After that violent interruption to the proceedings, things thankfully calmed down again. Though I wouldn't say that hostilities calmed down. If anything, once the external threat to their lives was deemed to be mostly over, then they turned back to internal squabbling about the specifics of the new government.
I said mostly, because about a day or two later, the answer of how the insurgency had figured out what road to attack was revealed. Because they actually didn't know, most likely.
So they just placed autonomous jury-rigged robots across a variety of routes, and as it turns out? They didn't discriminate between military or civilian traffic. It took a few incidents before we caught on, which was still a few too many.
Following that, all public sympathy for a true independence movement without my forces included practically soured up. It probably helped that Melhof and a few other daring camera crews tagged along to witness how my soldiers performed a very thorough flushing of those roads. I think clips even made it to the omninet and garnered some mild interest there. Though that paled compared to the shot of Major Rowles pushing her mech to intercept rockets before they struck the convoy.
The officer was propelled into becoming something of a local hero overnight, flustering her greatly to everybody's amusement. A snapshot picture of her Everest with its battle damage was circulated through local broadcasts, some of the more philosophical commentator likening the sight to how Cavia stood proud still despite the hardships thrown their way during the time of House Hessin. I personally didn't see it and thought that they were reaching.
What mattered though was that approval was up and the love for big stompy mechs was in. To the point where I think it was almost becoming a fixed moment in the establishment of their growing cultural identity. Scrolling through the various channels seemed to indicate a growing interest in mechanized walker platforms, which...I mean.
This was Lancer. A setting about running around in the mech of your fantasies. I guess I should have expected something like that.
However, I kept an eye on other branches of service too aside from just the stars of the show. The infantry and armor were taking their unintended snubbing with well-worn experience, something that did actually make me a little annoyed. They were so used to being ignored over, practically all branches of service aside from those flashy walkers. But they also constituted, in my opinion, the actual body of ground forces.
If mechs were the mobile strike force to make a difference on the line, it was still the unspoken of majority that held the line in the first place.
I'd have to see to it that whatever new administration came didn't lean way too hard into this obsession with mechs. If only to cut down the chance of a Lancer developing among them to hunt me down. But admittedly, maybe I was also a little biased, being a naval officer who saw the bigger picture. And to her credit, Rowles made sure to stress that she couldn't have done half as much without support from other aspects of her command.
Hmph. She definitely deserved that medal in time, once we established the new government. On that front, we'd actually also made great progress as well.
At the end of many heated sessions, the representatives finally settled on some formulaic calculation of population-to-land-to-representative that Veronica devised for them. I was pretty sure the NHP actually looked slightly exhausted after that, likely having run her processors a little hot to come up with a satisfactory result for the three factions. Oh dear, I think I ought to advise her to perhaps slow down and rest a bit to ensure she didn't wind up overworking herself.
But with that piece of aid, it was now just the actual language and wording of this founding agreement to settle upon, along with actually naming each part of structure. Something that I could provide quite thoroughly thanks to a noble upbringing, making sure to slip in plenty of impressive-sounding words to add to the grandeur of it all. However, it also had to be quite understandable for people to parse and understand, especially when those who wrote such document were gone.
Assuming that none present committed to having memorial homunculi made of themselves but given that I was still a wanted war criminal, I definitely wasn't hedging any bets on myself.
In any case, the government this congregation had come up with one that was purposefully modeled a lot after Union's own in miniature. Self-rule representation came in the form of an elected congress that would champion the people's voice, bringing up matters considered important by their constituents and debating about them fiercely in a general assembly. Very importantly though, while they did have the power to pass laws and resolutions by themselves, the primary executive power laid instead with a different branch they elected.
The Committee. Yup, with a big C. And leading them all was the ultimate big honcho of the state, the role of Premier who was nominated and then appointed by congressional vote. There they would stay in office, enacting and executing policy to the best of their ability until whatever coalition of representatives placed them there changed or had an otherwise massive political shake-up to call for reassessment of position.
