The hour was late, the constant ticking of the inexplicably old fashioned clocks - one for every house - that decorated the admiralty boards' New London meeting room contrasted heavily with the high tech apparatus that were essential for military planning. Holographic communicators to allow distant Admirals to join, no matter the circumstance, the centerpiece tactical and strategic planning (TASP) machine, which was capable of displaying in minute detail the lay of the battlefield, or the overall strategic picture Bretonia faces.
All these gadgets, and yet, the ticking drowns them out like time weighed most heavily on the Admiralty.
John Redmond, eyes weary, had entered the board room, alone, not ten minutes prior. Ten long minutes. Taking in a deep breath, he stood from the seat he had taken, and gestured to the military AI, activating it. "Your orders, Commodore?" the AI voice, distinctly female, answered the seemingly nonchalant hand gesture made by John. "Call an emergency meeting, all the board members. Do apologies for the late hour when you make the calls" John issued the order, his voice almost devoid of strength, like he was not willing to exert himself unless absolutely necessary.
"Admiral Kaze Reidman Dagon, location: New London orbit, engaged in combat with enemy light craft" Call made, textual. "Admiral Michelle O'Brien, location: Battlegroup Harlow, Cortez, in meeting with local nobles" Call made, voice based. "Admiral Paul McKinley, location: Battlegroup Ark Royal, Newcastle, situation unknown" Call made, voice and text both used. "Admiral J. McIntire, location: New London Surface, admiralty building, situation unknown" staff directed to request presence in person. "Fleet Admiral Edmund Steiner, location: Carrier Warwick, New London orbit, indisposed" no authority to issue call, notification left, attendance unknown.
It is done. Let us see how long it takes them to gather, John thought to himself.
A black clad APC-18100 'Marlin', scarred by plasma and lasers hits touched down in the support landing pads of the Admiralty building. A tech crew quickly ran towards it, as the pilot exited the side-hatch and didn't bothered with the automatic stairs that emerged from the ship's hull, jumping the significant height down and landing with a dull thud. The leader of the tech crew quickly saluted and asked for the particulars of the ship status as the pilot opened its pilot jacket and removed its helmet. Kaze Nelson Reidman Dagon quickly replied, the lead tech nodded and jogged on to the ship. Kaze arrived at her land shuttle, saluting both present officers and entering the back. Putting the helmet to her side while leaning back, she took the advantage to shut her eyes for a moment or two.
Ten minutes later, she entered the meeting room, still clad in her pilot fatigues, her rank only displayed by the insignia in the lapels, and a small smudge of soot near the chin indicating she didn't have the time to even look at a mirror. Silently saluting to Redmond, she reached to a side table were beverages were made available. Pouring a cup of tea, she turned to Redmond, leaning on the wall.
"I suppose I am the first?"
She sipped the content of the cup, bitter yet flavorful. Redmond silently nodded as she studied him.
"I see. So, what is the occasion?"
Her hand placed the cup on the table. As always, no bs, straight to business. The moniker of Full Metal B*** was not lost in her, everyday and in every action.
John took a moment to size up Admiral Dagon, suited up like something out of Top Gun, face coated in sweat, generally looking quite rough. John was cut from the same cloth - not that he was noble born - he shared the Admirals penchant for fighter combat. He was however less cavalier about his responsibilities, dedicating himself to the work involved in keeping the war machine churning. He did not doubt that he could not jump into a fighter and fight in a blaze of glory, but more pressing matters were at hand.
"You look like shit, Dagon, don't smell very nice either. But you are the first, no doubt." John quipped. "As for the occasion, don't act like you don't know. You have spent more time in New London as of late, it's your intelligence that brings me back from Sydney. Put your admiral hat on for once and give the board the full 360 degrees. There are billions of lives on the line, we can't cock this up." John, despite his rank, attempted to reprimand the admiral, no doubt to little effect. But his words he hoped were enough to get things moving, he knew the admiral preferred this style of engagement, confrontational, to the point.
"We have only a few precious days left, if your initial assessments are correct, so lets get some of the Special Brew up here and get to it, the other admirals should be able to get up to speed" John spoke before Kaze could react to his previous words, attempting to move the topic onward.
