Message Class: Textual
Encryption: Assam
To: Steiner Estate, Planet Cambridge
From: Governor-General Commodore Elizabeth Hall, BAF
My dearest gentlemen,
I have nearly concluded a treaty with the OSI, which they are ready to sign. I am about to send it to the government, but the government may need some convincing from your side, if you would be so kind. Here it is, and below it I will explain the two possible points of contention.
Quote:
Treaty of Las Palmas
The Kingdom of Bretonia recognizes the City of Las Palmas on Planet Exeter and the area of 50 kilometers radius from the city centre as an independent Omicron Supply Industries territory.
The Kingdom of Bretonia has two months from the signing of this treaty by both parties to resettle its citizens who settled in Las Palmas following the Bretonian acquisition of Planet Exeter. Should this deadline be surpassed, the Kingdom of Bretonia will pay 1,000,000 Sirius Credits per day to the Omicron Supply Industries until this clause has been realized.
The Omicron Supply Industries will pay 50,000,000 Sirius Credits to the Governor-General of Exeter immediately after signing this treaty in order to facilitate the resettlement. Examples of what these credits will be used for: Construction of new houses, tents, apartments and infrastructure for the resettled population, purchase of food supplies for the resettled population, and so on.
The Omicron Supply Industries acknowledge the Exeter System (also known as Omega-49) as a sovereign system of the Kingdom of Bretonia.
The Kingdom of Bretonia recognizes Lanzarote Station as property of the Zoners.
The Omicron Supply Industries accept that all spaceships arriving to and departing from Las Palmas must use the Bretonian docking ring or mooring fixture.
The Omicron Supply Industries oblige not to harbour enemies of the Kingdom of Bretonia or persons considered criminals by the Kingdom of Bretonia within the territory of Las Palmas and oblige to extradite them should the Bretonian Ministry of Justice, the Bretonian Ministry of Defence or the Governor-General of Exeter issue a formal demand and provide reasons for suspicion that the person(s) in question is/are within the borders of Las Palmas. Should the Omicron Supply Industries not extradite said person(s) and not prove that the person(s) is/are absent from the territory of Las Palmas within a given time, the Bretonian Police Authority has seven (7) days to search for said person(s) within Las Palmas with a search warrant provided. As soon as the person(s) in question is/are found, or should they not be found within the seven (7) days, the Bretonian Police Authority must leave the territory of Las Palmas.
The territory of Las Palmas may have a garrison of up to 10,000 soldiers, militia and police, and up to 200 military vehicles. Should the population of the territory exceed 500,000, the Omicron Supply Industries may renegotiate this limit. The Omicron Supply Industries may ask the Governor-General of Exeter for military assistance in case of an emergency. In this case, units of the Bretonian Armed Forces, the Bretonian Police Authority and the Bretonian Intelligence Service may enter the territory of Las Palmas, but must leave when ordered by the Omicron Supply Industries. In case of joint military action within the territory of Las Palmas, the highest ranking Omicron Supply Industries commander has temporary command over the Bretonian units. The highest ranking Bretonian commander will exercise temporary command over Omicron Supply Industries units should they operate within territory of the Kingdom of Bretonia.
A reasonable part of the 50,000,000 credits from Clause 3 will be used to construct a deuterium factory within the territory of Las Palmas. This factory will not be taxed and it will belong to the Governor-General of Exeter. Only citizens of Las Palmas will be permitted to work here. Salaries will exceed the minimum designated for such jobs within the territory of Las Palmas.
The territory of Las Palmas may not supply nor harbour the so-called Gran Canarian Army or any other party on Planet Exeter that is hostile to the Kingdom of Bretonia, nor give them any kind of support. The Omicron Supply Industries will not commit any hostile action against the Kingdom of Bretonia nor its allies.
It may seem suspicious that the 50,000,000 credits should go directly through me and not through the government, but I fear to say that I mistrust the government. Having the recent Swords into Ploughshares motion in mind, I worry that much of this money would not be sent to Exeter, but would instead be spent for luxury goods by our noble and gracious politicians. However, if the money was paid directly to the Governor-General of Exeter (notice that I did not use my name, but function: the credits are sent to me as a member of the Kingdom's administration, not to me as a private individual), then it would assuredly be spent for Exeter and only for Exeter. Unless the Steiners think that it should be spent for something else?
