Gromley shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Mr. President, what terms would you find acceptable?”
“For starters, Russia would need to withdraw all military forces from NATO member territories. Russia would also need to begin an immediate demobilization of your military force, allowing no more than 330,000 active duty soldiers. This number is consistent with your force structure from ten years ago, prior to your military buildup.”
President Stein glanced at his notes very briefly before he continued, “Next, the Russian government would have to take responsibility for any war crimes your forces may have committed in the occupied territories, and pay reparations to the families. The exact amount would be determined by an international tribunal. Russia would also have to agree to an end of the ongoing cyber-attacks, cyber-espionage and cyber warfare being conducted against the United States and our allies. Finally, Russia would have to agree to a ten-year moratorium on any space exploration or space activities.”
Gromley had figured that the President would most likely ask for everything he had just mentioned, with the exception of the space exploration moratorium. That was one area the oligarchs wanted to pursue since the advent of the EmDrive. Once the news had been made public about the American Pegasus project, space exploration and mining had become a top priority of the oligarchs. The mining and exploration possibilities were endless, and the war was the inhibiting factor in allowing Russia to pursue them.
“Mr. President, I can agree to most of these terms. What Russia will not give up is our possession of our former satellite nations, including the Caucus region and the ‘Stan’ countries. We can agree to withdraw our forces from the Scandinavian countries, Eastern Europe and Turkey. Would this return of territory be acceptable?”
Looking to his advisors for guidance, the President saw General Branson, Secretary Wise, and Director Rubio nod their heads. Stein summoned a bit of acting to make himself appear very reluctant as he replied, “We can agree to those terms; Russia can keep the Caucus region and the Stans.”
Gromley continued, “I am not sure I can agree to the force reduction to 330,000 soldiers. We have more than four million men and women in uniform right now. I cannot simply release that many millions of soldiers without experiencing severe unemployment and civil unrest. We can work towards that number over a multiple year period, but I cannot cut that many soldiers overnight.” Petr said as he offered his first bit of resistance to the American President.
President Stein’s advisors just shrugged their shoulders and nodded. “Thank you for that clarification and justification. Let’s agree to a force reduction down to two million soldiers over the next six months, one million soldiers in eighteen months and five hundred thousand soldiers in two years and we leave it at that level,” Stein said, trying to offer a concession.
Gromley and Stein continued to negotiate for an hour about other details of the peace agreement, hammering out the major sticking points leaving the smaller points to their advisors and assistants who would pick it back up later.
Finally, things seemed more or less settled, until Gromley interjected, “Mr. President — about the space moratorium — the Russian Federation cannot agree to a ten-year moratorium on space exploration and activities. Our government has done many years of research on the EmDrive technology Just as America is now establishing space mining operations, with the war concluded, Russia would like to pursue this opportunity as well. It would be a boon to our economy, and help aid Russia in recovering from this devastating conflict. It would also create a lot of employment opportunities for our citizens in the domestic economy as opposed to in the defense industry,” Gromley explained.
Stein felt caught off guard. “Humph,” he grunted. “My concern with allowing Russia unfettered access into this new frontier is that Russia would use these new-found resources and capabilities to rearm, and once again threaten the free world.” Stein had felt optimistic up to this point, but he was concerned that this might by the sticking point that would kill the whole negotiation.
Gromley assumed President Stein would fight him on this area; he also knew that he needed to assure President Stein that Gromley’s government was not interested in fighting America again. His benefactors wanted to return to making money, and they ultimately just looked forward to not having to constantly watch their backs because of the risk that they might possibly get killed by an American airstrike or Special Forces unit.
“This is a point I cannot negotiate away, Mr. President. I understand your concern and your unwillingness to trust or take my word that Russia will not look to find a way to restart the war. To give you a more steadfast assurance, what if we offered to have American or NATO observers work within our civilian space program? We are not asking for a joint venture, but allowing NATO to observe our civilian program would ensure that we are not militarizing our space industry. We can agree to a ten-year observation regimen. Would that be an acceptable outcome?” Gromley was truly hoping that they could come to an agreement on this area; if Russia was going to turn away from its military economy, then it was going to need to have a new sector of the economy to turn to and the space industry represented that opportunity.
President Stein hated the idea of letting Russia benefit from establishing a civilian space economy and industry. Russia had cost the lives of millions of people, and now they wanted to be rewarded with this new lucrative industry. However, Henry also understood that if an equitable peace was not achieved, it would only lead to further animosity and conflict. The US could continue the war until they had thoroughly defeated the Russians. The challenge was, if they did persist in the conflict, it would probably drag on for another year; hundreds of thousands of soldiers would be killed, and eventually, America and NATO would have to occupy Russia, which would bring its own unique challenges.
President Stein contemplated his options until he made a firm decision; he realized that not everyone would agree with his choice, but he hoped to be able to bring them around after logical explanations. Resolute, he responded, “President Gromley, this is going to be a tough sell. I need to consult with my fellow allied leaders before I give a definitive answer. If we do agree, we would want to have an observation group for at least fifteen years, not ten.”
Knowing that this was probably the best deal he was going to get while still accomplishing his benefactor’s goals, Gromley nodded in acceptance of President Stein’s terms. “If the other allied leaders will agree to these terms, then the Russian Federation will accept them. I understand a lot of other details need to be worked out, and you need to discuss things with the other allied leaders. I would like to request that we extend the ceasefire for the duration of these talks. The fighting can resume if the talks break down, but I would like to put a stop to the killing while there is hope that the war may finally be over.” Gromley hoped to gain his forces a bit of a reprieve. His forces could use the time to shift units around and prepare to restart operations, should the negotiations not progress.
“I am not willing to extend the ceasefire indefinitely. We will prolong the ceasefire for another five more days while I consult with our allies. If we are able to come to a consensus in that time, then we can move to formally end the war at that point. If all parties cannot come to acceptable terms over the next five days, then hostilities will continue,” Stein said forcefully. The two leaders agreed, and the meeting was terminated.