the Walt Disney Company was thrilled to operate) and finally, a food production system that safely used the biodiversity of the Amazon to greatly increase population caps world wide.
He had left the Shanghai District open for now, for future development as warranted and his advisors told him that the India district would be ready for use if the proper terraforming technologies could be utilized.
After closing the Domestic Affairs data pad, he moved on to his next set of pads, all from Terran Star Command. The first one was from Command General Fernando Mariez which stated in a tone that Greyson knew he would have to get used to hearing over the next few months: “Mr. President, with all due respect sir, are you out of your mind? You didn’t just cut the military budget you completely ELIMINATED it. You talked so much about those ugly frakkin aliens being ready to come right up on our doorstep and instead of providing me with the funding to defend against the buggers you leave me hanging pretty dry. I hope sir, that you know what you are doing, but in the meantime I must say that I am unwilling to work for an administration that is obvious in showing its lack of faith in the ability of its military. Best of luck in your presidency, I hope that you don’t cause us all to regret it.”
The next few were more uplifting. Terran Star Command, with its extremely limited budget, was able with the use of Lunar transports and remaining Commonwealth shuttles from the High Order Conflict, to construct three vessels that were now ready for use.
The main, and most important vessel, was the TCV-Discovery, a survey ship with top of the line hyper drive engines and the best sensors currently available. Its commanding officer, Captain Helen Bateman, had been a good friend of his wife Elizabeth when she was back in college and she had proven herself amazingly well time and time again whenever Star Command had called on her. It was just last year that Greyson had presented Bateman with the Commonwealth Badge of Courage for her quick actions saving the lives of every member of a Lunar transport that had lost engine support and was on a collision course into Earth’s atmosphere.
The next most important vessel was the TCV-Amazon, an immensely large colony ship that was packed with over 500 million citizens ready to colonize the next world for the Commonwealth. Commander Reynault l’Pereir was the captain of the vessel and would become the future Governor of the colony it established. While he had never met l’Perier personally, he did have a glowing resume as both a military officer and as a former legislator of France.
Finally, was the TCV-Andes, basically a junker but it will prove most useful nonetheless. A mining vessel, its orders were to set up AMFs (Asteroid Mining Facilities) throughout the Asteroid Belt that would send resources back to Earth for production. Lt. Commander Etu Mambala and Mining Operations Chief First Class Edward Tanner led that operation.
President Greyson set the pads aside and looked out across the Parisian skyline, with the Eiffel Tower still dominating the landscape, and smiled. They were doing it, embracing their destiny.
The Domestic Affairs Data Pad from February 8th, 2226
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