BeyHop Chpt 36

==Beyond Hope- Chapter 36 - Operation: Crimson Shadow==
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
----
"...The Clans launched Operation:Revival without making much of an effort to organize a proper chain of supply or replacement. While the leading units from Operation: Bulldog did proceed some of the way down the exodus road, we approached this with a completely different mindset.The War, you see, could not be short, sweet, or likely victorious with ease. From the moment the decisions were made to press forward, it was understood-this was going to be a long-range slog against an enemy holding all the inherited technical wealth of the Star League in a faraway place. We prepared accordingly. The League council called it 'Crimson Shadow'. Liz called it 'Very expensive'."-Baroness Helena Drillson (Cameron)
----
===Online Negotiations===
HPG Network Conference,June 11th, 3059
----
/////////////////Transmission record begins\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"Here's the cost breakdown, you should be seeing it in the sub-window on your holotank screen, a text version is on subchannel 22." Duchess Elizabeth Anne Ngo of Ngo Industries, acting as corporate chairwoman for Cameron Enterprises LLC, was shown sitting at a simple desk, in a nearly featureless room.
Which allowed data to display on the Comstar file behind and around her.
"Forward elements are delivering recharging stations at every stop-off thus far, to facilitate a faster movement along the route determined by Admiral Beresick and Baroness Helena Drillson. Estimate at this point, we'll have over 140 such installations either en-route from subcontractors at Donegal, Gibson, Skye, Inarcs, Alarion, and Galax, with Combine copies beginning production at Dieron in October and Luthien by late November."
"You have twice refused to send Ngo Industries personnel to the Dieron and and Luthien yards, Duchess. Do I need to make it an Archon's order?" Victor Steiner-Davion scowled in an upper window.
"Yes.' Elizabeth stated, "You do. Helena believes in this new Star League, I don't. I am philosophically disinclined to assist future enemies in attacking the Lyran Commonwealth's territory or our people. They can buy it from Bradford, Brewer, or Doons, but not one of my employees will cross that border."
"Yet your Coast Guard are training Combine nationals at your facilities-" Thomas Marik of the Free Worlds League began.
"I didn't want it, but that one, was an Archon's Order I keep my word, but I'm not going to willingly take stupid risks with my most important capital assets. Skilled labor is harder to find, than Industrial Tools." Elizabeth stated, "I don't trust the Combine, I don't trust the Capellans, and I don't trust your nation, Captain-General Marik, and we're a civilian outfit, so I can say 'no' and make it stick unless Victor pushes it with an official, written order in his role as Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth."
The image of Theodore Kurita cleared his throat. "Your sister in law is remarkably typical, Victor." he said mildly, "Did she not once have a similar policy regarding the Federated Suns portion of your realm?"
"Yeah. she did." Victor scowled. "Liz, this is important, and it's part of the plan-"
"I wasn't consulted on this 'plan', Your Majesty. My cooperation was simply assumed because of your Brother being my husband, and Helena being like a sister to me-but those are personal feelings-I still have my obligations to my people to consider before any sentimental attachments to outsiders, or even personal insiders. I am not confident that if I send technical crew to Luthien or Dieron, that I'll get them back, so they're not ****** going without something more solid than a loose handshake."
"The moment you stop treating your people well, they cease to be your people." Theodore, at least, seemed to understand her position.
"Exactly." Elizabeth nodded. 
"This isn't a money thing, is it?" Sun-Tzu Liao stated, "This is about protecting your people from being exploited."
She nodded coldly, "I've had time to look at the history of contracts with similar conditions, and the results have not been to my liking-the 'company store' treatment of Mercenaries, seizure of jumpship assets, seizure of dropship assets, 'security searches' and arrests of foreign business travelers in the Combine over the last fifty years makes it a very high probability that anyone I send is not going to be coming home in the same shape I sent them…or on time once the job is done, so unless or until I get something iron-bound showing my teams will be coming home unmolested and will be free to work unmolested, they're not going. You can probably get Maggie Doons or Bradford or Brewer to send some of their contract-trained personnel-but mine are staying where they're not subjected to the threat of that sort of treatment. I have zero problem sending the equipment, but your own people will have to manage installation and setup."
