“The prime minister would be elected from these two bodies, but could be rejected by the monarch. If parliament feels the monarch is wrong they can by super majority vote the prime minister in. If the monarch still thought the nominee was wrong, then the Planetary Bench would try the case and then all the justices would have to vote either in favor of one side or the other. It has to be unanimous.
“The parliament would create the crown departments whose heads would make the prime ministers cabinet. All who would need to be nominated by the prime minister and approved by the House of Lords, and then presented to the monarch for their approval. If the monarch disapproves of a minister, then the entire parliament must vote by a super majority to override the veto.
“I know it seem like I am putting a lot of power in the monarch, but not really as this forces the monarch and the parliament to work together.”
Suzy took a sip of water to let some of what she was saying sink in. She was watching the reactions of her peers. She was a long way from selling it. But people were starting to read the details on their displays. Now she went on to the third part of her government.
“Now to balance off the Parliament and the Monarchy, a judiciary will be established. This judiciary will be modeled after the Crown Bench on Trena, and the Empire. All capital cases will go before the Queen’s Bench. A bench will be established in all districts. The House of Commons will nominate judges for their home districts. The House of Lords will approve the nomination with the monarch having the final say. With a standard super majority to override her veto! From this group of judges the queen will nominate judges for the appeals bench, and the Planetary Bench. The Monarch will preside over the Planetary Bench, which is the court of last appeal for all capital cases, and constitutional cases, except when constitutional cases involving the monarch. To ensure fair trials, and access to equal justice, no private attorney’s or counsel will be permitted for criminal cases. All attorneys will be in a pool that will trade off cases between defense and prosecution. Both sides will be able to call on witnesses and pay them out of the monarch purse.”
She paused again before finishing her presentation, “This is my proposal. It has taken the best of the royalist world, the best of the democracy world, and a bit from here and there. It is by no means perfect, and we will need to spend long hours to make this become reality. I will yield the remainder of my time to the representative from Ellis.”
The representative from Ellis stood up and began speaking he was an old hand from Trena’s House of Commons, an independent that was respected by both sides.
“The representative from Outpost 1 has spent long hours putting this together, and like her I believe it is not a perfect document,” the man continued, “but it is better than anything we have come up with so far. I move that we table all other proposals and debate the gentle soul from Outpost 1’s proposal.”
“Second the motion,” the representative from Near Port the next town up river from Ellis stood.
The speaker asked, “A motion has been made and seconded to table all proposals except for that of the representative form Outpost 1. If there is no objection I call the vote.”
He waited a few minutes then said, “All in favor of tabling all other proposal say yea.”
To Suzy’s surprise it passed. A couple of days later to her surprise and with only minor changes her proposal was approved. The one detail she had clearly forgotten was to allow the people of Home to colonize other worlds. She had not thought of a bill of rights, but the representatives had. It included a provision that sentient people were not possessions and could not be owned on Home. This also included Artificial Intelligences. She thought that was very astute. There were provisions about search and seizure, and selfincrimination. The right to appeal directly to monarch on capital cases was a guaranteed right. That capital punishment when it was applied was not to include execution unless a crime against the people of Home, or Humanity occurred. She thought that overtime the constitution would be amended and that had been something that she had not put in her original draft.
“May I address this assembly,” A voice from the back of the assembly called.
“Yes,” the speaker replied.
“We have approved our constitution and we will set a date for our House of Commons to be elected. But now we have to take this proposal to Miss Wilson and get her approval. I believe we also have to somehow formally acknowledge her as our monarch.” the representative from Westport a small port town on the west coast spoke up. “How shall we do this?”
Suzy who was now the speaker of the assembly spoke up, “Yes, Jill Wilson is our monarch. Yet somehow we need to reinforce this.”
“What if she refuses to listen to us,” Someone asked. “It is possible that she has her own idea of how to rule Home.”
“I don’t know,” Suzy replied, “But she asked us to form this council and come up with the government for Home.”
Another stood up to be recognized. Suzy recognized him.
“That is something we will have to deal with after we advise Miss Wilson what we have done here.” The speaker said, “Until we do, we are only speculating what her response will be. One thing I think we need to do is to formally accept Miss Wilson as our queen. I therefore move that this assembly confirm that Jill Wilson is to become our very first queen.”
“Is there a second?” Suzy asked.
“I second the motion,” Someone called.
“All in favor of the motion say aye!” Suzy asked.
The room thundered with ayes.
“Very well then, let it be known that on this day, the Home Council does hereby acknowledge Jill Wilson as our monarch, and accepts the constitution as proposed.” Suzy spoke from the podium and crashed down the gavel, “Unless there is any other business I hereby close this council.”
There were no objections, and Suzy closed the assembly, “I now close this assembly with the hope that our people will find peace and happiness on Home!”
After the document had been prepared for publication Suzy went to the main office of the community affairs office of the evacuation command. There she formally presented the document to the evacuation command. The man looked it over and said, “Thank you.
When do you leave for Trena to present it to Miss Wilson?” “Isn’t that your job?” Suzy asked.
