FCBC - 2779

==Fate Can Be Cruel - 2779==
===February===
1 February 2779
Thazi (Terran Hegemony)
News that General Kerensky and the SLDF had begun their invasion of North America on Terra was relayed to General Rita Mitchell. Though she was happy that the war was entering it's final stage, she also dreaded what she would now have to do, explain to Amanda Cameron exactly who she was, and possibly what she would have to do. Over the years, she had thought about what she would say and how to say it, but she had never been able to find a way that seemed right.
After calling Amanda Cameron, now 13, into the small den and getting her seated on the small sofa, she sat down beside her. Taking a deep breathe, she began talking. "Amanda, there is something very important I need to tell you and I have no clue how to do it. I have raised you as if you were my own child, but you are not. I love as though you were and this might not be easy to hear. Your real name is Amanda Cameron, your father is Richard Cameron, First Lord of the Star League. Your possibly the only surviving heir to the throne, we just do not know. Many years ago, you were swept from Terra by Colonel Ian McIntosh of the Royal Black Watch. I met up with him by pure accident. When he showed you to me, you were just an baby. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.
We have remained out here, far from Terra in order to keep you safe. There is a massive, brutal war going on there right now, but it looks as if it is finally entering it's last phase. There is a good chance that you will have to return to Terra and take over running the Star League and with it the real Terran Hegemony. I will be by your side the entire time. But until that time, we need to start getting you used to ruling an Interstellar State. Do you understand?"
For a long time, Amanda Cameron was silent, a single tear flowed down her cheek. "I understand. Do we know if my real mother and father are alive?"
 
"No, I am afraid we do not know that yet. I pray they are and that I can reunite you with them." Rita said.
"Do you think they will still love me? After all these years?" Amanda asked quietly.
"Of course they will. Parents always love their children, no matter how long it is since they saw them." Rita replied, the thought of telling Amanda that her parents were dead filled her with dread.
"Then I must make them proud. I need to learn everything that they would expect me to know. But, what do I call you now?" Amanda asked.
"Mom, Aunt Rita, honey, as far as I am concerned, you will always be my little girl and I will never allow any harm come to you. I will always love you." Rita said.
"I think Aunt Rita is better. I would not want to hurt my parents feelings by calling you "mom" in their presence. So, what all do I have to learn?" Amanda asked.
"I am afraid it is quite a lot. It is going to be some long nights after school and a very long summer for you and me. I am not even sure I am up to the task of teaching you what you will need to know, but I will do my best." Rita said.
"I already know the most important stuff. The strong watch over the weak and honor is everything. You taught me that, mo....Aunt Rita." Amanda said
"Yes, those are very important. Remember those always and try your best to live by them. You do that, and you can always hold your head high, no matter what." Rita replied.
===March===
1 March 2779
Thazi (Terran Hegemony)
Amanda Cameron had spent the last month working with General Rita Mitchell on learning how to manage a Interstellar Nation. She had even worked with Peter Sajak and Jessica Parrington to better understand the economic side of things. Though she was young, she was smart. Smart enough to know what she did not understand and to ask questions. Today, she was sitting in on a economic meeting covering every system in the Hegemony.
Sitting next to Aunt Rita, she made sure her notepad and pencils were ready to take notes. She watched as Jessica Parrington walked to the small podium and clicked on the wall monitor. On the screen, a list of every system in the Hegemony appeared and next to the system's name were numbers. As Jessica Parrington began speaking, Amanda focused on reading the list.
