Alternate Conclusions
By H.W.
Chapter 4
"You know, I have been thinking," Torres said after Seven had put the last thing on the table and had sat down so that they could eat breakfast.
"That can be a dangerous thing sometimes," Seven replied as she took one of the banana pancakes. The banana pancakes had quickly become Torres' favorite after Seven had tried the replicator pattern one day. Now they had pancakes for breakfast twice per week. The other days were taken up by changing food items.
Seven had declared the first and the third day of the week experiment days. These days they would try something new. The other days, with the exception of the pancake days, were taken up by foods that had made it from the 'experimental' list to the 'good' list.
On the experimental days, Seven was normally right in her guess that they would like it. These guesses were inspired from reading the food descriptions. Sometimes it didn't turn out too good though. But as Torres liked to say on those occasions; nothing lost. They would simply replicate something they already knew they liked.
"Oh yeah, for some strange reason people never like it when I tell them; 'you know, I've been thinking'," Torres agreed with a grin, both of them knowing only too well that they were talking about the meetings Torres had sometimes.
People knew, when Torres said, 'I've been thinking,' they were in big trouble. Not yet the kind of trouble that would get them killed, but very close to it. It was the kind of trouble where you got one single chance to save your ass and you better take it.
Torres took a bite of a pancake before continuing, "But for now, I was thinking that you could do a lot worse than offering Miles a job."
"Miles?" Seven repeated.
Torres swallowed the sip of juice she had just taken and waved her fork around a bit. "Oh, sorry. Miles is the former slave you will meet today. He is the one that designed the device that created the rift, portal, passageway, or whatever you want to call whatever it does, that makes it possible to travel to your universe."
"I see, and just what position were you thinking of?" Seven asked. "I already have preferred candidates for all governmental positions, with the exception of one Sub-Intendant. But you know why I left that position open."
I know, to both," Torres assured. "As far as the Sub-Intendant position is concerned, I think you are fully right. From what I know about those people they will want insurances in return for their help. What better insurance is there than having one of them be a Sub-Intendant... as long as that person fits in to your government. As for the other positions, from the information I read on those people, they are all good choices. No, I was actually thinking of a department you have not yet planned."
"In that case, please enlighten me."
"Seven, you have several departments planned that do theoretical building, experimental building, even experimental theoretical building."
Torres gave a grin, realizing that the three things sounded the same, but they still meant totally different things. "You even have two designers as advisers. I think it would be a good thing to have a department that sees if things are actually possible. That sees if something can be built like the blueprints say it can, and that works together with the departments that do the designing. Then together, they can produce the things designed without running in to big problems."
Seven ate the rest of her pancake while thinking about the suggestion. As she reached for a second pancake she said, "The way you make it sound, this department would basically be a part of all that is done in the Alliance."
Torres grinned as she picked her fourth pancake right after Seven took her second. They definitely had reached their balance during eating. She wondered. Had Seven started to eat slower, or has she herself started to eat faster? She didn't feel like she was stuffing down her food, so she guessed it was the first. Especially since it was pretty much the same when eating with others. Seven wouldn't eat as much, but she would take about the same amount of time as the others at the table to do.
"A part of it, yes," Torres agreed. "How much of a part, now that can differ. The department could be nothing more than an advisory department, or they could be the ones that build it all. Personally I would say, make it something in between. If you make it an advisory department only, they can simply be ignored. No power to make sure that things are done right. On the other hand, if this department, or even Ministry, would builds everything themselves they would be way too powerful and too big. All other Ministries would shadow under this one."
"And the middle ground is?" Seven asked.
Torres thought for a moment. "I would say, make it so that this Ministry is of a size and power scale where they are part of every build, but only a part of it. Say that every project has one or more workers from this Ministry, depending on the size of the project, that work on the project like any of the other workers. Only that these workers also sit in on meetings where blueprints are discussed. I mean, they would be one of the workers, but at the same time they wouldn't be just one of the workers."
Torres frowned at her last statement. "Well, you know what I mean."
"I believe I do," Seven said. "By having them be part of the actual build force, they are with the other workers every day. They would see first hand where problems are, or hear of them, even if they do not see them directly. More importantly, by being with the other workers, they would not become a 'theory only' department. A 'theory only' department that is fixated on making sure everything works, would be just as bad as a department that only designs without thinking if it will truly work in reality. By having those workers sit in on meetings, they can speak up and point out problems they see arising."
"Right," Torres said, glad that Seven had understood what she had been trying to say. "Of course, one of the priorities of this department should be to work well with the other departments. Last thing you want is constant yes/no contests that work their way up the chain until the Sub-Intendants or even you have to deal with it. What you want is for people from this, and whatever other Ministry is doing the building, to work so well together that small problems are solved without having to go up to the next level of command. Well, of course a report should go up to let the people in command know that something has to, or already has, changed."
"That way the people who take care of the overall design, can make the changes in the design," Seven said in understanding. "Then they would not have to take care of the smallest problems all the time. Yet they would still be in a position where they can warn the people that made the changes that it will not work in said overall design because something else in the design cannot cope with that change. The smooth flow of working will then make it possible that the parties can sit down and work out the problem between themselves, instead of blindly pushing the problem on to the next person to deal with."
Seven thought about it for a moment before saying, "It is interesting to see how approaches like that can work here, while they would not work in my universe."
Torres shrugged at the comment and pointed at the last pancake with her fork.
"Go ahead," Seven merely said.
As Torres put the pancake on her plate she added the comment that should have gone with the shrug. "From what you have told me, it's the fear mostly. I can see how the people in your universe wanted this noble Federation, with its free beliefs and all that. The problem is, in eliminating the fears people have, they also eliminated the good fears. In your universe, if two people don't agree, they don't really try to see eye to eye. Instead, they just shove the problem to the next in command to make the decision. Who pushes it up one level more, because they also aren't sure what the best solution is."
"True," Seven agreed.