Placing her hand on a specific point on the TASP, it read her biometric data, and waited silently for a voice command.
"New London system overview. Zero Zero Zero axis. Remove everything except solars and ROTO military assets."
Kaze spoke the words like this was an everyday exercise. Which it was. Since entering the Admiralty Board, she forced herself to learn the fine points of high abstraction level of strategies and tactical decisions, something a snub jock normally wouldn't concern itself. While one would draw in the board, the other would be one of the pieces. The TASP brought itself to life and displayed the New London map.
Redmond and Dagon silently looked at the map for a second, replaying the last strategical Admiralty meeting in their heads. Decisions were made, and fine-point tactics were deployed. Kaze however, hated this. With one false step, New London would fall. Billions dead and the survivors suffering under the boot of Gallia. Much like Leeds for all those years. Moving her hands inside the holographic map, she made a move to zoom at the planet front.
"IO reports that the skirmishes have increased by a 7% margin. Their analysis indicate that Gallia is probing our defenses around the planet, and I agree with them."
Zooming back out to the first overview, the map glowed, indicating one by one the major military assets from both sides, cascading in different colors. Looking at Redmond, she retrieved her tea cup and took another sip, finally noticing she had soot in her chin when the rim of the cup appeared to be dirty. Cleaning it with her bionic hand, the tea cup was lowered at the nearest edge of the TASP table.
"Rumors are coming in that Council is preparing a Hail Mary back in Gallia, taking advantage of ICE LANCE. The royal popular support must be in tatters, for them to chance such.. If the rumors are true. ICE LANCE took advantage of VANGUARD, with us keeping up the attrition rate. CHRYSALIS and VANGUARD kept us afloat, while they were expecting us to drown. ICE LANCE shoved them into the cold water. And like anyone suddenly drowning, they will frantically try to reach for hope before composing themselves and be capable of thinking straight."
Looking back at the overview, she thought for a moment.
"If I was them, I would be unpredictable."
Her hands zoomed into the planetary front and clicked on the Nogent-le-Rotrou, a small display showing the intelligence gathered on it. Kaze's jaw tensed and quickly she changed the view back to Kensington, clicking the present gallic fleets.
"If I was them, I would gather La Riche from Edinburgh, and move the Nogent alongside with it to wipe the Kensington group off the map. We could not engage them efficiently back at the planet. Not with the Dax bearing its guns and the Castre supporting it. With that done, travel down and end it. However, there are three variables here. Time, despair and they are not us."
The overview returned to its original position, and Kaze turned back at Redmond.
"They are not us for we are used to be in despairing situations for years. We are capable to access a situation cleanly and are able to keep our composure while doing so. This whole situation is new to them. Time is also not on their side, if those Council rumors are true and the more time they wait, the more backup and hardware we can bring to the theater than them."
Grabbing the tea cup again, she spoke before taking another sip.
"We must enact our contingencies, and prepare the civilian evacuation as soon as possible."
John listened to Kaze lay down her theories, her intelligence, and he appreciated the level of thought that went into it.
"Well, that lays it out quite clearly. Though we must separate the theory from the fact. The background information, and the recent activity reports are clear as day facts. Gallia is pressed for time, they are running out of steam, they need to force a set piece battle, and win. What is not clear, is where, how, and with what they will do this. The Kensington attack angle is plausible, but I don't know, the fact that I am extremely happy at the prospect of them going for Kensington, makes me doubt it likely." John spoke in brief his thoughts towards the Admirals statements.
John paused for a moment to reflect on the situation freshly laid out to him. A million different variables presented themselves, and the longer he thought the less clear the correct path became. This was common in military planning, and it is best to stop thinking, and start small.
