Alternate Conclusions
By H.W.
Chapter 8
Maras Vavaar took her time while walking through the huge hanger. She let her eyes drift around the thirty or so different spaceships that stood inside it. Hers. Well, the ships weren't; the hangar was. Only a couple of hours ago she had closed the deal that now made the biggest commercial trading post on Risa hers. The hangar was only a relatively small part of the bigger whole of the trading post.
It had been a huge gamble, and she knew it. She had put all her own credits into this, and if the bidding war had gone on a few days longer she would have been forced to pull out. That would have meant losing the two billion credits she had already pumped into buying off, bribing, and also some legal business tactics. But now it was hers. She hadn't used a single borrowed credit; all her own hard earned credits. It was interesting; now the former multi billionaires only had five million credits left to her name. Not counting her assets of course.
Like this trading post. It had cost her forty-one billion credits; basically her entire fortune, but it did have a healthy revenue of almost one billion every year. Maras was sure that she could turn that around and double that. It was more than that though. Sure she would have a nice income, but still. It would still take twenty to forty years just to get back what she hat put in, and that was with hoping that the trading post would continue to make at least one billion every year and preferably the two she was planning to elevate it to.
No, the reason why she had bought the trading post was because now, in one bold move, she had gone from being one of the smallest traders on Risa, to being the biggest single trader in the Risan sector. And it was all hers. No shareholders, no loans to pay off; hers. Debt free from the moment she had signed over her credits.
Now she could double her business on Risa, maybe even triple it and expand to the surrounding areas. Now she could assure steady deliveries to the planets in the Risan sector. Maras expected that if she took all of the results of this deal in to mind, she would make back the credits she had put in in ten years time. And after that, she would still continue to make credits.
Not bad for the kid who had started off her business career as an eight year old child selling drinks and candy snacks at the local market in her hometown on Orion.
"Excuse me," A pleasantly sounding voice suddenly said from behind her.
Maras turned around and saw a beautiful Risan woman standing only a few meters away. She had a chocolate brown skin, equally brown eyes, and the smallest of smiles on her lips. On her forehead, between her eyes, was the well-known mark that was worn by the Risans that were proud of their heritage, and willingly embraced all of what it meant to be a Risan.
"Yes? Can I help you?" Maras asked.
"I hope," The Risan said as she took in the Orion woman standing in front of her. There was the same green skin and black hair that all Orions had. But besides that this Orion radiated a clear sense of presence that the Risan found very attractive. Of course, it certainly added to the attractiveness that the Orion woman's body was filling out her clothing in all the right places with all the right curves. With a mental shake the Risan realized that she had not yet introduced herself.
"Excuse me for my rude manners. My name is Arandis Mandari. I'm looking for the manager of this hangar, do you know where I can find him?"
Maras lost her smile when she heard the name. "You are Mandari?"
"Um, yes. Why, do I know you?" Arandis wondered.
"Why are you looking for the manager?" Maras asked coolly, not answering the question.
"Oh, well, I have a ship here," Arandis turned around and pointed at a ship standing a little bit away. "I was hoping to get a release before mid-day." Arandis smiled a bit more, wondering why this Orion was suddenly acting so coolly, but knowing from experience that a smile could be a great weapon in dealing with people.
"Ah, I see," Maras said. "You heard about the sale, and that at mid-day the offices close for the transition. You want to get out before then. Well, I'm sorry, though not really, to inform you that the sale closed early and one of the first things that the new owner did was fire the entire management staff so that her own management team can take over. I have been told that they found some problems and it could be months before this hanger opens again and the ships will be allowed to leave."
Of course, all of what she had just said was total lies. Even if Maras suspected wrongdoings... which she didn't, not counting the normal small stuff like 'borrowing' company property for personal use... she would still be a total food to truly fire the entire management at the point of takeover. You first wanted to bring in your own people to just see how things were done, of course. And only when they were in place and knew how to run stuff did you start firing. But Maras was pretty sure that most of the old management would keep their job. They had done a decent job until now and all they really needed was a bit of guidance in how to do things her way. But it still gave Maras a huge satisfaction to see the smile on the Risan's face slip away.
"And who are you to know this?" Arandis asked, hoping that the Orion was just someone that didn't know what she was talking about.
"Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself," Maras said overly sweetly. "I'm Maras Vavaar; the new owner of this business."
She looked at the Risan's ship again. "Hmm, it looks like your ship is in need of some work. I'm afraid that for the safety of you, your crew, and my ground people, I can't allow your ship to leave. I think it really needs some serious work. But don't worry, I have some great mechanics. We'll have your ship fixed in no time, four or five months at most. Really cheap too. I'm sure that it'll be less than a million credits."
"What?" Arandis asked outraged. "Are you insane? The last major overhaul, which was half a year ago by the way, cost me less than that. That's my damn ship and if you don't release it I'll go to the authorities and file a theft complaint."
"No, I'm not insane," Maras assured. "I'm only a person that is not above childish revenge and I'm in the position now to pay you back."
"Pay me back for what?" Arandis asked confused.
"Oh, come now," Maras said. "Don't pretend that you don't know my name. You have crossed my business often enough. Remember the warehouse I wanted to build on Kraika street? You used your connections to block that because you had your own business in that street. Or how about blocking my admittance to the Risan slave market? Or how about,"
"That's just plain stupid," Arandis interrupted. "I don't know what your problem is, but I would think that you as a business person would appreciate someone doing business themselves. I had enough of this. Either you release my ship or I'll go to the authorities, and I'm not kidding."
