Admin69

==Chapter 69 - The Administrator==
Mount Asgard
Tharkad System
Lyran Commonwealth
January 4, 3148
"Divisions, Sharon?" Roderick Steiner asked.
"All I did was authorize the release of forces on Kowloon, General." Sharon stated. "I figured Pat would follow the naval war plan, I didn't think he'd amend on the ground forces, and I didn't think the others would consent to contribute."
She looked at the map displayed in the central atrium of the command center. "Nice to see mom's plan in action, though. Grandpa Nathan contributed a lot to the underlying ideas. Grandmama Liz supposedly wanted this to happen sixty years ago but, LAAF was over-stretched and there was no way in hell she could've gotten legal cover to bring up division-strength forces."
"You still don't." He said.
"I'll call it a Navy operation, and put them on my budget." Sharon said, "Problem solved-I activated Naval reserves, some of those reserves included Naval Marine units. Big challenge is that Uncle Pat's reserve commission is LCAF Army."
Roderick began to chuckle. "Gotcha!" he said, "You always say 'if you can't afford to lose it...' so how many LCAF units am I adding to my budget for this year and next?" he reached out and poked her shoulder, "because I know there have to be spares available."
"Joint responsibility?" Sharon asked, "For the ****** in the Estates."
"Hmm."
"Look, it's easier to put them under Department of the Navy." she added, "Trade me Uncle Patrick and I'll trade you a couple of-"
"This better have a good explanation!" Trillian Steiner's voice echoed as she strode in. "Roderick?"
"I..ah...authorized it?" he said.
"Say that with confidence, you're testifying in front of the Defense committee in two hours-both of you." Trillian snapped, "You can both explain to the Estates General where you got these forces, and why we weren't already using them."
"I'll do it." Sharon said, "The General here, is in the midst of planning the next phase of our counter-attack and can not be spared. MY role is already completed."
"What are you going to tell them?" Trillian asked.
"National. Security." Sharon stated, "Followed by lots of variations on 'need to know' and 'compartmentalized information' followed by terms like 'imminent domestic threat', 'foreign aggression' and maybe drum up a domestic spying scare to drive the point home."
"Can you prove any of it?"
"I can prove the spies." Sharon said, "If you'll buy off on releasing the info-not all the ones we caught, just a few. There are a couple I want to think we're too dumb to catch still. I can guarantee it will quell the peace-at-any-price lobby and destroy a few ill-gotten careers in the military, which ought to give you some weight internationally if you do decide to pursue peace-talks with someone else in the near future. You'll look more reasonable and less weak, especially since you're brokering the talks between the Wolf factions."
"Talks you opposed."
"Talks I oppose." Sharon nodded, "I don't agree with your policy stance on the Wolf Empire OR the Republic but, you're the boss. So you will look stronger to them and to those walking parasites in the Estates General if it looks like you're a hardass on defense policy."
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