Department of War Operations Planning Department of War Operations Planning
The Liberty Security Force is not just missile-toting Battlecruisers. The sheer bureaucracy that goes into putting a single fighter, much less a flotilla, in the air would boggle the mind of anyone not intimately familiar with the structural inefficiency of any large organization. Every fighter must be ordered from DSE, who then has to put in the work orders to produce them. They then have to be flown to their new pilots, on deployments anywhere within Liberty. Warships have it easy, the waiting list for commanders out of West Point is short and lacking major conflicts at present, capital attrition is minimal. Deployment of the ships, as well, is done through layers of bureaucracy. Warships taking up station are in general expected to be there in the bureaucracy's eye. But these individual ships aren't the focus here.
Analysts, bureaucrats, theorists, and unofficial observers sit in meetings and plot out how to make sure Liberty comes out ahead in any expected conflict. This is the Department of War Operations Planning (DOWOP). DOWOP observes aggregates of industry, corporate maneuvering, and underworld politics. The DOWOP maintains its own apparatus of informants and agents, given shocking amounts of free rein to engage with the rest of Sirius. The most successful such network is overseen by Case Officer Slate.
Case Officer Slate - Click here Case Officer Crimson - [CLASSIFIED] Art Driscoll - Liberty Navy officer (ret.) Auditor Clark Auditor Jenkins Commissioner Trask
... and several analysts, profilers, and theorists, whose combined work ends up in the hands of the above. Corporate advisors Jebediah Dupont - Deep Space Engineering representative. Ivy Young - Ageira Technologies representative Adrian Robinson - Synth Foods representative. Arch Quayle - Cryer Pharmaceuticals representative. Iris Brooks - Universal Shipping representative. David O'Hara - Liberty Police, Inc. representative Warren Barnes - Interspace Commerce observer.
Department of War Operations Planning Department of War Operations Planning
The expected war with Kusari over Platinum rights has kicked the Department into a frenzy of plots, counter-plots, and subtle whispers to their operatives. The humiliating performance of DSE at the hands of Samura and Kishiro has their wealthy corporate sponsors, upon whose goodwill much of the Department's ability to procure expedited solutions to problems rests, in an uproar, and a threat to the profits of Liberty's corporations is a threat to Liberty herself.
It has only taken a few weeks for DOWOP to throw together ballpark estimates.
Projected Kusari Industrial Strength:
10 Shipyards in total, of these, 6 are not under Kusari's direct control, but are projected to contribute ships to the war effort.
4 Shipyards | 3 Civilian, 1 Military
Kure Shipyard (military grade) | Tsukishima Liner Yards (Renzu, may be nationalized) | Yokohama Shipyard (takes military contracts) | Yukawa Shipyard (civilian craft)
2 GMG Shipyards:
Helgoland Station | Niigata Star Yards
4 Rheinland Shipyards:
Alster Shipyard | The Ring | Schatten | Valhalla Shipyard
Expected material support from GMG: Fuel, Helgoland and Niigata likely taking KNF backline contracts
Expected material support from Rheinland: Alster and Oder likely producing additional Kusari capital ships.
Expected material support from Gallia: Deeply discounted materials.
Expected material support from Corsair Imperium: Additional resources given to Farmers Alliance and Hogosha. Likely assaults on Liberty corporate holdings in Rheinland. Projected Liberty Industrial Strength:
6 Shipyards, 2 service facilities in total. 3 shipyards not under Liberty's control.
3 Shipyards | 1 Civilian, 2 Military
Baltimore Shipyard | Norfolk Shipyard | Juneau Shipyard
2 Supplemental Yards
Chesapeake Research Facility | Chadwick Station
Crayter Republic Yard (assume 15% or less of output supplied to war effort)
Sabah Shipyard
Bretonian Shipyards (assume 10% or less of output supplied to war effort)
Scarborough Shipyard (civilian) | Portsmouth Shipyard (military)
Expected material support from Bretonia: little to none, barring lend-lease of mothballed capital fleet (unlikely)
Expected material support from Crayter Republic: Expected 15% of Sabah Shipyard's output; renewed hostilities with Kusari unlikely.
