Forum Overview :: Tansin A. Darcos's Alter Ego
 
The (Future) History of the 2036 founding of the Empire of Vicron by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 05/13/2020, 9:42am PDT
Backstory:

During a history class in 2136, a student named Ralph is asked when their country, Vicron, was founded. Since this is the Centennial Celebration year, presumably it was founded in 2036. He answers, '2018' and is laughed at. He goes to the teacher,, Mr. Wilson, after class and says the textbook is wrong. Vicron was founded as the Republic of Vicron in 2018, then converted to an Empire, which was founded in 2036. Wilson tells the kid to forget the regular homework, go research it and come back with a paper telling the history from then to the founding, either showing he's right or wrong.

This is Ralph's report. Comments are welcomed.




Chapter 5
"But, they found a loophole."


Jim spent all afternoon and part of the evening reading the textbook, and part of the conduct manual.

Tuesday morning in class, Jim was reading the young man's report, and he discovered that it looked like he was wrong and the young man was right. Using his pad, he looked up some of the facts from reliable sites – like the office of the Secretary of State of Vicron – and discovered a few things he had no idea were true.

“It looks like this is correct. I'm going to copy it to everyone's pad so they can read it, if that's okay.”

“Sure. I'll send it to you as an attachment and you can 'cast it to everybody.” When class started, he gave an announcement.

“Class, we,” he pointed at himself and Ralph, “discussed something and this young man discovered that I and the rest of the class were wrong. So he's going to tell us what he discovered, which you can read along if you want, as I've sent it to your pads, or just listen. Okay, Ralph, you can present your paper.”

“In 2018 three men: Tansin A. Darcos, William Thompson, and Anson McDonough were partners in the exploration and mining of Pluto's vast resources, aas well as asteroids. While having a 'company town' in which their business owned and operated civil authority might work for a while, they realized they would need all the trappings of government: a lawmaking body, courts, police, etc. So they decided on a framework to operate it, and formed the Republic of Vicron. The Head of State would be called the Governor General, since they represent the stockholders, the three of them who represented the owners of the country. Or rather, they were the owners of the country. As for who would become Governor General, Mr. McDonough wanted to run his farm and did not want the job or have to live or work in the city. Mr. Darcos did not want the hassles of running the country, so Thompson became the first Governor General by unanimous election. His brother was elected Lieutenant Governor General.

“At that time, Vicron was a new country; so new in fact, it wasn't recognized by any of the countries of earth. Neither were the other countries on this dwarf planet, That would not change for many years, although as the other countries were established here they did recognize each other, although, since they had so many shared systems in cross-recognition: phone dialing, mail postal codes, driver's licenses etc., they might as well have all been one country.

“There was an incident in 2022 in which serious misconduct occurred. The incident caused the creation of the Compact of Vicron, a treaty between the three countries of this dwarf planet, certain citizens of all three countries, and a newly-created Non-Governmental Organization called the Transnational Commission of the Compact of Vicron, usually shortened to the Transnational Commission.

“In 2026, after a second almost identical incident of misconduct by Governor General Thompson, it caused Mr. Darcos to break up his partnership with Mr. Thompson. He bought up all of Mr. Thompson's ownership in the country, leaving Mr. Darcos with 95% ownership of what was then the Republic of Vicron. The dissolution of their partnership would also cause Mr Thompson to no longer be Governor General, and Mr. Darcos to become the new ruler. The thing was, since the Governor General is appointed by Stockholder's resolution, it would require a meeting of all (at that time) four stockholders and formal notice in advance to the Transnational Commission, which would have taken some time, only Mr. Darcos was very mad at his now former friend and ex-partner; he wanted him gone right now. Plus, it was about four o'clock in the morning, he didn't particularly want to wake everyone up. However, the Lieutenant Governor of Vicron is appointed by, and serves at the pleasure of the Governor General, he can remove him or her at any time and for any reason or no reason. He (or she) acts as the Governor General when they are unreachable (such as taking a private vacation where no phone service is available), unable to perform the duties of their office (such as while under anesthesia having an operation), and automatically becomes the new Governor General in the event of their death or resignation. A replacement appointment to the office of Lieutenant Governor General would also require a stockholder's meeting.