"And before you know it," Torres pointed out, "something small, that could have been resolved on the work floor in five minutes, is now ten levels up the chain of command, has created one hundred reports, and a total of who knows how many hours of time wasted on it. Here, people still have that healthy fear. Here they still think: 'Oh no, we better not bother the boss with something as small as this. Let's work something out'. They work it out and send a report to the boss to let the boss know a change had to be made to make something work. The boss looks at the report and sees if it still fits in the design. And after only one level of command, which is only a check, and maybe fifteen minutes of work, the problem is solved."
"This could lead to dangerous situations though," Seven pointed out, not minding at all that they had gotten off topic.
By now she knew that both she and Torres had a tendency to do that. Neither of them really minded, since it brought up other important things to discuss. Both of them had the mind to remember the original conversation and come back to the point eventually.
"Not really," Torres disagreed, as she pushed her empty plate away a little. "The healthy fear helps with that also. If a change needs to be made and it's doable, they do it. But on the other hand, nobody wants to be the one that signs off on something that might get people killed in the long run. If a suggested change is dangerous, the worker won't do it and points out the why to the designer. The designer will not be vain and think that his design is the best thing ever thought up. He doesn't want to go up a level of command and therefore will ask the worker if the problem can be solved by doing, 'this'. No? How about this? No? How about this? The worker, also not wanting to go up that level will say: No, still dangerous. No, still dangerous. No, still dangerous, but I think we can work with that. If you do 'this' it works."
She gave her lover a grin. "See? Neither want to go up that level, with the exception of proudly sending the information up to let them know there was a problem but that it's fixed now. Neither wants to be the one whose name is on a faulty design that got people killed. They will know something like that can be quite deadly to them as well. As I said, healthy fear makes them work together and keeps the reports down to what's really needed, while still keeping everyone informed. Which in the end results in good and trustworthy products. Its how we've been doing things in our Universe since the Sol Empire fell, and it's working just fine."
"Just that they also do not dare to push," Seven pointed out. "Which explains why there are good and trustworthy ships in the Coalition, while the Federation has ships that are faster, shields that are stronger, and weapons that are more powerful. All the result of the people building the Coalition ships not daring to push as much as those building the Federation ships."
Torres lifted her hand a little. "Eh, no fair comparing like that. You also had wars over there, don't forget that. Our last war is over one and a half century ago. And we all know, including you my Pet, that the best military inventions are done during wartime."
Seven dipped her head, conceding that point. "I agree. Still, I firmly believe that your ships could be more advanced despite having had no war for 150 years. True, if the people that build the Federation ships think something might be dangerous, they do not dare to take the chance. However, the person five levels of command higher, does take that chance and it works out. Here, situations like that do not reach that person five levels higher, therefore chances like that are not taken."
"You have a point," Torres had to agree. "I guess it's like the saying goes; every good has its bad, and every bad has its good. Which brings us back to the Ministry. You'll be the one setting up the guidelines for the Ministry. You could make it part of the workers task to send reports to the Ministry about things they see that they think need a little push."
"This will result in the other workers seeing these special workers as people that will go behind their back to complain about them."
"Not if it's common knowledge what kind of reports they sent. Hell, the reports themselves could be made public knowledge... Public is so far as the place where they are working and between people that have the clearance to know what they are working on. Then the other workers would see first hand that the mysterious report only stated, 'I believe the new engines are capable of more, a closer look might be needed'. Then people would come in and have that look. People that do dare to make that choice."
Taking a sip from her Bendak berry juice, Seven said thoughtfully, "I could set up a Ministry, as you suggested, and for instance call it the Ministry of Practical Implication. I could then make the focus of the Ministry two fold. First, make it the overseeing entity when theoretical designs are put in to practice, like we just discussed."
"Sounds good," Torres agreed. "What would the second task be?"
"The second task would be to check existing practicalities. If there is a Ministry whose task is basically to check if things can truly be built, they might as well check if existing things can not be built simpler, faster, or more effectively with new technologies."
Seven nodded to the side to indicate the replicator. "Let me use the replicators as an example. In both this and my own Universe the replicators have not really changed in the last hundred years. They are so extremely user-friendly and convenient that the only 'changes' made in the last century have been adding new replicator patterns and changing the exterior to fit popular design tastes. However, does this mean that the design can not be enhanced even more? We do not know since there is nobody doing any research on it."
"I guess you got a point," Torres agreed. "Better make sure that those two tasks are done by two different departments in the ministry though, or else those workers will be wearing two hats all the time. Having to make sure that the things built actually work, but on the other side they have to see if the things they just build can be built better in a different way. They would go insane and commit suicide within a week."
"Probably," Seven agreed. "Talking about hats, just which hat were you wearing when you made this suggestion?"
Torres frowned before seeing that ghost of a smile that told her that Seven was teasing her. She laughed. "Kahless, yes. We sure are a lot of things to each other, aren't we? I'm an Intendant, and you are my adviser. You are an Intendant, and I'm your adviser. We are lovers. I'm your Mistress, you're my Pet. We're friends, of course. No matter how many guards I may have, I still consider you my only bodyguard. We are so much to each other."
"How about we simplify it and merely say that we are everything to each other?" Seven suggested.
"That's definitely true. You are everything to me, Seven."
"As you are to me," Seven assured. "I love you, B'Elanna Torres."
"Actually, the bodyguard comment reminded me," Torres said, while replying to Seven's words with a smile.
Torres rarely smiled; she grinned. She had many ways of grinning. Some made you fear for your life, and some made your feel warm inside. Some of them would be even considered more of a smile than a grin. Her true smiles were rare. However, when she did smile, that smile was almost always for Seven.
It was something that had formed over time. Seven was much more forthcoming in voicing her love for Torres, than Torres was in voicing her love for Seven. At the same time, Seven certainly wasn't looking for the automatic 'I love you too' reply. So, Torres smiled as a reply. It was something that was dear to Seven. It also made the times that Torres did say 'I love you', all the more special for Seven, because it was not prompted by Seven first saying the words.
