Fwurg

[Nehket Aeka]

((OOC: This thread is a continuation of [ Mail ] To Senator Tassar and Senator Konev: military technologies, and is private to the Veolian Commonwealth, Teprogrenaian Consensus and the Unified Republic of Darya.))

As always, everything at the Veolian Embassy was arranged as best as possible, and the senators were smoothly guided to a conference room.

"Senator Konev and senator Tassar, welcome", the veolian senator greeted them. "Please, have a seat."

"As we already discussed over the holonet, we are looking to establish an institute for research and prototyping of military technologies. To establish the institute we would need to agree on a funding scheme, a primary location, policies regarding staff recruitment, someone responsible for the day-to-day running of the institute and a name.

As to the funding scheme, we propose a three way split where each partner provides an equal share. My emperor has made available a sizeable funding stream for the institute, roughly equivalent to 0.05

We would propose Unity City as a location, though this would probably require us to secure the necessary permits for the import and construction of weapons systems and ordinance. It might be worth our while to investigate other possible locations, such as an empty solar system in sector 10 -5, near the border to 10 -6. Though this would increase the upkeep costs, which would impact or research budget, it would circumvent all problems with local authorities as the institute would fall under Veolian law.

Staff recruitment can be done based on Union guidelines for the recruitment of personnel. We should take care that our technologies and prototypes do not fall into enemy hands. Of course, it would also be necessary to recruit a leader for the institute, someone with a vision that fits with our goals. I propose we offer the job the Bolv'ar Ngyx, who has an excellent grasp of the military needs of the Union.

Of course, as equals in this endeavour we should weigh the opinions of each world before deciding. I would assume a board of oversight will have to be formed, with a representative from each of our factions. The board of oversight will set long term goals, and whomever will be leading the institute answers to this oversight board."

((OOC: There is no good way to express the amount of funding available, so I just gave you an -equivalent. Just assume it is a heapload of money... As a rough guess I would say 1 ~ 1.000.000.000€, so this would be 50.000.000€ / week ^_^))

[Senator Danar Tassar]

Senator Tassar took the seat offered to him.

"We, of the Consensus, agree on sharing the costs and creating a board. Torig has let me know that such prices are of no concern to us, and therefore we go along with the funding. We of the Consensus thinks it is best to locate the facility somewhere else than on Unity. This will open many possibilities concerning testing and free the facility of local laws."

Tassar paused a moment before to continue: "We think that sector 10 -6 is still a viable sector, as there is probably a suitable location somewhere around here. Else we do think an empty sector along the Bozzy spine is suitable as well. It is unlikely that new factions will rise around there, and the facility is still very well reachable, letting the upkeep costs stay low. Maybe sector 15 -5? The sector is between Excaria and Darya.

And about Bolv'ar, we think he will be an excellent person to oversee the organisation, as long he has a decent secretary at his side."

[Nehket Aeka]

"The problem with sector 10 -6 is that it still falls directly under Union jurisdiction. As this is a legal gray area, we would like to avoid any problems. For example, a simple law proposal could easily require that all such facilities fall under the direct supervision of the ministry of defence -- and we would have little room for correcting such nosey behaviour.

By placing the facility of the Bozzy Spine, and in the sovereign terrotiry of the Veolian Commonwealth, we prevent any legal problems before they started."

Senator Nehket Aeka chuckled at the note about a secretary.

"I fully agree on the secretary part. Maybe more than one? After all, it is an important position.", she smiled.

[Senator Gregory Konev]

Konev had been sitting and thinking for the moment listening what the others were saying.

"I think I agree with a good secretary we don't want any clerical errors. For the rest Bolv'ar is a driven individual and seems to me a good candidate."

"I think it will be a good idea to place it within one of our factions territories so that we have less problems. An other reason to keep it of the bossy spine is to prevent lots of traffic in the area where some spy might hide himself."

"I do see a bit of a logistical problem with placing it in the sector of the Veolian Commonwealth. And that is that the fasted route from the Parumecaetes System to the Veolian sector is almost all the way across the bossy spine. This might be inconvenient to the Teprogrenan researchers."

"As for the funding of the Think Tank I have permission to put 0.05 per in this project from the coffers of the Unified Republic of Darya. There is however one big condition upon this funding. The think tank may not make use of slave labour."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"don't you worry Senator Gregory Konev, to travel 0.8 or 1.8 , with such distances it doesn't matter anymore. Any workers and researchers should have to reside on location. Also each is so enormous, I don't think there will be a lot of travel when we place the facility a little out of the way."

Tassar was thinking for a moment.