“But, they found a loophole. A stockholders meeting was not required for appointment of another stockholder or a relative of the Governor General known personally to all stockholders as Lieutenant Governor General. So, Mr. Thompson chose to end the appointment of his brother David as Lieutenant Governor General, and appointed Mr. Darcos as the new Lieutenant Governor General. The notice of sale of stock was sent as a routine, but secured, authenticated message to the Transnational Commission. Nothing special, it is just what is called a pro-forma notice, they don't have to approve or do anything, just be told.

“Then, one minute later. another secured message was sent advising the Commission that the appointment of the Lieutenant Governor General was being terminated, and that Tansin A. Darcos, another stockholder, was being appointed to the position of Lieutenant Governor General. Again, all pro-forma.

“Then, again, one minute later, another secured, authenticated message referred to as 'the bombshell.' The message that changed everything. It would later come to be known as 'the eleven words.' it went:”


I hereby resign from the position of Governor General effective immediately.
William Allen Thompson


“Some people thought it should have been called “the fourteen words,' but the general consensus was that the signature does not count. So it was always referred to as the eleven words.

“Some people considered it the equivalent of a bloodless coup. William Thompson and Tansin A. Darcos had conspired to change the Head of State of Vicron without a notice or meeting or advance notice to the Transnational Commission. It was, as the saying goes, 'as legal as church on Sunday, and as nauseating as last week's garbage.' But, there wasn't any real opposition since Mr. Darcos could simply have called for a stockholders meeting and done exactly what was done, anyway.

“Three years later, in 2029, Mr. Darcos apparently got tired of running the county, and his business, and decided he wanted to find someone else to take over as Governor General. Supposedly, while talking this over with his wife, Mantissa, she talked him into appointing her Governor General. She didn't even need to be a stockholder. The McDonoughs had been guests at their wedding, and Anson, his wife Jeannette, and Anson's brother Robert played bridge with Mantissa every week. (Mr. Darcos was not much of a card player.)

“Since she was 'a relative known personally to all stockholders,' Mr. Darcos could do the same thing as before. On the morning of Monday, February 26, 2029, he terminated the appointment of Simon Martin, the head of Darcos Foods and an executive he trusted, as Lieutenant Governor General (who also never really wanted the position anyway), and appointed his wife. He sent that message to the Transnational Commission, then, as usual, one minute later, the eleven words.

“That is how Mantissa Darcos became the third Governor General and the first who wasn't a stockholder. She is also considered the last Governor General, although some say for technical reasons she wasn't really the last, as I explain later.

“In 2030, the leading party in Canada changed, and as a result a new Prime Minster came to power. Inquiries were made, and Canada became the first earth country to recognize Vicron.

“Also in 2030, because people kept referring to it by that name, the Transnational Commission changed its name also to be 'The Compact of Vicron.' Now, this might have caused a bit of a problem, but it was made simple: if you were referring to things needing to be done according to requirements, or as a law, you were talking about the treaty; if you were referring to an opinion or an action, you were referring to the organization. It's no more difficult than today, when the news reports that 'The Imperial Palace announced' they're referring to the office of the Sovereign; when someone says, 'the Imperial Palace had its windows replaced' they mean the building. I like the word for that, it's 'synecdoche.'

“In 2032, something happened that changed the reputation of the Governor General, and indirectly lead to the creation of the Empire. Vicron has always had a death penalty; it's one of the few countries that still does. There was a man, his name was Thomas W. Pinkney. Pinkney was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer while robbing a convenience store. As now, the standard method of execution was by the electric chair. Mrs. Darcos offered the man the option of a painless, fast death by firing squad as opposed to what was probably a very painful one by electro-cution, and the man took the offer. In a surprise move, on the day of his scheduled execution, she shot him in the head at point-blank range in her office.