"Seven, we finally took care of my guard detail, which I now admit, I left lying to the side way too long. I like the situation I now have. The guards Martok provided are pretty damn good, and the ones that secure locations are good enough that I don't see them too clearly and can overlook them if I want. There is just one thing; where's your security?"
"Mistress?" Seven asked confused.
"You heard me, my Pet. You are an Intendant now as well. Where before at best you might had to deal with some nut wanting to hurt you so that it would hurt me, now you too will have to take in to account that people might want to kill you because a decree you signed put them out of a job. Or because they think that the next Intendant would do things that are better for them. So, where's your security detail? The case can be made that just like you are a formidable bodyguard for me, you are also a formidable bodyguard for yourself. But there has to be more."
"B'Elanna, I am with you all the time, therefore I am also protected by your Klingon guards. The last thing we need is even more people around us. You have us, your four close guards, and now my advisers. So when we are making a formal visit somewhere there will be a group of eleven of us, and possibly a number of people from the location we are visiting. That is not even counting the possible guards that have secured the site, possible guards for the people we are visiting, and members of my government that might join us to look at something first hand. Do you really want to bring that number up even more?"
"I guess you got a point," Torres had to agree. "Having said that, I also won't accept a level of security for you that is sub-standard."
Seven opened her mouth to speak, but Torres beat her to it. "Seven, you won't accept that for me nowadays, can you really blame me for wanting to be sure that you are secure as well? Besides, you are building the Phoenix Alliance to last. I really don't think that the next Phoenix Intendant will be traveling with the Klingon Intendant all the time. Not unless they hit it off as well as we have. When that time comes, you want a seasoned security department in place to protect the Phoenix Intendant."
Seven thought about that for a moment, seeing Torres' point. "I still stand by the fact that I now do not need this security. As I said, I am with you at all times, and even if at some point I would have to be separated from you for a moment there are always Klingon Commandoes on standby, only a beaming away. However, I also see your point. Security should not have to learn how to provide security while they are already providing it."
"So how do you want to solve it?" Torres asked. "You can't set up a department that does nothing for, hopefully many decades, until a new Phoenix Alliance Intendant is needed."
Seven dipped her head in agreement. "You are correct. I think that the solution will be the Sub-Intendants. They too will need security. I can have the security for the Intendant and Sub-Intendants brought together in the same department. That way, when there is a need for security for the Intendant, the department already knows how to provide. They will have been providing that level of security for, as you say, hopefully many decades, by securing the Sub-Intendant. Martok, as the Commander of the Klingon Security Department, is in charge of not only your security, but also the security of the Chancellor. He manages to do both just fine."
Seven lifted her eyebrow before adding, "If you let him that is. As you know, there will also be a Security Department in the Phoenix Alliance. Even though the department will be called the Secret Service in the Phoenix Alliance, the tasks will be much the same. I could make the Secret Service, and the Secret Service Commander, responsible for the security of the Intendant and the Sub-Intendants. That way the department will have years of experience by the time they need to protect the next Intendant."
Torres thought about it for a moment before nodding her head. "Yeah, I think that's a good compromise. Though, I would suggest having the Commander work closely with Martok. Even though the Commander may not provide your security now, he still should know all about your security."
Thinking of something else, Torres added, "Oh, talking about the Secret Service Commander, the file I read on him sounds like he is the man for the job. The problem is that if there is one person you need to truly trust fully, it's your Secret Service Commander. You will be literally putting your life in his hands, on a regular basis, and to quote that line you like so much; 'who watches the watcher?' He will be the highest watcher. You will need to be able to trust what he says. Do you think that you can trust him so completely, seeing that he isn't from Voyager?"
"I believe so," Seven assured. "As for who will watch this highest watcher, you need to remember that there will also be the Inspector General, who can look in to what the Secret Service Commander does. This Inspector General is a Voyager member, as you know. So the 'watching him' is well taken care off. As for trusting him, yes, I think so. As long as his sister does take the position of Sub-Intendant, his loyalty will be secured. He is completely loyal to her."
"To her, not you," Torres pointed out.
"It will be the same thing," Seven assured. "Once I made it clear that even though she will be in control over one third of the Phoenix Alliance, she cannot work without the full support of the other two thirds, just like they cannot work without her support. He will understand that in order to be completely loyal to his sister, he needs to be loyal to all Sub-Intendants, and especially the Intendant, since I will have the power to punish them both for misusing my trust."
"Well," Torres said, "To be honest with you, I think that it's actually a good thing that, in the beginning, your security is still provided by Martok. As we talked about yesterday, in a couple of years you will be able to sit back and let the others do the work, to speak proverbially. By that time you will also know just how much you can trust the people that aren't part of the Voyager crew."
"Indeed," Seven could only agree.
"So, you are going to install a Ministry that Miles will head up?" Torres asked, coming back to the original subject.
"I will install the Ministry and, if this Miles agrees, he will be the Minister, yes," Seven said, correcting Torres' statement slightly.
"Well, seeing how you want to keep couples together, I have two people for you for the price of one." Torres went over her words before adding with a grin, "Hmm, considering that we are talking about former slaves, I think those weren't the best of words to use huh?"
"I will let you get away with it this time," Seven said amused as she started to clean off the table. There was just so long that she could sit at a table with stuff on it that wasn't used anymore.
"Thank you, oh generous one. Anyway, Miles has been in a relationship with my head gardener for the last three years. Keiko is in charge of the former slaves that take care of my grounds on my home planet. You might even be able to use her as well."
"For what?" Seven asked as she picked up the last item on the table. Lifting the glass, she asked, "Would you like some more?"