The last clause, the one about the deuterium factory, stems from this. This factory will be a point of mutual agreement and cooperation between the OSI and the Governor-General of Exeter. It will provide many jobs for the Las Palmas population and it will tie the finances of the Governor-General to the good will of the OSI. Should the Governor-General mistreat the OSI in any way, all it will take is that the workers from this factory go on a strike, and the Governor-General will lose all profit. The reason why the factory must not be taxed is to enable high salaries for the workers while its products remain competitive on the galactic market. This should ensure that no Zoners are mistreated by the Governor-General of Exeter. However, to avoid complete dependency of the Governor-General on the good will of the OSI, I believe it would be counterproductive to replace the Governor-General's standard salary with this, as in that case the Governor-General would be in complete OSI control.
I hope that you, the fine and honest gentlemen you are, understand this very well, and I am looking forward to your response.
Commodore
Governor-General of Exeter
Bretonian Armed Forces
Your message has been reviewed and although the sum of credits being passed to you could (and likely would) be considered a bribe, we have arranged for the credits to be marked under an SIS operation, and thus neither the public or parliament may investigate the matter without a court order supported by both the BPA and SIS. We would strongly suggest you do not make a habit of moving or receiving such large sums of credits in future.
Mistreatment of any employees in Bretonia is illegal, if you desire to give the facility in question a 'Tax Free' mark then that would only apply to domestic taxes collected by the planetary administration. The Crown would still be owed a sum, paid by the planetary government presumably obtained by the collected taxes. Therefore, if you wish to avoid taxing them, that is your prerogative, but the planetary contribution to the central government must remain the same. The Inland Revenue Department is a nightmare that even we avoid challenging.
Sir Edmund. J. R. Steiner.
Victor A. W. Steiner
William F. V. Steiner
John R. X. Steiner
Message Class: Textual
Encryption: Assam
To: Steiner Estate, Planet Cambridge
From: Governor-General Commodore Elizabeth Hall, BAF
Dear Sirs,
Thank you very much for this involvement of yours. However, there may be things that are unclear.
Firstly, the treaty designates Las Palmas as an independent OSI territory. It will not be part of the Inland Revenue Department. The planet's contribution will not change notably as Las Palmas is a small settlement and all of its Bretonian inhabitants will be resettled anyways, so they will still power the planetary economy but only in a different place, which we shall build with these 50,000,000 credits, but Las Palmas itself will not be taxed by Her Majesty's Government. This factory the treaty speaks of will be on Las Palmas soil, so its taxing will not be part of Bretonian affairs, but of OSI affairs.
Secondly, does marking this treaty an SIS operation mean that your agreement is enough and it has to pass through neither the War Cabinet nor the Parliament to be ratified?
Commodore
Governor-General of Exeter
Bretonian Armed Forces
The original Sydney Accords had a clause which permitted Zoner enclaves in the form of Free Cities and the like. We do not see a reason why you cannot grant such a status to the OSI establishment, the exact details could be worked out by you and the OSI in that case. In granting 'Free city' status to Las Palmas, it would ultimately get you what you want.
Or we could, if needs be, classify the document and legally consider the settlement of Las Palmas to be an SIS base and in doing so would bypass Parliament in favour of the PM's signature. The end result being that the settlement would remain untouched with all residents living there officially being considered 'SIS personnel' and all buildings, structures and lands being property of the Service, which we would leave untouched as we are an intelligence agency, not administrators.
Sir Edmund. J. R. Steiner.
Victor A. W. Steiner
William F. V. Steiner
John R. X. Steiner
Message Class: Textual
Encryption: Assam
To: Steiner Estate, Planet Cambridge
From: Governor-General Commodore Elizabeth Hall, BAF
Dear Sirs,
Your clarification was enlightening. Classifying Las Palmas as an SIS base will then not be necessary. I was unsure that the Sydney Accords themselves would be enough of a basis for me to declare something like this without ratification by the government, but now that I know, the treaty will be concluded promptly. Since these 50,000,000 credits do not come from our taxpayers, but from the Zoners, there should not be any ethical questions about the way they are spent, so I will send 1,000,000 to the account of your desire to thank you for your help. This is obviously not an act of corruption, but I realize that your political opponents may attempt to label it as such, so although the treaty itself should not be classified as an SIS project, I believe that, in this case, what this money is spent for should be and the government should not receive the bill.
I would send more, but I had rather not reduce the quality of new housing that I am intending to build for the people that will be resettled.
Commodore
Governor-General of Exeter
Bretonian Armed Forces