[tbontob]

Re: Zax Society - A matter of money
posted by: tbontob Posted Less than 1 min ago
Tue, Jan 28 at 05:35:59 EST

THE LOCATION: The War Room of Zax Central.

Strong-of-the-Arm Custor was finishing his monologue with "...and so our enemies have been making probes in strength all along our defensive line. Here, here, here, here, and here! We are holding, but just barely. What we don't understand is that the probes are only by the allies of the CCCP. But if this continues, they will overwhelm us! We must do something!"

The meeting broke up into an uproar.

"What do you propose?" Zaxxon asked.

In order to appear more commanding, Custor raised his body to his maximum height and said, "We should take our fastest ships and strike here! It would mean leaving our slower ships with their rapid-fire weapons behind, but if we strike fast and hard, we should win the day."

The meeting broke out in a multitude of screams and howls. Zaxxon was starting to sweat, because it was just an occasion like this that his Zaxxoness made her decision to leave for Elstonile.

After some minutes, Spiii was able to ask "And what if a strong fleet of ships of the CCCP are waiting there for you? You said they have not participated in the probing attacks."

Custor responded with, "I cannot see how they can be there! But even if some of the CCCP forces were there, we can handle them!"

"But what if they are all there?"

Custor responded with "They won't be! We must take an aggressive posture or we will surely lose the war to them. Our attempts at peace are getting us nowhere."

Spiii addressed the council with "Unfortunately, I must agree with Strong-of-the-Arm. Intelligence operations against our society have increased in both frequency and severity. They are mainly perpetrated by the CCCP's most eastern ally and we can only expect things to get worse. We need more funding to repel these espionage and sabotage assaults...."

"Is there any good news?"

Custer stepped forward with "Well, we did take a strategic Warp Point. But now, we must keep a fleet there to defend it."

THE LOCATION: The War Room of Zax Central.
THE TIME: 60 minutes later.

Zaxxon "So, we are agreed! We are not ready to conduct a major military assault! But, we will increase the tax rates on all sources of income increased in order to have sufficient funds to construct a new fleet."

Above the "Hear, hears", a minister was heard to say "I would also suggest we make it a war crime to wastefully waste the society resources!"

Above the chorus of "Hear, hears", Zaxxon asked, "Could you be more specific?"

"Yes sir! It would be a war crime punishable by hanging. That is... if anyone were caught misusing the states money or resouces in any way. To give it teeth, there would be no exceptions and no defence can be raised against it. The act of doing it would be enough!"

The "Hear, hears" reached a crescendo. Zaxxon said, "So be it. We will call it the War Measures Act."

THE LOCATION: JUST OUTSIDE OF THE ENTRANCE TO ELSTONILE CASTLE.

Eston and his retinue were planning to leave on the morrow and were busily packing their belongings in preparation for their trip to the luxury provincial capital of Sod Dum.

He asked for the name of the soldier who was so helpful.

"Loy Al tew deBone, Sir"

"Well, ask and see if he can accompany us on the journey to Sod Dum. We will make it worth his while to do so."

THE LOCATION: Sod Dum, the provincial capital.
THE TIME: A day later.

Eston was watching the excited nobles ordering their new clothes with their gold thread, pearls and precious gems inlaid into the fabric.

He was more apprehensive over the selection of rings, necklaces, bracelets, pendants and other jewellery.

He knew these noble were not rich and could not afford to pay the cost of their new clothes or their jewellery.

At first he had objected. Strenuously objected. But Loy Al tew deBone assured him that only the richest nobles accompanied Zaxxon on his trips. The Zaxxonness had a keen eye and to select anything less would risk exposure.

Eston sighed as he was being measured for clothing that was so rich, he could never pay for it even if his lifespan was quadrupled.

He reassured himself with the thought that the fate of the society depended upon him and him alone in facilitating a reconciliation of the Zaxxon with his Zaxxonness. In such circumstances, how can the society not support his actions?

Even so, Eston was shocked when he was presented with the bill!

It was enough to buy three battle cruisers of the line.

THE LOCATION: THE SEMI-OVAL OFFICE OF ZAX CENTRE

Zaxxon sighed as he contemplated the draft of the War Measures Act. "We must all make sacrifices." he said and signed the act into law.

He was tired. He was still having weird dreams, only now it was of birds and elves. So disturbing, he would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.

He knew the birds were significant in some way. What were they. Wrens? Starlings? And the elf had a name...what was it? Elyssandra! Wasn't Elyssandra an elf in that book the humans thought so much of...the Hobbit? No, not the Hobbit....

"What about the Zaxxonness? Why haven't I heard anything?"

R2D2 replied, "Elstonile is on the opposite end of our society, sir. It's much too early to have any communication."

"This is ridiculous! Not knowing for weeks what is happening in our empire. Can't we research an effective means of communication."

"We can", R2D2 responded "but that would mean cutting back on our research on reverse propulsion even further."

"What do you mean?" Zaxxon asked in astonishment.

"Well, 50 percent of our resources are going into researching reverse propulsion."

Only the concerned look of the court physician and the physician's act of picking up his medicine bag caused Zaxxon to refrain from exploding.

"Reduce it even further and put it into researching communications. And Spiii, see what you can learn about the god-emperor Ruatha."

"Why sir?"

"I can't explain it. I just have these weird dreams."

Zaxxon paused and then continued, "Also, post a reward of 1,000 Zaxxonites to anyone who can discover a way of communicating over long distances. Maybe that will spark enough interest to find a way to communicate with Ruatha and the Zaxxonness."

[ January 29, 2003, 00:06: Message edited by: tbontob ]