Turn 73 - The Definition Of Truth
The year starts with a meeting of the General Staff and heads of the IGN, IGA, and IGAF. The topic? The possible invasion of Okusawa and the final defeat of the Dracs in the sector.
First the intelligence, thanks to interrogations and the defector you have quite a bit of information. While there were more of the so-called
Dragon class vessels under construction, they are unlikely to be operational due to the severe shortage of crews. However, there are very heavy fixed defenses to be overcome regardless.
The IGN would like to have a number of
Long Beach class parasite destroyers in service to offset the threat posed by the Kraken-T missiles that those fortifications supposedly have available to them, along with plenty of
Lancers for anti-fighter work. To deal effectively with the fortifications themselves the IGN proposes massing all of your available warships into a solid fist, barring HMS Morristown herself who would be used for transport duties for the invasion force itself.
The IGA wants to go in heavy, forming a Corps comprising all three Brigade Combat Teams, two Assault Divisions, the Pathfinder Division, and four Infantry Divisions in the first wave, with another Assault Division, two Armored Divisions, four Cavalry Divisions, and four more Infantry Divisions making up the second wave. Follow-on garrison forces would handle occupation duties in the wake of the frontline forces.
The initial landing will go in following orbital scanning to determine the best landing spot, orbital bombardment of both the selected landing site and multiple diversionary sites, and will be undertaken by the Pathfinder Division as well as both Assault Divisions. The
Raider LAMs will engage in hit-and-run attacks at targets of opportunity to sow as much confusion as possible, while the three Brigade Combat Teams will land directly after the first wave, securing and expanding the landing site. The Corps Command Division will land at this time to provide massed artillery support. The Infantry Divisions will be the final forces of the first wave to land.
The second wave will land at a different LZ from the first approximately a month later, forcing the Dragon to split his forces or face defeat in detail. The Assault Division will lead the way, supported by the armored and cavalry formations, the remaining quartet of Infantry Divisions and the Corps Command Division will then secure that landing. The current planning timeline shows ground operations taking at least two years to complete, based on known capabilities of the Drac forces.
Aerospace forces are prepared to provide support, with all carriers fully manned and operational. They are requesting you consider pre-stockpiling a pair of
White Tower stations for rapid assembly at the jump points to lock them down against any shenanigans, and possibly additional such stations to place in orbit around the inhabited planet.
The time table that they are proposing is at least two years out, as it will take time to build the
Long Beachs and continue bulking out transportation and logistics assets. They expect to have sufficient collars to carry the assault force, but more collars is better. This will be the single largest military operation to date, and the planning staff would rather have too many assets available and have to leave some at home than be scrambling for more hulls.
They would like your approval to begin the operational timeline, with the invasion occurring in 2 years.
[] | Approve, it’s time for the Dragon to be slain |
[] | We need to continue to build up |
HMS Revenge, carrying your parents, your sister and her husband, a number of your nieces and nephews, and about a dozen members of the Ngo clan, is off to help the Crimson Storm with their parenting challenges. They’ll be gone for a few years.
You’ll miss them, family is important to you. On the other hand, Dr Bryant has some excellent news for you, the Crimson Storm not only gave you the mobile HPG unit, they also handed over documentation on it as well, reducing the amount of time it will take to reverse engineer it and have a production-ready version ready to go by an entire year, as well as halving the overall cost.
Speaking of family, your son and heir, John, has been promoted to command the 3rd Assault Division, which he is in the process of whipping into shape. He actually is now riding the same mech you used to command the Battle of Castor, fully refurbished and upgraded to the latest standard. Despite everything, that mech saved your life in that battle, and you are very happy to see your son in it.
In more good news, despite not having the budget for it, the Colonial Office continued its expansion, making use of contingency funding and some adroit bureaucratic ninjutsu. They actually financed part of it with a bake sale, of all things. Oh, and cookie sales, let’s not forget the cookie sales. Your diet certainly hasn’t forgotten the cookie sales. Your granddaughter was one of the kids selling the cookies.
And they were very good cookies, according to the package they are based on ‘ancient recipes from Terra used by an organization called the Girl Scouts’.
Yummy yummy cookies. You bought far too many of them. Your granddaughter has a future in sales.
Or maybe she just had grandpa wrapped around her finger, that works too.
In other military news, the IGA has informed you that all of your conventional forces are being cycled through the DURF this year to complete an upgrade cycle, resulting in more effective weapon systems. Interestingly, as you review the data, the costs for Mechanized units actually go down slightly, while other units become more expensive. Digging into it, you find that the change is due to switching Abbot SPGs for Chaparral Arrow IV artillery vehicles. You check and read over the reports justifying the switch, which cite the dual-mode nature of the Arrow-IV missile system when loaded with SAM missiles, as well as the lower cost and higher mobility allowing them to more easily keep up with the rest of the unit. The Abbott II remains in service in Corps Artillery units, giving the Corps commander a concentrated punch of Long Toms.
A note on the report states that this will likely be the last ground forces upgrade cycle prior to the planned invasion unless some major breakthrough occurs.
The continued silence from the Free Folk has become a bit of a news item on slow days, with people starting to seriously worry about the fate and current status of your oldest allies. A petition is circulating to send a
Miranda with a full complement of combat, survey, and SAR dropships to search for the Free Folk along the last known route that they had planned to take, which is to the galactic south of you.
[] | Dispatch the expedition |
- Dispatch a squadron consisting of 1 Miranda, 1 Independence, 1 Bainbridge and 1 Enterprise-A to search for the Free Folk
- +1 Approval Change
|
[] | You need those ships here | |