The Space Security Administration
The Space Security Administration
June 2128 - Berliner Schloss - Berlin
He found the door to the back room and slipped inside. This party was less lavish, but significantly more exclusive. Besides himself, only Anika Ribbentrop, Anna Schumacher, Guanyu Zhuang, Admiral Yahui Xu and Nikolai Yaroslav Kovalyov were present. Nikolai noticed Marcus the moment he stepped inside.
“Ahh, you’re here. We were worried you got lost.”
“I was distracted by some pastries,” Marcus said. “And Prime Minister Horner wanted to discuss some off-world mining rights. Fortunately, I had my mouth full of said pastries, so I was unable to give him an intelligible response.”
They gave him the polite chuckle that was second nature to any politician worth their salt and the attention slid away from Marcus and over to the only one who wasn’t a politician.
Admiral Xu looked uncomfortably out of place, both hands holding onto the champagne flute. He clearly didn’t know where to put his hands, thus the awkward grip.
“A toast!” Nikolai said, raising his glass. “To the man of the hour!”
Xu cringed a little bit, but he still smiled as they all raised their glass to him.
“How does it feel to be back on Earth?” Guanyu asked. “Must be quite different than when you left.”
“It is pleasantly similar, Sir. The higher gravity takes a while to get used to. My back has been killing me, even with the steroid cocktail the Germans gave us.” He looked into his glass, shuffling slightly. “Honestly, the biggest difference is the people. I’ve gotten six marriage proposals since I returned. I don’t know any of them. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I went back home to visit family. The entire town showed up…”
Marcus considered him. He’d read the briefing when Schumacher had put him in command of the United Fleet. The man had very much risen from nothing. The third son growing up in a rural village in the Chinese interior, his entire family living off basic income. Most would have guessed he was destined for a life as an unknown nobody. But good grades and a desire for adventure had drawn him to the military, where he had excelled. And twenty-five years later he had been the right man at the right spot, and now he had a spot in the history books. That was a feat many far more ambitious men never achieved.
“You’ll get used to it,” Nikolai said. “They erected a bust of me back home when I became President. Seeing it for the first time was strange.”
“Oh no…”
Xu’s look of horror caused a round of laughter.
“Let’s not forget the woman of the hour as well.” Marcus turned and nodded to Anna. As the attention turned her way, she looked far more comfortable with it.
“The stage is yours,” Anika said with a smile that seemed odd given their political rivalry. “Got anything you want to say?”
“I do, in fact.”
Her gaze flowed across the people in the room, then she took a deep breath.
“Standing here, do you know what I see?” She motioned with her champagne flute. Nobody said anything.
“I see a bunch of colossal idiots who almost managed to kill us all.”
The room was silent. Xu was looking slightly panicked, stealing glances at Guanyu. Guanyu, however, didn’t look concerned. He’d been dealing with Anna for years when she served as foreign minister. They all had. So they all waited for her to continue. Which she did.
“Our moronic bickering over colonisation rights and who gets what left us unprepared to face the biggest threat humanity has ever faced. We were a hairbreadth from having Lavis warships in orbit, setting fire to entire continents.”
“In fairness, Germany hasn’t exactly made cooperation easy,” Guanyu said.
“I am well aware of this. Nobody in this room, with the exception of the good Admiral, is innocent.”
“I assume you have a point,” Marcus said. “You don’t usually do this without having some ulterior motive.”
“I do. Our fleets were almost destroyed because they didn’t act as one. Only under a unified command structure were we able to strike back. We cannot expect to survive unless we apply the same principle to our politics.”
“Just what are you suggesting?” Nikolai asked. “A united world government? Even I would struggle to get that through the Duma.”
“Yes and no. I know a united world government is far too utopian--”
“Some would call it dystopian,” Marcus interjected. Anna ignored him.
“But that does not mean we can’t work together off-world. We have a chance, right now, to work together.”
The room grew quiet. She didn’t mention the alternative. Marcus could hear the distant celebration. It felt far away.
“We know we’re asking a lot,” Anika said. “And we’re willing to make some… concessions. You all think Germany has taken too much, with Neu Brandenburg and Grossbayern. Well, how about you get the next worlds?” She looked to Guanyu. “You had plans for Kappler IIIa.”
“Yes. We have,” Guanyu said with his easy, jovial tone. “And we don’t need your permission.”
