"December 6th"

[FredM 0]

"Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. " - Mao Tse-Tung

 

 

As Frederic Meve sat in the main briefing room near the Control Tower, his mind wandered slightly while the discussion continued with Ambassador T'Salik, Lieutenant Commander Hawke and Lieutenant Commander Quark. It actually drifted back all the way to historical texts he had read about a day which was proclaimed to be one of the most historic in Terran history. The tactics were still taught in the Academy, centuries after their use in a time when space travel was the work of fiction.

 

Developments on Cardassia were showing every sign of spiraling out of control. What was more concerning would be the fact accurate information was becoming harder to find. The rate things were going, there would be no truth left on the planet...only rumor and supposition. From a public standpoint, the Federation and all those who were involved in the rebuilding of the system were likely to hold a neutral stance. This would remain in effect until one of three things happened. Not one of them was something the Andorian wanted to see.

 

The first option dealt with the Prime Minister himself. While clearly he was a lying, power hungry monster who would murder his own people for political gain, the general public knew nothing of this. Most people within the Federation were not even aware of it. Heck, rumor was the President of the United Federation of Planets had only been presented with the details of what had been going on two days before the attack on Cardassia IV. If, in a move to further his agenda, he thought it necessary to gain stronger support from the radical anti-Starfleet factions below, there was an ace he could call into play.

 

Declaring martial law was defined as having the rule of law administered by military forces when invoked by a government in an emergency. This is designed to take place when the civilian law enforcement agencies are unable to maintain public order and safety. On the surface, it was a simple statement. In practice, on hundreds of worlds, there was a four in ten chance of it becoming something else. Since the Cardassian government had not yet left the status of being provisional, it had no power to order the military to perform such actions. In fact, in the middle of a paragraph buried forty pages deep within the document that had ended the Dominion War, a detailed description of what would take place could be found. It was blunt, if not clear.

 

"In the event situations demand, should the provisional government of the Cardassian Union see the need to invoke a state of martial law to provide safety for it's citizens, Allied forces will immediately assume military control over all public matters. Such operations shall be coordinated by the Senior Allied Commander present, who shall also be the individual all Cardassian civilian and military authority will receive orders from," the document read. Clearly absent was any mention of how such a situation would be corrected so that military control would be returned to the population.

 

This situation had been one Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force had estimated would be required within the first two years of postwar operations. Plans, protocols and infrastructure were put in place so that proper action could be taken within a period of two days. Indirectly, this had even been one of the requirements for Aegis to be built in orbit of Cardassia Prime. They had been preparations for an event that would never happen. Instead, relative peace had been present on the planet and within it's government since the end of the war. There had never been a requirement for martial law to be declared, nor any intervention by an outside force into government affairs. As with the passage of time, the plans created were put onto a storage device and locked in a secured room. That was, Meve had learned several hours before, until two days ago.

 

Now, the documents were being looked at for the first time in years. Procedures were being updated, plans modernized and statistics reevaluated. Should the Prime Minister actually take this step, it would effectively turn Aegis from a position of helping with reconstruction into the center of a coordinated occupying power. In turn, Rear Admiral Frederic Meve would become the head of that force....the effective ruler of the government. How's that for a power trip?

 

The resulting chaos would lead to such catastrophe, the Andorian could hardly comprehend it. On the flip side, it might have the potential to turn the Prime Minister into a hero...someone who would turn to try and fight the occupiers in an attempt to free Cardassia from those who could not protect it. All the while, the population would never know that he had been the one attacking.

 

A second option existed, wherein the leader of the provisional government would do nothing. The status quo might be maintained for a time and no further developments would take place. While not likely, it did present a situation to give G'Serk time to possibly secure his base before any future plans were put into action. It was also a dangerous position, as word could leak out about his involvement in the attacks.

 

The final, realistic, option was one that was so remote no one even wrote it down. It might be plausible that the Cardassian people themselves would see to the elections took place, forcing the issue to such a point the provisional government was forced to move forward as previously planned. For such a thing to happen however, the resentment towards Starfleet and energy that such remarks created with many vocal persons would have to be redirected...at least temporarily. It wouldn't necessarily involve people starting to love the Federation, but maybe like it just a bit more than G'Serk. One could always hope...

 

Now, news was soon going to break that a senior Federation diplomat had been kidnapped on Cardassia Prime. While officially no political party would dare to claim responsibility, everyone within Starfleet Intelligence was rather certain a militant wing of the Centrist Party was responsible. The demands from the mostly former Central Command and Obsidian Order group were simple: Allied departure from the system within three days and the surrender of all non-mobile assets within Cardassian space.

 

All of these items lead the Frederic Meve to wonder if he had become a passenger on a freighter doomed for collision with a sun. Most did not comprehend how serious things were becoming. Had he become Rear Admiral Husband Kimmel on December 6th? Was he watching a war about to unfold before him and be so blinded as to be missing the opportunity to avoid the conflict or prepare so the damage could be minimized?

 

"One thing at a time...," he told himself trying to focus on the Raumuk situation. "Hopefully," Meve answered himself, "we have that much time."