Fwurg

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

"Dear Senators,

Currently a Union military fleet is doing Piracy patrol in sector 12 -7. While the Praetorian Secondary Fleet is performing Piracy patrol in sector 12 -8. We believe the current piracy patrol situation is far from optimal. The full piracy patrol situation can be seen on this image."

Ardios showed a holographic image of the Union to the senate.



"With the support of the current Minister of Defense Senator Standro I bring you this proposal:

The Praetorian Empire is willing to take over the piracy patrol task of UDF-RES-9 in 12 -7 for 100 / , saving the Union 50 / in piracy patrol costs. We will perform this piracy patrol from 12 -8 to maintain a larger patrolled area and cover our outpost as well.

I hope you can agree that this new situation is optimal since the Union saves 50 / and has the UDF-RES-9 fleet on standby to deploy wherever they want. In our current situation if a conflict would arise the Union would have no fleet to respond with without risking pirates in Union territory.

I would like to know what you think about our proposal."

[Maria Latharion]

"Senator you do realise that what you propose sends Praetorian Empire military vessels into the sovereign territories of both the the Astai Republic and the New Communist Imperium of the Rising Suns of Deominius? I would very much like to hear what these worlds have to say about that.

That being said the Astrian Colonial Authority does support the notion that Union members should have the chance to aid in keeping the Union safe for everyone. However, such a thing should be properly legislated and should respect the territory of other members. And such legislation should also be applicable to all Union members, not just the Praetorian Empire."

[Senator Odakim V of the Rising Suns of Deominius]

A servant with a holoprojector stood up in the section of the delegation of Deominius.

The giant head of an advisor of Prince Odakim blipped into existence: "His imperial highness, prince Odakim V of the Rising Suns of Deominius, is saddened by the proposed invasion of the sovereign territory of the Rising Suns of Deominius. He decrees this proposal an affront to all modest and proper communication between worlds.

Prince Odakim V is willing to lay eyes upon a different proposal, should such a proposal be made. Moreover, and in his infinite wisdom, Prince Odakim V is willing to be indifferent to the current proposal if it is made clear how the current proposal fiscally benefits the New Communist Imperium of the Rising Suns of Deominius."

[Nehket Aeka]

The chancellor remained silent for now as she looked in the direction of the Astai delegation.

[Atheos]

"The Astai Republic recognises that this proposal will both save the union money, as well as expand the surveillance reach of the union and its available forces. We do find that a large amount of communication between the Praetorian Empire and the Astai Republic will have to take place as to the position of Praetorian ships and their authorisations to enter sovereign Astai space. This will require quite a lot of manpower, perhaps some form of compensation from the 50 the Union saves could be compensated there.

Furthermore we think it might be wise to have a formal contract between the Praetorian Empire and the Union in this case, making sure that notifications happen incase this piracy patrol might suddenly drop away."

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

"I agree that proper legislation is required to support member worlds, such as the Praetorian Emipre, that are willing to invest in keeping the Union safe. However I am not a minister and believe that we can save directly with this proposal.

The Praetorian Empire respects the sovereign territory of all Union worlds. We will adhere to the same communication protocols as the other Union Defence Fleets currently use and will coordinate with the UDF-RES-6 that is currently performing piracy patrol from 13 -6.

We agree that a formal contract is appropriate to ensure the stability in the region."

[Senator Harek]

"If the Union fleets need to fight it would be wise to have a plan on how to defend Union territory and prevent piracy. We need security otherwise we could all fall back into the Time of Chaos. I think our minister of Defense will be able to handle this matter further.

The Hiocan Society fleet is always ready to help with the piracy patrol and more."

[Nehket Aeka]

After hearing the different opinions, the chancellor calmly joined the discussion.

"Senator Eldrilith, I am curious on what calculations do you base the mentioned 100 per ?

It could be argued that the Praetorian Empire is only scanning 2 sectors of interest -- sectors 11 -7 and 12 -8 -- as the rest is already scanned by other Union fleets. In that case, the Union would only have to pay 42.857 per . However, seeing how the current configuration of Union fleets also generates a large amount of overlap, I think that this reasoning is not very tenable.

As I see it, you are offering the Union scanning in only 4 sectors of interest, that is sectors 11 -7, 12 -7, 12 -8 and 13 -7. With the normal 150 per costs of such scanning, the most the Union should have to pay for your services is 85.714 per .

We could also approach this issue from the other point of view. Instead of entering into negotiations about the position of Praetorian patrols in Deominius and Astai space why not have the Union fleet currently moored in 12 -7 move to 12 -8 in return for a compensation of 64.286 per from the Praetorian Empire to the Union?"

"Of course, this would set a precedent that Union members can request extra piracy patrol coverage at a price. Which is something that should be considered carefully."