Maras crossed her arms. "Good luck finding authorities that are willing to help you if it means getting in to a scuffle with the biggest employer of this region."
"Not all authorities are motivated by the number of people employed in a certain region," Someone else suddenly said.
Both women looked to the side that the voice had came from, and immediately knew that whether a ship was allowed to leave or not was suddenly the least of their worries.
"Well shit," Maras said, knowing that now there was no way that she could get out of this one. There was no way that she could say 'I didn't do that' when two Intendants had actually heard her say it.
"Is that supposed to be an exclamation, or an insult?" Seven asked.
"And exclamation, I assure you, Intendant," Maras was quick to say.
"I am sorry to see that you are not living up to my expectations right now," Seven said as she, Torres, Toby, and the guards moved closer to the two women. "My files on you show that you are a highly professional person that loves a business challenge and thrives on the thrill of succeeding. Right now it looks more like you only thrive on petty grudges."
"If you only indulge in petty grudges occasionally, while you make important business decisions every day with a clear head ignoring what you think of people, petty grudges can be a fun thing to indulge in." Maras explained, not really defending that this was indeed what she had been doing. "More so if the person you are talking to doesn't know that all you are saying is empty air. It pisses the person off, the person goes to see the authorities, who tell her that really everything is alright and the person can leave a few hours later. No harm done."
"Unless the person misses an appointment because of it," Arandis spoke up. "I have an appointment in six hours and I need my ship to get to the moon the appointment is on. I just can't miss that appointment."
"Sounds very serious," Seven agreed. "If it was not for the fact that I happen to know that your appointment is nothing more than a visit to the Andrena gardens with an old friend to catch up on old times. I can assure you that you will be missing that 'appointment' regardless. I have some business to discus with the both of you. If you don't mind we will now beam to my ship for that discussion."
"Um," Maras said hesitantly. "I, um, don't really know how to say this, but, um, I kinda have to meet the people I'll be putting in charge here. We have a meeting set up for one hour from now. I kinda would like to make sure that they understand how I like my business to be run."
"Do you not mean 'my' business?" Seven asked. "After all, I am the Intendant, which means that I am also the highest commercial power. It could be argued therefore that I am actually the owner of your business."
"And even if that couldn't be argued," Torres added, "She could simply confiscate it all and throw your ass into jail."
"I see," Maras said, nodding her head a little. "You are right, now is a perfect time for that discussion."
"I knew you would see things my way," Seven said slightly amused. "But do not worry. I will give you both five minutes once we are on my ship for you to contact people to let them know that you are postponed. I am certain that they will understand fully, once you tell them the why."
~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~
Time, 2 months into Intendant Phoenix's reign.
"However, there are two problems with that," Seven explained.
Her first governmental meeting had started off an hour before, with first introducing all the people around the table, and now the first major topic had been brought up; how to make a living on Phoenix Alliance scale.
"First, as our Minister of Commerce, Maras, will probably agree with me; it is not wise to only concentrate on one single market. Markets can collapse, demand can stagnate. The second problem is that while the individuals in the physical service industry may earn credits, we as their government do not. As you know, one of the conditions of the service industry was that they do not have to pay any taxes. So the only credits we can possibly earn would be from them buying or renting products that do bring us credits. Be it directly or in taxes on those products."
"So in other words, we need another market?" Tom guessed.
"We need another market," Seven agreed. "And I have that market."
Seven looked around the table before saying, "Starships. The Phoenix Alliance has a monopoly on the physical service industry. The next monopoly we will get will be on starships. Besides Voyager, the fastest ship in Coalition space is the ship we are on now; my Mistress' ship the Negh'Var. The reason why it is the fastest ship is because it is fitted with experimental engines that are not available anywhere else. Yet Voyager still is almost a whole warp factor faster than this ship."
"If I remember correctly, Voyager is also faster than the Negh'Var class in our Universe," B'Elanna spoke up.
"True," Seven agreed. "But even there you see a difference. The Negh'Var class in our universe is point three warp faster. If you take the newest Starfleet engine designs and compare those with the engines you find on the average Coalition ship, you will see that the Starfleet engines are faster by two, and in some cases even three, whole warp factors. We are going to use that advantage to claim a monopoly on the starship market."
After a moment of silence, Neelix spoke up. "When you claimed the monopoly for the physical service industry, you had to prove that you had the infrastructure in place to supply all through the Coalition. Don't you need that now as well? Do you have that?"
"If I may, Seven?" Maras asked.
"Please, go ahead."
"Thanks." Maras looked at Neelix before saying. "It's a whole different beast. The reason why Seven had to prove an infrastructure is because people don't want to order a, then slave, now servant, from a PADD. They want to go see the servant. See how they look like in real life. Hear the voice without hearing it over subspace or from a PADD speaker. Smell what the slave smells like. See the expression in their eyes. Ask some questions probably nowadays. Because of that, what people want to do is to go down the nearest slave market, now so nicely called recruiting place, and get a servant there. At most they want to make a day trip out of it, but they don't want to travel further than that. So Seven had to prove that she could handle that. That she did have the means where someone can simply go down to the nearest recruiting place, and supply the thing that people are looking for."
"My point, basically," Neelix pointed out.