Strategic H-Fuel Reserves - it is the DOWOP's recommendation that Liberty increase funding to its H-Fuel reserves, or invest in alternate fuels for the fleet. Kusari Military Infrastructure - it is the DOWOP's recommendation that any amount of pressure upon Kure Shipyard will impede Kusari's ability to prosecute any upcoming war. Enforce demands within three months - At current industrial strength, Kusari and its allies will be able to turn any conflict into attrition. Victory must be swift and decisive.
It is unlikely that groups within Kusari will aid Liberty's forces; indeed they are expected to fight us.
The Hogosha as a matter of policy are too integrated in the government, they have no choice but to contribute to the defense of their nation.
The Farmers Alliance are Samura's harassment of Synth Foods. They have no reason to stop.
The Blood Dragons are known Coalition associates. It is unlikely they will aid us barring a commitment to enforcing a regime change.
The Golden Chrysanthemums are known associates of the Rogues, Lane Hackers, and Malta. Furthermore, records show consistent incursions into Liberty space for piracy, smuggling, and kidnap of Liberty's citizens.
The Bounty Hunters Guild on Deshima are likely to play both sides, though should Liberty decisively gain the upper hand in Shikoku, they may be amenable to contracts to hunt remaining KNF assets in-system.
Groups of Interest Kongsi Syndicate - Coalition-adjacent in stated ideology. Likely to be sheltering and supplying Coalition raiders into Kusari proper. Agents will investigate. Noshima Freeport - likely to be secondary KNF staging ground assuming assault on Shikoku successful. Recommend monitoring. Starfliers - The Starfliers maintain a sizeable base of operations within Galileo. Their stated ideology sees them as unlikely to shelter KNF vessels for very long. Freeport 12 - These particular Zoners are smart enough to stay out of Liberty. Pest control is not advised at this time. Ames Research Station - Unlikely to have more than a token Kusari force in the area. Unlikely to antagonize Liberty forces.
Case Officer Slate is flagged down by one of the unofficial observers, a representative of DSE's interests, able to give estimates of what DSE can contribute to a given effort, as well as whisper into the LSF's ear what kinds of problems abroad could use a little unofficial nudging.
Enforce demands within three months - DSE representative advises boost to economy from wartime contracts outweighs losses due to attrition from extended conflict. Begin war production immediately.
Department of War Operations Planning Department of War Operations Planning
The Kusari Jump Drive's theoretical range was extrapolated from the berth of space Kusari has access to. A potential target list of a Jump Drive assault launched from Shikoku made the rounds almost immediately.
Detroit Munitions - Nearest capital asset unlikely to be able to respond in time before significant damage is dealt. Planet Denver - Known Kusari battlegroups (Hamamatsu, Matsumoto, Myoko, Nagasaki) likely able to effect partial bombardment and landing before Liberty reinforcements arrive. Local Police forces likely unable to repulse Kusari marines with available resources. One Police Plaza likely devastated. Baltimore Shipyard & Fort Bush - Liberty Police deemed likely unable to defend against battlegroup before reinforcements from Manhattan and Norfolk arrive.
Norfolk Shipyard and Zone-21 - Kusari's entire projected military might unable to breach Zone 21 before isolation and destruction. Alaskan Security Forces deemed sufficient to contain incursion.
Likewise, a set of updated recommendations were presented.
Additional Fortification of Planet Denver - Initial Imperial Kusari Army landing force estimated at 50.000 marines as well as multiple orbital bombardments from orbiting Battleships. Redeployment of up to 15% of Alaskan Security Forces to supplement Navy patrols between Norfolk and Baltimore Shipyard.
Department of War Operations Planning Department of War Operations Planning
"...we shall not trouble you with specious pretenses---either of how we have a right to our empire because we overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of the wrong that you have done us---and make a long speech that would not be believed; and in return, we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying that you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although they are colonists, or that you have done us no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, ...since you know as well as we do the right, as the world goes, is only in question between equal power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
"...Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can. And it is not as if we were the first to make this law, or to act upon it when made; we found it existing before us, and will leave it to exist forever after us; all we do is to make use of it, knowing that you and everybody else having the same power as we have would do the same as we do. Thus, as far as the gods are concerned, we have no fear and no reason to fear that we shall be at a disadvantage. But...your notion about the Lacedaemonians, which leads you to believe that shame will make them help you, here we bless your simplicity but do not envy your folly. The Lacedaemonians...are most conspicuous in considering what is agreeable, honourable, and what is expediently just...Your strongest arguments depend upon hope and the future, and your actual resources are too scanty as compared to those arrayed against you, for you to come out victorious. You will therefore show great blindness of judgment unless, after allowing us to retire, you can find some counsel more prudent than this."