Theodore looked thoughtful. "Hmmm…we could go to Comstar…or Krupp."
On the screen, Elizabeth laughed. "Oh gods…you don't want those lines running before the turn of the millennium, do you!!"
“You suggest Comstar and Krupp are inadequate to the task?” Theodore asked.
"Oh, they can do it…it's just that they probably won't without a lot of delays and extras tacked on so those facilities can be shut down when the Primus wants to make a point!" Elizabeth continued chuckling, "ask Brewer about that-Krupp rooked me on the Omnimech line upgrade, bid out a billion and a half under my best bid, so Danny had to come in and get us a side-contract because after a year and a half, they didn't even have the first line finished! I made TWO billion more than the original contract, making up for their delays!! Please, use Krupp!!" she folded her hands, "I double dog dare you."
“Liz!” Victor chided. “Okay you want some guarantees or an order. What will you put to paper Theodore?”
Theodore glanced off-camera, then, he faced the camera again, "Diplomatic Status under the Star League flag, including diplomatic immunity and sealed-pouch treatment for your internal documents and communications. Will that suffice?"
"Including ships contracted to carry our goods and personnel?" She asked.
"That seems reasonable." Theodore nodded, "Agreed."
"Fifteen point one billion C-bills, about the same price we charged Alarion for the rebuild of their warship lines, and you'll have both lines up in a year and a half. That's the best I can offer."
"Done." Theodore didn't even blink.
“Any other business then gentlemen?” Elizabeth asked.
“No. Our business is concluded.” Theodore answered.
/////////////////end transmission record\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
----
"I should've padded the price." Liz muttered, "He didn't even blink." As it is, the price she'd asked was still going to be quite profitable. "Ms Whyte, you may process the release for the Dieron and Luthien export contracts, including releases for Sithers-Deen and Cartwright-Nghien's technical teams. I got the concessions you suggested."
“Right away.” Ms Whyte bowed.
"That's right, Right Away, there's a War on."
The click of heels retreating from the room let Elizabeth know she was now alone for a moment.
She got up, and checked the window, looking down at the former stadium's former athletic field as the Assembly tied itself into another series of shouting matches, representatives from Kowloon's various districts and organized minorities, parties, and religious associations trying to decide what legislation to send to her office. Chuck was down there, one-armed and patient as the business of government went on.
A knock disturbed her, she turned.
"How did it go?" Arthur asked.
"I said mean and hurtful things, I badgered, threatened and insulted their integrity, honor, and ethics, and I got what we needed." she told him. "Not sure how much better it could have gone, Kurita accepted my initial bid without even TRYING to haggle me down."
“The other realms are desperate and playing catch up. It’s only natural they’re going to jump at what seems the best deal.”
"I'm just surprised, the Comstar rep was right there on the call, and he didn't so much as argue when I pointed out Krupp's problem with delivering on their promises." Liz said, "It felt…too easy. I'm waiting for the shoe to drop."
“If Kurita’s smart he’s going to have his people watch yours. Learn everything they can, so he doesn’t need to contract to you again in the future. So really he could be getting quite the bargain.”
"That's actually in the contract Victor expected me to swallow whole, Arthur. We're supposed to teach them how to maintain it." Liz sighed, and shook her head, "I should've asked for more, so they could have a 'win' haggling me down."
“Maybe. But you’re right that it’s weird that Comstar didn’t chime in at all. I’m not sure what their end game is.”
"Gaia eats her children." Liz muttered, "so, they have a game they're running. Old Earth isn't the sort to be inclined to let us just develop on our own."
"You still think they're going to…what, backslide? Turn on us?"
"That's the history even Focht admitted to, so yeah, I just don't know how they're going to do it, and that worries me."
“He’s also said that Comstar isn’t going to do that anymore under his watch.”
"He's an old man." Liz pointed out. "He won't live forever and we have zero guarantees his successor won't look at something like Holy Shroud once the Clans are beaten, and conclude it's time for another round."