"Starships are different though," Maras reminded. "They have certain specs and one ship is exactly the same as the next in that class, down to the last bolt. At best, there are some specifications a buyer can give. Like color, layout of non-structural walls, and stuff like that. More importantly, a buyer won't mind if it will take time for the ship to be delivered. Most ships are build when ordered, but even if they are 'in stock,' if it takes two months to get the ship to the buyer because of distance, all the better for the buyer."
"Because that way they just got a free two month shakedown of their new ship," Neelix guessed. "Since they will only sign for delivery when the ship arrives. And once they have the ship they only have the warranty and it will take time for a specialized mechanic to get to the ship if something breaks down that the average mechanic at the next star base can't fix."
"Right," Maras agreed. "But if something breaks during the time the ship is being transported then a buyer can simply say, 'I won't sign for the ship until that's fixed'. So for a starship delivery time isn't that important. More so because as I said, normally ships are built to order and people expect to have to wait until its build. There can even be a waiting list on the model they want if it is a popular model. All in all, it can actually be a couple of years before they get their ship."
"Well, depending on the ship we build we might actually put it in a cargo bay instead," Neelix pointed out.
"Which brings up a good point," Maras agreed. If we want to claim a monopoly on spaceships, we have to have a product line that beats all others. There is a reason why there is no monopoly on star ships. Every faction makes their own ships because they think that their ships are best suited for their needs, and companies that make ships for sales to private individuals simply don't have enough good products. They may have great ships for the market they are providing, but one good product is not enough. With starships you will need a whole line so that you have a product to fit anyone's needs. And all products in that line have to be great."
Looking at Seven, Maras asked, "My question to you, Seven, is; do we have such a product line?"
"We have," Seven assured. "That is an advantage we have. We have complete access to all Starfleet blueprints. Therefore we have access to blueprints of ships that have already been build and used in the Federation Universe. Because of that initial design flaws have already been corrected and we now have blueprints of good, durable, and trustworthy spaceships. In a moment I will come to the other classes we will be offering, but I wanted to start with showing you all the most ambitious project; the Phoenix class."
Seven looked at Tom and raised her eyebrow in slight challenge. "Yes Tom; another Phoenix."
When Tom didn't reply other than giving a small grin, Seven activated the computer and the monitors worked in to the table in front of everyone came to life.
They all took a moment to look at the information; Seven certainly hadn't been kidding when she said that it was an ambitious project.
"That's the Sovereign class," Sisko finally said.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "The image in front of you is the Enterprise E. I want to claim the starship market with a bang, so to speak. This ship will be the new flag ship of the Phoenix Alliance, and it will also be a true testimony that our boast that we can build the best ships is no exaggeration."
Seven paused for a moment while the people that didn't know the ship went over it and especially its specifications. After a few minutes she spoke up again.
"You, sitting around this table, are now the Phoenix Alliance government. Therefore let me tell you what the absolute primary goal of the Phoenix Alliance will be. It is summed up in two words; the best."
Seven looked at Arandis and indicated the Risan with a small nod. "I have deliberately installed a Minister that deals with the physical services professions because now and in the future I want there to be no doubt. The best come out of the Phoenix Alliance. If anyone ask someone, 'I'm thinking of hiring myself a physical servant, do you got any suggestions'? The answer will, not should, but will, always be, 'if you want the best, there is only one place to go'. That is the mentality the Phoenix Alliance in general will strive for."
She indicated the ship's blueprint with a nod. "In the future, if someone asks where to best buy a starship, the answer will be, 'if you want the best, you got to go to the Phoenix Alliance'. This will be the same for all we will concentrate on. Whatever we focus on, now and in the future, we will provide the best. We need revenue, so our products will never be cheap. However, to back that up they need to be the best. A Phoenix Alliance space ship will without a doubt at least be twice, if not three, or even four, times as expensive as a similar size starship from another faction. To make sure that people still buy Phoenix Alliance products, those products have to be worth their value, despite the high price."
"Like the speed," Harry said in understanding. "A business person will curse and scream over the price of the starship, but they will still pay it because the three warp factors difference in speed will mean that they can cut their travel time in half."
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "However, it will be more than just speed. Weapons, shields, cargo room. The overall package of a Phoenix Alliance ship will have to be unbeatable. Shortcuts will not be tolerated."
B'Elanna tapped the screen in front of her. "You are right, this is damn ambitious, but I can see the point. People will see this ship and think, 'damn, if they can build a ship like that, their other ships have to be great as well.' Besides, I know that the first ship will be your flag ship and be traveling all over the place right beside the ship we are on now, but if we build a second one like it after that, we would have enough with just that single Phoenix class ship to patrol the whole of Phoenix Alliance space."
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "And we will build more like her. My goal is to build such a high standard of ship that all the other factions will buy them as well. Not only simply to have the best, but also to at least have a 'gun as big as ours'."
"Right," Torres agreed. "I can guarantee you, we Klingons, wanting to be the biggest player, we will be ordering some of those ships. That ship will be able to beat my own, so just to have a 'bigger gun' we will have to order at least two of them just so that we could still crush you in a fight, and the other factions will do the same."
She thought it for a moment. "My guess will be that if you build one of those, and it really has these stats, the Trill will order one to use as a flag ship, and to have that 'big gun'. The Betazoids will do the same. Those two factions will order only one each because they will use it as Flagships for their Intendant, and together they will still have two ships and will be able to take you on if needed. The Romulans will also go for one, I think. The Bajorans might go for two, but I'm not sure. The Cardassians will definitely go for two, which means that we Klingons will have to go for three. So, by building that one ship for yourself you will also be securing orders to build al least nine more for sale to the other factions."