"You made a valid point, chancellor, we actually needs a place with as little as rules as possible, and with very little changes in laws. Hmm, given the situation and the long lasting live of the rulers of the Veolian Commonwealth they might indeed be a very good choice. I believe there will be little change there in the next 100 years or so.

But I agree with Senator Gregory Konev, there should be no slave labour used in this facility. Despite of the stern rules around slavery in the Veolian Commonwealth, we of the Consensus think that it is better for the Union to show an image of non-slavery."

[Nehket Aeka]

"I can agree that the institute itself will not make use of slave labour. After all, it is a research facility, and slaves have other purposes."

"As all objections have been rebutted, we propose to use the location closest to Unity: sector 10 -5. As this is where the Union military is seated, this will offer the best options for later integration with other Union institutions.

However, as senator Tassar correctly indicated, suitable residence should be made available anyway. The facility and its location will have to be constructed from scratch, together with all kinds of secondary facilities. After all, residents require healthcare, recreation, maintenance of cyborg parts, possibly options for family should the facility offer long-term employment. Of course, now that such secondary facilities are available, the place will need a better space port, to allow visitors and employees to travel in comfort.

The Veolian Commonwealth is willing to fund the construction and maintenance of such secondary facilities, should the selected location be in sector 10 -5. These secondary facilities would fall outside of the scope of the institute: we would see them as the city in which the Institute is located.

If you agree to this, we will need to determine how the board of oversight operates. After that we need only select members of the board of oversight, determine the name of the institute, and have a treaty drawn up to formalize what we discussed. Of course, after that possible locations have to be scouted, we will need to recruit mister Bolv'ar Ngyx, construction has to be started, and the board of oversight has to approved mister Bolv'ar Ngyx as the leader of the research facility."

Nehket Aeka looked at the other representatives, and continued.

"I propose that the board of oversight oversees the facility only, and that decisions by the board should be unanimous. As it is a board of oversight, I furthermore propose to leave the day-to-day running in the hands of the facility leader, with monthly reports to the board of oversight. Funding requests beyond the allotted budget should be directed to the board of oversight."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"That sounds all reasonable. Are you sure the Veolian Commonwealth want to pay for the secondary facilities themselves? The Teprogrenaian Consensus would have no problems in sharing such costs, given that they stay within reasonable limits of course.

We of the Consensus also agree on the functionalities of the board. The board should say what to do, the day to day oversight how to do it. In practice the board of larger projects tend to loose contact with its ground personnel, missing vital items and making bad decisions based on wrong assumptions, we do not want that.

Needless to say, the board has to keep in check the activities and prevent corruption and illegal or unwanted activities."

[Senator Gregory Konev]

"I agree with Dannar Tassar and find this a reasonable proposal. We are willing to pay for and assist with the construction of the housing of our scientists should this be convenient to the Veolian Commonwealth.

The Functionalities of the board are also acceptable. If there are no further objections would you be so kind as to set up the contract so that they can be approved and signed by the correct members of my government.

On a side note would it be possible for us to set op a liaisons office for the Mudry that would come to live there too smooth out the differences between the cultures?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"We view the secondary facilities and housing as a separate project from the institute itself, a small settlement if you will. The Veolian Commonwealth has offered to provide the location for the institute, and I see no reason why your governments should have to pay for a Veolian settlement.

Of course, you are welcome to donate some funds, but this will in no way increase the official authority of your respective governments within the leadership of the settlement. I am sure you understand."

"If there are not further issues to discuss with regards to the institute, I shall have a treaty drawn up outlining the points we discussed. I will talk our proposal over with Bolv'ar Ngyx and, should he be interested, I will have my people arrange a meeting."

((OOC: I will present the proposal in this thread, but I will open a new thread for the meeting with Bolv'ar.))

[Nehket Aeka]

A few days later, after the interview with Bolv'ar, senator Nehket Aeka once again invited the representatives to the Veolian Embassy. This time to review the treaty governing the rights and duties of the three factions with respect to the military research facility.

"Senator Tassar, Senator Konev, thank you for coming.

I had the treaty drafted, and would like your opinion on the matter."

Shared Research Facility 'Anusandhana' Treaty

This is a treaty between the Veolian Commonwealth, the Unified Republic of Darya and the Teprogrenaian Consensus on the shared research facility known as Anusandhana.

