Phoenix Rebirth: A Phoenix Empire novel by Dietmar Wehr

Author:Dietmar Wehr [Wehr, Dietmar]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Non-Linear Visions Inc.
Published: 2021-08-26T22:00:00+00:00

Rivington City, Tanith, Day 002 of 881 A.E.

Augustin read Merlin’s latest threat assessment report and shook his head in dismay. The news that Earth, still nominally calling itself the Terran Imperium, had applied for and been granted membership in the System States Coalition was bad news as far as the goal of avoiding the new Dark Age was concerned. The counter-intuitive nature of the assessment was what surprised Augustin the most. He told his avatar to check if King Aren could see him immediately. The King’s avatar said he could. Two minutes later, Augustin was entering the King’s private office to find Aren standing in front of the windows, his hands behind his back, while he looked out at the spaceport and the third Valkyrie-class cruiser that was almost finished its final fitting out.

“What’s the bad news, Leonhard?” asked Bentrik.

“How did you know it was bad news?”

“You’ve never yet asked for an immediate meeting with good news. I’m guessing you’ve got Merlin’s latest threat assessment?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Earth’s admission to the SSC has caused the long-term success probability to decline by three-point-four percentage points.”

Bentrik turned to look at him with a surprised expression. “It went down? I would have thought that eliminating further friction between Earth and the SSC would have had the opposite effect.”

Augustin nodded. “That would have been my guess too. The reason why it went the other way has to do with the overall threat from the SSC itself. It has dozens of ships it can’t deploy because of a lack of trained officers and technical crew. Earth has thousands of trained personnel with no ships to operate due to the loss of almost all their light cruisers. With Earth now in the SSC, Merlin predicts that it’s only a matter of time before those unemployed officers and tech specialists migrate to the MSN. In six months, all of their battlecruisers and heavy cruisers could be operational. By then, Magnusson will have his Merlin set up as well. That combination increases the risk that Marduk will be tempted to expand the SSC by force or intimidation.”

Bentrik held his hand up to stop Augustin from continuing. “Isn’t transitioning the SSC or something like it into an authoritarian structure what Merlin is saying is needed to avoid the big collapse?”

“Eventually, yes, Your Highness. It’s a question of timing. Forcing planets under the SSC’s umbrella now, while everyone is still adapting to the collapse of the Federation, will generate future rebellion. Instead of an uncoordinated, chaotic rebellion against the Federation, it’ll be an uncoordinated, chaotic rebellion against the SSC, and it’s that kind of rebellion that will evolve into widespread warfare that causes the collapse of civilization into the new Dark Age. Expanding something like the SSC has to be voluntary. Then a strong, centralized structure can be built by enticing planets to join it voluntarily as well. You’ve already begun that process by convincing Abigor to ask to join Tanith under your sovereign authority.”

“Which in the short run is more of a burden than an asset.

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