"That would be a great marketing tool," Neelix said, clearly showing that there still was a trader soul in him. "For every ship you build, you can build nine more to sell."
"It would, if you could," Torres agreed. "But you can't. You have to take history into account here. The Sol Empire conquered what is now the Coalition. Do you really think the other factions would just sit by and do nothing while you build up an armed force to conquer us all over again? In the beginning we will buy ships because there is nothing wrong with the Phoenix Alliance having their own ships. But if you build up too much of an armed force, there will come the time where the other factions will feel compelled to act."
"And that translates to?" Harry asked.
"More than likely you would all be turned in to slaves again," Torres said bluntly. "You would still have to build the ships, but this time only for us. I think that for now you will be able to get away with three Phoenix class ships for yourself. Taking in mind the other ships the other factions will buy under the 'bigger gun' idea that would bring the total of Phoenix class ships in the Coalition to thirty. More than enough for now. Especially since Seven will also introduce a different class which will add to the over all arms level in the Coalition, but won't start an arms race between the factions."
"But," Neelix said, only to be interrupted by Torres.
"More Phoenix class ships can, and most probably will, be added later on; a slow buildup that will then be tolerated because you already have proven then that the ships won't be used to conquer. By then you will indeed get that marketing effect you talked about, but that's years from now."
"I must admit that I'm surprised that you would allow us to build military starships as all, especially something like the Phoenix class," Sisko asked. "Wouldn't it be a lot easier to forbid us to build ships like that instead of buying them from us to 'one up' us?"
"Under normal circumstances, yes," Torres agreed. "But I guess you can say that Seven opened our eyes. We, all the Intendants and the Chancellor, realized that, yes, we have a nice power balance that serves us all well. We Klingons are the most powerful, but if the other factions work together they can still beat us, so as far as that is concerned we have a nice balance in the Coalition. But what about threats that come from outside the Coalition? We never had run-ins with the Borg or the Dominion."
Torres lifted her hands and shoulders a little in a questioning gesture. "Do they exist here? If they do and they have the same strength they had in your Universe, we, the Coalition as a whole, don't have the weapons to beat them. We might be able to take on the Dominion, but even that's not absolutely certain since, as you can see, our ships didn't develop to the point that yours have. There are some exceptions, like my ship, but overall they aren't just slower than your ships, but also less in weapons power and the shields are not as strong."
"Something Voyager herself proved the very first day we arrived in this universe," Seven reminded. "For those that do not know, in the Federation universe the Intrepid class ship was designed to be able to take on a Klingon Bird of Prey in a one on one battle. Yet when Voyager arrived here she was involved in a battle with two Birds of Prey; the latest model even, and won."
"And then, what about the Borg?" Torres continued. "What when we ever do have a run-in with them and unlike in the Federation Universe they decide to do what I would have done if I had the numbers Seven told me about? What if they decide to simply overrun use? What if they decided to sent a couple of hundred cubes here? Still not enough? What about a couple of thousand cubes? According to Seven they certainly have the means to do so."
"I would say that we'd all be speaking Borg within days," Sisko said. The fact that one day the Borg might decide to come in numbers had always been one of his biggest worries for the Federation.
"Well, I for one prefer to speak Klingon instead," Torres said slightly amused. "So we have decided that it's time to upgrade, so to speak. We have decided that gradually we will raise our combined power to a point where we can defend ourselves against the Borg or the Dominion if needed. But we also don't want to make people nervous. So when Seven told us her idea to work to where the Phoenix Alliance can claim a monopoly on starships, we realized that it's the perfect way for us to upgrade while still making is seem like there is nothing going on. We are just getting better stuff now it is there to have."
"If that's the case, then why place a limit on how many Phoenix class ships we can have?" Tom asked.
"I just answered that," Torres said with a trace of annoyance in her voice. "More ships would clearly look like an arms race, and people would get nervous about the former Sol Empire species getting so many weapons again. All of which would cause unrest."
"Besides," Seven added. "Big and powerful ships like the new Phoenix class are convenient, but they are still only a single ship that can be at only one place at a time. However, if you also where to have ships that were only half as powerful, and crewed by only twenty-five percent of the crew, this would be different. The ship as such may not be as powerful, but if you have four of them you have twice as much fire power combined as one Phoenix class ship. Yet nobody would comment about it because their faction still has the more powerful ship to take care of these smaller ships if needed. Even though, as I said, in reality those four ships have more fire power. And not to forget, with four ships you can be at four different places if needed."
"And we'll also have such ships?" Tom asked.
"As I stated before, I will come back to the other classes later," Seven said. "For now let me talk about the Phoenix class. B'Elanna just agreed that building such ships would indeed be an ambitious task. However, B'Elanna, that is not the truly ambitious part. The ambitious part is that I want to claim the monopoly on starships at the next Grand Assembly."
"Are you insane?" B'Elanna asked in total disbelief.
"Good thing you prefer an informal atmosphere amongst your government, right, Intendant Phoenix?" Torres asked, placing enough emphasis on the word 'Intendant' to remind people of Seven's position.
"Indeed," Seven said amused.
"Look, throw in all the proper respect and all that so that my ass is covered," B'Elanna persisted. "You know it takes years to build a space ship. The Galaxy class ship took twenty years from first draft to last paint on the first ship."
