RidOv Chpt-28

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==Ridiculously Overboard!! (A Captain Roberts Tale!!)Chapter 28 - Discussions for the Campaign ahead==
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===Aspirations for the Future===
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"This operation is...
...too big." Khan Alberto Crow read the plan sent to President Avellar, and the manning and force breakdown. "It is too big for them."
"Small population. Captain Roberts and her XO, Larry Nichols didn't want to strip Northsun of their defenses, so they're insisting on using a small unit to do a big unit's job...at least, that's what I got out of her message." President Avellar stated. He turned from the office window, "I feel for these people, Khan Crow, I want them to succeed."
"Still sentimental, quiaff?"
"It is of benefit to the nature of man to have empathy, Khan Crow. Even your own philosophy acknowledges it, though...in a somewhat different way." He walked around his desk, his hair was more silver than brown, and the weight of years in office combined with the weight of age. "So...tell me, how can we make sure this succeeds?" he asks.
"Her charts are interesting, many of these systems are not on yours or ours." Alberto noted. "You have confirmation they even exist, quiaff??"
"Yes." Mitchell nodded, "I'm going to see about having these...older charts, added to update our databases...er, 'backdate' them, I guess would be more correct. Do the maps tell you things, the way they're telling ME things?"
Crow began to smile, "Aff...they do."
"To make sure they succeed, Khan Alberto Crow, the area may be 'unincorporated' but it is still part of the Outworlds, and those are still my citizens, though I have been remiss in seeing to their needs in the past."
"You would claim them?"
"Until they say otherwise." He said grimly, "Which they have not done, as yet...the major question is do you have the forces to do something about it??"
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===Plans and Tripwires===
"A leader's duty is always...
...to see to the needs of their people, Amanda." Larry said. 
"I know, that's why I'm so worried. we need more of...everything if this is going to work. Desmond says so too."
"Does he??", Larry questions
"He does. We have enough for one raid, but we need to hit three worlds, and it's got to be MORE than a raid." she unconsciously rubbed her scar, which had finally begun healing from the angry red of only a few weeks ago.
"Did you send a copy of your initial plan to the President??" Larry asked her seemingly out of the blue.
"Yah." she nodded. "I did. Bragging, boasting...not the final plan, but my second draft..."
"Did he answer?"
"I don't even know rightly if it got to him!" she sighed, "I just...don't know."
"I know of someone who probably WILL answer." Larry told her.
"You mean calling Lori's friends in the Clan?" she asked idly, "I really don't want to, but..."
"You knew?"
"Desmond," she stated simply, "first time she used it, one of his tripline routines..."
"You don't act like it."
"Desmond says it's easier if I pretend not to know, because we need Lori and the other officers too much, and until they actually do something to sabotage, having them in place and knowing who's a spy and who isn't is useful for later." she sighed, "it made sense, and I Like her! I don't want to Hurt her!!"
"Just between you and me? I've been threatening to out her and Mister Seron to you as a lever."
"Well don't tell them I KNOW yet!!" Amanda scoffed, "Then I'd have to do something, and they might be useful where they are, besides being useful where they are!"
Larry's smile collapsed, "We might have to." he said, looking at the plan on the screen. "We might want to try 'calling in backup'."
"From the Ravens?"
"From the Ravens...unless the President can move some of the remaining Outworlds Military Corps on this. They have always been...under strength, if they hadn't been, those worlds would not have a pirate problem this close to the capital."
"Fair...pretend I don't know, arrange it, make up a good story to give Lori and...Mister Seron, something they'll believe to get them to call in the big guns on our flank. We can pretend I don't know, maybe, or that you talked me around! I don't want these people to die because I'm so uncontrollably vain that I thought my greatness would shield them without using some common sense."
"Where do you want them?" he asked.
"Bracketing. A force moving from Vinstra to Bannerhoft, a naval sweep with side-raiding on one side, to drive them out or deny them boltholes while we push up the middle through the course I charted, and a second force moving along the interior border to cover Helland and Graypearl. A selective cavalry sweep, looking for bandit units in the act or to scare them into going to ground until we're through to Tresspass and out again."
"Hmmm... most of that can be done with conventional JumpShips carrying assault dropships or the really light Warship stuff like Fredasas or Vincents. We're light on the ground assets for the sweep?"
"Makes sense, if you can talk someone into it. I think it would be lovely to have about four times as many ground troops as we've got, with heavy equipment ready to go." the model was shifting faster than she could type, showing movements and objectives.
A massive recon sweep.
Larry focused on adding his own elements-necessary logistics, projected manpower, needed supplies for the campaign-both theirs, and Amanda's proposed 'sweep' through the region.
"Where did you say you served?" she asked.
"I never said," he told her, "but I know how to pack for a campaign. I know what a supply line looks like, unlike some of my peers in the AFFS when I was in."
"Huh...okay, present this to the local leadership, and forward it through your back-channel as a proposal with a request for response." she sai-no, she commanded.
"Ayeh, mum." Larry dipped his head, and loaded two datastics-one for the HPG and one for the planetary militia's volunteers.
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