====Hegemony Systems GDP & Tax Revenue====
Thazi (TH) - 482 Billion GDP, 24.1 Billion Tax
Boulsi (TH) - 97 Billion GDP, 4.8 Billion Tax
Pilon (TH) - 275 Billion GDP, 13.7 Billion Tax
Azur (TH) - 3.9 Trillion GDP, 195 Billion Tax
Wokha (TH) - 362 Billion GDP, 18.1 Billion Tax
Blommestein (TH)- 1.9 Trillion GDP, 95 Billion Tax
Ddraig (TH) - 288 Billion GDP, 14.4 Billion Tax
Ejeda (TH)- 71 Billion GDP, 3.5 Billion Tax
Waini Point (TH)- Developing, Exempt
Zumbo (TH)- Developing, Exempt
Ambatomainty (TH) - 182 Billion GDP, 9.1 Billion Tax
Sorsk (TH) - 73 Billion GDP, 3.6 Billion Tax
Puttalam (TH) - 184 Billion GDP, 9.2 Billion Tax
Maripa (TH) - 157 Billion GDP, 7.8 Billion Tax
Loikaw (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Mandeville (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Zetang (TH) - Developing, Exempt
La Ligua (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Carmelita (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Quines (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Shira (TH) - 213 Billion GDP, 10.6 Billion Tax
Domeykp (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Feijo (TH) - 196 Billion GDP, 9.8 Billion Tax
Alktral (TH) - 422 Billion GDP, 21.1 Billion Tax
Linden (TH) - 2.1 Trillion GDP, 105 Billion Tax
Ceiba (TH) - 3.7 Trillion GDP, 185 Billion Tax
Bossangoa (TH) - 314 Billion GDP, 15.7 Billion Tax
Rhodon (TH) - 102 Billion GDP, 5.1 Billion Tax
Gaeri (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Zalt (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Mitz (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Gitarama (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Barahona (TH) - 67 Billion GDP, 3.3 Billion Tax
Danli (TH) - 88 Billion GDP, 4.4 Billion Tax
Las Tunas (TH) - 165 Billion GDP, 8.2 Billion Tax
Taumaturgo (TH) - 292 Billion GDP, 14.6 Billion Tax
Tanz (TH) - Developing, Exempt
Total Tax Revenue - 777.6 Billion
 
HPG Fee's - 36.7 Billion
Estimated 2773 Revenue - 814.3 Billion 
"As everyone can see, the economy is growing at a rapid pace. The industrial production and the resources they require is having a large impact on the systems that are mining oriented. But this also has a negative effect on some systems as people move to where the jobs are. This has kept several systems from developing much more than they have. This has had a negative effect on the remaining people in these systems. They feel that they are being left behind. We are going to have to correct this soon or we might have a serious problem on our hands.
HPG fee's are on the rise, as usual. Last year we sent just over 12 billion messages and expect to surpass 13 billion this year. Rates remain the same at 3 dollars for a 2 page message. Most of this revenue is used to maintain the HPG grid but also in rebuilding or repairing the stations on the new systems." She paused as Amanda raised her hand "Yes, you have a question, Amanda?"
"Yes, it seems like a lot of money being collect as taxes. I am curious what the tax rate somewhere else was?" Amanda asked.
"Excellent question. The Star League levied a large increase of taxes via the Tazation Edict of 2763. That raised the tax rate on the Periphery nations to 35% while the Great Houses still paid 20% in tax. This was what led to the massive Uprising. It was totally unfair. The current tax rate in the Federated Suns is 13%. That is the same rate for individual citizens, entire planets and even corporations. While easy to calculate and totally fair, it can leave many ultra rich paying way less than the common citizen as a part of their income. Our current tax rate is set at 5% of a systems GDP. We do not tax the individual or industries directly. Some day, we will have to, but that is down the road some." Jessica Parrington explained.
"Okay, so we are taxing much lower than others. The 35% tax rate is criminal, the person who passed that should be shot." Amanda said, never realizing that it was her father, First Lord Richard Cameron who had passed it.
Everyone shared a look around the table but kept their mouth shut about this. Jessica Parrington was about to pick up where she left odd when Amanda asked another question. "Do we have a chart or something that shows the population and what each system has as a primary income source or something?"
"Yes, I have all of that. Give me a second to find the right slide." Jessica Parrington replied "Here it is." The wall monitor changed to display the requested information.