She pointed at the monitor in front of her. "The Sovereign class sat a new record. Because Starfleet already had a theoretical ship ready they had the first Sovereign ready in an incredibly six years. And now you want to build the ship in two years?"
"Eighteen months," Seven corrected. "The next Grand Assembly is in eighteen months, and before that time the ship has to travel to Qo'noS so that I can give Chancellor Worf a tour of the ship so that he can see if I do have a case by claiming the monopoly. However, we can 'cheat' on that by having the aesthetics outfitting done during the trip to Qo'noS. After all, carpeting can also be put in rooms when it is in flight."
"Seven, let's for a moment ignore the design stage because we do indeed have the finished blueprints of the Sovereign class," B'Elanna said, trying reason. "We don't have the means. We don't have the people to build the ship, we don't have a shipyard; nothing."
"We do not," Seven agreed. "However, the Torres Holdings do. The Torres Holdings actually have two shipyards. One of them is a combination of shipyard and star base. I have reached a business agreement with the Torres Holdings. As we speak the shipyard and star base are being moved to Mars. They will arrive in two weeks time. Once they have arrived we will have a fully functional shipyard with experienced crew ready to start building space ships. We will also have a fully ready supportive infrastructure with stores and entertainment establishments for the crew."
"What kind of deal did your reach?" Maras asked, partly out of simple curiosity and partly because as Minister of Commerce it was very convenient to know the specifics of a deal that influenced the commerce of the Phoenix Alliance.
"Let me start by mentioning that I reached this deal with the finical directors of the Torres Holdings, and not with my Mistress," Seven pointed out. "My Mistress and I agreed that because the Torres Holdings are one of the biggest enterprises in the Coalition, we will be bound to do business with them at some point. These businesses will be done with the financial directors of the Torres Holdings so that a fair deal can be reached without our relationship being an interfering factor."
Having made that point clear, Seven explained, "The Torres Holdings put their shipyard, star base, and personnel, at our disposal at no direct cost. However, in return the Torres holdings will receive ten percent of any net profits made by sales of ships build at the shipyards the original shipyards are part of. At the same time any ship commissioned by the Torres Holdings for use by the Torres Holdings itself will be sold to the Torres Holdings at cost plus ten percent."
"Sounds like a decent deal," Arandis said. "We get a functioning shipyard, while the Torres Holdings don't really lose anything since the shipyard is still their property. Only point of concern I can see is that if they get ten percent of the profits of the whole shipyards, then later on when our shipyards have expended to be able to handle the business a monopoly holder can expect, they still get ten percent of the profit, even though their personal shipyard hasn't grown and now is only a small part of the total."
"That is the real price we will pay for the fact that we get a fully functional shipyard now," Seven agreed. "However, the Torres Holdings have agreed that a certain percentage of the earnings they receive will be put to expanding their own shipyard. So in essence, their shipyard will grow with ours and will also ensure that we can build more ships, making sure that at all times their input will be worth those ten percent."
"Of course, a plus side to them getting a fixed percentage is that if business slows down and we earn less, we also have to pay less and don't have fixed rates suffocating us," Maras said thoughtfully.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "The shipyard supplied by the Torres Holdings will start immediately with the build of the Phoenix class. At the same time we will be starting the build of more shipyard docks. The more shipyard docks become available, the more ships and classes of ships we will start to build. Because of the help the Torres Holdings are offering us by this more than reasonable deal, I fully intend to have the Torres Holdings shipyard be part of the entire shipyards for an indefinite time; preferably for always."
"Since you are talking about expanding the shipyard, do you have any goal about the final size?" Maras asked.
"I have," Seven assured. "With the shipyards I am once again talking about 'the best'. Over time I want the shipyards to grow to the biggest in the whole Coalition. But it will be more than that. The shipyards will be a whole branch of service all by itself. With there not only being the original shipyard, but also one or more smaller support shipyard in every faction so that professional service is always to find in their faction's space and not possibly months of travel away."
"So with the Phoenix class we talking about having a ship build from existing blueprints, build by a professional crew that knows what their doing?" B'Elanna asked.
"We are," Seven agreed. "The shipyard that the Torres Holdings is lending us had been building spaceships for twenty-one years, since long before they became part of the Torres Holdings nine years ago. So the base and the people on it are already firmly worked in. The biggest problem will be that they will suddenly have to build a ship using Federation technology and design. However, that problem will be taken care of by the Federation personnel that will join us."
Seven took a moment to remind, "As you already know, the Federation council has agreed to provide us with sixty thousand individuals, trained in different professions."
"Then she continued with her explanation. "Five hundred of those are engineers that are already now fulfilling supervisory positions. A big part of these engineers will get the task of making sure that the ships are build by Starfleet standards. The ship's blueprints will not be changed to ensure that we indeed have those tried and tested systems, though I must point out that we will be using the latest blueprints. This will mean that the developments made to shields and weapons and the likes because of the Dominion war have already been added to the blueprints. The only addition will be a cloaking system, but since it is common knowledge that Federation ships are build to receive a cloaking system if needed this will also not be a problem."
"I got to tell you, Seven," B'Elanna said. "Explained like that it does sound a lot less insane. But still, to build a ship like that in eighteen months is one damn big goal to set."
