Democracy 1: Democracy's Right (54 page)

Colin nodded.  “I thought about it,” he said.  “I just” – it was hard to put it into words, even for a friend – “I just thought that if I pulled the trigger, with him helpless, part of me would die with him.”

“So you sent him to a planet that’s known for killing seventy percent of the people who are dumped on it,” Daria said, dryly.  “You could have shot him and it would have been kinder.”

“At least he has a chance,” Colin said.  The thought made him smile.  “And besides, I wanted to make him suffer.”

Daria came up beside him and stood by his side, staring out into space.  “I think you succeeded,” she said.  “And now the war goes on anyway.”

“Soon,” Colin agreed.  Everyone was working at a backbreaking pace, but it would be weeks yet before the fleet was ready to advance.  Sector 99 would be ripe for the plucking with its sector fleet destroyed or captured, but after that it would get progressively harder.  “Earth is only six months away.”

Daria laughed and took his arm.  “Relax,” she said, seriously.  “You don’t want to burn yourself out just yet.”

She leaned forward and Colin found himself leaning towards her, his lips moving to meet hers, when his wristcom beeped.  He found himself laughing as the moment was broken, before tapping the wristcom and listening to the message.

“That had better be important,” Daria said, shaking her head.  “What did they say?”

Colin grinned at her.  “We just had a heavy cruiser squadron drop in,” he said.  “They’re from Sector 97 and they say they want to join us.”  He laughed and pulled her in for a delighted hug.  “Don’t you see?  The message is out and spreading.  Nothing can stop us now.”

The War Will Continue In

Democracy’s Might

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Appendix: The Patronage System

To an outsider, the Empire seems to make very little sense.  The system makes insane decisions – such as putting a known incompetent in command of starships or even entire fleets – and it doesn't seem to function very well, if at all.  This problem is caused, in effect, by the fact that the Empire possesses no Rule of Law.  The Empire may possess a Parliament and even an Independent Judiciary, but both institutions are effectively toothless.  There is very little input from the Empire’s population into how the Empire is run.  This leads to massive abuses and, because there is no other guarantee of safety, the effective installation of a patronage system.  Perversely, the system is both unofficial and the only thing that keeps the Empire together in the absence of a single unifying force.

The core idea of the system is relatively simple.  The Patron – who is often rich or politically powerful – extends his patronage over the Client.  This can be a brief association, not unlike a loan shark, or it can be a lifelong relationship.  The Patron generally provides a degree of financial assistance, political support and even protection.  The more powerful the Patron, the more he can offer his Client.  In exchange, the Client places himself under the Patron and pledges to support the Patron in any way possible.  The system is often unstable as some Clients may be more dependent on their Patrons than others.

This can take on many different forms, too many to detail here.  A Patron might put a Client into the command chair of a starship, knowing that that would give the Patron effective control over the starship, therefore providing a military resource that could be called upon in times of need.  The Client would also look after anyone else the Patron designated.  For example, if there was a young officer with family links to the Patron, the Client would be expected to assist the young officer to rise higher.  Or, alternatively, a Patron might put a Client into a high position within the Imperial Civil Service.  The Client would be expected to use his position to further the aims of the Patron. 

It doesn't require much imagination to understand that his system is easy to abuse.  Patrons have been known to demand sexual services from their Clients in exchange for patronage.  Worse, Patrons with more breeding than intelligence have been known to parasite off less well-connected officers and use their skills and abilities to boost their own position. 

Generally, Clients come from either inside the Thousand Families (and a handful of upper-class citizens who are not technically part of the aristocracy, but wealthy and powerful in their own right) or outside the system.  Clients from the inside can actually help their Patron in many ways beyond the obvious.  A person who is, officially, a mere Lieutenant may have highly-placed relations who can help his Patron.  A Client from the outside, however, with few connections to the higher ranks, represents a long-term investment for the Patron.  They are rarely able to help the Patron immediately and, therefore, can often be dismissed and stripped of patronage with no repercussions.  (An insider Client’s family may feel inclined to take revenge for any humiliation they feel their relative has suffered.)

Within the Empire, the only ways to build a position – and therefore safety, security and advancement – is to either form a patronage network or to become part of a larger patronage network.  As it is highly unlikely that a newcomer could build a patronage network capable of surviving – by advancing the careers and ensuring the safety of its Clients – the Imperial system tends to be self-perpetuating.  Part of the reason for this is that a person who exists outside the patronage network would have absolutely no defence if they were to be challenged by it.  A known criminal with sufficiently powerful connections could be allowed to remain at liberty, while an innocent (yet unconnected) person could be targeted by the Empire’s various law enforcement agencies and discover that they have little recourse.  They have been effectively disenfranchised.

