Conversation was lively and jovial during lunch break within both the House and Senate dining areas, as progress on developing and ratifying various aspects of the new Texas constitution were, as had been hoped, moving along with smooth expediency. While enjoying lunch in the House dining area with his good friend number five, Samuel leaned toward her and whispered, “All is going according to the organizations plan Madam Speaker, but there is still much work to be done during the afternoon session and beyond. You have the agenda which needs to be followed, but perhaps I can be of some assistance before you call the Legislature back to order.”

Turning slightly in order to return his whisper, the Madam Speaker replied, “How so number two?”

“Well we have a little time before the lunch break is over, so why don’t I work the room by talking to a few of my friends and other well respected members of the house. I should be able to have them support our objectives without too much effort, and in turn they can each gather support from other members who typically follow their lead.”

“That sounds like a good idea. You go work your magic, and I will do the same with some of those who already support me.”

With that Samuel excused himself from those seated at the table, and began to move about the room while others finished their meals. In the same classic fashion that he had employed during countless business meetings, Samuel initiated a course of action which would play into both his own personal advantage and that of the organization. There were additional members within the structure of the organization which could be placed into positions of authority, and by smooth talking members of the Legislature, that goal could be more easily obtained. The same could be said for Samuel’s trucking, rail, and shipping interests, so by laying the foundation of their support for prospective lucrative contracts, he would ensure additional wealth and security for future generations of the Tillman family. What would be of tremendous help to him as he began the two pronged endeavor was his familiarity to those within the dining area. Nearly everyone remembered who Samuel was based on the riveting speech that he had delivered to the House of Representatives on December seventh about the need to act swiftly and decisively toward separation. Those poignant words applied then, and he would urge the elected body to take quick action again in the present climate.

Samuel began by seeking out the alpha personality located at each table, and then during the ensuing dialog played into their vanity. He stated that nothing within the morning session, or what was to come in the afternoon or future sessions, could have been or would be accomplished without their bold commitment to the challenge at hand. In essence he was out politicking the politicians, while at the same time steering his target individuals towards a belief that they were somehow in command of each brief conversation. Although his time to work with was short, Samuel did manage within that thirty minute span before the lunch break concluded to gain support from several representatives on a few issues which would be addressed throughout the afternoon.

Once again the Madam Speaker stood proudly in front of the assembled mass and swung her gavel several times onto the thick oak desk before her. Then she said, “If everyone will please take their seats, I hereby call for the afternoon session of the Legislature to come to order.”

A voice below her assisted by loudly repeating, “Everyone please take their seats.”

Then after a moment which enabled the elected officials to shuffle about and get settled, the Madam Speaker continued with, “At this time I would like to propose that our next order of business be that of addressing how Texas shall defend itself. We need to make decisions this afternoon with regard to the strength of our military, and how to develop future leaders within that area. Should a foreign entity ever wish to pursue hostile actions against us, Texas will need to be prepared.”

Much deliberation about that encompassing question then ensued, and involved, as one would expect, differing points of view. On one hand, some felt that members of the United States armed forces who hailed from Texas should automatically switch allegiance to their place of birth and form the backbone of her own military much in the same way that many officers and enlisted men from the Confederate states had done during the Civil War. Others believed that to be a completely impractical approach within the modern era. To blindly expect those career men and women in each branch of the service to surrender their years of service, along with the current benefits and future pensions that accompanied those commitments, would be unfair unless they could somehow be enticed by a sweeter deal. Such an enticement would need to match aspects of the aforementioned to which they already possessed, while probably also providing an advance in rank and pay.

Before a plan such as that could be put into place, or even debated over, Texas would need to decide how large of a military force it wished to possess. Beyond that, there would be the question of how to pay for it. The annual budget for the United States military had been a ridiculously staggering number for decades, and Texas could not possibly match it. Although what military forces Texas would ultimately possess was most assuredly destined to be much smaller in scale, it could still represent a significant portion of the republics own budget if not closely monitored. In concert with that realization a decision was made to not open the doors to what could quickly become and overinflated military. As an alternative, it was determined that the full strength of the Texas National Guard be called up to active duty status. Those men and women certainly possessed a level of training and experience which was better than nothing at all, and they could be used to effectively defend a peacetime Texas until a permanent solution was available. Had the elected body voted in the opposite direction, the newly reborn republic would have been instantly saddled with a financial obligation toward unnecessary benefit packages and pensions.

Although the entirety of that deliberation had then brought forth, with good cause, the all-important question of the future banking system of Texas, it was agreed to table those discussions until after every item listed on the current agenda, military or otherwise, had been voted upon. Therefore the Madam Speaker put forth a motion that in order for those issues to be given the proper amount of time which they deserved, all monetary discussions should be listed as the first order of business for the next agenda. Her motion was met favorably, so the discussions once again returned to that of defending Texas.

Before long the focus of their discussion turned to where the Texas military would be located, and in that deliberation, nearly everyone agreed with a direction that could save the upcoming budget a significant amount of capital. The desire of those present was that all United States military bases within Texas, whether active or dormant, be turned over to Texas for her own use in the near future. Additionally, locations for what would become their own military academies would need to be selected so that future generations of Texas bred officers could be properly educated and trained.

With the former of those two decisions being subsequently ratified, the newly appointed Ambassador to the United States understood that the topic of securing those bases from the United States would be his first priority when he met with the State Department in the coming days.

In regard to the methods of supplying those bases with their needs, or for any potential upgrades to the facilities, that was where Samuel Tillman came in. With assistance from those representatives that were allied to either him or the Madam Speaker, contracts were agreed upon that would allow Tillman freight to handle the majority of the required trucking responsibilities. Additionally, Samuel agreed to pay for the building of any rail spurs which might be needed from a nearby mainline to an applicable base. In return for that service, Tillman rail would receive the contracts to transport whatever machinery or supplies were needed. There was a strong vocal and voting presence in opposition to such contracts, but in the most classic example of how the “good old boy” network of politics worked; each motion had passed by a slim margin.

Once those decisions had been reached, the attention of the Legislature could move forward with the second aspect of the military question. A decision needed to be voted upon as to where each of the future military academies would be located, and to that end, the influence of Samuel would once again rise to the occasion. To begin the deliberation the Madam Speaker brought forth a recommendation which, much like the trucking and rail suggestions, had been secretly put forth to her by Samuel during the New Year’s Eve celebration. Then he had reiterated his desire during their early morning meeting in the Madam Speakers office, and although no one within the Legislature was aware that he had nudged her in that direction, the location for one such academy was actually rather obvious to nearly all of them. What made his proposal by way of the Madam Speaker all the better was that those whom she led in deliberation believed it to be her conceptual idea as opposed to that of a non-elected entity such as Samuel. He was actually happy to see that the Madam Speaker received credit from her loyal constituency for having recommended the plan.