"I realize that," Seven assured. "However, I did take the pressure in to account. It is a big task, but if we can achieve it, the fact that we can create a Phoenix class ship in less than two years will add to us indeed getting that monopoly. It will prove that we have a system in place where we can create starships in a record time. It will prove that with the expansions we have planned for the shipyards, we will be able to build the Phoenix class ships to be sold to the others in just as short a base."
Having given B'Elanna her explanation, Seven continued to the group in general. "To be able to build the ships at the speed we need, the shipyards will have to expand at the same staggering pace. While the first ship is being build other large ship space docks, or dry-dock to use the common name, will be build. I want the longest build time for any Phoenix ship to be two years, and I want at least one Phoenix class ship to leave the shipyards every month in two years time."
Seven ignored the open mouths and continued, "This means that every month a new large spaceship size dry-dock will have to de completed and the start of a Phoenix class ship has to begin. That is, of course, not counting the dry-docks also needed to build the other ships classes we need to build at the same time."
"You want to create a shipyard with twenty large ship construction bays?" Sisko asked in disbelief. "Even the Utopia Planitia shipyards around Mars only have four dry-docks of that size. I mean, now in the beginning it may be a good idea so that you can build those ships. But what are you going to do with them once you have build those thirty ships in total Intendant Torres just talked about?"
"Big dry-docks can still build small ships if needed. However, small dry-docks cannot build big ships," Seven pointed out. "Once the Phoenix class ship is build to the proper numbers, the dry-docks will be used to build smaller ships."
"Seven, I think it's okay to give them a little bit more info than that," Torres said. After getting a nod of agreement from Seven, she continued. "What I'm going to tell you now is highly classified information, and is never to leave this room. I'm only telling you this because you as Seven's government will have to implement her directives and Seven wants openness with her government; you."
She looked around the table for a moment to see if the sincerity of her words had registered. When an Intendant said 'highly classified' it was in a whole different league compared to people that just said the words to sound impressive.
Once the was sure everyone understood her sincerely she continued. "There is a second reason why the emphasis will be on creating so many large ship dry-docks. Again, we are not blind to the potential threat from outside the Coalition. When Seven informed us that she wants to work to where the phoenix Alliance can claim the starship monopoly, we realized that this is the perfect excuse to create a large big ship creation potential. If any of the other factions were to suddenly start building such large shipyards, the others would get nervous; 'can we really trust them to only have those shipyards just in case.' The Phoenix Alliance, with Seven's willingness to open her government to all, as you can see by looking around this table, is perfect to build the large shipyards needed."
Torres made her point by looking around the table, and at the many different species sitting there. Then she continued.
"Everyone in the Coalition will assume that the large shipyards are only build because of the monopoly position of the Phoenix Alliance. Yet if one of those threats does become a reality we have to shipyards ready to pump out the space ships we need at an incredibly short time."
Torres looked at Sisko before asking, "Could your Starfleet create twenty Sovereign class ships in one year?"
"Not even by miracle," Sisko affirmed.
"Yet once Seven has those shipyards with its twenty large ships dry-docks ready and a threat is looming, twenty ships can be constructed at the same time, and with the people working overtime to protect their homes, they will finish those ships in one year instead of the two Seven wants to have as standard now."
"Which will make them a prime target for any of those threats," Sisko pointed out. "The Dominion also went after the Utopia Planitia shipyards during the war."
"That is why those shipyards will be built just a little bit different than the average shipyard," Torres said with a grin. "They will have weapons and shields any starbase would be envious of."
"Think present day upgraded DS9 in shipyard form," Seven added before looking at Torres, handing the conversation back to her.
"Yes, think that," Torres agreed. "Or if you want, think the weapons that my ship has, on each individual drydock. So you see, we can only hope that such a threat would be tempted into trying an attack on the shipyards. The shipyards will be able to hold their own as if they were a whole fleet of ships, and during that fight the time of the battle can be used for Coalition ships to set course and arrive to finish off the battle."
"That almost sounds as if it is already certain that we will succeed in claiming the monopoly position," T'Pel noted. "Is it already agreed on by the other factions that the Phoenix Alliance will get the monopoly?"
"Oh, not at all," Torres said firmly. "All that was agreed on is that Seven can try, and that we won't stop the build of such a huge shipyard. In fact, since the existence of the shipyards is to the benefit of the whole Coalition the whole shipyard construction will be paid for by the Coalition funds. The Phoenix Alliance will of course have to carry the personnel costs itself, as well as the upkeep once the shipyards are build."
She saw some lifting eyebrows around the table at that revelation. "The thing is that even if you don't get the monopoly you still need the shipyards to try getting the monopoly the next time, so the existence of the shipyards is covered whether you get your monopoly or not. The whole reason why we agreed to all this is because Seven promised us a standard of ships that is second to none. To prove that she, you, will have to prove that you can deliver by earning that monopoly."
"I must say that I am please to hear that the construction cost will be covered," T'Pel said. She had already been wondering how the Phoenix Alliance would be able to pay for the creation of such a huge shipyard system. It had been a question she had wanted to ask once Seven had finished explaining her vision of Phoenix Alliance ships. "I am wondering though just what exactly the Coalition Funds are."
"The Coalition Funds," Maras said, "are basically a big pot of credits that is used to fund certain things that are to the benefit of the whole Coalition, and not just one faction. A certain percentage point of the taxes goes to this pot and its use is overseen by a committee that exists out of all faction leaders species. Though it's always been speculated on just how fair the overseeing is."
