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Chapter 6 - The Broken Commonwealth[]
Garrison Command Center
Jesenice System
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone
July, 3145
"...had industrial capacity that can benefit the Ordun, and a small pocket of former Jade Falcon personnel previously abjured during the outbreaks in the late 3060s." Star Captain Sindra Hazen paused. "It would be a good acquisition."
"They also have a history of fighting back, to suicidal levels. the sum total of what can be won there is a charred, radioactive rock orbiting two suns-because you KNOW what they will do, there is history there!" Star Captain Gordon Pryde argued.
"They have been disarmed between then, and now." she countered.
"Have they really?" Star Colonel Lionel Mattlov was openly doubtful. "We know them, quiaff? Fanatic peasants with few weapons they might be, but the key term here, is Fanatic, if Two centuries under the Rim Worlds, and Three under the Lyrans did not blunt that edge, this could turn into an expensive exercise in failure to exterminate and half-finished genocide, with no positive outcomes."
"Eventually, they must be forced to submit. It may be better to strike while they are still stunned and recovering, as opposed to after they have returned to their old ways." Sindra Hazen noted.
"We need to know more." Phaedra Roshak, the commander of the recon forces, spoke up. "We need to know a lot more, their numbers, their readiness, their defenses...their weaknesses."
The Star Colonel looked at his most junior Trinary commander, "What do you propose?"
"A raid." she said, "A good, old fashioned raid, to evaluate what a conquest would require...and I would like to see if the grandchild of Nathan Roshak is...worthy, before committing."
"Bloodline politics, Phaedra? Really?" Sindra teased.
"Roshak's unit was not abjured for any crime, but to keep the Touman safe from the outbreak." Phaedra noted, "He was an ardent crusader and reputation says he remained so even after marrying the defective harridan. If they did not deviate too far from Clan ways, the Hue Garrison could be an asset to collect. It would also be...satisfying to bring them back into the fold, since the cure for 21b has been widely disseminated and it no longer poses a threat. at the very least, making an effort to reclaim those lines would be preferable to letting them remain fallow and allowing them to be polluted by further interbreeding with lesser men."
"The better question is if the Chinngiz will authorize it..." Gordon observed, "She might not want us to commit forces so far from the planned line of advance."
"I will find out." the Star Colonel agreed. "In the meantime, draft your ideal plan for a raiding force, and your logistical and strategic plans for a proper invasion, what we need, how much, and how we are to deliver it."