====Population and Economic/System Data====
Thazi (TH) - pop 14,072,578
*Thazi Motors, military vehicles
*Ocean Works, naval shipping
*Farming
*Orbital Industry
Boulsi (TH) - pop 20,867,348
*Farming
*SLDF
Pilon (TH) - pop 15,135,294
*Farming
*Orbital Mining
Azur (TH) - pop 145,085,736
*Azur Heavy Industries
*Ore Processing
*Heavy Industry
*Farming
Wokha (TH) - pop 21,522,371
*Mining
Blommestein (TH)- pop 23,468,832
*Hegemony Industries
*Farming
*Mining
Ddraig (TH) - pop 30,971,175
*Vought Aircraftv
*Farming
*Mining
Ejeda (TH)- pop 11,843,492
*Farming
*Mining
Waini Point (TH)- pop 3,618,327
*Farming
*Orbital Mining
Zumbo (TH)- pop 1,683,249
*Farming
*Mining
Ambatomainty (TH) - pop 26,437,568
Thazi Motors
*Farming
*Mining
Sorsk (TH) - pop 20,694,981
*Orbital Mining
Puttalam (TH) - pop 24,319,742
*Puttalam Industrial Concerns
*Farming
Maripa (TH) - pop 6,428,431
*Orbital Mining
Loikaw (TH) - pop 1,054,634
*Farming
*Orbital Mining
Mandeville (TH) - pop 1,487,573
*Farming
*Orbital Mining
Zetang (TH) - pop 2,628,827
*Mining
*Orbital Mining
La Ligua (TH) - pop 1.219,958
*Orbital Mining
Carmelita (TH) - pop 388,374
*Farming
Quines (TH) - pop 1,094,394
*Farming
Shira (TH) - pop 15,864,425
*Shira Armor Works
*Farming
*Orbital Mining
Domeykp (TH) - pop 3,284,619
*Mining
Feijo (TH) - pop 13,867,434
*Farming
*Orbital Mining
Alktral (TH) - pop 21,834,167
*Alktral Fusion
*Farming
*Mining
*Orbital Mining
Linden (TH) - pop 18,571,423
*Shipyards
*HPG Industry
*Farming
*Mining
*Orbital Mining
Ceiba (TH) - pop 24,873,492
*Hegemony Aerospace
*Farming
*Mining
Bossangoa (TH) - pop 16,733,218
*Farming
*Mining
Rhodon (TH) - pop 20,376,152
*Mining
*Orbital Mining
Gaeri (TH) - pop 22,293,184
*Farming
*Mining
Zalt (TH) - pop 1,116,211
*Orbital Mining
Mitz (TH) - pop 3,463,248
*Mining
Gitarama (TH) - pop 3,467,573
*Mining
*Orbital Mining
Barahona (TH) - pop 21,252,674
*Farming
*Fishing
Danli (TH) - pop 9,621,115
*Farming
*Ore Processing
Las Tunas (TH) - pop 25,276,452
*Farming
*Mining
*Ore Processing
*Heavy Industry
Taumaturgo (TH) - pop 15,181,038
*Farming
*Mining
Tanz (TH) - pop 5,323,277
*Farming
*Ore Processing
*Heavy Industry
Total Population - 620,422,131
Everyone waited as Amanda made notes and studied the monitor. She then pulled out a small notepad that she had taken to carrying when with Aunt Rita. She opened the small notepad and flipped until she found the page she wanted. Finally she looked up "Aunt Rita, last week you were griping about some of the unit commanders wanting new Dropship designs. Well, you already told me that Ceibu could not currently handle any more work load. But what about having them build another complex on Las Tunas, the populations are close, resource wise they look the same. It would allow the commanders to get the Dropships they want and at the same time boost the GDP of Las Tunas. That equals more tax money, which means the people have extra money to spend, which makes everyone happy."
