Chapter 440: Day 866 (2) – Corporate Structure

Chapter 440: Day 866 (2) – Corporate Structure

Clarissa nodded at me slightly. “Thank you, Michael,” she said. I let out a sigh.

“I think it is a mistake to have taxes so slow,” I muttered petulantly.

“We are going to be hard pressed as it is to manage all the various territories we are taking over. Which brings up the next issue.” I nodded and waved my hand indicating she should get on with it. Better to resolve all these issues now before they built up and caused problems.

“I would like to rearrange how things are managed into a full corporate structure.”

“What does that mean for me and day to day?” I asked, not sure exactly what she meant.

“Right now, we are operating as a weird mix of government, military, and corporation. It isn’t bad, and it works, but it isn’t efficient. Especially for me. I have given it a lot of thought on how the government needs to be restructured and also accounting for our practical realities.”

“For you, this won’t change much except a title change. Something like Emperor has a lot of negative connotations, especially since most of our forces come from America.” That made sense, but there was one thing I wasn’t allowing.

“You are talking about elections. I will not allow power out of my control in the slightest,” I said to make my position very clear so there was no confusion.

“That is fine, and I already took that into consideration. I am going to form a central bureaucracy, a board of directors if you will. I will take charge as Vice President, and you will take charge as President. Each Governor will have one vote, but the Governors will be appointed by us.” That meant Clarissa would do the appointments.

I considered the title. It was always a dream as a kid to have the title of Emperor. I don’t think there was any human male in existence who didn’t fantasize about a title like that at one point or another. Emperor Michael had a nice ring to it.

“You are worried about perception?” I asked just to confirm.

“Yes. Governors will be voted in, but only people we allow can run for office. They will be appointed first. Then they will have a provisional say at electing us to offset complaints.” I considered this but I didn’t like it.

“Why? I have absolute power. It is like catering to people we don’t have to and giving them the wrong impression. My position cannot be questioned Clarissa. I will not allow it to be questioned. I will not get dragged down into the politics and headaches of management.” I shook my head. “I know you are thinking about presenting a softer image, but I won’t accept that. My rule is uncompromising.”

There was a long stretch of silence at that. “There needs to be concessions Michael and handling situations in the event of your death. We can’t just declare you Emperor and have no legal recourse to appoint a successor.”

“I know you are a fan of history. In the modern age, there is a reason why assassinations are rare. Even with technology improving, it is always lone wolves who attempt assassinations, not governments. The reason being that there is continuity in the event of a death. There is no succession crisis.”The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

“There might have been in some countries, but the fact is, that having stable succession is important. Even if it is never used, it needs to be implemented.” I considered this and what Clarissa was trying to tell me.

“Alright, but I am not a President. I am not elected and cannot be removed. You can set up succession criteria in the event of my death or absence for hundred days or more. But I will not accept elections or criticism of my position,” I laid out my red line very clearly. I was not going to let my control slip.

“How much day to day power do you want? Veto authority or something more?” Clarissa asked.

Director of Intelligence, General Mitchell

Director of Finance, Lin Taylor

Director of Social Responsibility, Doctor Gretchen

Director of Defense, General Abdullah

Director of Research, Doctor Katz

“That’s it for divisions?” I asked while looking at the names next to each position. The first one I recognized was Doctor Katz for Director of Research. Commander Abdullah and Commander Mitchell were also familiar to me.

“That’s it. The idea is to have a streamlined government. Also, a lot of functions that would be needed like transportation or health aren’t needed. Intelligence would be responsible for mapping, skill knowledge, criminal investigation, and intelligence gathering as sub-divisions. It would be a military position and have a military organization but separate from defense.”

“Finance would have auditing, taxation, and infrastructure as sub-divisions. They would be overlooking the various governors and insuring taxes are properly brought to the capital.”

“Social responsibility would be focused on grinding teams, foreign relations, minor interpersonal matters, and general complaints from the populace. They would handle petty crimes and judges appointed would be under this division.”

“Defense, would focus on standardizing equipment, training, and patrols. Along with a special forces unit with higher stats and skills. I was thinking an elite group of 20 to start off with.”

“Research, well we need to finish the super weapon, and our investigations into energy need to continue.” I nodded at all of this.

“So, the capital would fall under control of a governor?” I asked.

“Yes, but someone I trust. The idea is to create a separation between the federal government, us, and the city day to day governments. A clear divide, but we provide oversight and audits. But governors will have the authority to appoint people to positions in their city, who we will evaluate.”

I shook my head at this. “They can nominate people, but they get moved about to other cities. We don’t want a governor building up an entrenched power base in a city. They can nominate people, they will be evaluated, but then they go to work in another city. With all the cities we have, this will prevent any one person from taking control.” Clarissa made a note of this and nodded.

“That is a good idea, but there will be some pushback, but nothing serious. Anything you are thinking that we are missing?” Clarissa asked me.

“No. Nothing comes to mind right away, besides the Protector Cai Fan and what we are going to do with him and our stance towards the Avatar’s cities,” I said.

“That was actually my next topic of concern. How much do you want to give him? Have him control his city, but pay taxes as a governor?” Clarissa asked me.

That was not a simple question. None of these were simple questions. That was why I liked fighting more. Just kill something and it is over. With politics like this I had to think through all the implications.