"Sure. As for Keiko, I don't know. I do know that she is one of those that really love to do their job. As you know, the standard work day for a slave was twelve hours. Yet Keiko could often be found on the grounds for fourteen or fifteen hours, instead of just the demanded twelve. I also think that if you want her to work in your government, so that Miles will work in the government, you will have to buy Keiko off. At the very least you will have to give her a garden to keep, and I'm not talking about some little room garden either."
"That part would not be much of a problem," Seven assured. "As you know, I have plans to have that large room converted into a recreation room for the people that work in the Embassy. In other words, for my government. A place they can visit for a break so that they are not stuck in some office the entire day. I believe that they would appreciate it even more if that room was a garden instead of a recreation room. That way they could also take work there, and do that work amongst living plants. I know that quite a lot of the Voyager crew would appreciate that at least. Do you think that the room I selected will be large enough as a 'buyoff'?"
"Considering that it's the second biggest meeting room on my ship, and is designed to hold two thousand chairs, and a podium, I would think so. That's not a garden, Seven; it's a park. But seeing how your people are into appreciating nature and stuff, I think they would indeed appreciate the park more than a recreation room."
Suddenly Torres sat up a little straighter. "Oh, I just got an idea; the perfect position for Keiko. Seven, you told me that you were concerned about how the mining will affect the environment on the planets where the mining has to be done on, and also about how the environment now looks on the former slave planets."
"That is correct," Seven agreed before smiling. "As you know, since we talked about this a few days ago. As I told you on Qo'noS; the first person I ever told this, I find nature scenes beautiful. This is also why I can understand why the Voyager crew would like to take their work with them on a PADD and do it in the park. It is one of the reasons why I do not mind such a park being created in the first place. I also believe that the next generations should be able to enjoy those same things. However, it is a fact that on a lot of planets mining will have to be done to get the materials needed to build the Phoenix Alliance. Literally building, I mean."
"Right," Torres said. As Seven said, they had discussed this very matter before. Torres knew that Seven was only repeating her stance on the matter so that Torres could hook in with her idea. "And this is even worse on the former slave planets. There mining has been done for one and a half centuries without caring in the least how they left the planet, because it was only a slave planet anyway. You sure didn't like the scans I showed you."
"I did not," Seven agreed. "On Sol III, or Sol, or Earth, depending who you ask for the name, both the African continent and the pole circle, were once renowned for their beauty both in flora and fauna. Now they resemble a crater landscape because of all the open pit mining that has been done in the last three hundred years. First, under the Sol Empire itself, then under the rule of the Coalition. The same can be said for the Vulcan Ganhiolan Valley and many other places on the former slave planets."
"Right, so, if you are so concerned about it, why don't you set up a Ministry for Environment and Terraforming?" Torres suggested. "Yeah, mining will still have to be done, but there is nothing that says that you can't have a Minister that makes sure that it's done right. Have a Ministry that makes sure that the 'don't worry, we are going to bring it all back to a natural state when we are done' promises are actually kept. I mean, take those open mine pits we just talked about. We both know that any halfway decent size space ship has a tractor-beam powerful enough to shift enough dirt around to fill an old open pit mine within a day. It's just never done. Why bother? It's only a slave planet anyway."
"You have a point," Seven admitted. "This Ministry could make sure that any new mining is handled correctly, and also correct old mistakes. There is no reason why those old mine pits can not be filled in today. Unless of course they are so old that the pit has once again become part of nature. In that case the pit as a whole could be left, just slightly modified to remove the clear signs of mining and change the pit to something that blends in with the rest of the surroundings and looks natural."
Suddenly Seven got an idea. "Actually, this Ministry could also make sure that most of the mining the Phoenix Alliance itself does has no impact on nature anymore."
"What do you mean?" Torres wondered.
"There is only one reason why, even in this time, a lot of mining is still done in open pits or underground corridors; energy. Nowadays there are transporters that can beam materials directly out of the ground from a depth deeper than any normal mining can be done at. It is only the more exotic materials, like dilithium, platinum, and latinum that cannot be mined this way. However, the more common items can easily be mined by beaming them out of the ground."
"Yeah, but the reason why this isn't done is because every beaming takes energy and energy costs credits as well," Torres reminded. "You will have to buy the dilithium and gather, produce, or buy the anti-matter. The cost of those two does not weigh up against the profit made by the mining by beaming. It is cheaper to mine for it the old-fashioned way."
"True, normally," Seven agreed. "However, the Phoenix Alliance is in the rather unique position that we own the moon Trakah which is, as Worf rightfully pointed out, the richest source of natural dilithium in Coalition space. By the rules set out for the Coalition we are severely limited in the mining of dilithium that we are allowed to sell."
"True," Torres agreed. "So?"
"So," Seven repeated. "There is however no limit at all on how much of it we are allowed to mine for our own use. From the profits of the dilithium we are allowed to sell we can buy the anti-matter needed. Since we can mine the dilithium needed ourselves we obviously do not have to buy it. If you keep those things in mind; how little we have to pay for the items needed to create the energy to mine by beaming, then mining by beaming is actually cheaper for the Phoenix Alliance than mining the old-fashioned way. The old-fashioned way of mining would then, at least in the Phoenix Alliance, be reduced to the exotic materials only. It will be a fact that other planets in the Phoenix Alliance will appreciate as well."
"Alright, I have a feeling that you mean that more than just their mining costs would go down," Torres noted. "So explain to me what you mean."
"Very well. For instance, those extremely rich metal deposits on Orion can now finally be mined, even though the capital city of Orion is located directly above one of the richest deposits. By doing the mining like this, only one single place in the entire Phoenix Alliance will still have to suffer from destructive mining; the moon Trakah. The mining on other moons and planets will then be done by beaming. As I said, this will leave only the mining for the exotic resources that still has to be done the old-fashioned way. However, since that will be the only old-fashioned mining left, this will be on a scale that is acceptable and can be balanced with the needs of flora and fauna."
"Don't you think that's a little bit of a contradiction though?" Torres wondered. "To have the Ministry responsible for the environment take care of mining?"
