Interlude 2.6: Not a coup
Fae’s sensible trainers barely leave a mark on the thin carpet as she strides to her next meeting on Morrigan. Since the election victory 5 years and 2 promotions ago, her appearance has changed little. Her friends celebrate her complexion over cocktails. She attributes it to the radiation blocking effects of the infrastructure she lives, works, slaves away and will surely die in. Her enemies, those left behind by her metoric rise, gossip about stem cell treatments and black market plastic surgery.
If you were to look at her calendar, you’d see she’s off to a meeting with the Equalities and Dependencies group, working to integrate veterans with war wounds into a post-retirement career. It’s a meeting that has happened every second Tuesday of the month, without fail. Conference room 17 is always booked, coffee and croissants always made available.
Best case scenario: jobless
Worst case scenario: court martial
By what looks like a striking coincidence, however, the group isn’t meeting. A wedding, a funeral, an annual review. No cancellation, no notes, just a bunch of no-shows. Funny that nobody cancelled the coffee and croissants. Funny that there’s still a meeting happening.
“Ladies and gentlemen - we have men and women in this room from all ranks, all branches, united under one purpose”
In her pocket sits a tiny pebble. She presses it, and, with a nearly silent click, a slide appears projected behind her.
there are nukes less powerful than this little clicker
“We all lost something at JP 1 - Williams, your leg was sliced clean through by an alien blast. Martinez lost an eye. I lost a son” she pauses, too long. Too soon.
“Why?” She asks. Demands. Accuses. They all know the answer, but they want to hear her say it.
“Strikes at munitions factories. Buy-low sell-high day trading of fuel. Shortages when we need it most. Corporals selling their side-arms on the secondary market. Skimming off the top” she shakes her head. “No longer”
"We share a great deal with Ghengis Khan. Technologically inferior, resource poor, outnumbered by our enemies. How did he win? Bows, tactics, tools?
Leaders.
Every squad of 10 elected their squad leader, who, in groups of 10, elected their commanders, all the way up the chain to the Khan himself.
Imagine how much more effectively you fight under the leader you chose. Imagine how much more disciplined a general must be, knowing they can be thrown out by their subordinates. No voting for charismatic leaders promising handouts - when it comes to battle, you pick the best, or you die. Orders come from above, authority from below.
Electoralism. Grunts will elect the best of their ranks to lead them - FILOs - First In, Last Out. They elect their Exarchs, given the latitude to pursue strategic and tactical command independently. Deltas, change makers, senior enough to have power, junior enough to know what to do with it. A Capite, the best of the best, commands one of the seven branches of the military. Those seven form M-Com, central Morrigan Command.
The seven branches of the military will be split between Army and Navy. The army will oversee STO, Troops and terrestrial resourcing. Navy contains combat, logistics and scout & survey fleets. Internal affairs sits between the two, overseeing internal justice, elections and discipline
Underpinning these pillars is the civilian sector. So long as the resources keep flowing, we protect them. I don’t care if they form an anarchist republic or a hereditary monarchy. Supply us, give us what we need, be left alone. Threaten our ability to operate? We will act.
This is the second aspect of my reforms - Stratocracy. Military primacy. We aren’t a military seizing the civilian levers of power in a coup. We are divorcing ourselves from those affairs, depoliticising the military. Freeing the civilians and ourselves.
In times of crisis, each branch nominates seven of their best to the Boulle, an emergency council who elect, advise and, when the time comes, dismiss the Archon. I hope we will never need such a singular leader with such power, but we must design contingencies into our system if it is to survive.
Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come for reform. Take the military out of the hands of the greedy politicians and their slick lackeys. You, the fighters, should have the authority to arm yourselves. You, the warriors, do not need a civil servant like me to do what you know needs to be done.
- Yes
- No
This poll will remain open until 0026, the next election year.
If reform is undertaken, be warned - there is a risk of fragmentation and rebellion, particularly if the military underperform in the coming years.
Debate in comments thread