"Not going to find an answer so easily. First, let us lay down what we are willing, and not willing to accept, particularly in regards to the Kensington theory. Is Kensington, and our supply line to Liberty, worth defending at this juncture? The arrival of the Concord and Alma are likely the last reinforcements will we be getting, and we can be assured that Gallia is no longer after our supply lines. What do we think of letting the four battlegroups at Kensington fight it out? Even with four Gallic fleets and that Corsair pile of dirty metal and its offspring, taking the well defended junction will render the attacking forces unable to contribute to the main push. "
"What is our chief concern here? To me, it is being caught at the planet while our fleets sit pretty at Kensington. So then, are we open to combining all our fleets, and giving them what they want, an opera to end all operas? We out number them, indeed, but is it worth the risk? And of the planet, you spoke of evacuations, and I stand here to say, let us not hesitate in this regard. Pull civilians from the most vulnerable areas, send them to Sprague and Sydney, do it now. What is more, how tolerant are we to letting Gallic ships enter orbit, in the heat of battle? Do we endanger our fleets to stop this? Or do we let the civilian areas take hits, so that we may win the battle, the war? Perhaps we should seek combat proactively, engaging them before they move on us, keeping the maximum distance away from the planet, if it is such a liability." John had emptied his mind of some of the key points that he felt needed to be cleared up before any meaningful plan be formulated. He knew the points he made were long winded, so he gestured to the AI to note them and arrange them in bullet point form.
The AI blinked, and within moments the points were laid down in a list, and presented on the TASP.
1. Do we need to hold Kensington and the supply line anymore?
1.1. If Kensington is attacked, do we let the defending fleets sacrifice themselves to bloody Gallia and buy time for the Council?
2. Is combining our fleets a priority?
2.1. Do we wish to entertain Gallia in a combined fleet engagement?
3. Should evacuations be started immediately?
4. Is it acceptable for Gallic ships to enter bombardment range of the planet?
4.1 Do we put our ships on the line to stop this?
4.2 Do we engage Gallia before they advance on the planet, lowering risk of the above?
The AI, utiliizing natural language understanding (NLU) technology, broke down the important parts of the Commodores analysis to form an initial list of points to address in the meeting.
John took a moment to reflect on what he had said, not sure of the answers to his own questions.
"We do not need questions, Redmond. We need answers."
Putting down the empty tea cup, she executed another visual query into the TASP input. The view changed giving a forward view of what Kensington faced. Signaling the Athos out of it, a small list was profiled onto the side.
"Two Charlemagnes. Three if you count La Riche."
Kaze looked at the diagram, fed by the latest intel and fleet movements. Her eyes raced, and her mind even more so. In the end of a couple of seconds, she could not hold it any longer, and slightly punched the TASP table as a wake up call.
"They are not us. If anything, they are a wounded beast. And I learned my share about wounded beasts. They will lunge for the throat."
Her hand swiped the scan and moved towards the planet of New London. Looking coldly at Redmond, she decided that this was her most honest and most certain take on Gallia and its fleets.
"To win, they need to break us. They need to hit the planet. Hitting us here will end the war to them and to us. This is our crown jewel. Our real Queen."
Pointing at the planet, she continued her explanation.
"What will our men feel when they see their planet burning at last? We are tired. We are spent. Sydney, Aland, Cortez, Tau-31? Momentary reliefs. We cannot kid ourselves, at this crucial juncture. Over ten years of war bred us hardy, but made us hopeless. New London at the end of their Warwolfs will break us in a way we will never be whole again."
The AI decided to give the general overview again, almost sensing the conversation was spilling into something it could not understand, and Kaze did not blame it for it. No matter how good they will be, despair is one feeling that is impossible to describe in a computer language.
"I suggest we do ready for a civilian evacuation, if nothing, it will put our men and women minds at ease. And..."
Her hand grabbed the empty tea cup and while walking back to the support table where the beverages were, she spoke once again to a silent Redmond.
"Let us make plans if Hell comes knocking at our door. We must be ready for all scenarios, especially that one. Our people expect no less. And if the Libertonians will not agree with them.."
The sound of tea being poured once again filled the room.
"We should make them remember who kept Gallia at bay for five long years alone."
The fact that Dagon ignored all of the questions presented by John did not bother him the slightest. As it were, the pressing questions were essentially answered by her response. Kensington was not the target, it seemed to be agreed. Gallia wanted a killing blow, Kensington as it were, would not be that blow.
