The Federation Army Lives!

[HemlockGrey]

Earthbound Communication Relay #54
Communication #2833759
Sent from Residence 5501 LVT, San Fransico at 12:02 AM
Activated at Residence 9921 XIC, Paris at 5: 38 PM
Communication Approved by the United Federation of Planets

To My Esteemed Fellow Servant, Councilman Braithe;
I am transmitting this communication in order to update you on the upcoming debate. I know we're not on the best of terms but I didn't want my bill to take you by surprise, nor did I want you to, in ignorance of my motives, lash out at it irrationally.

I imply nothing.

As soon as the Council session is called to order, I will be bringing up the Federation Armed Forces bill for immediate discussions. I know your outspoken views on the matter, but please consider my thoughts. I am not advocating a mandatory draft, selective service, or anything of the sort. Further, your concerns about my budget requirements are needless. I will not take any money away from your precious Federation Transportation Fund.

I must impress upon you that this is a needed and necessary measure. A full ground army with offensive capabilities is not required- simply a strong internal garrison to defend our major planets and colonies from potentional invasion. Three hundred Starfleet ensigns, five dozen phaser rifles and a few lightly armored vechicles does not a garrison make, and on my tour of the Federation it became apparent that the garrisons of outlying worlds are even worse.

I hope I can count on your support- or, at least, your indifference.

Sincerely,
Councilman Orlani


More forthcoming.

[HemlockGrey]

Earthbound Communication Relay #54
Communication #2834281
Sent from Residence 5501 LVT, San Fransico, at 6:22 PM
Activated at Reisdence 9921 XIC, Paris, at 5:21 PM
Communication Approved by the United Federation of Planets

To My Fellow Servant, Councilman Braithe;
Your rather outrageous tirade against my proposal was completely unnecessary. My budget is not bloated, anymore than your Transportation Fund is. Nine hundred billion credits for maintence of a small army and garrison force is extraodinarily reasonable. The Transportation Fund is what, four times that? Keep in mind that the goal of the bill is to recruit nearly sixty million servicemembers, as well as provide for the maintence of equipment and parts. In order to preform the latter a large number of credits must be transformed into latinum, and with rates the way they are nine hundred billion credits can be considered a shoestring budget. The sixty million members must have their needs tended to as well. Think, Braithe! Had we but a hundred thousand men on Vulcan, the attempted Romulan invasion would never have taken place. Think of this not as force to conquer and destroy, but rather a deterrant. The concept is simple enough.

Further, the six hundred billion for research and development is absolutely critical! I am agast at your knee-jerk reaction to the suggestion. Our armed forces rely on one weapon- the phaser! I have made a point of studying ancient Earth warfare, Braithe. I know you shudder at the thought but there was a time when the common defense was adequetly provided for. Indirect weapons, armor, air support- the entire military philosophy of combined arms has been lost to the Federation, mostly due to the efforts of men like you, and it is sheer luck that neither the Romulans nor the Klingons nor the Dominion has possessed the ingenuity necessary to reconstruct it. A dune buggy is not an armored vehicle, Braithe. A shuttle with twin phasers is not a dedicated atmospheric fighter, and fifty ensigns with phaser rifles is not a crack infantry unit!

Think, Councilman! Weigh your actions not against the opinion of the masses, but of the future of the Federation!

With hope,
Councilman Orlani

[HemlockGrey]

What? Does it really suck that much?

...no comments?

[Darth Fanboy]

Quite interesting, I would think that the sbject though would discuss AR-588 a bit more

[Kuja]

The tone was a bit overly sarcastic, since the guy's asking for support.

[Micheal Ryans, Beta pilot]

It's good. I liked the part that points out 20th century warfare techniques, and reminds the FC that they're damn lucky the Klingons/Dominion/Romulans haven't come up with similar forces.

[spaceluigi]

That was good.

[Captain tycho]

That was good.

Shut it troll.

PS, it was good.

[Ted C]

Earthbound Communication Relay #54
Communication #2833759
Sent from Residence 9921 XIC, Paris at 9:07 PM
Activated at Residence 5501 LVT, San Fransico at 9:33 AM
Communication Approved by the United Federation of Planets

To My Noble-But-Deluded Colleague, Councilman Orlani;

Surely you realize that we cannot possibly afford to maintain standing armies of the size you are proposing. What on Earth (or any of our other member worlds) do you think you are going to do with a grounded force of that size? In the event of an attack, all you can possibly do is make targets of them, as they will be wiped out from orbit if an enemy like the Jem'Hadar successfully gains space supremacy, and they are completely unnecessary if an aggressor can't achieve space supremacy.

I appreciate your concern for our citizens, but their safety depends on our superiority in SPACE, not on the ground. If we can't stop our enemies in space, we can't stop them at all. That is why the Transportation Budget, which includes funding for STARFLEET is so essential.

With understanding,
Councilman Braithe

[Darth Garden Gnome]

Ho ho, Ted. I think you've just made this a bit more interesting.

[HemlockGrey]

Ok; I was originially going to do a series of one-sided communications, but this is the revised plan:

I'll post the original communications in here, and then post the back-and-forth ones in another thread.

Earthbound Communication Relay #54
Communication #284833
Sent from Residence 5501 LVT, San Fransico, at 4:23 AM
Activated at Residence 9921 XIC, Paris, at 7:14 PM
Communication Monitered by the United Federation of Planets
Communication Monitered by Starfleet

Councilman Braithe; I will not reiterate my stance on your recent comments as you would likely find some way to twist them around to suit your greedy and corrupt needs. I see now that any chance of garnering your support was merely a twisted fantasy in my own, 'racist', 'traitorous' mind- the fact that my stance on the Maquis farce is diametrically opposed to yours does preclude me from being a loyal citizen, Braithe.

I'll take a moment to point out that had a Federation garrison existed on the border worlds, we would not have gotten into that whole charade in the first place.

I will not, under any circumstances, accept your proposed modification. Starfleet's sole concern should be the stars; they should have no power over a groundbased army and I do not see why you think otherwise. To be perfectly frank, there is already far too much power in their hands and I do not want to hand over sixty million extra fighting to be used as they wish. I have attached here a list of diplomatic, military, and domestic blunders made by Starfleet, ranging from cadets in the Academy to the crew of the Enterprise-E to the very ranks of the Admiralty itself. It will become public knowledge within 18 hours; I'm certain it will admirably prove my point- Starfleet cannot and will not be trusted with this sort of power. It is bad enough that they possess the capability to slag a planet; the capability to invade and hold a planet without consulting either the Council or, at least, another governing body, is not a thing to be lightly given.

It must be this way, Braithe. Any other is the height of folly.

Councilman Orlani

[MKSheppard]

Mind if I jump in?

[Ender]

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