Everyone shared a look around the table. General Rita Mitchell looked at Peter Sajak and got a shrug with a smile back. This caused her to frown and Peter took the cue "Excellent idea Amanda, I will get right on this and find out the design needs from the commanders from Major General DeMars."
The rest of the meeting went along with Amanda asking frequent questions in an attempt to understand everything as best she could.
===April===
1 April 2779
Bastrop (Federated Suns)
Martha Pruitt and ZaP Shipping had seen quite a lot of growth since they had begun operating in the Federated Suns. But she had heard rumors of a new Jumpship that was just now coming online. She had contacted Penelope Swank and had her order 2 of the new Jumpships, it was called a Monolith and carried 9 Dropship collars. It was expensive as heck, but getting in on the ground floor of it's release allowed Penelope Swank to secure the 2 of them with a 15% discount. The manufacturer was even providing delivery for both ships that were scheduled for delivery Oct 2779.
She had expected a slow flood of refugee's from the Hegemony, but the flood never happened. But with the war finally winding down, with just Terra left to secure, most seemed to be taking a wait and see attitude. She had expanded ZaP's operation out to 6 Jumps from Bastrop. ZaP Shipping had already dominated the local shipping market, and she always kept an eye out for bargains. What started as 15 Jumpships had grown to 20, 2 purchased and 3 with owner/operators operating under long term license. She was also always looking to hire local crews when she could, this allowed her to slowly shift her "Hegemony" crews back home and use the local crews to operate in the Federated Suns with no fear of a security breach.
Over the years, ZaP Shipping had seen their revenue increase from 13 million a month to over 45 million a month as the local clients had come to know ZaP Shipping, not to mention the slow withdraw from the region of some of the smaller independent operators, which left a void that ZaP Shipping was quick to fill. As the local's got comfortable with ZaP Shipping, Martha had slowly increased rates to a more normal level. Passenger rates had moved to 300 per jump for steerage with no noticeable decrease in passenger totals. This was aided when she got her hands on 4 Passenger Mammoths, which she placed on her heaviest routes.
ZaP Shipping (Federated Suns Div)
Passenger Revenue, Monthly - 20,300,000 dollars
Cargo Revenue, Monthly - 25,250,000 dollars
Average Yearly Revenue - 546,600,000
Las Tunas (Terran Hegemony)
Surveyors were hard at work planning the new Dropship production site. It would take at least 2 years before anything emerged from the site, but already some of the supporting infrastructure was being built. Planners were going over the needed resources and already setting up supply chains for anything needed that was not produced on the planet itself. To not have an impact on the planets farmland, the complex was being situated on a region not suitable for easy farming. This caused other problems, for it was over 900Km from any major city. This meant a new city would have to be built to house the thousands of workers and their families.
Hegemony Aerospace had worked out several "quick" refits for several of the current designs used by the SLDF. The SLDF, since moving to a standard of 40 Battlemechs per Battalion wanted a Dropship that could handle that. Though the Lee existed, it was deemed way too expensive for mass production. They had then turned to the Overlord. By removing the Aerospace Fighter bays, they had gained the weight needed to make adjustments to the large Mech bays, getting the 4 additional Mech bays they needed. They had then revamped the ships weapons systems, bringing them up to date. They then switched the ships armor to Ferro-Aluminum, this gave the new design a marked increase in protection with no decrease in it's performance. All for a cost of just over 438 million per Dropship, compared to the Lee's 869 million estimated cost. They tagged this new version Overlord (2778b) since some had been kicking it around for a few years.
They had then taken a look at the Union Dropship. Though almost perfect, it was critically low on cargo space. They removed the Aerospace Fighters from the design which gained them the cargo space they needed. They then upgraded the ships weapons systems. This new version was called Union (2778b) for the same reason as the Overlord.