"Then we are agreed, the planet is where the hammer falls, Kensington is not important any longer. We must make ready to move the fleets positioned there at a moments notice, lest we be caught, balls exposed." John let slip a little of his crude upbringing, not being of a noble house, he struggled to conform fully to the gentry that often formed the upper echelons of the admiralty.
"And the civilians, I do not wish to labour this point. I think between the pair of us, we have enough authority to order initial evacuations, what say you? New London is home to many Leeds refugees, many in camps. With no roofs to burden them, they should be easy to move at short notice. From then, we move to high rise residents, many people compacted into a building, easy to move in one go, mostly renters, they are young, and less likely to have mortgaged assets planet side." John spoke as one with deep experience of refugee evacuation, being present on Leeds for the last great exodus.
"But enough of refugees for now. There is a battle coming, likely near the planet as we have theorized. We must come up with a plan, and quickly. You spoke of the Liberty Navy, and it must be said that they make up half of our forces, so we must have unity for any plan formulated. We should consider opening this meeting to them." John knew Dagon would be less than enthusiastic about the Liberty Navy entering the meeting, though it seemed logical, especially considering that not two weeks prior, the Navy invited the Admiralty to discuss an attack on the Kensington trio, an attack that seems to be no longer on the cards.
"Liberty participation or not, we must brainstorm a plan of battle. Any idea is welcome, and with any luck our fellow board members will be here any day now... And the Liberty Navy fellows have some ideas I am sure. To me, the planet is key, they want it, and call me crazy, I think we should invite them to take it, let them get within millimeters of it, and snatch it from them at the last gasp. We need bait, we need to put something in the center of our formation that will look breakable to them."John stopped mid idea. His thoughts with the men and women his plan required to become bait in, their sacrifice weighed on him. He coughed audibly, making it seem the pause was not hesitation, but an merely an irritant "The Fleet Admiral is going to have my guts for garters for even saying this, but I would suggest we make the Warwick the center of our formation, something which surely they will think they can break through. Being a carrier, it would usually be at the back, at the front it will seem an easy target. Carriers become mostly useless once their fighter and bomber complement is launched, we lose little in combat performance from its loss, provided the wings are all engaged. Perhaps we should rig the ship with explosives, so that once they attempt to move past it while it is disabled, the ship may be detonated, causing much havoc among them. "John could hardly believe what he was saying. Wanton disregard for the lives of the crew, presenting Gallia with an opening to the planet, such a plan was about as risky as it could get. Yet there were more outrageous plans that could be considered, so it did no harm to table it.
Kaze returned to the TASP, tea cup in hand. Thinking on how it would be done, her mind raced on the cons of such.
"I can see the appeal and frankly I am with you, on this specific battle. We can deploy wings from the stations and even the planet at will. However the sole Warwick will not present a sufficient bait. More are needed. Suffolk. Gettysburg. Essex."
Looking at the available strength list and imagining how a battle around New London would be, she sipped the tea. With a swiping motion, she cleared the orbit of the planet from military assets and she started to draw out a line with the allied forces.
"We have to present a wall between them and New London, so that their attack vector is fixed onto it. Our remaining forces can hit them from here and here. Logic dictates their Charlemagne class to be position behind the main lance, so that they can deploy their combat wings."
Her hand pulled more forces, allied and enemy alike, and after a couple of minutes, she ordered the AI to compute several similar alternatives and possible success ratios. The outcome was undefined due to several factors, but mostly the fact that the winning side would be depleted.
"It will be close. And the wall in front of New London is always destroyed no matter what iterations we execute. Alas, as always, no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy."
Her bionic hand unconscionably lost its nano-skin, indicating Kaze was fully committed to the mental task at hand. The clink of metal on ceramic was heard as she decided to take another sip, yet she did not acknowledged it as she was completely engrossed in the TASP tactical overview. Finally turning towards Redmond, she spoke.
"This is our best chance against their worst actions, Redmond. I suggest you talk with the Liberty Admirals, lest one of them attempts to imprison me over kicking miners out of Aland, surrounded by gauls and hessians."
One of her rare smirks appeared before being hidden by the tea cup. Her lack of love towards the current Liberty Admiralty was well known, even though she did not show it outside of the Admiralty room.