"At the moment I do not have a clear place to put it under," Seven reminded. "I could create a Ministry of Resources, but I am afraid their focus would be in mining as much as possible, not as responsible as possible. The same could be said if I were to put it under the Ministry of Commerce; the most likely place to put it. By placing it under the Ministry of Environment they would know that it would be up to them to find a decent balance. Mine, yes, but with the environment being of paramount importance."
Torres wasn't so sure. "I don't think it'll work, but I think it's more a case of your view and my view not really lining up. It also doesn't matter. If it works out, good for you. If it doesn't work out, you can still shift the responsibility for mining to the Ministry of Commerce at any point."
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Since we are in agreement about that, what do you think of the Phoenix Alliance mining by beaming?"
Torres thought about that for a moment. "Hmm, I think you could get away with it. But I would suggest that you take this little idea and go present it to Worf personally. Otherwise the impression might form that you are trying to get around the limitations set on the Phoenix Alliance. Not flooding the dilithium market, but flooding other markets with resources mined using the dilithium."
"Not a problem," Seven assured. "I do believe we left some sightseeing on Qo'noS to be done at a later date. We could make the visit to Worf that later date."
"Oh, I like that idea," Torres said with a grin.
"You said that you believe we could 'get away' with mining like this. So, do you think Worf will allow us to use the dilithium like this?" Seven wondered.
Torres sipped her drink for a moment. "Yeah, I think he will, kinda. I personally think that he will allow it, but that he will set the condition that you can do the mining like this, but only if the resources mined aren't sold."
"He would allow the use, but not the sale?" Seven asked slightly confused. "If we use it for building in the Phoenix Alliance, this means that we are not buying the resources from others. If we sell the items created with those resources we will still make a profit from those resources because we do not have to pay for them as others would. Therefore that cost is not a factor in the overall price."
"I know," Torres agreed. "The point is not whether you make a small or big profit on things you sell; it's that you don't flood any market with the selling. He won't care that you can now build space ships, for instance, a lot cheaper. Because he knows that you won't be so stupid to sell the ship for less. No, you, and any other halfway intelligent person, would still sell the ship at the full price, and list the high cost of resources as a reason. The person buying it won't know that you only 'paid' energy and refinement cost for the resources."
Torres lifted her hands a little as she shrugged. "As for using the materials to do the actual building stuff, there is also doesn't really matter since you aren’t taking away existing profits. At the moment that building is not being done. There is no new infrastructure being built on Sol for instance. If you start doing it you are creating work, and you then need materials to do so; which you will supply by the beaming. So it's not like a Cardassian steel supplier will suddenly sell less steel because you are making your own. He will still have the same clientele coming to him to buy the same amount of steel. In fact, there is can be argued that it's better that you get your own materials because you need a lot of them. If you had to buy all the materials and supplies you need on the normal markets, prices would double because there is such a huge demand all of a sudden."
"I see," Seven said before giving Torres a smile. "Thank you very much for giving me your insight into what you believe Worf will do and think. Now I can keep that in mind and actually name those things when I make my proposal. He will be glad that I already covered those possible concerns, and therefore he will appreciate how easy it is to do business with me."
Torres grinned. "That, my dear Pet, is why I'm the best political adviser you could ever wish for. I can give you a reasonable insight into the thinking of all the important people in the Coalition. If you want any more insight, you will need to ask that person yourself."
"True," Seven agreed. "Now, my extraordinary adviser, could you please tell me why you suggested the name 'Ministry of Environment and Terraforming'. Why did you add the Terraforming?"
"Because it sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than just the 'Ministry of Environment?'" Torres asked amused. "Alright, alright, so I just thought of something and the Terraforming could be a part of it. So, let me play the extraordinary adviser again and give you my next suggestion."
"Please do," Seven merely said.
"Seven, you got a problem. The Phoenix Alliance needs to make credits. To do that, you need some clear and strong markets in your corner that make you a good profit. You have two, but one of them, the sex market, doesn't make the Phoenix Alliance any credits at all. The sex market is huge, and always will be huge. Astronomical amounts of credits will be made there. But, one of the things about the sex market, as you know, it's the only industry that doesn't pay taxes. So, you don't make a single credit from the entire sex market. Yes, people will have to pay a lot of credits to take schooling or tests a second time, but you really don't get those credits because those are needed to finance the first free schooling."
"A fair assessment," Seven agreed.
"The problem is that other large markets are not to be had," Torres continued. "All the interesting industries have long since been divided over the other factions. So my suggestion is to create your own market. You already told several people on different subjects that you want 'the best'. You want people to think of the Phoenix Alliance when they want to hire someone for sex and want 'the best'. You want people to think of the Phoenix Alliance when they think of hiring that one Engineer that will be able to fix all. I say, make that mentality an official one. Make it so that no matter what it is, all over the Coalition everyone knows; if you want the best, you want Phoenix. Don't even bother trying to go up against others by trying to take over parts of their markets."
"You think we could not succeed?" Seven wondered.
"No," Torres said bluntly. "Let's face it, you would never be able to fight for the monopoly we Klingons have on dilithium, or the monopoly the Cardassians have on legal drugs, or the monopoly the Trill have on gambling. First off, you will never be able to fight the fight the others would throw up. Others could cut their prices and sell or exploit under cost for a year without it really hurting them. By that time you and your fledgling Phoenix Alliance would already be bankrupt, just from trying to match the prices."
"True," Seven could only agree.
"And let's not forget that you are a small faction. You don't have the numbers on your side. All the potential workers you might have are either still in contracts, or children that are just reaching an age where they can be trained. You don't even have the people to open up a single factory at the moment, let alone do anything to compete with any of the others. Hell, you couldn't even compete with my own Torres Holdings, let alone with the entire Klingon Faction."
"I am working on the workforce, as you know," Seven felt she had to point out. "However, I understand what you mean, please continue."