“In an interview later, Mrs. Darcos stated that one of her friends spoke to her about it. 'She said to me, “It's easy to be in favor of Capital Punishment when it's neat, clean, and antiseptic the way a professional execution takes place. But can you be willing to get your hands dirty, to look someone in the eyes and kill them yourself?' And I realized she was right. I had no business sentencing people to death and letting the inexorable machinery of death liquidate them. If I was going to be involved in this nasty business, I had to be willing to execute one myself. So I talked Pinkney into a nice quick death by firing squad versus a probably painful death by electrocution. What I hadn't told Pinkney was the law defined “firing squad” as “one or more persons.” So, wearing in-ear protection, I saw him, his lawyer, and the family representative in my office for a “last minute review.”

“'By no coincidence, they were also the ones picked as witnesses to his execution. After hearing his lawyer's plea, I said he really had not raised any new argument that in any way justified clemency. I then asked for a copy of his last words to be published, which was in an envelope. I handed everyone ear plugs and had them put them in; I said I wanted to make sure they did so now, instead of waiting until the execution and maybe forgetting. Then I read the statement required to inform him of his imminent execution. Then I stood up, as if to take him to the firing range. Per my instruction, when I did so, the guards near him kept everyone away, I pulled a handgun out of the drawer, and put one bullet in the center of his forehead. “I kept my promise to him,” I said, motioning at his corpse, “That he would get a painless death, as close to instantaneous as I could make it.” One of the witnesses fainted.'

“Eventually it got out, and the rumors had her killing anywhere from 3 to 10 people, sometimes implying she had murdered dissidents or troublemakers. So, to set the record straight she held a press conference and the above interview.

“This changed the reputation of Vicron's Governor General on the world stage. If she could personally kill someone in cold blood, she was probably capable of anything.

“In 2035, a different incident happened. In the State of Texas. United States, a man by the name of Ryan Merson was arrested for First Degree Murder. Despite the fact that he had admitted he was a citizen of Vicron, nobody made any attempt to call his consulate, which, since the United States did not recognize Vicron at that time, was in Toronto. In the alternative, they could have called any Canadian embassy or consulate.. This was a clear violation of the Vienna Convention, Since the United States Supreme Court had ruled that there was no penalty for violating it, and the accused can't raise the treaty as an issue in their trial, the Convention was essentially unenforceable. So since neither the State of Texas nor the United States would honor its terms, Vicron would enforce the Convention, personally.

“Vicron sent a squad of 10 National Guard troops with instructions to get him back, alive if possible, or if not, his corpse, and bring whoever killed them back for trial, and any witnesses if they could be found.

”Merson was being held at the Hidalgo County Jail near the courthouse in Edinburg, Texas. He was being guarded by four police officers: two deputies from the Hidalgo Sheriff's Department and two state troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety. When informed that the Vicron National Guard uniformed officers were arresting Merson to take him back for trial in Vicron, one of the officers refused and started to make a phone call. One of the Guardsmen took his phone away and explained to him that this was not something he had a right to refuse or to call for instructions, they were taking the prisoner, since neither Texas nor the United States was honoring the Vienna Convention, it was not believed Merson would get a fair trial in Texas.

“One of the police officers went for his sidearm and was assaulted by a guardsman, The other police officers also tried using their weapons, which started a riot, with the guardsmen using everything they had of a non-lethal nature, which included stickyfoaam, stun guns, and batons. With a bit of persuasion, they got the keys to the cell block. They went in, where Merson was in a cell by himself, with two more guards outside. Apparently they had just walked in during a shift change, or four of the guards would have been there; Merson was considered a 'high value' prisoner, Seeing that Merson was going to be taken, one of the police officers guarding Merson, shot him dead.

“There were twenty other prisoners in the other cells. The squad leader said, 'take 'em all.' so they did, unlocking cells where they could, breaking them otherwise, and took all 20 of the other prisoners in handcuffs, along with the two police officers and Merson's body. All of them returned safely to Vicron.”

“From questioning back in Vicron, the officer who shot Merson was following unofficial policy, in which they were told to kill a prisoner on trial for felony murder in the event they were going to be rescued.

