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The Great and The Good (A_Great Captain_Roberts Tale!!)
Chapter 2 - Decisions at the National level[]
"The covert naval facility in the outer system of Northsun,
... the Star League maximum security site on Devl's Breath, the SLIC's covert base in the Joan's Post system…is anyone else noticing a pattern here?" Acton Howe, Loremaster of Clan Snow Raven, scowled as he asked the question.
"They were all being used by the same Bandit group-the Sons of Plunder? Or that none of them were in remnant records from before the Exodus?" Khan McKenna suggested, "Or, that the President's pet Privateer found those facilities for us?"
"A lot of the rescued personnel at Tresspass claim to originate from the Bannerhoft system." President Avellar stated. "There was an SLDF garrison we know about on Bannerhoft before the collapse. I'm thinking it might be a key to finding out who the 'Sons of Plunder' really are, where they came from for real, and why they have such a large, and largely well equipped, force without anyone knowing a damned thing about them."
"The two of you conspired on this, didn't you?" Sterling McKenna's tone was cool, "You want to send a mission to Bannerhoft."
"The planet dropped off the map, and it is more than a single jump from any known neighboring systems in the Unincorporated area. We should find out more-past records show that world had over ten million residents and an SLDF garrison prior to the Amaris Coup, and dropped off the record sometime in or around the turn of the 29th century, at least, to the best my Watch people can confirm by comparing our OLD charts, to the ones on file here on Alpheratz."
"You want to send your 'privateer' force out there." McKenna said.
"We're building it, we might as well use it." Avellar noted, "Have the Privateers push out boundaries and make contacts, or secondary re-contacts, or identify targets for Snow Raven forces to remove bandit kings before they get bigger? There were two thousand abductees from Bannerhoft on the Erinyes and another three in pens on the ground at Tresspass-if nothing else, it's a major world and if we help them, they can be a good source to have bolstering that border. If we do nothing, eventually we'll still have to do something, because they'll be a manpower source and a problem…and it lets your Warriors stretch their legs and get some combat time in if it turns out to be as bad as it might be."
"Gather intel first." Sterling determined, "The touman will provide minimal support for this operation, and Howe, I want your Watch officers deeply involved in the execution, as much fun as reading about 'The GREAT CAPTAIN Roberts' is, she took an insane and stupid risk with her boarding action against the Erinyes, if it is stupid but successful, it was still stupid, you just got lucky."
"What about the second Bonnie sitting in dock at Joan's Post?" Howe asked.
"Still in work, and we still have not decided who gets it once completed." McKenna stated, "Your girl Roberts is an Outworlds Patriot, for the second ship, I want someone loyal to the Clan, or the Alliance of the Clan and the Outworlds in that center seat. The second ship is going to have significant firepower potential improvements and structural updates-closer to a truly effective warship, it needs a proper Warship officer."
"SO for the Bannerhoft mission, it's Roberts again?" President Avellar asked.
"Logically, I have to say a provisional 'yes', I want to examine the possibility of giving group command to someone who is not…does not hear voices in their head or have gaps in their memories, quiaff??" McKenna suggested.
"Who's on the retiring list?" President Avellar asked, "I mean, among your serving flag officers, who is close to 'due date' for your up-or-out system and would accept the posting?"
"I am having a bit of a time keeping our people from volunteering to join the Privateer fleet." Sterling confessed, "Between draw-downs and peace on both our national borders, I have a lot of senior warriors who want to join this, and I must still retain an experienced core cadre for the Touman and the Fleet-even reduced as it is."
"The real question then, is 'trials or boards'?" Avellar suggested, "Trial system would highlight combat capability and tactical knowledge, but the mission of the Privateer Fleet is largely intelligence and law-enforcement mixed with exploration and emergency response. Combat is only supposed to happen when things go wrong."
"We will do a mix, including vetting through the Watch, perhaps?" Howe offered, "Screen out the ones likely to go rogue or attack without knowing the target, then screen out the ones who do not understand this is long-term patrol duty, block most of the…how did your legislators put it?"
"Gory Glory Seekers." President Avellar stated, "like Miss Roberts, if we're being honest here."
"Most of that, I suspect, is an act." McKenna stated, "The girl evidences too much empathy to be a true glory-hound, and takes direction too well to be narcissist enough to be a problem, despite her silly affectations. Here is what we are going to do; The Bannerhoft mission will be handled by OWS Evanescent and a cluster from a reconstituted Kappa Garrison Galaxy, under a reliable Star Colonel, with JumpShip backup, agreed?"
"I take it that pacification operations on Tresspass are still going well? I seem to recall you telling me we would need to station that cluster there to prevent a backslide…"
"We are bringing up another Cluster, mostly Freebirths and recruits, but with a Trueborn officer of good character. I want to give over-all mission direction to that officer." Sterling stated.
"I think we need more prep." Mitchell said, "It is two jumps from the nearest star system we've got a military presence in, at minimum, we need to investigate the off-spectrum stars between Tresspass and Bannerhoft to figure out how the SLDF was supplying and supporting their garrison, and if there are any of those facilities left, repairable or not, and if not, and if there aren't any, we'll need to arrange a tanker full of fuel for hot-charges and a plan to insert a stopover station to secure links if there isn't a recharging station or Naval depot between the systems we know about, and the system we're looking at."