"Right, so what I suggest you do, is specialize. You become synonymous with 'the best'. People all over the Coalition will still know that they have to go to a certain faction if they want something. But if they want the absolute best of that same something, they come see the Phoenix Alliance. Services you supply will be expensive, but worth it. I would say about three times as expensive as the standard product would be a good line. That high price will ensure that most people will still go to buy, lend, or contract, from the normal places and you keep those normal places happy because they know your aren't trying to take their market. It's just that the people who can afford it will come to see you, because you offer 'the best'."
"This will result in people disliking the fact that we are taking away those profitable deals," Seven pointed out. "They will not just sit back and be glad that we are not trying to take more of the market."
Torres shrugged. "They probably will. A monopoly is not an insurance that you get all the business, as you know. It means that you are the biggest player, and 'the' person to see. There will always be other players on the market, so the monopoly holders will be used to a little competition. If they want to prevent you from doing business they have to market a product that is better than yours and at a price you can't afford to ask... but they won't do that."
"They will not?" Seven asked. "It seems like an obvious reaction though."
"No," Torres persisted. "They know if they come up with such a high quality product for a normal price, people will expect that quality for the normal price all the time. Actually, they will probably like it if there is one clear player in the markets that takes care of the 'the best' for a price that few can afford. That way there is pretty much only their product, or the expensive product. This will push the other, smaller, players out of the market. The only way the big players would like it even more is if they got all the business, but they know that this is not a reality."
"And how does this 'the best' mentality tie into the Terraforming part of the Ministry name?" Seven asked.
She had to agree with Torres. Because of the size of the Phoenix Alliance they would never be able to deal with being the major player on another market than the two the Phoenix Alliance had. One of which she still had to tell her own government that they had it.
Torres was also right when she said that The Phoenix Alliance would need something else to earn the credits the Phoenix Alliance would need in the long run. If they did concentrate on producing 'the best', then a relatively large profit margin could be made with a relatively small number of workers. Of course, on a Coalition size scale the word 'relatively' was truly the word in all essence of its form. A relative small number of workers would still be millions of workers.
"Ah, well, I just figured that Terraforming could be one of those niche things," Torres explained. "Nothing that will make the Phoenix Alliance rich because there won't be enough orders to fulfill to make you rich, but it will still be enough credits to be made to add to the overall pile of the Phoenix Alliance coffers. The fact that there are credits to be made, but not enough to make a huge profit is the very reason why nobody specialized in it."
"The reason nobody specialized in it is more than likely the fact that it is extremely simple," Seven corrected.
"Well, alright, terraforming is," Torres agreed. "But the fine-tuning isn't. You are right, terraforming is easy. Crude, but easy. You simply redirect asteroids and let them crash into planets until you have the levels of what you want. Metals, water, gases, you name it. You just find the asteroids that have those things. While there are some obvious limits, they are the kind you never reach with normal terraforming. I mean, look at your Sol. It has been argued that all the water on it was brought there by asteroids colliding with the planet."
"A reasoning that comes from the fact that it is believed as planets form, water cannot exist there in liquid form. Since those forming planets do not have an atmosphere, the water vapor would escape in to space. Therefore, the water now on Earth had to come from somewhere else. I personally do not believe it is that simple. I think that such arguments are more a way for simplistic scientist to explain why there is so much water on planets like Earth, and so little water on planets like Vulcan. 'That's because there were less impacts of ice asteroids on Vulcan'."
"Either way," Torres said, not wanting to go into a theoretical debate with Seven. If there was one thing she knew by now, if they went in to a truly theoretical debate, Torres had absolutely no chance. "The point is, that the debate is about how the water came there, and not whether it's actually possible to bring so much water on to a planet. And do so without destroying the planet, the balance, have the changed weight of the planet change the orbit around the star, the tilt, or the rotation speed of the planet. So, to come back to the point, terraforming is easy; just whack some asteroids into the planet. Any moron and their mother can do that. But now tell me, my Pet, what do you do when you have people on the planet?"
"There is not much you can do," Seven said. "Once you have people living on the planet, you can no longer simply redirect asteroids to impact there. This would either kill the people on the planet directly, or it would still kill them indirectly. The dust would block the star's light and drastically change temperatures on the planet for decades."
"Unless you really know what you are doing," Torres corrected. "You can still bring in asteroids to change levels of whatever on the planet. You just can't go smacking them into the planet anymore. What you need to do is one of two things. Either you beam the asteroids on to the planet, or you break the asteroid up into parts that are small enough to burn up in the atmosphere of the planet."
Seven slowly started to understand what Torres meant. "However, the problem with the first is that you can only do the beaming with ice asteroids because those will melt and the water will enter the natural water cycle on the planet and be distributed all over the planet in the form of rain. For other materials the beaming is only interesting if you want to use the asteroid directly for the resources."
"For instance, if you might want to beam an iron asteroid onto the planet so that the metal can be mined directly from this new 'mountain' of iron," Torres agreed.
"However," Seven reminded, "The iron will not be distributed all over the planet that way. It would be in one location. This would be convenient for mining and building, but inconvenient for creating a natural looking distribution. Which leaves the option of breaking up the asteroids into parts that are big enough to do the job in a reasonable time, but small enough to burn up in the atmosphere. The problem with that is that the size of the parts differs depending on the substance. Iron will have to be in smaller parts than mineral rock."
"Right," Torres agreed. "And that isn't even taking in to account that there might not even be an atmosphere to burn things up in. You know how it's a true statement of richness to buy yourself a moon? The Ferengi really love doing that, but they sure aren't the only ones. The thing is that there are only so many moons or planets, with a livable atmosphere on it. The problem is that, sure they can terraform it, but if they do, it takes decades in the best case before they can live on it. Nobody is going to buy a moon now if they can't live on it 'now' as well."
"I see what you mean," Seven said. "While everyone knows how to do standard terraforming, only a few would know how to do this fine-tuned terraforming. Terraforming in such a way that people can start living on the moon or planet within a year or two of buying it."