“A subsequent raid grabbed their supervisor, who said it was unwritten policy that came down from the Superintendent, with the tacit approval of the Attorney General. Apparently the policy was public knowledge, it had even been reported in a televised documentary.

“On orders of the Governor General, six squads, two each, were sent to arrest the Superintendent of the State Police of Texas, its Attorney General, and the Governor. Three smash-and-grab raids got all three of them unhurt and unharmed. The same could not be said of police officers guarding them.

“The three of them were escorted to a meeting with the Governor General. She would inform them that they would be placed on trial for: Conspiracy to violate the Vienna Convention; Conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Ryan Merson, a citizen of Vicron; and the big one: Conspiracy to commit the premeditated murder of Ryan Merson. And her office would be seeking the death penalty for all of them. She explained that the United States Supreme Court had decided United States v. Alvarez-Machain, in which it was perfectly legal for the US to send people to go into another country to remove a Mexican national in Mexico, for a crime committed in Mexico, against a US citizen. Therefore, even under US law, clearly it must be legal for Vicron to send people to the US to remove them for a crime committed in the US against a citizen of Vicron.

“But, there was something they could do. They could use the telephone to call, and fax machines and e-mail to contact their friends, associates and contacts in the Texas Legislature or other influential people. She had a proposed Interstate Compact, The Vicron North America Act, in which Texas would recognize Vicron, both would agree to contact the other if one of their citizens was arrested, both would have the option to establish embassies on each other's territories, and violation of the treaty was a fatal defect in the trial of a citizen of the other accused of any crime. If they got the Texas Legislature to approve it, once the governor signed it, all of them would be released. 'If not, it means your state considers you all expendable.'

“When asked if they had questions, the Attorney General asked to read the proposed Compact. She handed each of them a copy. After he read it, he said he was surprised, it was professionally done, but the US Government would never approve it as is. He suggested they needed to put in a few qualifiers, a few temporary restrictions, and a paragraph saying that the approval of the compact by the United States did not imply recognition of Vicron by the US government, and he would help her with the language. Also, presuming she would force it on other states, put in a provision that any state ratifying the compact could authorize any other signatory to act on its behalf. That way you don't have 50 state embassies. She agreed.

“After the changes, the Attorney General said that this would probably be palatable to the United States but you would not get the US Senate to approve a state, in effect, to have a foreign policy. Her words were, 'Let me worry about the United States. You three should just worry about getting your legislature to approve it.' They did, their legislature did, and surprisingly enough, only two of them flew back, the Superintendent and the governor. There was however, one addition. Charles Simmons, from Vicron, went with them as the trade representative of Vicron to the State of Texas. Legally, until the U.S. Government approved the Compact, Texas and Vicron could not send 'ambassadors,' to each other, but they could send trade representatives. The U.S. Itself had been doing the same thing for years with Taiwan, since China wouldn't allow the US to recognize them. The Attorney General stayed behind as the unofficial first Ambassador of Texas to Vicron, since he was familiar with what the state was, and was not legally allowed to do. In about a month, the office was ready, so the governor sent a new 'trade representative' and the Attorney General flew home, there now being direct flights from Vicron to Austin and Houston.

“On that first flight, along with the two Texas officials and Vicron's unofficial ambassador, were the two police officers, and all the prisoners, who were released to fly into Bergstrom International Airport, at the State Capital in Austin.

“Through unspecified methods, the US Senate consented to the compact, and several other US states approved it. To this day, Texas still has an embassy in Vicron, and remains the only US state to have an embassy in another country, The thought that Vicron might invade other countries to retrieve its citizens, or even take their own officials, scared several other countries. All the other members of the UN Security Council recognized it, with the United States reluctantly going along. This caused many other countries to recognize Vicron, and Vicron eventually petitioned to join the United Nations.

“Two of the conditions was that Vicron establish a formal constitution, and establish an elected legislature. In doing so, the Governor General decided to convert Vicron to an Empire, and to appoint herself Empress. Before becoming Empress, she would have to resign as Governor General. So, while her resignation was eleven words, she didn't give 'the eleven words,' it was

I resign as Governor General effective 11:59 pm April 7, 2036.