Once the plans had been dusted off and modernized, they had sent them up the chain for approval. It had come back quicker than they expected, with expected production quota's attached. Needing an estimated 141 Overlord Dropships to refit every command and another 51 Union Dropships for the Command Company's it was going to be a massive complex with the initial setup as.
Hegemony Aerospace (Las Tunas)
Overlord (2778b) - 20 Production Hanger producing 40 per year
Union (2778b) - 8 Production Hanger producing 24 per year
===December===
1 December 2779
Thazi (Terran Hegemony)
News arrived announcing the end of the Hegemony Civil War, but also of the death of First Lord Richard Cameron, his wife Elise Cameron and every known member of the Cameron family line. General Rita Mitchell read the message and she felt her stomach drop. This was the message she had always dreaded. She set the message on her desk as Amanda walked into their small office at home "Aunt Rita, I was wondering something......what's wrong, you look very pale."
"We have a message announcing the end of the war back home and of your family." Rita said.
Without really knowing, tears started welling up in Amanda's eyes "They are dead aren't they? My parents?"
Rita got up and moved to Amanda, sinking to her knees before her "Yes. They have been dead for many years now, from the released reports. I am so sorry honey."
Amanda felt safe as Rita wrapped her arms around her, she could not understand why she was sobbing so hard. She had never known her parents, had never seen them. But she hurt like she had never hurt before. For ten minutes, she cried like she had never cried before. Finally she pulled away "I don't want to go to Terra. This is my home. Out here."
Rita looked at Amanda "Honey, you have to return and rebuild the Hegemony. Lead the Star League."
Amanda was defiant as Rita had ever seen her "NO, Aunt Rita. I do not have to return and rebuild a place I have never known. Why should I leave here, travel so far away from my home here, to take care of people I have never met? Why? How can I, even with your help, make it better for them, when you have argued with me over taking in the people that are actually near us out here? Tell me, tell me why that is, Aunt Rita."
This outburst caught Rita off guard, "Honey, we have been over this before. Taking in all those you have pointed out would stretch our resources to the breaking point. Back home, the people have been through so much, but Terra is mankind's home. There, we would have the resources to help them rebuild, to return to the way it was before the war. It would allow us to move resources out here to help all those you are concerned with."
"Return to the way it was? Really Aunt Rita? You want to return to a way that caused the death of parents? NO. I will not do that. Out here, right now, that is what is important to me. Not there. The strong watch over the weak, you have drilled that into me for years. Well, out there, right outside our borders are people suffering from pirate attacks, cut off with no communication, some starving for food, medicine and in some cases clean drinking water. I have read the reports brought in by Uncle Martin and his people for the last 6 months. Here, right now, we are strong but right outside our borders are the weak. We look after them first." Amanda said with more conviction than Rita had ever heard from her.
"Alright Amanda, we will look after those close by. I will give you your wish and we will take them in. I pray I am wrong and it does not break us." Rita relented.
"Then we will take in the rest of the Onverwacht and Traders Provinces?" Amanda asked.
"Yes, I will start planning the the operation. I am not sure what we will do if any refuse to join us, but they will have to vote to join us. I am not going to force them. I am not launching a war of conquest." Rita said.
"I don't want that either. We do this, we look after the weak. Then, maybe, and I mean maybe, I will think about going to help the rest of the Hegemony. They have not known about me for all these years, you have told me that yourself. I want it to remain that way, for now. IF, I decide to go with you to Terra, we will inform them of me when we get close, not before. I do not want them nagging me. Promise me, Aunt Rita." Amanda said, a fierce determination glowed in her reddened eyes.
"I promise. No communication with back home. I promise. We return only when you feel it is the right time." Rita promised
"Okay, I am sorry, Aunt Rita. I don't mean to yell at you. You don't deserve this, you have always been here for me. I love you." Amanda said as she move back to Rita's arms
"It's okay honey. Your hurting inside. I love you too, always have, always will." Rita said holding Amanda close, but her mind was already working on how the hell she was going to take in all those worlds.
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