"Yes," Torres agreed. "People always assume that we Klingons just use the credits for projects that are to our benefit. They never do the math. Fact is, we Klingons are the biggest faction, we have the most people living in our territory, and we have the biggest territory. People don't see that because of that we also pay the most in to the funds. All they see is that once again a project is done in Klingon space that is paid for by the funds. They conveniently forget the obvious reason that the most projects are done in our space is because we have the biggest space and more projects fall in it because of that simple reason. In reality it all balances out and the distribution is indeed done fairly."
"But won't people be... surprised, for lack of better word, that the entire shipyards are build using the Coalition Funds?" Annika asked.
"They can be surprised all they want," Torres said with a shrug. "We never installed a new faction before, so people don't know how much help such a new faction would get. It's simple, and even totally true as well; the Coalition Funds are used to assure that the Phoenix Alliance can make a living. You choose to spend those credits to set up a starship building industry; that's your choice. If you had instead chosen to set up a targ breeding industry instead, that would have been your choice as well. All the Coalition Funds are doing, officially, honestly, and open for all to check, is make it possible for you to earn a living. Give you a start, nothing more."
"Now, about the classes of ships we will build," Seven spoke up to get the focus back on the ships. "We will build six classes initially and work on a theoretical seventh class, but I will come back to that class later."
Seven spent a moment to bring up a new schematic. "First, let me start with the Delta class. Voyager created and maintained for several years the Delta Flyer. Only in the last year did you replace the Delta Flyer with the ship you called the Alpha Flyer. We will use the Delta Flyer as a base for the class we will call the Delta class. This will be our entry-lever starship. The ship people will buy when they reached the level of wealth where they can buy their first starship. Its small size and speeds of warp 5.5 for normal cruise, warp 6.8 for maximum cruise, and 7.2 for maximum rated that can be kept for 12 hours, will be perfect for people that want, or need, to travel between planets and other near solar systems but do not want to use official transports because they find the fixed schedule restricting. As use of the Delta Flyer has proven, the ship is also suited for space journeys that last up to several weeks. All round a good choice for people getting their first private starship."
"So basically it will be the standard 'home to work, work to home' ship that can also be used to take that vacation trip to Risa," Tom asked. He personally loved the idea, knowing that it would speak to a lot of people because it sure beat official transport which sometimes only left once a week, or even only once a month depending on where you had to go or leave from. The relatively basic level of the ship would ensure that pretty much anyone with a successful business or good paying job would, eventually, have the credits to buy such a basic ship.
"Indeed," Seven agreed. "Though some small changes will have to be made to make the ship more suited for mass market. I am sorry Tom; your twentieth century switches will not become standard. The ship structure, shields and weapons will however be the same as the Delta Flyer Mark II, which has been used by Voyager for the last two years that Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant."
The Voyager crew obviously knew this, but Seven mainly added that part of information for the other people around the table.
"Of course, since the Delta class is merely 21 meters long, the ships of this class will be build on the surface of Mars and not at the orbiting shipyards. The second class... yes?" Seven asked when a hesitant hand went up. "Tasha, be assured, raising your hand is not needed here; you can feel free to interrupt."
"Alright, I'll keep it in mind," Tasha assured. "I just have a small question really. Since spaceships weren't my expertise, if you know what I mean. Um, just what is the difference between normal cruise, and maximum cruise speed? I mean, I get the maximum rated speed with the time limit on it. That's simply that you can run it that long before you have to slow down or risk damaging the ship. But normal cruise, and maximum cruise? I would say that you would preferably always use maximum cruise, so isn't that a normal cruising speed also?"
"It is basically a cost factor," B'Elanna spoke up. "For speeds up to a certain level the usage of dilithium is pretty much the same, it is just the antimatter usage that increases the faster you go. This is generally considered 'normal cruise'. The design of the engine contributes a lot to what the exact limit of 'normal cruise' is for a certain class of ship. If you go faster than normal cruise you enter the higher cruise speed area. At those speeds the dilithium deteriorates faster, so basically those speeds cost more because you are using more antimatter because of the higher speed, and on top of that you will have to replace the dilithium crystals faster; which are not cheap either."
"Indeed," Seven agreed before adding in more detail, "A rough estimate is that pure on cost on average the normal cruise speeds cost only 25 percent of the higher cruise speeds. And obviously, the maximum cruise speed is simply the fastest speed you can travel without entering the zone where you have to power down the engines after some time or risk damaging them. With that in mind it is wise to use normal cruise speeds if you can afford the extra time, or do not have any dilithium crystals at hand to replace the ones you have if you wear them out with using higher cruise speed."
"Ah, obvious really," Tasha had to admit.
"A lot is obvious, once you know it. Just like a lot is easy, once you know it," Seven said, mainly to indicate that she didn't mind questions like this. "Aligning the deflector dish on a starship is easy. So easy that most around this table know how to do it. You do not know this, for the simple fact that you never learned. On the other hand, do you know how to give a Cardassian back massage?"
"Sure, it's..." Tasha let her words trail off when she understood what Seven meant. "Easy," She finally finished. "Point taken."
"Very well then, back to the ship classes." Seven said as she removed the schematics of the Delta Flyer from the monitors. "As I was saying, the second class. It will be called the Alpha Class, modeled after the ship the Voyager crew designed and build to replace the Delta Flyer. The focus will be to make this ship our biggest seller. The ship that people will buy once they are ready to move on From the Delta class, or having any other ship, but do not have the credits to buy the next class. For the moment the step between the Alpha class and the next class will be quite large and I envision us creating a class in the future to fit between the two classes."