Preamble

• This is an agreement between the following parties (understood to be the signatories):
  
  • the Veolian Commonwealth, represented by senator Nehket Aeka
  • the Unified Republic of Darya, represented by senator Gregory Konev
  • the Teprogrenaian Consensus, represented by senator Tassar

• The start of this agreement will be 93 (inclusive), at which time construction is commenced
• This agreement lasts for at least 52 from the start, and is automatically renewed for another 52 in perpetuity
• Renewal is cancelled if, and only if, any of the signatory parties announces their withdrawal from this deal 15 or more turns in advance of the renewal
• Withdrawal by any signatory voids this agreement from the end of the non-renewed 52 period

• This agreement consists of 3 parts: the facility agreement, the research & development agreement, and the oversight agreement

Facility Agreement

• Location and Legislation:
  • The facility will be located in the Niras system in 10 -5
  • The facility is acknowledged as being located within the sovereign territory of the Veolian Commonwealth, and the signatories will not lay claims on the facility other than those agreed upon through this treaty
  • All personnel, property and other assets of the facility will fall under Veolian Commonwealth law
  • The facility will not maintain ownership of any slaves, nor will it employ slaves for any of its activities
  • Ownership of property and assets of the facility will be considered to be shared among the signatories
• Costs:
  • All signatories will pay an equal share of the running costs of the facility
  • All signatories will fund an equal share of the construction costs of the facility
  • The Veolian Commonwealth will fund any secondary costs, such as infrastructure or housing not directly related to the facility
• Operations:
  • The day-to-day operations of the facility will be entrusted to a candidate selected by the board of oversight
  • The board of oversight will dictate the global strategy, but will leave the implementation of such strategies to the day-to-day leadership

Research & Development Agreement

• The facility's mandate is exploratory research and development of military technologies and prototypes
• Any and all research will be considered state secrets by all signatories, and only be made public at the discretion of the board of oversight
• Any discovered technologies that can be developed due to exploratory prototypes or exploratory research by the facility will be shared with all signatories, and the board of oversight will determine the course of action for the exploitation of discovered applications
• Developed technologies that result from activities of the facility will be shared among the signatories
• Developed technologies will not be transferred to third parties without the explicit consent of the board of oversight

Oversight Agreement

• The board of oversight determines the strategic course of the facility, and decides upon the development and funding of technologies
• The board of oversight consists of a representative for each signatory, to be appointed at their discretion
• Any decision by the board of oversight must be unanimous

Miscellanea

• In case of a conflict, all parties will act according to the terms set out in this agreement, and seek mediation with the Ministry of Justice
• The terms of this agreement can be renegotiated upon request of either signatory, and can be amended if and only if all signatories consent to the amendment

Signed and witnessed,

Unity City, Embassy of the Veolian Commonwealth; Turn 93,

____________________ (Senator Nehket Aeka on behalf of the Veolian Commonwealth)

____________________ (Senator Gregory Konev on behalf of the Unified Republic of Darya)

____________________ (Senator Tassar on behalf of the Teprogrenaian Consensus)

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"First a minor point: maybe calling the research facility 'Anusandhana' might not be the best choice, giving the galactic basic meaning of the word 'anus'.

A bigger problem is the Veolian law concerning cybernetics. With the current setup it would be problematic for the Consensus to provide researchers for longer periods of time. Large parts of our population has one or more cybernetic implantations. When people of the Consensus are going to work for a longer period at the research facility, like a couple of years or longer, the laws of the Veolian Commonwealth around cybernetics makes that only a few people can actually live there. The registering part wont be a problem, but I doubt that the researchers will accept to be permanently sterilized. The available pool of researchers who can live at the research centre from the Consensus will therefore be very small.

We do understand that the laws of the Veolian Commonwealth cannot be changed for sake of a research centre, but maybe there are other ways."

[Nehket Aeka]

"I am open to suggestions with regards to a more Union oriented name. Maybe we should just name it after where it will be located?"

"You are correct that our laws with regard to cybernetic might prove a problem. However, they only require sterilization if the cybernetic implants have an augmentative function. If the cybernetic implant is purely a replacement for a biological function, there will be no legal problems. Furthermore, as long as those with augmentative cybernetic implants do not remain for longer than nine months, which is the longest period we can consider for a work visa this would not pose a problem either. As long as they do not marry or court

For periods longer than nine months, it will be necessary to look into a solution which involve a permanent residency visa status, with all the entanglements this poses. Permanent residents will be held to the full veolian law.

If I understand it correctly, most cybernetics in the Teprogrenaian Consensus have exchangeable augmentations. Wouldn't it be possible to downgrade such augmentations to a simulate purely biological functions? This would remove all issues."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"Ah so, yes, that clarifies a lot. Downgrading cybernetic augmentations should be no problem.

Than the name, I think naming it after the location would be OK, what is the name of the location?"

[Nehket Aeka]

"That would be the Djana system. It is a system consisting of numerous asteroid belts around a red dwarf with some larger almost moon-like objects. We paid it little attention until we joined the Union. It is the closest system we know of so near the border of our territory."