What this means, for the Empire as a whole, is that the most powerful people within the Empire are those who control the most powerful patronage networks.  They have unmatched power to reward their followers and punish their enemies, allowing them to continue to build their networks.  (The more power a person gathers, the more their power tends to grow.)  Limited alliances between patronage networks create even stronger centres of power, which tend to warp the structure of the Empire as other Patrons start to respond to the new centre of gravity.

At the core of the Empire are the most powerful people in the galaxy, the Family Heads.  They sit at the centre of giant webs of patronage, commanding hundreds or thousands of sub-networks, each one headed by a Patron who has a senior Patron.  Many of those networks have been in existence for hundreds of years, both securing the position of the Family and locking out or controlling newcomers.  The more important sub-networks are controlled by senior Family members; indeed, their success or failure with the sub-networks may improve their position to the point where they might be able to rise to the position of Family Head.  Given that regeneration treatments ensure that Family Heads may live for nearly two hundred years, it isn't hard to see that the Thousand Families endure considerable internal turmoil, even outright resentment or even rebellion.  Quite a few Family Heads have died under ‘mysterious circumstances.’

If you envisage the Empire as a giant game board, it becomes obvious that the players – the Patrons – must either control vital regions or prevent others from gaining complete control.  The Imperial Navy, the Civil Service, Imperial Intelligence and the hundreds of other institutions represent regions that must be controlled or neutralised.  Each of the Family Heads must work to control them, or risk having one of the other Family Heads gain complete control and use them to gain supreme power.  This isn't an idle fear.  The Third Emperor and the Empress used their control of limited sections of the Imperial armed forces to place themselves on the Throne.

The Empire’s real nightmare – the one that gives Family Heads sleepless nights – is that one day the fields of patronage will run out, forcing them to actually push directly against their rivals in a conflict that will rapidly become very bloody.  Fear of outright Civil War within the Thousand Families keeps fuelling a drive to secure as many Clients in vital locations as possible, which naturally causes the tension between the Families to keep rising...

Within
Democracy’s Right
, there are several different Patrons and Clients.

Stacy Roosevelt was born into the inner circle of the Roosevelt Family, with a direct link to the Family Head.  That gave her access to tremendous connections right from day one and, because she was part of the Family, allowed her to speak for it.  Admiral Percival deferred to her because she could destroy his career with a word or boost it to levels even he refused to consider.  The fact that she was grossly incompetent wasn't a problem.

Admiral Percival was born into very minor nobility, someone who inherited relatively few connections and a burning drive to succeed.  He couldn’t attract many insider Clients as he had little to offer them, hence his willingness to use, abuse and eventually dump outsider Clients.  His undoubted skills at political infighting and backstabbing allowed him to eventually rise to the point where he was offered the patronage of the Roosevelt Family, in exchange for putting their aims and ambitions first. 

Commodore Rupert Brent-Cochrane (and, to some extent, Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham) was born into an arranged marriage between two smaller Families, which were in turn linked to the Roosevelt Family.  He grew up with many of the senior aristocrats looking down on him, which bred a determination to succeed and claim the position to which he believed he was entitled.  The fact that he was reasonably competent allowed him to parley the connections he inherited into a formidable support network for his career.

Colin Walker and Penny Quick were both outsiders, with no claim on any support from the establishment.  Both of them were determined to succeed and, needing powerful Patrons, they allied themselves with Admiral Percival.  Colin’s mistake lay in not realising that Percival didn't need him and, in fact, could dump him with little or no fear of repercussions.  Percival didn't trust Colin’s ambition and recognised that Colin would eventually seek to surpass him.  Attempting to destroy Colin’s career was the logical solution.  Penny, who had other charms for him, knew that her position was unstable and, when she was offered a chance to switch to another Patron, she was delighted to reach for it.

Whatever the original motives behind the Patronage system, it cannot be denied that the system is a major contributor to the Empire’s problems.  The young, talented and driven outsiders who can make a difference are increasingly frozen out or co-opted (and therefore neutralised) by the system.  In their place, insiders and those skilled at playing political games – like Admiral Percival – rise to the top.  The Empire is slowly grinding to a halt.