"Something the Phoenix Alliance could specialize in," Torres suggested, coming back to the point. "Again, your services will be outrageously high, but worth it to the people that want those services. Let me use hypothetical numbers here and not real prices. Say that a moon that is life-sustainable costs a hundred credits to buy, and a moon that is not life-sustainable only costs fifty credits. Now you come in and say, 'I can terraform the moon for you, for seventy credits'. Outrageously high, right? After all, that's more than the moon itself cost. But considering that the moon itself was cheaper than a life sustainable moon the total price is only twenty credits over the price for a similar moon that is life sustainable. For those twenty credits extra they now have a moon that is exactly how they want it, down to the last detail. 'What, you want fifty-two percent water and not fifty? No problem'."
"Which leaves the question; if this market exists, why is nobody supplying it? Why are you suggesting this to me instead of having the Torres Holdings make a profit by supplying this service?"
"I told you, it's a nice profit margin kind of thing," Torres reminded. "I also think that you can't base a business on it. You don't know when the next order will come. What are you going to do, have those expert people just sit around and do nothing until that order comes? That could be six days, or it could also be six months. If it's purely a business, all the profits would be used up simply by trying to sustain the business until the next order. Now, sure the other factions could afford to do that, but they don't care for deals that bring in such a small profit."
She sighed. "That's the real problem here. The profit margin is such that it would cost too much for a single business to do it, and there is not enough profit in it to be worth it for a Faction as a whole to do it. There are more things like that. Things that are not really worth it for one of the other Factions to bother with or claim it as a monopoly, but that are too expensive for a company to do it."
"Whereas the Phoenix Alliance is much bigger than a company, but much smaller than the other factions," Seven said in understanding.
Torres nodded. "Right. You could specialize in doing those things. You buy or build the specialized material and spaceships needed to do this specialized terraforming, and you train the people to do it. The reason why you can do this where others can't is because you are Government. If there are no orders, you simply store the tools, devices, and ships, needed for the terraforming away until you need them again for the next job."
"Or have them do a non-paying job for the Alliance itself," Seven pointed out.
"Or that," Torres agreed. But even if not. Since you are the Government you don't have to explain to shareholders just why those ships haven't been used for a half year. You don't have to suffer the, 'if it's not being used it's costing credits' mentality that businesses suffer from. And the specialized people that do the job? Since they are government workers you simply have them doing some other job until you need them again. There is nothing that says that a terraforming specialist can't also do some structural building while there are no terraforming orders to fulfill. As long as they have agreed to it in their contract of course."
"True," Seven had to agree. "A company would never be able to 'get away' with having tools not being used, or not having the people doing the job they are trained for. However, in a government the ships and tools will be a standing part of a Ministry; the Ministry of Environment and Terraforming."
"I think that Keiko will love it," Torres said. "Or better said, love the combination. She'll have the chance to literally change planets and moons, and also have the park here on the ship so that she can do the hands-on gardening she loves."
"To make even more profit we could specialize the Terraforming even more," Seven suggested. "Until now we were only talking about changing planets as far as percentages of certain substances are concerned. We could also offer to introduce fauna to the planets or moons. To make the valley the moon owner's home is going to be built in look exactly like they want it."
"Well, it's not like any introduced plant species can take over the natural habitat of an original planet if there is no life on the moon to begin with," Torres agreed. "I think it would be best to set up the Ministry and let them look into detail just what they can offer. I mean, the ships are one thing, as we discussed. Redirecting asteroids is also no problem, but plants are something entirely different. They will have to be grown, or harvested from somewhere. I don't think the original planet would like it very much if so many plants are harvested off their planet."
"True," Seven had to agree. "We do not want to destroy the life on one planet just so that we can make a profit on another. We would have to deliberately grow the plants we want to use."
"Also, you don't know when the plants would be needed," Torres said. "Or what kind of plants a person would want. That's a lot of potential plants. Grow them or harvest them? The question with both is, from where? If you grow them you will also need people to plant them and make sure that everything is grown properly. If you harvest, there is only so much you can remove before you start doing permanent damage. Something we both know you don't want."
Seven smiled. "Then I guess that figuring out what is feasible will be one of Keiko's first tasks, if she takes the job. Personally, I think a compromise would be to plant in and around cities or sites where the owner wants plants. That way there are plants where there are people. Then the rest of the planet could be left to normal evolution. The seeds from those plants will be distributed by wind and water. Eventually the plant life will spread over the entire planet."
"Maybe you can concentrate on what are pests for the other planets," Torres suggested. "You know, on every planet in the Coalition where plants exists you also have pests plants. For instance, plants that grow so fast that they double their size every day. You could introduce such pests into locations where the new owner of the moon or planet normally won't go. You just let them grow and take over. After all, even those plants serve a purpose. They produce oxygen while alive, and produce fertilizer for other plants when they die off. Then, when those pests are growing out of control no longer needed on that planet, you can harvest them again to use on other planets or moons, and then you kill the rest off by setting transporters to transport key elements off the planet, like the part of the DNA that regulates the growth of that particular plant."
"Once again an excellent idea," Seven could only agree. "As for Miles and Keiko, regardless of whether they both take the position, I want to thank you for offering up their contracts to the Phoenix Alliance."
"Oh, you don't have to thank me, since I'm not giving them up. I was just telling you how good they would be for the jobs. But I really couldn't bear to part with them," Torres said gravely.
"You cannot?" Seven asked, wondering what Torres was up to.
"Oh no," Torres assured. "They are so good, they are impossible to replace. Well, I guess I could replace them by hiring a lot of other people. But to do that I will need at least one million credits in compensation, for each of them."
"I see," Seven said, lifting her eyebrow at the high amount.
Torres didn't say anything but made a 'go on' motion with her hand.
"I see," Seven said again. "It is unfortunate that these workers are so important to you, and I regret having to take them away. However, I do have the Chancellor's permission to nullify all contracts. So no matter how much value these workers have for you, I will nullify their contract and give you the standard compensation, nothing more."
