Spooker
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Grass Eaters 2 | 52 | Invasion IV
🕑 Added 2024-09-13 16:47:01 +0000 UTCRepublic Senate Complex, Luna
POV: Samantha Lee, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Commander)
The usually orderly chamber, lined with portraits of historical figures, echoed with a cacophony that was atypical for its hallowed walls. The room buzzed like a hive of agitated bees. The chair struggled to maintain order, gaveling for silence, each attempt to restore decorum seeming only to fuel the fervor in the room.
“Order!” Senator Blake Wald shouted into his microphone at maximum volume as he banged the gavel on dais once again. As he was no doubt contemplating bringing in the Republic Guard to restore order, the shouting and chanting slowly turned to murmurs and whispers.
“Order in the Senate!” he insisted loudly. “Let the witness speak!”
The public audience finally quieted down.
Commander Samantha Lee resumed her briefing. This was not her first rodeo in front of a Senate committee, but in front of the public without anyone higher ranking than her — this was a first. “As I explained, the assessment of the Office of Naval Intelligence is now that the Znosian Navy is directly heading for the Sol system with the intention of the complete destruction of the Republic. We believe the threat is real and it is credible. We assess this now with extreme confidence—”
Blake banged his gavel a few more times to stop the rising crescendo of voices, then nodded at Samantha to continue.
“This assessment was conducted by experts both inside and independent of the Office, corroborated by both Terran and super-Terran intelligence computers. It was based on years of intelligence gathering and corroborated by numerous high-quality sources across dozens of star systems and on hundreds of ships. It is no longer a question of fact. The Republic is under direct threat.”
Samantha pointed to the slide she showed on the main screen, displaying the topline figures of the enemy space superiority fleet.
“This is the disposition of enemy space superiority forces as they currently stand. The tip of their spear is over two thousand missile destroyers, each with about four times the tonnage of our own counterparts. Though we expect to outmatch them more than one-to-one, they have two thousand of them, and all our missile destroyers available for combat combined are under a hundred. They have a smaller number of battlecruisers. And the Malgeir Sixth Fleet took out their biggest battleships at an engagement in Gruccud. Unfortunately, we assess that their command and control is now either dispersed or on another ship, as they did not experience the chaotic re-organization we would expect from a decapitated Znosian fleet.”
She flipped to a new slide, this time showing the enemy orbital support fleet.
“This is the enemy orbital invasion fleet. In other words, this is the payload. They have thousands of these ships, each carrying up to tens of thousands of mechanized elite Znosian Marines. If this force reaches any Republic planet or moon surface intact, it will be more than enough to destroy… everything on it. In addition, there may be strategic weapons on some of these ships, including strategic weapons and planetary tugs. The numbers shown here are just for the Grand Fleet, not the secondary fleet ready to go at Grantor, which we estimate is an additional half of the total forces in the primary Grand Fleet.”
The new slide this time showed a rough two-dimensional representation of the northern Malgeir axis, including Gruccud, Datsot, and the systems leading into the Terran Republic. Up to Sol.
“This is the route we expect they will take. From Gruccud, they will take the eleven systems to McMurdo, our outermost frontier system. This route skips Datsot, as that Malgeir system would add an additional blink to their path, and this will allow them to avoid the additional defenses we’ve assisted the Malgeir in constructing in that system. After McMurdo, they will take the path of Flint, then Hawking, then Sirius, then Sol.”
The new slide showed the state of Znosian logistics.
“We believe they have now consigned their Grand Fleet to a one-way trip. There is some understanding of this among Znosian commanders. They have failed to secure their supply lines at Gruccud, and allied Malgeir forces can cut them off anywhere behind them. But that will not stop this force from reaching Sol and, as they’ve said in the messages we intercepted, burning what they call the Great Predator Nest to cinders.”
Samantha bulldozed through the murmurs in the audience. “Our defense plan is now to cut them off before they reach Sol. And when they reach Sol, to destroy as many of their forces as possible before they land on Terra and Luna, which must be our top defensive priority. The Navy will not abandon Mars, the asteroid belt, and the outer system, but as the home to three quarters of our total population, we believe Terra and Luna will be the primary target of the enemy attack, so that is where most our forces will defend.”
One of the Senators couldn’t help himself and spoke into his microphone. “Excuse me, Commander, but you used the phrase, when they reach Sol — when, not if —”
Senator Wald cut in. “Please allow the commander to finish her briefing before the questions.”
Samantha nodded her thanks. “Thank you. But I can answer that question. We hope to cut the enemy fleet off before they reach Sol. We have two ships out there, the Amazon and the Mississippi. And Squadrons 9 and 10 have been activated: those additional twenty-four next generation combat ships are heading towards McMurdo right now. We are working on plans to cut their fleet off. But the enemy gets a vote too. We are… still uncertain just how much they know about us, and how many countermeasures they have prepared for our strategic plans and weapons. At the moment, our best guess is that destroying their fuel ships will buy us the most options and the most time. And I know this will be the next question: success is not guaranteed; there are too many unknowns to give you a number for our chance of success at this time.”
Samantha flipped to her second to last slide, showing the unclassified battlemap of the Sol system.
“When— if the enemy enters Sol, the Navy’s battle plan is to defend the most important assets in the system: our people. The orbital shipyards over Ceres can’t be moved on short notice, and they will likely be an enemy objective. We believe they will be… ultimately indefensible.”