I had argued for the idea of a term limit or age restriction, but unfortunately that was where the progressives and reformists actually united against me there. The centrists liked the idea enough to cast some pity-votes me way on it, but it otherwise had been defeated. It looked like if a popular figure got into the position and kept doing a good enough job, then they usually would stay in office until they resigned, retired, or even died while at their station.
That was a little surprising to me, almost backwards perhaps, but then I had to reconsider it in context of Lancer the setting itself. Humans could live for a very long time with age-extension technology, and there were plenty of biomods or other ways to keep a mind sharp even as time passed by. So if somebody was doing a good enough job that kept government running and happy, then there was no need to limit how long they could be at this job.
Or well, that's just a little theory I came up with. It would certainly explain why it took so long for SecComm to be ousted, and why ThirdComm was also still in power if Cavia was basing their new government around imitating this. Hm, did that mean the first administration that could come into power would set an example lasting generations? Means it'd better be a damn good one.
The Committee wasn't just the Premier though. It also consisted of various appointed Directors, nominated by the head of state and then ratified by the congress, and they would be the chiefs of various departments. What were they? Well, that's for the legislature to first create, so the Premier couldn't just invent new bureaucracies on a whim to add more to the Committee. Everybody in the position had to have a defined role, a job to do with a laid-out scope of responsibility.
The Premier's job was the oversee and coordinate these Directors, including setting policy and targeted objectives. They were ideally also to listen and understand whatever the congress of representatives were highlighting as priority matters to take on. Should they fail in this duty, then they simply would be removed from their position by overwhelming vote. The same would also go for the Directors, which could lead to the curious situation where Directors nominated and appointed under the prior Premier could actually remain in place into the next administration if congress thought them doing a fine enough job unlike their former boss.
An interesting arrangement, but one that I had helped out when the centrists made the proposal. The progressives quickly followed while the reformists hemmed and hawed for a little longer before agreeing too. I wanted to make it so that a Director wasn't just immediately replaced by a simple yes-man by the new Premier who came in, unless the legislature was firmly convinced that they were no longer so effective in their role.
Sure, perhaps they would no longer have the support of the Premier to push for new programs, but their budgets should at least be begrudgingly granted by their new boss, unless the department were to grind to a halt and cause an angry congress to demand accountability for whoever was stopping was presumed business as usual. That was the theory at least.
In practice though, I had no idea how this would all work out. I'm fairly sure that the specific workings of interstellar government in Lancerweren't ever elaborated upon or if they were, then they had been in the supplements that I had little recollection of. Nor do probably the vast majority of players, I wagered.
I could imagine most of them thinking 'wow this is boring bureaucracy, where are my giant robots?'
While I could definitely understand and sympathize, matters like these were actually important for those who actually did have to live in the universe with these mechs. If only because this sort of organized state was what enabled production of those war machines, alongside generating the sort of conflicts that would require deployments of that scale. Not that I was obviously hoping for any, but given how humanity still found itself at odds with one another despite space being such a big place, I wasn't going to be holding my breath.
Who knows, perhaps the setting's sense of fiat would wave a hand and make this type of government all work out. But I was also going to do my very best too in at least propping up the first hopeful attempt of this administration, or to a point at least. If things started to fill with smoke, then there probably was a fire somewhere in this structure that likely was source of it all and needed to be replaced.
I guess I'll probably have to keep an eye out for that even if the first administration proves a success. If only to at least get a heads-up about a Lancer team coming my way.
Everybody in the room now looked just as tired as my NHP. They spoke in hoarse voices, throats worn out from days of argument and compromise. Strangely enough, though I did feel a little tired too, my voice still came out quite fine.
Was it perhaps because of my officer training, or maybe even something in my genetics? I wouldn't put it past noble families in the stars to have bio-engineered their bloodline to be master orators. It at least helped me speak clearly and concisely before the delegates and, perhaps most importantly, the cameras.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and others. Before us is a monumental document that calls for the establishment of a civilian government, of true self-rule and popular representation that has likely never existed before in Cavia." I was standing from my chairman seat and standing at attention, presenting my very best profile as possible. It was impossible to christen this moment with any lesser. "Though this document still has to undergo a final ratification, I wish to say a few words of my own at least before the time comes.
