TADJ5

==Chapter 5 - The Adjudicator==
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July 3159
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[overview:  at 10:00 hours Greenwich mean time Earth...]
Eight fleet Task forces of the Lyran Commonwealth Navy1 entered hyperspace from eight pre-positioned locations, to come out at 09:58 in eight pre-plotted target systems. Having traveled their full 30 light year ranges and coming out at 'inconvenient' stellar body locations mapped by both the Cutter LCS Delphin and subsequent recon missions by the Capellan Confederation's navy using their stealthy destroyers.
While the task forces hit the main concentrations of secret naval power, eight divisions of Cutters, each with a squadron led by a quartet of class destroyers, swept into less well protected 'off charts' systems-refueling points, repair yards, or simple holding areas.
The mission was to prevent the Republic (or whoever owned those stealth yards) from reinforcing the Republic against Wolf Empire forces rolling into inhabited systems along a multi-world front.
On the coreward/spinward front, the Federated Suns Navy and the Draconis Combine Navy initiated a joint suppression operation to tie up embattled Republic forces in the Dieron corridor.  This was the public operation.  The secret one, was a mole hunt running deep into both realms, seeking out additional hidden bases in a systematic use of the FSN's 'patrol service' fleet, which units then marked targets for conventional eradication by task forces from both realms.
Within hours, the Wolf Empire was bogged down in the outer shell worlds of Prefecture X. The Republic Navy might have seemed at a disadvantage, but they were playing on home turf. With a host of advances not shared outside the Republic and a demonstrated desperate need to resist the incoming Clan horde. Especially with so many forces bogged down on the Combine front, with their principal military ally effectively immobilized by eight more task forces from the Lyran Commonwealth Navy.
In the Raven Alliance, Khan Seamus McKenna had a dilemma in front of him.  Devlin Stone called in a marker he had never expected the man to even be aware of.
To answer it would surely put the Raven fleet in mortal danger.  Not to answer it would reveal truths that could splinter the Clan to its core.
The question he faced was deeper than merely whether to go to war.  It was a question of just what 'Star League' meant, and what it truly meant to the Alliance.
He turned to communicate with the Sea Fox Khans, opening a dialogue that had ended years ago.
What do we truly owe him? Are we truly of the Star League?
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