Torres crossed her arms. "Then I guess you leave me no choice, I will have to go to court."
Despite their fictive conversation, Seven had to laugh at that. "Let me see if I understand this correctly. You as the Intendant, as the lawmaker, will go to court, a court that enforces the Intendant laws? What are you going to do when they disagree with you? Change the law?"
Torres grinned at the question. "Sure, got to be a perk to being Intendant you know?"
"And here I thought it was the one million credits you get every day for being Intendant."
"Well, that to," Torres admitted. "Anyway, if you take my workers I'll see you in court."
"As you know, when I nullify a contract it is active immediately. So you may object all you want. Those workers are still coming with me to work for me... if they want to work for me that is. So that leaves me with the question; why would you object?"
"To set a precedent. Just imagine, Seven. If it becomes known that even I, the Klingon Intendant, can't object to you taking workers away from me, just how many other people will bother with filing a complaint? It will also give voice to what we both said at the Grand Assembly. That we both may be lovers in our private life, but that doesn't mean that we won't do what we think is best for our Faction. Taking those workers will be best for your Faction, but I as their employer sure don't want to see them go. So I'll file an official complaint and go to court."
Torres grinned while adding, "Of course, unofficially I will let the court know to uphold the law, and not to try and please me by letting me keep those contracts."
"I see," Seven said. "Then tell me, are you planning on paying the credits for an expedient trial and have a verdict within a week, or are you planning on a normal trial?"
Torres rubbed her hands together in delight. "Oh, you are right, that's even better. No, it'll be a normal trial. Let the case be tied up in court for the next ten years. So... now that we have established that I'll be taking you to court, for a case I can't win, let me ask you something else."
"Yes?"
"What are you going to do with your wages?"
"My wages?" Seven asked confused.
"Yes. You are an Intendant now, aren't you? That means that just like me you get paid for the job. Now, I'm the biggest Intendant of them all, so I get that cool million credits a day. You are the smallest Intendant, so you get paid 'only' a hundred thousand a day."
"I do?" Seven asked surprised. "And who will be paying me those wages?"
"The same place that pays the wages of all the Intendants; the Coalition funds," Torres explained. "So what are you going to do with it? Save it?"
"I do not see why. As you know, I still have the millions that were put in the account I set up to show you that slaves could set up an account, if they knew what they were doing. Now that I have an official name I can put those into my account. I have the distinct feeling that you will not take them back."
"I won't," Torres agreed.
Seven thought for a moment. "Well, I want to prevent anyone in my government from thinking that gathering credits is more important than doing their job. That is why my 'pay' to them is basically all they want, within reason. Just that the 'within reason' gets broader the higher up they are in the chain of command. I want to take away temptation for them, and I believe this should be the same for the Intendant. So, I would say that the Intendant pay provided by the Coalition funds should go to the Phoenix Alliance coffers. That a Phoenix Alliance Intendant gets 'paid' by being taken care of for the rest of their life, even if they are no longer Intendant. That way the Intendant knows that they will not have to worry about acquiring wealth for a later date."
"Well, if you really don't want those credits, I would suggest that they don't just disappear in to the Phoenix Alliance coffers. Let them be put in a fund instead," Torres suggested. "Set up some fund that's called 'the Annika Phoenix fund', or 'the Seven fund', or whatever you want to call it. Then you decide what the credits are used for. You decide which projects will be financed."
"Why?" Seven merely asked.
"Seven, you don't want the credits. Alright, I can see why. But there is no reason why you can't be the one to decide what those credits are used for. There will always be projects that don't get the funding they need. You could step in and finance those projects with your own credits. Just think about what it will do for your popularity. People are strange that way. You change the whole political structure on their planet for the better. You better the life of billions, and they will say that it's just politics. But you give away one million credits to finance some project that benefits one single part of one single city, and the whole planet will love you because you are giving away your own credits."
"It would enable me to do relatively small things without having to get the government involved," Seven said, liking Torres' idea. "Another benefit to me giving those credits away is that I can also spend it on things that are outside the Phoenix Alliance. For instance, to finance a woman's rights center on Ferenginar."
Torres laughed. "Now you are just looking for trouble. But yeah, that's my point. If you just have those wages paid into the Phoenix coffers it's basically gone. I mean, not really gone since it's being used for the Phoenix Alliance as a whole, but you won't see those credits being used for this or that specific project. If you have a fund you will see that. You will decide which project the credits go to, and you will see the direct results of your credits changing lives."
"I believe such a fund is a wonderful idea," Seven agreed. "So, now that we have established two new Ministries for my Government, come up with a way for the Phoenix Alliance to mine relatively cheaply, worked out how my security will be handled, and have decided what we are going to do with my wages... all during breakfast. Tell me, what are we going to do with the rest of the day?"
"Hmm," Torres said thoughtfully. "How about this? First we talk to Miles and Keiko and see if they will take the jobs. After that we introduce Miles to Annika and B'Elanna so they and you can work out how to change Miles' device so that you can make your grand entrance. We should have that wrapped up around mid-day. Then we leave them to build the new system while you, me, and Toby, go spend the rest of the day on the Holodeck."
"That sounds very appealing," Seven approved. "Though I must say that I would feel a little guilty being on the holodeck while the others are building the system."
"Oh, trust me, sorry is the last you would be feeling. Fun, good, loved, ravished, yes, but not sorry. How about the lagoon program? We could play with Toby on the beach for a couple of hours. Then have a nice sunset, so that we can make tender love, while Toby goes off and chases stuff. Come on, let me introduce you to one of the undisputed facts of being an Intendant; others do the grunt work; you don't. Your job is to make the decisions that give those people the work."
Seven pretended to think about it for a moment. "Your proposal is acceptable. I guess the others will have to manage to build it without me."
"Told you, being Intendant does have its perks," Torres said with a grin.
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