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

"The Praetorian Empire wanted to show their dedication to the Union by offering the services of their military fleet. This is why we offered to do the piracy patrol with our military fleet.

We only looked at the relevant systems and outpost that are no longer covered if the Union Defence Fleet in 12 -7 would stop scanning. This would be the system of the Astai Republic, system of the Praetorian Empire and the Olchamiza Outpost of the Praetorian Empire. Since the scanning of the outpost is the responsibility of the Praetorian Empire we would pay 1/3 of the scanning cost which is 50 ourselves to cover this.

However we are willing to accept your proposal of moving a Union Defence Fleet for a fee as well. If this is possible we would like to ask the Union Defence Fleet in 13 -6 to move to 13 -7 for a compensation of 42.857 per . This would only add 2 additional sectors to the scanning range of the Union."

[Nehket Aeka]

The chancellor looked on with a less than amused visage.

"Senator Eldrilith, if you wished to show your dedication, you would not have tried to get the Union to pay 100 per so you can turn the scanning you are already doing into a profit at the expense of the Union. You would have just offered the Union your cooperation in saving 150 per ."

"Your counterproposal clearly shows the same inclination: you care about scanning your outpost as cheaply as possible, if necessary to the detriment of other Union members. Senator Eldrilith, with your proposal you expect the Union to solve your scanning problem by letting the Inter-System Charter Company be overrun by pirates.

Furthermore, my alternative solution is not a proposal that you can negotiate over to get an even cheaper price. It was merely a suggestion to the senate at large that there are other alternatives. Since such an alternative would set a strong precedent, the senate will have to decide wether this is workable."

((OOC: We might want to give others a chance to react as well (especially the NPC minister that should really be present here, but the other players as well) ^_^))

[Lady Peinaili de Montrève]

"Senator Eldrilith,"

Peinaili pitched in after the rather fierce reaction of the chancellor to the praetorian counterproposal,

"Are you honestly suggesting that we leave the Astai Republic without any coverage against pirates and that we should move the union fleet in the sovereign territory of the Rising Suns of Deominius, all for your benefit? What issues would you have with a Union fleet present in your own sector, providing the coverage you requested, unless you have something to hide.. ?

Peinaili then continued to address the rest of the Senate

"While I am not against more cooperation and improvements that would help the union budget and I also see the value of properly legislating our piracy efforts and options for assistance, I'm beginning to doubt the benefit of this proposal."

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

"The Praetorian Empire has no problem with a Union fleet patrolling from our sector, if this is the solution proposed by the Ministry of Defence we applaud it. We never said anything about leaving the Astai Republic without any coverage.

We simply wants to add our outpost to the piracy patrol region of the Union for a acceptable price, which seems to be very hard to understand. We are not against proper legislation proposed by the cabinet."

((OOC: The Inter-System Charter Company should be a fringe world already since it has been inactive for a year. This is why I did not count them for the scanning, since we are not scanning Limëa either..

As expected we have an NPC that is responsible for the Ministry of Defence which means that nothing useful will happen...

I am not going to propose a law after being accused of random shit when I am not even a Minister...))

[Nehket Aeka]

((OOC: The ISCC will be removed in 172, as per the announcement. You're right about the Limean Republic, though, in fact they should have been removed from the map about a year ago: they became a Fringe World in 2012-06-11. You could have used that that argument IC using it IC to strengthen your position, instead of OOCly... Oh well too late for that now; and I don't want to do this discussion OOCly.))

The chancellor tried to supress her surprise, but even then, she looked at the Sundarian delegation as if they had sprouted donkey's ears.

She quickly recovered, luckily before any reports could immortalize the unflattering expression.

"Senator Eldrilith, why did you not lead your proposal with that request? You make it hard to understand. The way you pose your idea had the scent of profiteering. Especially when your economic ally, the Astai Republic, immediately requests that part of the savings are paid to them to cover their requirements for "quite a lot of manpower".

If you are sincere in your desire to improve the Union's piracy patrol area, and thereby also include the praetorian Olchamiza outpost, I urge you to halt your derogatory remarks addressed at the senate's intelligence. Instead, your time would be well-spent collaborating with the Ministry of Defence on a law proposal to bring before the senate."

The senators tone was one of finality -- to her the Cabinet was here to make sure the Union keeps running, not to be at the beck and call of every member the moment they wanted something. As she sees it, they either come up with a concrete proposal that does please the senate, or the situation remains as it is.

[Senator Ardios Eldrilith]

"Unfortunately we still have not heard anything from the Minister of Defence.

Since there seems to be no support for our proposal we will no longer actively pursue this road.

However the fact that the Union has currently locked all military fleets into piracy patrol patterns should be a reason for concern.

If a military conflict would arise outside the Union we would have no military options to respond with...

The Praetorian Empire is still willing to advice the Minister of Defence on a solution for this problem if they want to look into this problem."