"Anyhow, I only see three possible things to be executed by the Royals. Leaving without another shot. An attack on Kensington. Or this."
Her hand made a movement over the tactical display, saving the analysis. Sitting at the ledge, tea cup in hand, the Admiral kept looking at the TASP.
"We have to stress that all fleets and intelligence mechanisms must be on the highest of alerts. When it happens, that will be the first bell toll. In what command are you going to be present?"
John could not help but let the fatigue get to him. He was not as young as he once was, and despite only rejoining the admiralty when the front shifted from Leeds to New London, the year since his return had been a long grind, filled with distractions. While away, he had spent his time fighting on Leeds, and now at last, the moment had arrived that would make it possible to reclaim his home, or where his home would be forever lost.
"Then, at least the two of us are in agreement. New London orbit is the place, our strategy is to form a wall, and have our wrecked ships create a gauntlet of fire, causing untold havoc among our enemy. You know where I will be. On the front, part of the wall, shield held high. All fleets are to be put on maximum alert, when this happens, we will be ready."John felt a gathering of strength, almost as if it was forming into a ball somewhere in his stomach.
"There will be no more retreating, no more pull backs and regroups. We will fight to the last man, here in New London. Even if we lose, the Gallic fleet will be a shell, it will be undone. Maybe it will earn itself a favorable peace agreement, with our capital under thumb, but it will feel weakness even in victory." after speaking, John looked around the room, still mostly empty except himself and Kaze, he wondered if any of the other board members would come in, and offer a more nuanced plan, one less fatalistic. Their plan was not desperate, it was brutal, it was merciless, it reflected the personalities of both soldiers, forged in split blood and spent sweat, formed in war.
The door to the meeting room opened and McIntire hastly entered. One could tell he dressed up in a rush, his suit, normally tidy and correct at all times, appeared creased and his hair fell into his face. He did not wait for any of the two to comment on any of it and went straight to his seat, greeting them in an unusually sloppy manner with a mere sign of his hand. Once he sat down he took a deep breath and leaned back.
"I apologize for my late arrival, you caught me off guard at this late hour. The least I do not seem to be the last one to get out of bed."
He did not wait for an answer, turning his look to the interfaces on the desk which showed the progress the two already made before his arrival.
"I see the two of you are already planning the last oncall. From what I can tell you prefer to scramble all forces in New London orbit.
If I may, I think we should not move the fleets from Kensington to New London before the attack commences. While I do believe that they will attack the Planet, there is a chance they will try to weaken our fleets by cutting the entire planet off. This doesnt seem all too likely as they're stressed and need a quick victory to hold their troops in battle, yet I see another advantage in keeping part of our forces at the station. While the Gallic attack surely will be immense, they already suffered considerable losses in the last months. Therefore the troops in front of the planet will be able to hold the line on their own for a limited amount of time, if we consider the firepower of the orbital strucures too. Now if the fleets from Kensington take the tradeline right when the attack starts they will arrive within minutes. Accordingly the Gallic attack will have lost the momentum since they are engaged with our defence forces at the planet while the fleets from Kensington will crash in their left flank and roll up the battle left to right, with some luck even getting in their back. If that works they are surrounded by our forces on three sides and they have the planet to the fourth. We can either crush them with no way for them to flee or even push them into the atmosphere.
In my opinion this would be the option promising the best results as if we win they will have lost the entirety of their attack force and we dont risk anything as the trade network from Kensington to New London is secured from both sides to guarantee it is online. Should the lanes go offline for any reason we can still return to the plan of gathering everything at the planet as even without lanes they will not need long to move there.
As for your concerns about the citicens of the planet, while I want to minimize their suffering I can not support any plan weakening our military capabilities in their favour. If you asked me we should evacuate who we can, open the shelters for everyone who stays and fight as hard and fierce as we can. That is all we can do for them, after all it is not us who threatenes their lives but the Gallics and if we fail due to trying to protect some hundret thousands we may push billions under the rule of Gallia and into suffering.
What do you think?"
With that he took a deep breath as he hardly paused while talking and reached out for a glass of water, still looking rather sleepy yet sporting a determined gleam in his eyes.