The ticking of the conference room’s antique clock was deafening as the Hereditary President of the People’s Republic of Haven stared at his military cabinet. The Secretary of the Economy looked away uncomfortably, but the Secretary of War and her uniformed subordinates were almost defiant.
“Are you serious?” President Harris demanded.
“I’m afraid so,” Secretary Frankel said unhappily. He shuffled through his memo chips and made himself meet the president’s eyes. “The last three quarters all confirm the projection, Sid.” He glowered sideways at his military colleague. “It’s the naval budget. We can’t keep adding ships this way without – “
“If we don’t keep adding them,” Elaine Dumarest broke in sharply, “the wheels come off. We’re riding a neotiger, Mr. President. At least a third of the occupied planets still have crackpot ‘liberation’ groups, and even if they didn’t, everyone on our borders is arming to the teeth. It’s only a matter of time until one of them jumps us.”
“I think you’re overreacting, Elaine,” Ronald Bergren put in. The Secretary for Foreign Affairs rubbed his pencil-thin mustache and frowned at her. “Certainly they’re arming – I would be, too, in their place – but none of them are strong enough to take us on.”
“Perhaps not just now,” Admiral Parnell said bleakly, “but if we get tied down elsewhere or any large-scale revolt breaks out, some of them are going to be tempted into trying a smash and grab. That’s why we need more ships. And, with all due respect to Mr. Frankel,” the CNO added, not sounding particularly respectful, “it isn’t the Fleet budget that’s breaking the bank. It’s the increases in the Basic Living Stipend. We’ve got to tell the Dolists that any
trough has a bottom and get them to stop swilling long enough to get our feet back under us. If we could just get those useless drones off our backs, even for a few years – “
“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea!” Frankel snarled. “Those BLS increases are all that’s keeping the mob in check! They supported the wars to support their standard of living, and if we don’t – “
“That’s enough!” President Harris slammed his hand down on the table and glared at them all in the shocked silence. He let the stillness linger a moment, then leaned back and sighed. “We’re not going to achieve anything by calling names and pointing fingers,” he said more mildly. “Let’s face it – the DuQuesene Plan hasn’t proved the answer we thought it would.”
“I have to disagree, Mr. President,” Dumarest said. “The basic plan remains sound, and it’s not as if we have any other choice now. We simply failed to make sufficient allowance for the expenses involved.”
“And for the revenues it would generate,” Frankel added in a gloomy tone. “There’s a limit to how hard we can squeeze the planetary economies, but without more income, we can’t maintain our BLS expenditures and produce a military powerful enough to hold what we’ve got.”
“How much time do we have?” Harris asked.
“I can’t say for certain. I can paper over the cracks for a while, maybe even maintain a facade of affluence, by robbing Peter to pay Paul. But unless the spending curves change radically or we secure a major new source of revenue, we’re living on borrowed time, and it’s only going to get worse.” He smiled without humor. “It’s a pity most of the systems we’ve acquired weren’t in much better economic shape than we were.”
“And you’re certain we can’t reduce Fleet expenditures, Elaine?”
“Not without running very grave risks, Mr. President.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)