- Athenian diplomat, Melian Dialogue
A proposal for LSF teams to quickly fuel and hijack Bretonia's mothballed fleet of Invincible Dreadnoughts made the rounds in DOWOP. The opportunity as presented was a brilliant one, with which Liberty could use the combined capital might to project enough power to fuel imperialistic ambitions indefinitely. Every single corporate rep screamed bloody murder, and the plan should have been shelved then and there. However, the imminent war with Kusari, as well as Bretonia's weakened state after the Dublin debacle, meant it mysteriously remained on the table, a gleam in the eye of the theorists, ready to go if the worst reared its ugly head...
Projected Bretonian Industrial Strength:
5 Shipyards in total, of which 3 are not under Bretonia's direct control.
2 Shipyards | 1 Civilian, 1 Military
Scarborough Shipyard, Potrsmouth Shipyard
3 Rheinland Shipyards:
Alster Shipyard | The Ring | Schatten | Valhalla Shipyard
Expected material support from Rheinland: Alster and Oder likely producing additional Bretonian capital ships. Projected Liberty Industrial Strength:
6 Shipyards, 2 service facilities in total. 3 shipyards not under Liberty's control.
3 Shipyards | 1 Civilian, 2 Military
Baltimore Shipyard | Norfolk Shipyard | Juneau Shipyard
2 Supplemental Yards
Chesapeake Research Facility | Chadwick Station
Continuous aid to rebellious groups within Bretonia - The Republic of Dublin is projected to bleed Bretonia dry; BMM's Gold profits made up a major portion of Bretonia's economy.
Liberty has made few friends the last time we were visiting Bretonia.
The Gaians frown upon our contracting of Planetform for Planet California Minor and more recently Atka. They are unlikely to receive us kindly.
The Mollys have been burned by the Coalition and lost the support of their IMG friends via the loss of the Hood. They may be willing to provide limited assistance, so long as we respect their independence and slip them some supplies.
The Bounty Hunters Guild on Sheffield are likely to play both sides, though should Liberty decisively gain the upper hand in Manchester, they may be amenable to contracts to hunt remaining Bretonian assets in-system.
Groups of Interest Republican Provisional Assembly - Agents report a critical shortage of industrial materials available to their facilities. Independent Miners Guild - Likely to sit this one out.
If I were an EFL executive seeing the events of the last few weeks, I would start making friends in the Naval Forces to pay them a king's ransom for the destruction of Pueblo Station in their first strike. Jeb agrees with me. We, the undersigned, on behalf of Ageira Technologies and Deep Space Engineering, lodge a protest at the lack of priority protection afforded to Pueblo Station, an installation vital to the Republic of Liberty and all the Great Houses of Sirius. While Kusari aggression is likely to be aimed at military targets in a vacuum, the existence of EFL providing an alternative to Ageira and its centuries of service to Sirius has produced an unacceptable threat to the bottom line. We must not allow Gallic interests to gain a further foothold in the Sirius Sector. Pueblo Station must be defended.
/s/ Ivy Young, Ageira Technologies
Jebediah Dupont, Deep Space Engineering
I understand your concerns, however, you are asking for resources that simply do not exist at this time. We cannot pull anyone more from the Alaska Garrison, the bulk of the Navy's assets in-system are concentrated on the Ohio on their assumption that the Myoko or [REDACTED ON ORDER OF DIVISION 9] will go through the Galileo Gate. You get the Lehigh's patrol group and One Police Plaza until additional resources are available. We are grateful for the continued efforts of Ageira Technologies and Deep Space Engineering in ensuring the prosperity and success of Liberty, and are doing everything we are able to help you.
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