She stared at the Senators, daring any of them to object. Most of them seemed too shocked to even react to her writing off five percent of the Republic’s gross domestic product and trillions of credits in investment over the decades in a single sentence.
“We are evacuating as many civilians on orbital stations outside the belt as we can into surface settlements on the Red Zone moons, where they will have the highest chance of survival. We will evacuate the Navy’s outer system bases: Naval Stations Charon, Europa, and all our assets in the Red Zone. Everything beyond Saturn orbit will be declared a no-travel zone for civilians: we will be extensively mining the volumes the enemy will most likely use to transfer to the inner system, focusing mainly near the blink system limit towards the Sirius system. And our remaining combat ships will continue to engage the enemy to destroy or stall their invasion fleet as much as possible. Our non-combat assets are currently setting up small, dispersed munition and parts depots in Earth and Mars orbits for prolonged combat.”
She tapped on her clicker, showing the last slide in her deck. It was simply a picture of the blue marble.
“Finally, if we have failed to stop the enemy, and our home world is fully uncovered, any surviving elements of the Navy will have last orders to independently assist in the evacuation of Republic citizens to the Malgeir Federation, anywhere they can. Realistically, it is unlikely we can get a significant percentage of our people out and such a mission would likely end in the destruction of every interstellar-capable Navy asset we have. But the ultimate duty of the Republic Navy is to its people, and every spacer in it has sworn an oath to that responsibility. Every element of the current Navy battleplan reflects our utmost deference and respect for that responsibility.”
She turned off the presentation. “That concludes my briefing, and I’m open for questions.”
There was a moment of shocked silence. Then, the murmurs began. As every Senator on the dais began clearing their throats at once, Senator Blake Wald banged his gavel. “Order! As discussed, to expedite this process, submit your questions to me, and I will question the witness.”
He waited a couple minutes for everyone to get their questions in, then began reading them to Samantha. “Commander, the first question is, what can the Senate do to ensure the Navy’s maximum chance of success?”
Stay out of our way, she was tempted to say. “We will need to coordinate several actions with the Federation government, including everything from the use of their military assets to the potential evacuation of Terran civilians. Additionally, we are mobilizing non-Navy assets, such as districts and local forces that are not currently under the direct chain of command, under the Emergency Powers article. Anything that can be done to expedite these processes legislatively will be most helpful.”
Blake nodded, then moved onto the next question. “Commander, there is a question about the hundred thousand or so enemy prisoners we’ve taken. Some have… wondered about the possibility of executions.”
“The Znosian prisoners are already onto their captured ship hulls and are being shipped to the Malgeir Federation for safekeeping. We have, of course, taken extreme measures to ensure they will not escape… alive. Once they drop off the prisoners, those ships will be brought back to evacuate Republic civilians. This was decided before the formation of the battleplan, and they are already on their way to Malgeiru.”
“Understood, Commander. Next question, how will the order of civilian evacuation be determined?”
“Senator, that question is beyond the scope of my briefing. But if it comes down to it, I believe we will be deferring to district authorities and local law enforcement. And if there should be a general rubric, that would be up to the civilian Republic government as well. Again, the Navy would be deferring to those… existing authorities and relevant regulation.”
“Makes sense. Next. Who is in command of the overall defensive effort?”
Samantha hesitated for a moment, clearing her throat as she checked her notes. “That… Senator, is a good question. I believe by Republic charter and law, the President of the Republic makes these decisions in times of emergency. So that would be President Tomas Havel and whoever he should deem fit to command.”
One of the Senators couldn’t help herself. “But the President is a ceremonial position!”
Samantha shrugged. “Perhaps that has been the case for decades, but the Republic has never officially been in a state of emergency, as the Senate has declared this morning. Rain or shine or alien invasion, the Navy will follow the laws of the Republic.”
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Presidential Residence, Luna
POV: Tomas Havel, Terran (President of the Republic)
“President Havel, will the Navy deploy additional ships to defend Mars from the aliens?”
“Thank you for the question. I will defer to Atlas Naval Command for deployment decisions.”
“Mr. President, what do you say to rumors that the Navy plans to deploy treaty-banned thermonuclear space mines in the outer system?”
“Thank you. I will defer to Atlas Naval Command for questions about specific equipment and deployment plans.”
“President Havel, this is The Atlas Times, who is in overall command of the Navy right now?”
“Thank you for your question. I will defer to Atlas Naval Command for questions about personnel.”
“Sir, can you answer any questions? Is there any discussion between you and Naval Command about who is in charge right now?”
“Jenny, I know as much as you do. Less probably. I can only defer to the experts over at Atlas Naval Command. Frankly, I think they are still deciding.”
“Is there a shortlist of some kind?”
“I believe they’re looking at the admiral who’s been in charge of fighting the Znosians since the start, but really I have to redirect you—”
“Admiral Amelia Waters? There are rumors she is out of Sol right now. Is she leading the entire war from the Mississippi?”
“Thank you for the question. I will defer to Atlas Naval Command for questions about military strategy…”
Comments
jrharper42
Don't they have the new Iris engines? They have a few weeks to prepare, surely it wouldn't be difficult to move the orbital shipyards to the other side of the system in that time.
Nicolae
“But the President is a ceremonial position!” so true even today.
