Strat-2 Chpt-20

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Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 2 -

Chapter 20 - And now, a Word from the President…

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Message to the Nation

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"Are we live…

…now?" President of the Parliament Mitchell Avellar tapped the mic. "...we are? Okay. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, citizens of the Outworlds Alliance, and members of Clan Snow Raven."

"Two days ago, the world of Rushaven was viciously attacked. The death count as of this morning from that attack, stands at two hundred fifty thousand confirmed dead, with another twenty thousand suspected to have been abducted in the largest single slaving raid in two hundred years…that we know of. Yesterday, the world of Cerberus was assaulted by means of orbital bombardments."

"We are, and have been for many years now, under attack. An enemy has been waging war, while we have not been at war."

He hesitated, then, "The estimates on death toll alone, for the bombardment of Cerberus, are in excess of one million victims. This, is an enemy inspired by the crimes of Amos Forlough."

The President of the Outworlds looked pained, and tired, and sad.

"May god have mercy on us all, but especially mercy for the innocent."

He straightened at the podium.

"The Parliament has agreed with my determination, that this is a war of atrocity and destruction, after consulting with Khan Alberto Crowe, and several others, The Alliance Parliament has seen fit, in a vote of 643 to 129, to declare war on the bandit kingdom known as the Sons of Plunder. For the first time, since the Reunification war, and with the True Star League Defense Forces at our side and back, the Outworlds are formally at War."

His tone shifted from aggrieved, to firm, confident.
We did not choose this war but it is upon us nonetheless and now we must fight it for our future and the voices of the victims cry out 'no more, no one else should suffer this injustice, We are not going in alone. We have allies this time, I ask all loyal Outworlders, all who love both peace and justice, to support this necessary war effort, to its successful conclusion."
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--- He waited a beat, "Are there any questions?"

"Mister President! Mister President!! Will there be more involvement, will you call on the Republic?" the CNS (Comstar News Service) anchor for Alpheratz was both loud, and quick in her question.

"Miss Gaines, against this enemy, after what they have done, and what they may do? I would accept any ally willing to help us. This is a war for our national survival."

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Called up for Duty

"Well…that's it…

…we're at war." Daryl Roberts sighed. "Sammy, I'll need you to take care of the place."

"Where are you going?"

"Militia base, the recruiters." he said, "We're at war. I'm not going to wait to be drafted. They're going to need the Snow Ravens to fight this war, which means someone has to pick up the slack in defending our homes."

The air raid alarms went off.

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You Ain't Going Anywhere

Lori was pale…

… when Amanda reached CIC. "That look…"

Lori handed her the offprint. "Director."

Amanda read it, then tapped into the ship-wide comm relay. <<"Attention all hands, as of zero nine thirty Alpheratz City time, we are at war, all Privateer personnel, your OMC ranks are activated, we are no longer a covert reserve, OWS Evanescent is an Outworlds Naval Vessel under Military Discipline for the duration of this conflict. That means, if you were thinking about leaving, forget it, we're officially under combat conditions until peace is declared. That is all.">>

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To Arms!

<"They declared…

…war.">
Victoria processed what it meant, and came to a conclusion. <We're going to need to make sure the locals know we're not on the other side.>

<Given their history and who they are facing I do not think it would be wise to transmit Star League identifiers.> Joana Johnston responded.

<We could use our old pennants for identifier codes to hopefully communicate we are not hostile.> Samantha Booker Roberts tried to be helpful.

<Yes. I think that would be the best choice. Our pennant codes were always meant to help distinguish us from SLN regulars in operations where we might have to operate alongside them or in case of large scale mutiny to tell us apart for that reason.> Lucy Heerman agreed.

<Vicky, I know you’re already calculating for the planet moon L1. We will use the previously established operational plan to try and draw as much of the enemy away from the planet as possible while you rescue her Ladyship. Perhaps when you make contact with her Ladyship you should also have her let the locals know friendly forces are in system.> Billie Hoel almost chuckled.

<Making her play diplomat. This should be entertaining. Especially after her stellar plan for establishing first contact with the Snow Ravens worked so smashingly well.> Regina Marbury was laughing.

<She has to learn at some point. We can’t stay hidden after this.> Ottilie Dennis was also enjoying the thought of their First Lord and Director-General being forced into the role of diplomat.

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Quatre Belle Under Attack

Alpheratz System - Raven Alliance

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It is often downplayed…

…usually quite intentionally, that a Loremaster has to be a warrior first, and the role is usually reserved for a warrior with certain distinctive traits.

Among them, being cruel sort of cunning as a tactician or strategist.

Among the Warrior Castes, this tends to result in people forgetting that the warrior tasked with protecting the Clan's Memory, and at times, Reputation, actually has some chops as a combat commander.

Their guest was important and when the invaders came he had also got the message from Quatre Belle. It was a cold decision but he had to trust as outmatched as the garrison was they could at least put up enough fight to buy time for the people to get to shelters. The yards were far more important despite that. So he had to come.

The Sons of Plunder were clearly expecting a push-over and a bureaucrat, surrounded by at best, second liners solahma, and techs.

Acton Howe, Loremaster of Clan Snow Raven

Normally, Acton Howe very carefully cultivated a dual image, one that let his enemies underestimate his martial skill while the other was enough harshness to get obedience instead of challenge.

"Formation three. Light fighters to skirmish, Strike fighters ahead of the Dropship wing."

The enemy has made a mistake. It's a fully understandable one, the very public mothballing of most of the Snow Raven Fleet would have suggested it to the Star Adders, or the Steel Vipers in the Homeworlds.