"What's the Alpha flyer for a ship?" Sisko asked, obviously not knowing the ship because it was build by the Voyager crew.
Seven brought up the schematics of the Alpha Flyer before starting to explain. "As you can see, it is basically a Defiant class that is scaled down to the extreme. Giving it a phaser and shield power a little more than three times that of the Delta flyer, and a little less than half that of Voyager, though it does not have any torpedoes. However, the most important thing is that the speed was almost fully maintained. The Alpha class is capable of a normal cruise speed of warp 6, a maximum cruise speed of warp 8, and will be maximum rated at warp 8.7."
She indicated Tom with a hand gesture. "Which tests by Tom have shown can be maintained for 5 hours. This will also be the ship that will firmly establish us as the undisputed leader in the fast ships market. We will be creating the Alpha class ship; bringing speeds to the masses that are until now almost impossible to find in the Coalition. Important to note is that though the ship does look somewhat like the Defiant class, it does not suffer from the notorious constructional shortcoming the Defiant class has. The Voyager crew decided to use the tested base structure of the Delta flyer, and with great success. Since the length of the Alpha class is 45 meters this class will be build on the Mars surface as well."
Sisko dipped his head in thanks for the explanation, and Seven moved on to bring up the schematics of the next ship.
"The next class is the first class that will be build at the shipyards. It will be called the Voyager class. I am calling it the Voyager class and not the Intrepid class because we will be using the design of Voyager, including the Borg modifications that were made. This ship class will be marketed as a yacht for the wealthy. Some internal structural changes will be made, but nothing that influences the functional structure of the ship. Some departments will not be needed for a luxury yacht so departments like stellar-cartography and Astrometrics will be removed, as will all the laboratories. The space that becomes available by doing this will be rearranged to where we can add two more cargo bays. That way business people have the 'excuse' of still using the ship for transport and therefore can buy it on business accounts."
"Do you think that there will be enough buyers to make it worth creating a line of Voyager class ships?" Chakotay asked. "A ship like Voyager won't be cheap, at least not for someone that has to pay the actual cost of the ship. Starfleet is different. There the ship is build by Starfleet personnel and used by Starfleet. But here, to actually have to buy a 343 meter long ship with 15 decks?"
"I think that the percentage will be small," Seven admitted. "Perhaps only five people on average for an entire home planet. However, do not forget that the Coalition is not the Federation. In the Federation there are a almost 150 planet members. The Collation however also covers the space that in the Federation universe belongs to the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Empire, the Cardassian Union, the Breen territory, the Gorn territory, and the Tholian territory. All in all there are 321 home planets in the Coalition."
"Yeah, I still have to read up on that," Tom admitted. "As much emphasis as there is on the fact that the Klingons and Cardassians are the big players here, it's easy to forget that they rule over a territory that the Federation can only dream of."
"Well, this dream is in our benefit," Seven noted amused. "Because of the size of the Coalition there is a potential market of 1605 Voyager class ships for individuals that truly want it simply to be their luxury yacht. Add to this that the Voyager class will be the fastest ship class in the coalition, on maximum cruise speed at least. With a maximum cruise speed of 9.91 there will without a doubt also be large companies and cooperation that buy the ships if for nothing more than to move their employees and goods around the Coalition as fast as possible. I suspect that there will be a total marked of about four thousand Voyager class ships."
"That would be a very nice and profitable market," Maras agreed. "Especially if you keep replacement parts, maintenance and overhauling in mind. And the steady replacement of ships that are lost or getting too old."
"I'd say," B'Elanna said. "Especially when you consider that with the exception of shuttles and runabouts, Federation starships normally only number in the tens, if that. The class that the most ships have ever been build of is the Excelsior class, and yet there were just a little over four hundred build."
Looking at Seven, B'Elanna asked, "But I did notice that the speed you mentioned for the Voyager class is lower than what Voyager is now. Are you going to curb the engines?"
"We are," Seven agreed. "And I mean physically by changing some engine parts and not just by some computer programming. For all the factions the absolute top in armament will be the Phoenix class. To ensure this, the Phoenix class also has to be the fastest. It would not be very effective for policing if the most powerful policing ship cannot keep up with a less powerful ship. Smugglers and criminals would try to get the ships so that they would be literally able to outrun the authorities. And since the ships will be available on the open market we will have no way of controlling just who gets them."
"Yeah, that's true," B'Elanna agreed. "Even if we were to screen buyers, that still doesn't assure that they on turn won't sell them to someone. Or that nobody will try to steal it. After all, more than one party tried to steal Voyager from us in the Delta Quadrant."
"And I fully intend to still have one class of ship that can catch up with such people," Seven assured. "Just like the Sovereign class has, the Phoenix class will have a maximum cruise speed of warp 9.9. So on maximum cruise level the Voyager class with a maximum cruise of warp 9.91 will be the fastest class in the Coalition and we will market it as such; 'the fastest cruise speed in the Coalition'. However, the absolute maximum rate of the Voyager class will be warp 9.94, which can only be maintained for 1 hour. While the absolute maximum rated speed for the Phoenix class will be 9.99, which can be maintained for 36 hours."
"Does that little bit really make that much of a difference?" Kastra asked. "I, um, got to admit that the few times I left Betazed before, I just got told that the trip would be so long, and I prepared for it."
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