"This new government will be an experiment. A grand one that will surely test all present who look to partake in it. We must be mindful that this is not the end of our struggles, but merely the beginning of one that very well could define our very lives. I believe it though to be a worthwhile endeavor."
Mainly because my survival was riding on it, so yeah. I did have some stake in making sure that this thing worked. Which meant needing to set a good example as the 'former' ruling power before.
"To that end, I am announcing the end to martial law as soon as all fair elections for the first session of congress have concluded, alongside the selection of the first Premier." That certainly earned a little stir from the representatives. "Please keep in mind that until I have the extraordinary pleasure of shaking hands with this honored individual, my forces will be maintaining law and order. We may even continue to do so at the pleasure of the Premier."
Well, that was a lie. We were going to do so, even if I had to beg to stay in the military. The moment I left, that was the moment Union could gun for me without anything to stop them. It made me briefly feel guilty, thinking of my soldiers who would stand between them and me if things came to it.
I like to think that if I realized it would be a hopeless fight, I'd order them to stand down and give myself up. But only if it was a coordinated effort, the full will of the united humanity in space. If it was just lone bounty hunters who didn't even have half the pedigree of a Lancer pilot behind them, then no shot was I going so easily.
Ah, oops, I think I lingered on that remorse a bit in front of the CBS broadcast crew. Right, got to finish my little speech. Hope they didn't focus too much on my moment of melancholy. "I speak now to them, wherever they are, and implore that we seek a way forward together for the betterment of all. No matter what challenges may lay before us, either domestic or foreign, I am sure of one thing.
"We will overcome. We will rise to the occasion. And we will come out all the better from undertaking the necessary hardship needed to give everybody the right to pursue their right to a happy life." I held my gaze for a moment longer before dipping my head. "Without further ado, let us proceed now with the final vote for this constitution."
As expected, it was unanimous.
Everybody in the room came up from their seats to approach my desk. I exchanged a few words of gratitude with them, then watched as they signed the paper document. Even the camera crew was surprised when I invited them up to sign on as witnesses to this event, the people a little overwhelmed that they got to participate in this political ceremony. At least Melhof took it better than most, even so far as to ensure his signature had flourish on the paper.
Then when he was done, he handed the pen to me. I gingerly picked it up, then paused. Hm, I think I actually had an issue now.
What was my signature going to be?
I had two, one from each life. But neither felt actually like what I truly was now. The tip of the pen hovered over the parchment, hesitating.
The representatives seemed briefly bemused and Veronica appeared on my desk, leaning in. "Commander. Your mark, if you would please."
"I know, I know," I muttered, glancing her way. "But this doesn't feel...appropriate. Right."
Those were certainly lies that my aide picked up on, digital eyebrows raising slightly. Her head tilted and the motion made it so that the small insignia on her avatar's tie caught my eye. That symbol, I had seen it also on her physical casket when we'd moved it planet-side following our takeover. It also had been prominently featured in the unit badges in my task force, adapted in since my arrival to command.
Inspiration struck then and I raised my voice, explaining my 'reasoning' behind the hesitation. "It would not do for me to be the lone authorizing signatory to this document. Rather, if this honored committee would permit, I would like to instead mark it with the approval of all my command- of all members in the Seventh Expeditionary. To make it clear that we all support this motion."
There was some muted discussion before Chloe from the reformists loudly cleared her throat. "I think, Commander," she said with a permitting smile, "you and the others have more than earned that right. We agree."
"As do we!" exclaimed Kyle of the progressives.
The centrists had yet to have a defined leader among them, but seemed to be in agreement. So it was that instead of signing with my name, I signed with that same symbol instead. It was a neat little one, almost like a flower with seven petals alongside a roof overhead.
I wondered what it stood for. Hopefully nothing terrible but, knowing my luck since being reborn in this universe, it might just very well be a Half Committee thing. Which meant it could be tied to Anthrochauvinism. Oh lovely, maybe then I would have to spin it into an almost redemption or rebranding thing if it was that bad.
Of course, had I really known what it really stood for, I think I almost would have preferred it to be a SecComm logo.