I paused and took a sip of water. “This is the situation as I understand it,” I continued. “I — we — control the vast majority of the former United Nations Peace Force. We control the starships, the Marines and the supply bases, including the productive centres in the Solar System. We may not control the Infantry — either the ones who have accepted reparation to Earth or have decided to go to Terra Nova or other worlds — but we possess overwhelming military superiority. Is there anyone here who would dispute that?”
There was a long silence. Heinlein’s starships had returned in glory, but even though they were more advanced than our best, they would be heavily outnumbered. I’d already decided that Annihilator and Bombardment would be broken up or converted into supply vessels as soon as possible, but even without the monitors Fleet — my Fleet — could turn any or all of the human worlds into radioactive ash. I wasn’t blind to the implications. They’d be scared of me and start a new arms race. In the end, we’d just have another war.
“No?” I asked, finally. No one had bothered to disagree. “Good. I intend, therefore, to set out the basics here for a peace agreement and future status quo for the Human Sphere that should be acceptable, if not particularly palatable, to all of you. I understand, as I said, that most of you will wish to deal with other matters, but I believe that our priority lies in ending the war and preventing another from starting. I am not interested in the political or ideological disagreements that we have fought over in the past. I am interested in preventing the extermination of the human race.
“The UN has been crippled,” I continued. “The vast majority of the occupation forces have been withdrawn from the planets they attempted to garrison, or have moved to remote locations to await pickup. The war is over. Local governments may assume control of local affairs as they please. I do not intend to intervene.”
A rustle ran through the atmosphere, but no one stood up to object. I didn’t blame them. Earth’s ongoing collapse — food riots in the north, barbarity rising in the south — had made the news on all of the colonies. I’d given orders that anyone who had been a member of the Political Class was to be refused departure from Earth, but even so there were tens of thousands trying to flee as the chaos grew worse. Heinlein and Williamson’s World had been producing hundreds of extra colonist-carrier starships for our use, but even so, it would be impossible to reduce Earth’s population pressure before the final collapse. The best guess Fleet Intelligence had produced was that two-thirds of the total population would be dead within ten years. The Colonies were taking in as many as they could — unlike the UN, we weren’t trying to force them to accept new colonists — but it would never be enough. How could it be?
I remembered my final interview with Muna, a week after we’d secured control of Earth’s orbitals. She’d been harsh with me, despite our success, and refused to take a position in the new Fleet. I’d reluctantly let her go to Luna Base and find her own place, if that was what she chose. I doubted she’d go back to Earth. Her former people were among those trying to loot others for food and supplies they no longer had. The UN had used orbital strikes to keep them in line, as a last resort, but without them the Infantry had to get their hands dirty. The war was going to be very bad.
“I do not, however, propose to allow star systems to develop their own interstellar fleets,” I said, calmly. “I believe that if we allowed such a development, it would not be long before we were at war again, with perhaps far greater casualties as other worlds wouldn’t be trying to occupy and loot the colonies. I therefore propose the following. We — the Fleet — will assume an oversight role preventing interstellar war. There will be no independent Jump-Capable military starships. Fleet will, to all intents and purposes, be the neutral arbiter in disputes between star systems. We have no ambitions of our own.”
I’d worked out the idea from studying Heinlein’s files. Military governments never worked for very long, because the strains of trying to govern a population with military methods always tore them apart. I had no intention of losing what we’d built or creating a monster even worse than the UN, so I’d decided that local governments would have complete power over local affairs. The Fleet would only become involved if third parties — such as visitors from another star system — were threatened.
“I have prepared a treaty to this effect,” I concluded. It would have been transmitted to their terminals as soon as I completed my speech. “I would like to invite you, now, to ask questions and address matters we haven’t covered here.”
It was nearly seven minutes before the Heinlein delegate rose to speak. “I will be as diplomatic as you were,” he said, shortly. “What you propose is that we remain naked before you for the foreseeable future. Why should we accept those terms? Why should we trust that you will remain forever benevolent?”
There were actually several answers I could give to that, but I bit down on the obvious one. “Fleet will not develop any form of ground-combat force beyond the Marines,” I said. It would actually take us years to build a competent one anyway, if we had chosen to try. “Frankly, there’s little that we would want from the Colonies that would be worth the effort of taking it. If we mined asteroids instead, we’d get all the resources we needed to supply and maintain the fleet.
“However, there is a stronger reason,” I added. “We will be recruiting from all of the human worlds, not just Earth. Your citizens would be welcome in Fleet and make it harder for us to bully you, should we choose to do so later.”
I smiled at their reaction. The UNPF had only recruited from Earth. It hadn’t even recruited people from the asteroids, even though they had come with skills the UNPF had desperately needed. The idea had been simple enough — people from Earth didn’t often think kindly of the Colonies — and it had worked. If I reversed that policy, which I fully intended to do, it would prevent Fleet developing into a bully.
“I accept your terms,” the delegate from Edo said, in a faintly Japanese-accented voice. “I wish, however, to discuss another matter. My planet was occupied by UN Infantry for the last seventy years and they wrecked great devastation on my world. I wish to know when the UN will be forced to pay reparations for the damage they inflicted.”
Bastard, I thought. The Senior Chief had bet me ten credits that someone would raise the issue of reparations. I would have been more annoyed about it if the credit was worth anything these days. I’d have to give some thought to building an interstellar system that worked on something more complex than barter.
“That is a complex issue,” I said, carefully. “The problem is that the UN is currently incapable of paying any reparations to anyone. Earth’s growing…problems will certainly impede recovery for at least the next hundred years, perhaps much longer, and indeed the UN itself may not survive.”
“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” someone muttered, at the rear.
“I understand your position,” I concluded, “but we cannot force them to pay reparations that they literally cannot pay.”
The delegate didn’t accept that. “Earth is the richest system in the Human Sphere,” he snapped, angrily. “Are they incapable of paying anything for the damage they’ve inflicted?”
“The solar system has broken up into a morass of political entities,” I said, carefully. “I doubt that there is any point in extorting money from the asteroids, or Mars, and Earth’s currency is effectively worthless these days. As I said, I doubt that they will be able to pay anything at the moment. Earth’s only export is people.”
The argument raged backwards and forwards for nearly an hour. As I’d expected, this was nearly the breaking point of the conference…and, if I hadn’t held ultimate military power, it would have been the breaking point of the conference. They wanted Earth to pay, somehow, for what it had done, yet Earth had nothing to give. I ended up intervening when several planets started talking about sending troops to Earth to extract payment… there was, after all, little to take. Someone even proposed hitting the asteroids or Mars, but I nixed that idea quickly. They hadn’t been compliant in the UN’s crimes.