“Maybe. I don’t know. What I do know is your project with the University is working. Especially with Helena there taking classes.”
She smiled "Yeah. That's good news. We'll make it harder this time, maybe stop it ahead of time, or before it's plunged everyone back into ignorance and darkness."
“You hear Helena actually sat in on a lecture about Project Management. Rumor is she gave the Prof quite the lecture.”
"She could teach the class, so that's gratifying. The students probably learned more from that than from the textbooks."
“Maybe we should get her to. But later. So she’s not pulled in so many different directions at once.”
"MMM…something she can do while she's carrying the baby." Liz agreed. "A sabbatical involving pedagogy. Speaking of which…how are YOUR classes shaping up this semester? Found any hot grad students? People I should worry about?" she teased.
“Not bad. Got a few promising students. Found this cute little number desperate to be my TA. Her name is Elizabeth. She can’t keep her hands off me.” Arthur teased.
"Well, I guess I'll have to mark my territory, Professor Steiner-Davion…" Elizabeth said smoothly. 
“I already asked your gate keepers to buy us as much time as they can.” Arthur kissed his wife.
Elizabeth slipped out of her shoes, and she didn't get a lick of work done the rest of the day.
----
=== Wedding Plans ===
Ia DrangKowloon, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3059
Helena was laying back getting another ultrasound.
“You sure you want to be surprised still?” Majery asked.
“Absolutely.” Helena answered.
“Well you’re coming along nicely but we won’t know anything more concret about possible birth defects for another few months.” Majery nodded. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“I know I’m going to get bigger but already feel like I’m carrying a balloon around. Filled with something.”
“It’s normal. Go on. But please try and pace yourself. Too much stress is bad for you and the baby.”
“I was born with the wrong last name for that, even in this era.” Helena shook her head. “Still I’ll do what I can.”
Helena walked to the elevator as Jakob joined her.
“I found a place that can handle the wedding and reception in June. But if we have too large of a guest list we’ll have to do it all outdoors.”
“Where?”
“Golden Lake.”
“You know what the weather is like at Golden Lake in June.”
“I do. But finding a spot is proving difficult.”
“Okay we’ll put it on the list of potentials but keep looking.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Let’s see, remote lecture for the SLDF candidates, an offer to guest lecture at the University, a mountain of paperwork for Cameron LLC, another mountain for Spider Moon, and somewhere in there dinner, shower, and sleep.” Helena said.
“You’re thinking about it aren’t you.” Jakob chided.
“Can’t help it. There’s that gap right after prenatal and home economics before traffic clears up enough I can actually get to my appointments with Majery. I might as well lecture while I wait. Better than sitting in traffic for an hour.”
“Well at least it won’t be too stressful on you.” Jakob shook his head.
----
===History of the Inner Sphere===
Spider's Moon, Boojum Orbital SystemKowloon, Federated Commonwealth3059
At Spider Moon, in the Cadet Hall, the lighting was dim, as Nicole and Janet found their seats. "Who's the guest lecturer?" Paulie asked.
"I don't know, they had us pull in from morning dirt, so whoever it is, wanted to arrive concealed." Nicole noted, "They also had the Foreign students pulled inside, out of Tent City Barracks and under hard cover."
The curtains below parted without a word, and the lights went to dark.
On the screen, were a series of battles, annotated with names. Twycross, Tamar, Blackjack, Wolcott...
Then the silent presentation shifted, and gained sound.
As it did, a Kroner symbol appeared in red, and in green, and with it, rolling strings of numbers as more recent combats played out.
The tallies stopped, and the image changed again.
"You wouldn't dare." an older man in a partial uniform stood with his arms bound to a post.
The small girl in black, raised a pistol, and fired at point blank range.
It was an image that had been controversial for years, the students watched her step to the next man, offering him a smoke, a chance to get high, a last drink…each time it ended in a gunshot, and another dead man.
