Cestus Three
29-01-2006, 13:12
The Cestus Defence Force High Command was the most visible and significant building in Cestus City, the capital of the nation. Almost a hundred feet in height, reinforced with armour and steel around its superstructure, the building was a semi-sphere directly in the centre of the City and housed offices for all three branches of the Cestus Defence Force; Ground, Navy and Research. Around the monolithic structure stood half a mile of steel walls, reinforced barbed wire, infantry bunkers, mines and weapons launchers. Most were not manned at this time, being left to a dedicated section of the High Command Guard. However, in times of tension or upheaval, the perimeter could maintain a force of a thousand well-entrenched soldiers within its structures.
Underneath the High Command building was where the highest echelons of the military and government met to organise and legislate on the society of Cestus Three. Accessible only by a single elevator shaft, the Council Chambers were ten miles below the foundations of the High Command and was surrounded completely by a mile of reinforced concrete and steel to help it stand against attacks to the building above it. The Chambers itself comprises of the Council Meeting Room, which held a large, 15-seat oak table in neo-classical decorations of the British Empire. The décor of the room was decided upon by the whim of the Council Chairman, and current Chairman Frederick Forsyth was descended from British ancestry. Below the Meeting Room’s mile-reinforced floor and accessible only by another hatch was a larger complex of rooms which comprised 15 bedrooms, a medical centre, a food preparation area, all linked with an underground nuclear fusion reactor. Currently, the stocks of food were limited to several months of survival, but the recent treaty signings with the Kazecistan government would soon allow the Cestustians access to replicator technology, thus allowing the Council to survive underground indefinitely.
None of this was in use at this time except the Council Meeting Room. The Council met once a week to propose, discuss and dictate policy, and was currently in session. 15 different nationalities sat around the table behind cards announcing the groups they represented. It was all meaningless now; all the different groups had intermixed to the point where no one nationality still existed. Now, it was merely Cestustian, but the Council maintained its monopoly on politics and society.
Chairman Forsyth looked moodily around the table as the Councillors discussed the recent proposals to the expansion of the military. Forsyth was a quiet man, who preferred to see where others stood before announcing his own position. Not that he followed the majority decision, but he found that if he announced his position first, everyone seemed to immediately agree with him no matter what. This way, Frederick could actually get other opinions; he may have been a oligarchic dictatorship leader, but it was still oligarchic.
The Councillor for the Chinese Division was currently arguing against the idea. “Fellow Councillors, ” he implored. “Increasing our military strength in peacetime with no clear discernable threat would be damaging to the economic basis on which our lasseiz faire polices stand.”
“No clear discernable threat?” The Councillor for the American Division looked down the table incredulously. “May I remind you that we just suffered a defeat against Alien forces at the Battle of the Belt?”
The Chinese Councillor retorted, “We have no evidence that they will be moving against our world.”
“But what if they do?” The Russian Councillor asked, his accent nothing like the non-existent natives that he supposedly represented. “We need to prepare for any eventuality.”
Forsyth cut in a moment later. ”It is clear,” he said, immediately having the attention of everyone around the table. “that we need to prepare our defences against alien insurgents. However, I do agree that increasing our military strength without purpose is a waste of resources.”
He paused, reaching forward and drinking from a diamond tumbler. The rest waited until he lowered the glass and continued. “Therefore, the motion I put before the Council is one of capacity increase and expansion. We develop the necessary capacity for increasing our military strength quickly, and use this as an opportunity to being an expansion of colonists across nearby systems. That way,” he said, raising a hand and counting off on his fingers. “we create a buffer zone around our homeworld, we find greater resources for use in our economy, we create ourselves as a more formidable galactic power, and we have a use for our expanded military by creating a force capable of defending our colonies.”
Everyone around the table took a moment to take this in. “Genius,” the Middle-Eastern Councillor said with sycophantic admiration. “Sheer genius.” The others nodded.
Forsyth smiled. “Therefore, the motion of expansion is put before the Council”
Unsurprisingly, the motion passed unanimously.
Underneath the High Command building was where the highest echelons of the military and government met to organise and legislate on the society of Cestus Three. Accessible only by a single elevator shaft, the Council Chambers were ten miles below the foundations of the High Command and was surrounded completely by a mile of reinforced concrete and steel to help it stand against attacks to the building above it. The Chambers itself comprises of the Council Meeting Room, which held a large, 15-seat oak table in neo-classical decorations of the British Empire. The décor of the room was decided upon by the whim of the Council Chairman, and current Chairman Frederick Forsyth was descended from British ancestry. Below the Meeting Room’s mile-reinforced floor and accessible only by another hatch was a larger complex of rooms which comprised 15 bedrooms, a medical centre, a food preparation area, all linked with an underground nuclear fusion reactor. Currently, the stocks of food were limited to several months of survival, but the recent treaty signings with the Kazecistan government would soon allow the Cestustians access to replicator technology, thus allowing the Council to survive underground indefinitely.
None of this was in use at this time except the Council Meeting Room. The Council met once a week to propose, discuss and dictate policy, and was currently in session. 15 different nationalities sat around the table behind cards announcing the groups they represented. It was all meaningless now; all the different groups had intermixed to the point where no one nationality still existed. Now, it was merely Cestustian, but the Council maintained its monopoly on politics and society.
Chairman Forsyth looked moodily around the table as the Councillors discussed the recent proposals to the expansion of the military. Forsyth was a quiet man, who preferred to see where others stood before announcing his own position. Not that he followed the majority decision, but he found that if he announced his position first, everyone seemed to immediately agree with him no matter what. This way, Frederick could actually get other opinions; he may have been a oligarchic dictatorship leader, but it was still oligarchic.
The Councillor for the Chinese Division was currently arguing against the idea. “Fellow Councillors, ” he implored. “Increasing our military strength in peacetime with no clear discernable threat would be damaging to the economic basis on which our lasseiz faire polices stand.”
“No clear discernable threat?” The Councillor for the American Division looked down the table incredulously. “May I remind you that we just suffered a defeat against Alien forces at the Battle of the Belt?”
The Chinese Councillor retorted, “We have no evidence that they will be moving against our world.”
“But what if they do?” The Russian Councillor asked, his accent nothing like the non-existent natives that he supposedly represented. “We need to prepare for any eventuality.”
Forsyth cut in a moment later. ”It is clear,” he said, immediately having the attention of everyone around the table. “that we need to prepare our defences against alien insurgents. However, I do agree that increasing our military strength without purpose is a waste of resources.”
He paused, reaching forward and drinking from a diamond tumbler. The rest waited until he lowered the glass and continued. “Therefore, the motion I put before the Council is one of capacity increase and expansion. We develop the necessary capacity for increasing our military strength quickly, and use this as an opportunity to being an expansion of colonists across nearby systems. That way,” he said, raising a hand and counting off on his fingers. “we create a buffer zone around our homeworld, we find greater resources for use in our economy, we create ourselves as a more formidable galactic power, and we have a use for our expanded military by creating a force capable of defending our colonies.”
Everyone around the table took a moment to take this in. “Genius,” the Middle-Eastern Councillor said with sycophantic admiration. “Sheer genius.” The others nodded.
Forsyth smiled. “Therefore, the motion of expansion is put before the Council”
Unsurprisingly, the motion passed unanimously.