“You’re right. But it will surely be easier with our cooperation.”
Guanyu didn’t respond and instead considered the offer. Anika seized the initiative and turned her attention to Marcus. Even now she seemed like a deadly predator poised to strike.
“A Canadian flag on Shuckon IV. How about it?”
“You must be joking,” Marcus said. She gave a quick glance to Anna, and, for a brief moment, he didn’t see the driven career politician he’d known for years.
“We’re serious,” Anna said. Marcus’ bafflement deepened.
“You’ve read the reports. That isn’t a normal ocean. It’s some sort of… thing.”
The two Germans exchanged glances again. This wasn’t going the way they had expected. And Marcus could somewhat understand it. On paper, the planet was an aquatic goldmine. But that… thing… it bothered him.
“Well, if Canada doesn’t want it, then Russia will gladly take it. Maybe then we can have some of those warm water ports I’ve heard so much about.”
Everyone’s attention switched to Nikolai, who had loosened his tie and was slouching in one of the armchairs. Somewhere he’d found another champagne flute and was happily sipping as everyone’s attention fell on him.
“You’re… You’re sure about that?” Guanyu asked, sounding less like a head of government and more like a concerned friend. “We don’t know what that… thing, is.”
“We’re Russians. We’ll adapt. Besides, it’s far away from the aliens, so that’s good.”
“Well, I guess that works out then,” Anna said with a shrug and turned her attention back to Marcus. “We had planned to offer Samdeeram to Nikolai, but…”
“Russia does not need two planets,” Nikolai chimed in. “We’re not Germany.”
Everyone but Xu ignored him. Welcome to the world of Great Power negotiations. It’s nowhere near as dignified and well-oiled as people imagine it, Marcus mused. But don’t worry. You’ll get used to it soon enough.
He refocused on the issue ahead. The Germans and Nikolai had put him in a bind. Samdeeram was even farther away than both Kappler and Shuckon. If he agreed to it, it would be years, maybe even decades until people actually set foot on the planet. But if he refused… Both Guanyu and Nikolai seemed to be on board, and they would happily continue without Canada’s involvement if he rejected their offer.
Marcus didn’t share the chauvinisms of some of his countrymen. Far too many of them looked to Canada’s past and saw greatness. But that had been before the July coup, before the fall of the Bright Young Things. While the revolution had set Canada free, it had also undermined Canada’s legitimacy. Half the reason Marcus even had a seat at the table was due to diplomatic inertia and the others not wanting to make a fuss.
“Samdeeram is quite far away,” he said.
“That’s putting it mildly,” Guanyu said.
“There are a few closer worlds,” Anika said. “Though most of them aren’t very habitable.”
“And some of them even have people living on them,” Nikolai chimed in. “Or, well… you know…”
Marcus wondered if the champagne was getting to the Russian. “Not Pithria. The First Nations would crucify me. And the liberals would supply the lumber.”
“We can keep our options open,” Anna said. “No need to make any final decision right now.”
“Very well then. I accept.” While Marcus did appreciate her throwing him a lifeline, he couldn’t quite help feeling embarrassed by the situation. The room grew quiet as Anika and Anna smiled at each other. Still looking a bit lost, Xu watched them all.
“Did you just establish a new world order?”
“Yes, Admiral,” Guanyu said. “I guess we just did.”
* * *
The news of peace with the lilarobius caused celebrations throughout human space. From the high halls of Berlin to the most distant ore carrier, humanity celebrated as one. Only the memorial services for the dead served as a damper on the jubilant spirit, and even these had a theme of triumph through tragedy[1]. It was a moment where the distinctions of nationality, race or creed felt petty and meaningless.
However, while people celebrated, others worried. History was full of stories about people uniting in times of crisis, just to fall back into their petty disputes once the crisis was over. Anna Schumacher was all too aware of this. She had managed to unite people when it mattered most, but only after they had come within a hair’s breadth of losing everything. The next time -- and, as long as the Lavis Republic continued to exist, there would be a next time -- they might not be so lucky. They would have to be ready. And to be ready they would have to stay united.
For this to happen, some things would have to change. The first was the abandonment of the chauvinism that had defined German off-world politics during the early space age. Unless the other nations of Earth, or at least the powerful ones, were allowed to take their share of the spoils space offered, they would never stand by Germany. Fortunately for Schumacher, she was not alone in this view.