“No Ma’am,” the gentleman said, he had been a member of the Trena Emergency Management office. “This is now a political thing, not an operational activity. That means civilians need to present it to Miss Wilson. That means you.”
She turned to the representative from Ellis who said, “As speaker of the assembly it is your job to take the constitution to Trena and present it to the Queen Jill, and Queen
Aggie. It is your creation you should be the one to take it to Trena.” Suzy sighed all she wanted to do was to get back up river to her kids.
###
“Suzy Gabriel,” T’harla asked, “Wasn’t she the one whose husband was killed in that container accident right after the announcement.”
“Yes,” General Jones replied remembering the short almost chubby brunet with the coal black eyes. “Her husband tried to smuggle her and her three kids off Trena. A hoist broke and the container popped open as it fell. When he fell out of the open doors, he managed to fall in such a way for the container fall on him.”
“Yet she was on the first lift to Home!” Princess Lisa commented. “That smells of a set up.”
“No it wasn’t,” the General answered, “she was chosen to be one of the network installers on Home. She was that, until the people of Outpost 1 asked her to represent them.
She was our very first prime minister, and some think our best.”
Anthony Gabriel was sitting in the back of the class, a senior in his last year of the academy. He had heard that General Jones was going to lecture on his grandmother and wanted to hear the story from someone who had been there and had known his grandmothe
r. He locked eyes with the humbot who acknowledged her presence.
Chapter 29: The End of a Very Long Day.
“Cadets, your predecessors were a great help to the evacuation command,” General Jones began, “Some of the cadets worked with General Langtree at the Maintenance Group headquarters. Some of the cadets worked traffic control and crowd control at the LZs. Things that a group of young people can do with a little adult supervision. One of the most tedious and time consuming tasks was making sure that the abandoned buildings were abandoned and that the neighborhoods were clear.
“The work they were doing put more and more police officers on the search for Lady Wilson, and helped the Evac Command get its task done.
“The command was getting reports of people missing their evacuation dates, or simply deciding not to evacuate. One group of people led by Lord Wallace, had even built an underground shelter on the opposite side of the planet from where the asteroids would initially impact. It was vital though for Lord Wilson’s charter to make sure that every last mother’s child who wanted to get off Trena could. Double checking the evacuated portions of Trena was a job that had to be done.
“So Lady Atomi’s group was one of the groups searching neighborhoods for strays,” The General said. “It was long hard and hot work…”
###
They were pulling into the academy after a long day working with the police to find Lady Wilson. Lamile had lost track of the number of homes that they had searched, and they were all bone tired. Lamile wanted to do nothing but find a piece of mattress and read the back of her eyelids for a few hours. The truck bringing them back to the academy stopped before the dining hall. As she got off the truck she noticed a crowd of people standing around on the grass before the dining hall looking into the sky.
“What’s going on,” Lamile asked, wondering why they were all looking to the sky.
“This is the first night we can see the asteroids,” Someone replied, “with our own eyes!”
“Are they that close?” Lamile asked searching the sky. Sergeant Lucas pointed them out to her. They were not much bigger than the stars in the night sky. She could hardly see them even though her eyesight started in the near infrared.
“I can hardly see them,” Lamile observed.
“They are about two months out.” One of the adult commented, “From here on out we’ll be able to see our damnation.”
“How did it go Major,” Sergeant Lucas asked seeing the young woman. Lamile still thought it was someone else who they were talking about when they called her major, or Lady Atomi.
“Not good,” Lamile said following the cook into the dining hall. He had sandwiches for them. When Lamile saw the chocolate chip cookies she smiled. Sergeant Lucas always seemed to know how to treat the cadets. “Thank you sergeant,” Lamile bit into a cookie, “We didn’t find Aunt Lisa, but we found several people hiding in abandoned homes.”
“How you holding up Major,” The sergeant asked. Sergeant Lucas was like an uncle. He seemed to be there when one of the cadets needed an adult. He wasn’t as imposing as Lady Hawthorne, or Sergeant Green. There was always a mug of coco and a willing ear for a cadet who needed to talk. What Lamile didn’t know was, that the sergeant was playing his part. Millie Green had asked him to stay on and be the person she couldn’t be. As the lead NCO for the school she couldn’t be mother confessor, or the one that the cadets came to when they were in trouble or needed a friendly adult. She was part of the disciplinary chain for the cadets.
“Oh we’re all tired,” Lamile said as Rhonda, one of the kids from the long march came up to her. She held a plate for both of them. Lamile took it as the cadet sat down with her own dinner. “We did a lot of walking today. And we spent a lot of time in cars. We can’t be doing this every day.” Lamile said seeing Mitch come in.
“Major,” Mitch approached them, “this came in from Serenity for you.” “How are you?” Lamile asked as her friend hand her an envelope.
“Getting better,” Mitch replied. She didn’t have much pain, it just seem to take more energy than she was used to; but not as much as it did the day before.
