2320: I was afraid of this. It's supposed to be time to hand over the reins of power, but Chairman Refrything hasn't shown up to the cabinet meeting! He's gotten the taste of power, and now he won't let go! Or ... something. Actually, he's been locked in his room for years, continuously muttering "don't interrupt me; I've almost got it," into the intercom. Whatever. This is ridiculous. I'm taking over. All in favor?
...
Oh, come on - we agreed to this already!
...
Pleeeeeeeeease?
(Several reluctant votes in favor - measure passes, barely.)
Thank Multivac for the magic word! Ahem. Thank you! I, Colonial Minister Refspand oMatic, am the new acting head of RBO-12! Now, what's going on here? Why are we building a Lander with only 114 factories on Meklon? Is Refrything insane? I'm all in favor of rapid expansion, and I'm not going to waste our investment in the thing - two wrongs and all that - but we'd better at least build some factories!
2322: Right! Now that our Lander's on the way to Paranar, I can build it a Newscout escort at its destination and ... work on another one at home! After all, Meklon now has a whopping one hundred and sixteen factories!
2323: Our ships leave Paranar for Zhardan! I'm going to have more colonies to manage! Who says you can't rule the empire and still bnefit your place in the oligarchy?
2326: Go ahead: Try and tell me this isn't the most beautiful sight you've ever seen:
Lovely Zhardan is mine, mine, mine!!! Errrr ... ours! Its Newscout escort refuels and heads out to explore the blue star in the north! Maybe someday I'll be able to make it into a colony! There's no such thing as getting too greedy!
2330: Uh ... I guess I'm not going to colonize that blue star after all. It's Phyco, another of those stupid hostile rich worlds that make our defense minister stand up on the table and shout about mobile defense fleets. Look, Refpect ForceTran, the place is radiated! Even Psilons won't be able to do anything with it for decades! Now will you please calm down a little bit? I'm building a blockading fleet already ... sort of. Newscouts count, right?
...
I can't please anybody around here, can I?
2331: Refpect's getting all over my nerves now. That's it! No more building blockade ships for the rest of my reign! How do you like them cybernetically-enhanced apples? Refrofit comes by to make a joke about Refpect's intermittantly flashing diode bank, so I start building a few more factories at Meklon again. What a great way to make policy! I just hope it's not a mistake building those factories.
2332: Guess who has a new colony!
I think Jinga's my new favorite planet in the galaxy.
2333: Hey! What do you know! I finally got my new fuel cells! Refrens says we could research either Nuclear Engines or Inertial Stabilizer. I'm not sure which to pick, but he laughs and rolls his eyes when he says stabilizer, so I go with the speed.
2334: Uh-oh. Big problem! My next Lander won't be finished during my reign! I knew I shouldn't have built those extra factories!
2335: I am the best! Refrens is gonna love this! We've finally got some new construction tech! Both research projects are finished in my reign! This is great ... except ... Improved Industrial Tech 8 is up next ... which means no Duralloy Armor. I really, really wanted Duralloy Armor: It might help me get more colonies!!! Oh, well, could be worse. Probably none of the next acting heads would use it properly anyway. Stupid succession. Can't I be the emperor a little longer? Please? Pleeeease? Just one ... more ... year?
(Reins of power are forcefully torn from Refspand's cybernetic manipulator digits)
So much for the magic word.
_______________
Next: What Were We Thinking?!