After discussing the matter with Chancellor Ribbentrop and other prominent members of the Reichstag, she proposed a joint space colonisation and security organisation to the other Great Powers. To sweeten the deal, Germany would assist with the Chinese government’s colonisation of Chang'e. Meanwhile, Russia would get the ocean world Shuckon IV, while Canada would receive a suitable world “at a future point in time”.
Shuckon IV was an ocean world located on the galactic rim. Discovered by the Bernhard Walther during the Lilarobius - Human War, the crew noted the sea covering the planet displayed qualities “indicating some form of intelligence”.
Criticism of the organisation began before its org chart was finished. Civil liberty advocates argued that it imposed permanent martial law on anyone living off-world. Other critics, especially from minor, non-aligned nations, such as Mexico, the Philippines and Mysore were publicly wondering if the bounty of space was only for the Great Powers and their allies. The Indochinese Federation went one step further, with the Central Committee calling the SSA “the second coming of the Berlin Conference.”
The flag of the SSA. The stars represented the various worlds humanity claimed, with the largest star representing Earth, while the two stars to the left represented Neu Brandenburg and Grossbayern. The two remaining stars represented Chang'e and Shuckon IV. Both of these worlds were uncolonised by the time the flag was unveiled. The fact that whatever world Canada would claim was not on the flag caused a minor scandal in Ottawa.
The Joint Administration for the Colonisation and Security of Space was established on the 3rd of August, 2128. The organisation had two principal bodies: the Executive Council and the Administration Assembly.
The Executive Council was comprised of five seats, four of them permanently assigned to the Great Powers, while the last seat rotated among the other members of the Administration Assembly. The Executive Council, as the name might suggest, served as the executive body of the SSA. While it did formally answer to the Administration Assembly, it also possessed wide-ranging powers to act independently during ‘times of crisis’.
General Jack Charles Vance was the first incumbent to the ‘rotating’ seat in the Executive Council. Vance had previously served as the Chief of Staff in the New England Republic and in many ways set the standard of what kind of man was assigned to the seat. Serving a five year term, he would become the de facto face of the Executive Council.
Though not intentional, a distinction between the two bodies soon developed. The Administration Assembly was mainly a civilian body, primarily concerned with colonisation and trade. The Executive Council meanwhile was almost exclusively made up of current or former military officers. The difference in priority between these bodies would lead to several high-profile fights for funding and resources.
The first act of the Space Security Administration, announced during the opening ceremony, was the laying down of the colony ship 流星 (Liúxīng, or Shooting Star). Though dubbed Project Jade Rabbit, the colonisation project shared little with the pre-war Chinese plan as there was no need for subterfuge. The Liúxīng even shared a template with the SMR Komet, the colony ship that had established Grossbayern.
One facet the project shared with its earlier incarnation was being a pure colonial venture. Due to the large distances involved, the affair would be a one-way trip for most of its passengers. Despite this, there was no shortage of applicants. While most were motivated by a lack of work and space back on Earth, a number of applicants were explicit in their desire to be as far away from the lilarobius as possible. Political pundit Xia Yu noted that “People would rather brave earthquakes and kaiju than stay and deal with a handful of angry weeds.”
However, the colonisation of Chang'e was still far off, with the most optimistic projections not expecting people to be landing on the moon for another three years. In this way, the SSA got off to an easy start, with most of its efforts focused on expanding the fleet, constructing defensive facilities in Eissam, as well as constructing fleet support facilities in Sirius. The most serious incident was when the KWO, still under German administration, released several findings from one of their scientific expeditions.
The expedition to Wexellia II sent back hundreds of pictures and 3D laser scans of the cenotaphs littering the surface. While the writing was undecipherable at the time, the imagery proved more than vivid enough.
This attitude would be put to the test on New Year’s Day, 2131, when the Johannes von Gmunden jumped into the Unatra system along the galactic rim. After doing the usual sensor sweep of the system’s celestial bodies, they soon discovered an object changing vector. It didn’t take long for the crew to realise they were looking at an alien ship. More importantly, it didn’t belong to the Lavis Republic.
[2] - In Germany the organisation was known as Die Gemeinsame Verwaltung für die Kolonisierung und Sicherheit des Weltraums, though it was soon called Die Weltraum-Sicherheitsbehörde. Among those hostile to the organisation it soon acquired the initialism JACASS. For this reason the Space Security Administration avoided its official abbreviation.
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