“From Jill,” Lamile asked. She was terribly worried about her friend and her parents. She was thankful for the work she was doing or else she would have too much time to dwell on things. She had spoken with her mother briefly and could tell she wasn’t doing well either. She and her aunt were terribly close. More so as Lisa helped her mother adjust to the loss of her father. For a non thonian, the biowoman seemed to understand the ramifications of the aqaut and the bond that lifemates formed through it. She didn’t know who the person that was holding her aunt but it didn’t sound good.
“No ma’am,” Mitch said and gave Lamile the note. It had the royal seal on it.
She opened the note it was hand written, “Lady Atomi, I know you will be getting this late, so I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the crown for you and your cadet’s service in the hunt for Lady Wilson. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.
“Queen Agatha I of Trena,” Was how the note was signed.
“Mitch get this is in the bulletin for tomorrow. Make sure that all of the special cadets get a copy slipped under their door tonight.” Lamile said.
“Aye,” Mitch said, she too looked tired.
“How is Jill holding up?” Lamile asked.
“She’s doing okay Major,” Mitch said, “We took a run earlier today that seemed to mellow her out.”
“Where is she now?” Lamile asked.
“In quarters sound asleep.” Mitch said, “It all finally caught up with her. She nearly collapsed. Lady Hawthorn and Sergeant Green put her to bed an hour ago.”
“Thank the gods,” Lamile commented. She had talked to her friend, after Jill got back from the Valiant, she could tell that her friend wasn’t doing too well either.
“She was running on adrenalin.” Mitch said seeing the fatigue in her friend’s face. “You okay Lamile?”
“Nothing a few hundred hours of sleep won’t cure,” Lamile said and turned to Rhonda, “Not that I am liable to get it. Rhonda, I am off to bed. Get our unit ready to move by 0800. I want everyone showered and ready to board by 0800.”
“Aye-aye Lamile,” Rhonda said. She too was tired; but she wasn’t going to let Lamile down.
“Mitch before I stumble to my bed to read the back of my eyelids, is there anything else I need to deal with.” Lamile asked.
“No,” Mitch replied. “We have everything under control.”
“I am off to bed then,” She looked at the plate of cookies and took one more and turned to Lucas, “Thanks Sarge.”
“You’re welcomed Major.” Lucas said. He watched the kids troop off to their dorms and then shut his kitchen down. They were the last ones in. When he made sure that the kitchen was ready for morning chow he called Sergeant Green at Fletcher.
“Hi Steve,” Millie said, “Once second! Tell Hawkins that he needs to report with that platoon to the South Mall in morning.” “Sure thing Sarge,” a voice said off phone.
“How are they?” Millie cut right to the chase.
“They all are tired,” Steve said, “But they’ll be okay. They all are proud as hell to be doing this.”
“It’s a big thing for these kids,” Millie said, “They are being given a big responsibility. I saw the roster that Lamile and her people put together.”
“So did I,” Steve said, “There isn’t a dud in the group.”
“I’ll try to get out among them tomorrow.” Millie said, “Thanks for calling me.” “Okay Sarge,” Lucas said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He went back outside and looked to the skies. He could barely see the asteroids.
###
“I asked the museum if I could borrow this,” T’harla said at the end of the class. He stood and took what he had borrowed from the exhibit about his grandmother. He placed it on the f
irst cadet’s desk the original note that the last Queen of Trena had sent his great grandmother.
All the cadets looked at the document, many had seen this as they toured the museum as perspective cadets; but until now it was just an exhibit, something from the past. Now they were beginning to understand how much of their history was tied to it and their first cadet class.
“The efforts of the class 1 of the Queen’s Own Royal Corps of Cadets set the standard for all cadets and officers who have graduated from this institution.” The General spoke passionately, “Your predecessors were not the children of Trena’s Nobles or the elite of the world; but the waifs, the abandon and orphaned children of the evacuation. But this was only the beginning. Throughout the long history of the corps, your predecessors and fellow cadets have always stood tall when they were called to help.”
Chapter 30: On High Port Space Defense Station
“General,” the princess asked the next day in class. “Weren’t you instrumental in rescuing great grand mom?”
“Yes,” the General replied, “I was part of the rescue force. I was not part of the entry team; but the intelligence cell that determined where she was.”
“But wasn’t it by accident that you even found where she was.” Georgia Hawthorne asked.
“It was,” the General answered, “If it hadn’t been for the other work I was doing…” ###
“Hey Alice,” the lieutenant came up to her where she was finishing her latest report on some cyber skullduggery that she had just put an end to.
“What’s up LT?” Alice Jones asked. Alice had come in early that day so the lieutenant could get part of the day off. She had become not just his one of his top people; but his deputy. He had no idea that she was a humbot designed by the logistic officer to help with cybernetic security. She had replaced the unit sergeant when the thonian had gone back home to Thonia. She had been on the station for only a couple of weeks. He had no idea that part of the reason she was on the station to continue her chase for the traitorous artificial intelligence. He couldn’t believe how fortunate he was to have the master sergeant.
“One of the guys up in surveillance thinks they have a problem.” The lieutenant replied.
“What type of problem,” Alice asked.