Admin70

Chapter 70 - The Administrator

Tharkad Naval Shipyard
Tharkad System
Lyran Commonwealth
July 4, 3148

"The Republic is back." Archon Trillian Steiner said. "Stone's back in charge, and they've lowered the wall."

"Knew this was coming." Sharon said. "I take it their envoy is...disappointed in what we've been up to?"

On the wall, what had been a sea of Jade Green had retreated to a somewhat swollen river.

"That's putting it nicely." Trillian joined her. "Mein gott."

"Roderick's strategic plan." Sharon said, "He's executing well. What's our long-term damage from this?"

"You're asking me?"

"He has his mothball fleet. He has his lethally effective special forces, and he has his spies and diplomatic contacts." Sharon listed off, "What kind of trouble are we in for?"

"I don't know yet, a whole lot of 'broken treaty' and 'acts of war' talk from his envoys-the Republic DID sign on to help Cousin Julian reclaim what's been lost."

"That's nice." Sharon said it without feeling. "I assume he's going to demand you surrender your 'excessive' fleet, either before, or after demanding you let him use us."

She turned to her sovereign. "Trillian, please, you listened to me on the reforms and you listened to me on the general pacing & strategy of this war. I've delivered everything you asked and more. Listen to me now..."

"I always listen, Sharon." Trillian said.

"Anastasius Focht, in his writing The Gallant Defense of Mankind, said something prophetic that nobody listened to when David Lear was chanting 'peace dividend' in Stone's name. He said, 'History proves no war ever ended by arms reduction'. he also described in 3058 what starts, and ends, wars."

Trillian sighed, "I know this one. 'Wars are not won on the field of combat. Battles are, but those are only ever part of the story. To win a war you need to break the enemy's resolve, to force him to accept defeat. Otherwise the war will never end. Too many conflicts persist because battles are won but the hearts and minds of the people are not. Winning involves every level of society, from the generals and politicians to the shop girls and street cleaners. The infantryman with his rifle may be the blunt weapon used to win this fight, but he is neither the instigator nor the concluder.'"

"Tell Stone 'no'. I think we can crush his fleet if he sends them." Sharon told her, "I also think he won't send them, because he has the Draconis Combine, Capellan Confederation, and the Free Worlds Remnant, plus the remains of two Clans gunning for his cold-stored ass. I think you're in the position of power here. Not just physically, but morally-they abandoned the rest of us after they cut off the communications. The actions of Devlin Stone and his 'republic' have repudiated and shat upon any claims of kinship, friendship, or alliance. The bastards screwed us all and left us out to hang."

"Like Kerensky did to Kowloon." Trillian said.

"Not quite, my ancestor got to tell Aleksandr Kerensky he was an idiot when he left and Marjorie's diary shows our people already knew how much they could trust Terran promises from dirtyfeet leaders. You have the position to tell him 'no'. To claim neutrality, to seize the moral high ground in a way and manner that leaves no question, while denying them the physical high ground because you do have the army and the navy that can fight a two-ocean war...and win, but only if you don't let the other side set the terms. Make them do the compromising."

"What am I going to do when you quit?"

"Promote the next sucker with big ideas and a head for math. I can give you a list of people who can do this job without ****** it up, if you need one." Sharon said, "I still want to go be an explorer, now that the Quarantine is finished. I even have a direction to go."

"The evidence of ETI your people found on that mars-like planet in the Q-zone?" Trillian asked, adding, "I also followed their work."

"First contact is a better career capper, than General of the Armies." Sharon told her, "It will change the universe we know in ways that people only speculated-or feared for over a thousand years. I want to go."

"I can't afford to let you, Sharon. I need you here. there is a point where something you can't afford to lose is something you absolutely must use-it comes with people."

"I hate your policies, we don't get along..."

"You speak truth to me, without fawning, and you're professional." Trillian told her.

Sharon sighed. "Got me there."

"Additionally, I respect you and so does Roderick." Trillian sighed, "You're loyal. You don't like me or my policies but, you're loyal."

"You're going to send part of the fleet to support your cousin in the Federated Suns."

"Yes. I need you to be here in case it goes bad."

"That means getting back in bed with Stone's lunatics." Sharon pointed out, "It means repudiating our alliance with Clan Wolf. Are you sure about this?"

"No but, I'm doing it anyway."

"I'll get the staff drafting movement orders." Sharon said. "I don't like this, not one bit. Do you have a preference for the fleet officer in charge?"

Trillian shook her head, "Put someone good, someone with good judgement, someone...professional, who knows where their loyalties are on it."

"Aye mum."

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