Mantissa E. Darcos

Since this was one minute before the new country started, technically Alan Blue, her Lieutenant Governor General, who became Vicron's first Regent, was the last Governor General for one minute.

The Republic of Vicron ceased to exist, and the Empire of Vicron was established, and became a member of the United Nations, on Tuesday, April 8, 2036.

“And that's my report.” The whole class – including Jim – applauded. “Any questions?”

Jim said, “I'll start. Did you write that yourself and what resources did you use?”

“I got the facts from various websites and a few books. I wrote the paper myself, but my dad read it after I finished and offered some suggestions.”

“Can you give an example of a suggestion he made?”

“Yeah, I said that the two Texas officials, and unofficial ambassador flew into the state capital in Austin. He said that sounded too much like the American 9/11 incident, and said it would probably be better if I said they flew into the airport.”

“Any books you'd recommend?”

“There were two. One was Raid on Edinburg: The Story of the Vicron North America Act,, by George Lyman; and one I thought was interesting, I borrowed it from the library in both ebook and audio book, in fact I have it on my pad here. ,Vicron's 'Saturday Night Massacres' by Simon Martin, who was still the president of Mr. Darcos' grocery stores, Darcos Foods, Since he was Lieutenant Governor General under Mr. Darcos, he had access to interview everyone involved in both changes in government.”

“Where did the book's titles come from?”

“The first book, Raid on Edinburg borrowed from the book titled Raid on Entebbe, where Israeli commandos rescued Israeli hostages being held hostage at the airport in Entebbe, Uganda. As for the other one, I bookmarked the passage: 'On the evening of Saturday, October 20, 1973, Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was investigating Mr. Nixon for misconduct. Mr. Richardson refused to do so, then resigned in protest. Nixon then turned to the number two person at Justice, and ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; Ruckelshaus also refused and quit. Nixon finally succeeded in removing Cox when number three in line, Solicitor General Robert Bork, agreed to comply with Nixon's demand. The incident, which spurred on Nixon's impeachment hearing, was known as the “Saturday Night Massacre.” The difference being what Nixon did was illegal, Mr. Darcos' actions in both cases, while unusual, were in full compliance with the law.' Although I think the book was a bit of a misnomer. The first incident where Mr. Thompson agreed to quit, occurred at 4:33 on a Thursday morning. The second change occurred on a Monday at 10 AM.

“It's probably poetic license. Okay, Ralph, you get an A. We'll have questions from the class. John, you're first.”

“Yeah, and they used 'persuasion' to get the keys. What did they do?”

“Hold on. I'll go to the library's website and retrieve that book.” Ralph looked up something on his pad. He looked up. “Mr. Wilson, is it okay if I read the words from the book?”

“Certainly.”

“‘One of the Guardsmen turned to one of the police officers, trapped in stickyfoam, lying on the floor. “Sir, I'm going to give you a chance to answer, so I'll ask politely. Where are the keys to the cell block?” There was no answer. The guardsman tasered him, and the man screamed. The guard said, “Now, I'll try again. Where the fuck are the goddam keys?” This then got him the correct answer.'”



After class, Jim spoke to Ralph about his speech. “I didn't want to embarrass you after your excellent presentation, but you got one thing slightly wrong. Do you think you know what it was?”

“No, I didn't think I did anything wrong.”

“I looked it up. Look at my pad.”

He does. “Oh, I see. Well, the book did use the term. Let me look. Yeah, right here. 'In a classic case of synecdoche, the Transnational Commission absorbed the name of its chartering document, and became The Compact of Vicron.' But I see what you're saying. The way it's used is actually a metonym. The dictionary says that 'metonym is often confused with synecdoche.' Funny how the book got it wrong and nobody noticed.”

“You'll probably find this out later, but fact checkers don't always notice everything. If you go on to college – and if this work is like anything you'd be doing if you went on to college, I'd recommend you do – you'll find college textbooks get revised every year or two. Sometimes because new facts are discovered, and sometimes to correct errors reported by the public.”


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