[Senator Danar Tassar]

"The Djana military research centre. I see no problems with that name.

Then the Consensus agrees with the treaty. What do you think, Senator Gregory Konev ?"

[Senator Gregory Konev]

"I have been thinking and I believe that there are no further problems with the Veolian law. The new name is good and smartly noticed by Danar Tassar of the peoples ideas of bending names to be 'funny'." he responded his last word sounding very sarcastic.

"So I would be willing to sign this in name of the Unified Republic of Darya."

[Nehket Aeka]

"Very well. For this specific contingency, I took the liberty of having the draft prepared as an official treaty as well."

One of Aeka's servants handed her a holopad, on which she signed the treaty with the speed of habit.

"Please", she said while handing the pad to senator Tassar.

[Senator Danar Tassar]

Tassar signed the treaty as well and handed it over to Senator Gregory: "If you please."

[Senator Gregory Konev]

"Thank you" Konev accepted the contract and signed it. "To a good future." He said as he handed the contract back to senator Nekhet.

[Nehket Aeka]

"Now that this treaty has been finalized, we shall start the construction of the facility as soon as possible. We will be in contact about the formation of the board of oversight."

[Nehket Aeka]

With the final treaty signed, Nehket Aeka archived the document directly from the datapad on which the representatives signed it:

Shared Research Facility 'Djana' Treaty

This is a treaty between the Veolian Commonwealth, the Unified Republic of Darya and the Teprogrenaian Consensus on the shared research facility known as the Djana Military Research Centre.

Preamble

• This is an agreement between the following parties (understood to be the signatories):
  
  • the Veolian Commonwealth, represented by senator Nehket Aeka
  • the Unified Republic of Darya, represented by senator Gregory Konev
  • the Teprogrenaian Consensus, represented by senator Tassar

• The start of this agreement will be 93 (inclusive), at which time construction is commenced
• This agreement lasts for at least 52 from the start, and is automatically renewed for another 52 in perpetuity
• Renewal is cancelled if, and only if, any of the signatory parties announces their withdrawal from this deal 15 or more turns in advance of the renewal
• Withdrawal by any signatory voids this agreement from the end of the non-renewed 52 period

• This agreement consists of 3 parts: the facility agreement, the research & development agreement, and the oversight agreement

Facility Agreement

• Location and Legislation:
  • The facility will be located in the Niras system in 10 -5
  • The facility is acknowledged as being located within the sovereign territory of the Veolian Commonwealth, and the signatories will not lay claims on the facility other than those agreed upon through this treaty
  • All personnel, property and other assets of the facility will fall under Veolian Commonwealth law
  • The facility will not maintain ownership of any slaves, nor will it employ slaves for any of its activities
  • Ownership of property and assets of the facility will be considered to be shared among the signatories
• Costs:
  • All signatories will pay an equal share of the running costs of the facility
  • All signatories will fund an equal share of the construction costs of the facility
  • The Veolian Commonwealth will fund any secondary costs, such as infrastructure or housing not directly related to the facility
• Operations:
  • The day-to-day operations of the facility will be entrusted to a candidate selected by the board of oversight
  • The board of oversight will dictate the global strategy, but will leave the implementation of such strategies to the day-to-day leadership

Research & Development Agreement

• The facility's mandate is exploratory research and development of military technologies and prototypes
• Any and all research will be considered state secrets by all signatories, and only be made public at the discretion of the board of oversight
• Any discovered technologies that can be developed due to exploratory prototypes or exploratory research by the facility will be shared with all signatories, and the board of oversight will determine the course of action for the exploitation of discovered applications
• Developed technologies that result from activities of the facility will be shared among the signatories
• Developed technologies will not be transferred to third parties without the explicit consent of the board of oversight

Oversight Agreement

• The board of oversight determines the strategic course of the facility, and decides upon the development and funding of technologies
• The board of oversight consists of a representative for each signatory, to be appointed at their discretion
• Any decision by the board of oversight must be unanimous

Miscellanea

• In case of a conflict, all parties will act according to the terms set out in this agreement, and seek mediation with the Ministry of Justice
• The terms of this agreement can be renegotiated upon request of either signatory, and can be amended if and only if all signatories consent to the amendment

Signed and witnessed,

Unity City, Embassy of the Veolian Commonwealth; Turn 96,

(signed by Senator Nehket Aeka on behalf of the Veolian Commonwealth)

(signed by Senator Gregory Konev on behalf of the Unified Republic of Darya)

(signed by Senator Tassar on behalf of the Teprogrenaian Consensus)