They spiraled down through the atmosphere and lined up to put down at the designated spaceport parking spaces. An obvious government functionary met them at the gangplank. He introduced himself as Roger Delvane, secretary to Mr. Maynard. His first question was if it would be possible to move their ships to another location. The ceremony would take place at the main parade field across town. If the people could see the presence of the fleet in the form of these two ships, it would do much to calm down certain reactionary elements in the Brotherhood, and raise the spirits of the former Prisoners of War.
Kelly caught the reference to POWs. Someone in the Brotherhood knew the Galactic Republic law on non-aligned worlds. They were safe from execution by spacing as long as they could maintain this farce that they were a non-aligned world and secretly at war with the Republic. Kelly conferred with the admiral and the pilot of the AS-500, and they agreed to move to the parade grounds. Mr. Delvane had a hover ship waiting to lead them to the new location. Kelly and passengers loaded back up and held position until Mr. Delvane’s hover ship arrived to lead them across town.
Kelly put the crew in their dress uniforms for the ceremony. They would form part of the honor guard. He would leave the sensor watch, two turret gunners, and the bridge watch onboard, in case they needed to leave in a hurry. Connie had the ship. She complained about missing the show, until Kelly pointed out that from the elevated position of the bridge, she would have a better view than he did from the reviewing stand, and an air conditioned view. It was quite warm and humid today in Lafitte City.
CPT Chen marched her Special Operations Company out of the AS-500. They were quite impressive with their white hats, blue blouses, and red trousers with gold stripe down the leg. They were armed with the M-57 blast rifle. Kelly considered issuing his troops — at least the chiefs — with side arms, but decided their weapon was the deadly black ship behind him. He had twelve torpedo ships and two K’Rang scouts to his credit for this campaign.
While he waited, he had Chief Miller survey the hull for damage. He did a clockwise walk and Chief Miller counter-clockwise. When they each made a full circle and met at the nose, they concluded that the ship was in good condition. It would need a paint job when they got back to Antares Base, but not much else.
Mary Chen and her sergeants positioned her Marines in accordance with a diagram Mr. Delvane provided. Her sergeants put down markers where key personnel would stand so that others would line up on them, in lines so straight you’d think they were laid with a laser. First Sergeant Don McMaster helped Chief Blankenship do the same for the Vigilant’s formation. Formations and marching were not Fleet strengths.
Mary Chen came over to Kelly. “I’m happy for your promotion, frocking, and command selection, but I really wanted to meet you as an equal. I had plans for you and me. Why did they have to make you a Lieutenant Commander?”
Kelly choked slightly and responded, “I had to be frocked to qualify for this command. If it’s any consolation, it was a surprise to me, too.”
“It isn’t any consolation. Here we are again in a war zone, too. I could get really pissed at the K’Rang. They are so inconvenient.”
Kelly’s communicator buzzed. It was Sensors, reporting that the probe just reported no change to the K’Rang fleet disposition. Kelly went to report to the admiral. Mary walked back to her marines in a less than rosy mood. First Sergeant McMaster warned those near him and they passed it back.
Friedrich Debran met with Roger Delphant in his office on board the executive transport. Mr. Debran was in an upbeat mood.
“Roger, I don’t know if you noticed that there were two yellow suns off to starboard as we made our approach. I would bet that our friends here haven’t made a proper survey or claim on any planets or exploitable asteroid belts that might be there. Get our usual survey specialists energized and in here quickly. I want those systems surveyed and filed with the GR courts as soon as possible — as in days Roger, not weeks.”
“Yes, Mr. Debran, I’ll see to it immediately. I know just who to contact.”
Mr. Debran thought to himself that there were trillions of credits to be made here if he could move quickly.
Chapter Fifteen
Steven Maynard met with Friedrich Debran in the main administrative building. Mr. Debran made no pleasantries and launched right into his presentation.
“Mr. Maynard, the one constant in the Galactic Republic is the need for more land and resources. Earth is over-populated. The original ten new worlds are approaching over-population, as are several of the second tier worlds. They are constantly seeking out new habitable worlds for settlement of excess population. They’re willing to pay generously for open land on which to settle these immigrants. I propose to make effective use of my contacts in the Galactic Republic, on your behalf, to offer land that you make available to me. I will collect all funds, arrange transport here, meet any planetary clearance procedures you establish, and settle the new immigrants here. When they are happily settled, I will provide you a complete accounting, and keep only a 30 % commission. Besides, with your surrender to the Galactic Republic, your supply of workers dries up.”
Steven Maynard studied Mr. Debran’s written proposal in front of him while he listened to the briefing. At Mr. Debran’s pause he said, “Mr. Debran, I like your proposal. There is one minor change we would like to make. We would like 300 million credits up front to ensure you are focused on our mutual benefit.”
Friedrich Debran stood up. “Do you think me a fool? It will be years before I’d make any return on that investment.”
“No, Mr. Debran, I do not think you a fool. Do not think me one, either. You stand to make trillions of credits from this agency. There is over 3 billion excess population on Earth and the ten first tier worlds and half that number in the second tier worlds you speak of. If you made only a credit per immigrant you would recoup your entire investment and then some in a few months. Of course, we both know you will receive much more than a credit per immigrant. 300 million is our price. Take it or leave it.”
Friedrich Debran had been a shrewd negotiator long enough to know when the negotiation was over. He had been willing to pay much more for this deal, so he was still coming out ahead. He reached his hand across the table to shake Steven’s hand and said, “We have a deal.”
In a few moments the necessary changes had been made, the credits transfer verified, and the deal signed. Both sides were happy.
Thorson returned by midday, and Steven pulled the lawyers into his office and began work on the surrender negotiation preliminaries. The Admiral waited patiently for an hour, then demanded the negotiations begin. Steven, Thorson, and the team of lawyers sat down at the conference table opposite Admiral Minacci, Kelly, and the 3rd ALG JAGs.
The negotiation went swiftly with Steven agreeing to every term the Fleet JAGs insisted on. Maynard’s lawyer offered a few changes to the document, mostly dealing with recognizing the existing government of Barataria and respect for its laws. By early evening, the documents had been verified by both teams of lawyers and agreed to for signature tomorrow at the surrender ceremony.
The Brotherhood’s lawyers also presented certified copies of Barataria’s non-aligned world charter, finalized filed claims on three adjacent solar systems, filed application for GR membership, and appointment of Francis Jesse Thorson as the Ambassador-at-Large for Baratarian and GR relationships.
Now all that was needed was the thumbprint acceptance tomorrow at midday, to make it all official. Roger Delvane sat down with Admiral Minacci’s protocol officer to iron out the details for the ceremony tomorrow, while Kelly and the admiral retired to the guest quarters that had been made available to them just across from the parade field. Steven Maynard had invited them to dinner at the best restaurant on Barataria, and Kelly had requested invitations for CPT Chen, LTJG Cortez, and Alistair.