Their mistake, was lining up to attack a shipyard full of warriors and tech crew that had been quietly readying a Naval Star for return to duty.

The second mistake was not scouting the system, thus, not knowing, or understanding that the Dropship and fighter assets for those warships were already conducting drill with the system's assigned defense units in order to scrape the rust off for deployment.

"Transponder confirms SLS Yakutsk and SLS Syria, with SLS Tokyo, ovKhan."

So somewhere, the bandits found a mostly intact Samarkand class Aerospace Carrier, listed as one of the ships loaned to the Star League during the Reunification War.

Block one.

Officially listed as assigned to transport and support in 2765, also listed as deadined-in-storage in 2767 here at Quatre Belle Naval Yards,but missing by 2780 per Outworlder data.

Someone took the mostly-operational ship back then, and spent the years fixing it.

"Shame to have to break you, but…" The pair of Block 1 Essex were listed as early casualties of the Periphery Uprising.

Essex Block I Class Destroyer under fire.

Clearly not as broken as they should be.

"Engage."

The first phase, was to keep the enemy busy enough for the rest of the Alliance Naval Star to pull out of the maintenance slips with their skeleton crews and half-loaded munitions, because being anchored to the dock during an attack is a certain way to lose all five Warships.

Acton Howe was not about to oversee another Taranto or Pearl Harbor, but from the losing side.

Destroying this force would be necessary to rescue their unexpected Diplomatic visitor one jump away on Sevon V.

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Too the Bunkers!

Quatre Belle System - Raven Alliance

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"How Old are these…

Quatre Belle in the Raven Alliance

…bunkers?" Helena asked.

"They built them during Forlough's massacres, the structure was updated after." Jeffrey commented. "They were supposed to be for sheltering civilians from the nearby areas, but as you can see, they've been handed to the military." his tone dripped a sneer.

"Leon, I need to speak with someone in charge." She said, "And I need access to a relay."

"What about him??" the Elemental asked with obvious distaste.

"Drag him with.' she said, "I'm going to be calling in help now instead of 'too late'."

"What kind of help, if I may ask?"

"How do you feel about a destroyer group?"

The look on the large man's face was almost worth the price of admission. "Right away.", Leon said it numbly, "This way please."

The tunnel led to the basement of the base, and required a ten kilometer trip by buried tram system.

The greeting wasn't exactly great. "Warrior! What are you doing bringing that civilian in here??", the officer of the day was clearly recent out of Sibko. If her info on the Clans was accurate, had failed to test high enough for a better post.

"Situation report…Point Commander." she snapped, imitating for a moment when Uncle Aleks was dressing down a subordinate officer at the palace.

The Clanner stiffened, then, "We have lost both Aerostars and the defensive DropShips, the enemy is arraying for landing assaults…with the backing of a Texas class battleship."

Helena goggled for a second, then, "Give me the Comm panel, and get ready to fight the landing. Who's your senior?"

"The Star Captain of the Garrison was on one of our DropShips at the intercept." the young officer answered.

"So you're in charge? ****** me. Get your people together, and have anyone who can pick up a rifle spreading word with the civilians, if we play this right there won't be landings, but Murphy is..unkind." she waited a breath, then, "Scoot!! Get to it. Find me someone who can contact your CO's Higher, we need to know why there's not a reaction force from Quatre Belle! Move!!"

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Taking command

"Victoria, give me…

…the situation report, and no sugar on it, how bad is it up there?" Her Majesty's voice on the comm told two things: first, that she'd found a comm station, and second, that she expected a Verbal Response.

Texas Class Battleship

“Enemy composition includes a Texas class Battleship with supporting elements. Including Assault Dropships and Fighters. A direct confrontation would be unwise. We are moving to try and draw them away by attacking the inbound Transport Dropships. I should be in orbit and able to send a shuttle for you shortly.”

"Negative, Victoria, Redoubt Protocol Four-there are family down here, and I can't just round them up…besides, these people remember Forlough, we need to fix a karmic debt here. I have to try and if they stay I must stay."

"Protocol FOUR??"

"You heard me, do I need to make it a formal order from the Director-General?"

"Understood…nuclear release."

"I intend to win this."

“Understood. As soon as enemy forces are outside the Ares Conventions limit all ordinance necessary will be committed.”

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"Director-General??

…who even uses that-who are you??" Jeff Roberts had clearly BEEN paying attention.

Helena glanced down at her own chest, before muttering, "Long story that we do not have time for right now.” she looked up, "Jeff, right now, you have a very life-changing decision to make-you can either help, or go sit in the corner out of the way."

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New Name, New Mission

"Miss Esme…

…ping the task force, check readiness." Dave Foster ordered, "We're going to Grankum a mite earlier than planned."

"Aye, sir." They couldn't make it back to even Northsun in a reasonable time, but they could steam with what they had for the enemy's base at Grankum.

"All ships report full fuel loads, Fleet Captain." Miss Gomez reported.

"Excellent. All vessels in The Task Force, Rig for jump in two hours, the coordinates are already pre-plotted. We're going to war people."

The mission's change was minor-they weren't going to have the resources for additional liberation operations until the National forces got things under control…

So it was run through the enemy's known systems raising merry hell with attacks instead.

"Johnson, take a note and hand it to Miss Esme. I am officially changing the designation of this task group to something more in line with our mission."

"Sir?"

"Task Force Desmond. Transcribe and have it sent to all ships."

"Aye, sir."

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