The lights came up, and the Duchess of Kowloon sat on the edge of the stage, with a bluewood cane across her lap. "Hi everyone. Today, we're going to have a discussion on the Economics of conflict, aka "The Price of War". For those of you who aren't familiar, I am Duchess Elizabeth Anne Ngo-Steiner-Davion. I own majority shares in several war industries, as well as being sole majority shareholder in the Realm's largest tooling and industrial fabrication contractor-I build shipyards, and I build factories, my customers Build weapons. My family has become incredibly wealthy from the cycle of overuse and destruction that was the Succession Wars." Liz didn't stay on the edge of the stage, "That's part of what makes me qualified to have this little talk with you. Helena Drillson, whom many of you know by reputation, cannot be here today, but she will be here before most of you graduate, and she will give you the soldier's perspective. I'm here to give you a different view. The view of the person who has to build, or re-build, in the aftermath. The Tax-paying producers who make your positions, whether current, or intended, possible."
She stayed seated. "That's right folks, those of you studying to become Officers, and those of you whom have already tasted it, this, is about accounting. Assets gained, assets lost, costs and cost-benefit, only we're talking on an international scale with funds that just might be more compact, if we use scientific notation in place of ordinary integers. Because the business you're in., the costs are more than currency, or pride, or prestige. They're lives and futures."
A star map illuminated. "The Inner Sphere, as it was on December 1st, 2766."
The map gained red splotches. "As it was in December of 2866."
Many of the red stars blinked out, becoming black motes suspended in the holographic field.
"2966." she intoned. A wall of text began to scroll, "The names of worlds that no longer exist, many of them had been home to millions, or even billions of people. The wealth of the greatest empire in human history, down a toilet. Science, technology, knowledge we've lost that we'll likely never completely get back."
The dead worlds segregated into their nations of origin, separate lists.
"The question you should ask yourselves, isn't 'why did this happen', or 'who started it', the question you should be asking is 'who benefited'? Because the destruction wreaked in the Succession Wars, benefited nobody. This is from a business perspective, a losing operation all around-the expense was too high and the net receipts do not turn a profit-that is, they did not make anyone safer, or more secure, they absorbed vast amounts of resources for little to no gain. Billions of lives, to the tune of over a trillion lives, were ended, whole civilizations erased in fire, and disease, hunger and thirst, pain, and misery…for no gain of any kind."
She leaned on her stick, "take it from the descendants of scavengers who scraped together an industrial business out of recovering the scraps-what was lost, wasn't worth what it cost. This is the abject demonstration of how to lose a war by 'winning' battles. Which should become very familiar to you, as you embark from here, to fight people who do this sort of thing as a core ritual."
She rapped her cane on the stage, "I did NOT consent to this…exercise…so that another generation of people-of human beings, could spend decades losing a war while winning every battle!" She leaned on it, "You all, you're here to learn one thing; how to win the war, not how to 'fight battles' because every one of you senior officers has attended a superb academy that teaches exactly how to win the battles. You're here, because something has to change, we keep losing ground, because we keep fighting and winning battles, but the people who your uniforms represent-the Kleinevolk, the Burghers, the Citizens? Keep losing more, and more, and more. The purpose here, is to arrest that decline, and yes, that does involve learning how to win…wars, not battles."
She turned, "Jane?"
“Many leaders proclaim that they wish to end the cycle of war, blind destruction, and stop the slide back into a dark age. And showing you these numbers? Many of you will not grasp. Viscerally. The question many of you are asking is why does this all matter?” Jane opened.
"Entropy." Elizabeth took her cue. "The concepts of 'fog of war', that uncertainty when planning meets reality, the concepts of 'friction' in how the larger and more extensive an operation is, the more likely mistakes, misunderstanding, and madnesses will occur. We're in a VERY big war, this is not a local takeover. We are fighting-on all sides, with the goal of resisting entropy and the coming darkness and chaos." On the screens behind her, two words appeared.
"Optional" and "Existential".
Elizabeth finally got up. "So let's start with the definitions of war as the question. Roughly, there are two basic approaches to making the decision of war. These are not universal in that both sides regard them the same way, when the same specific question of war is raised."
Nicole raised her hand.
"Yes, you, there in the back, you've got a question?" Liz acknowledged her.
"You keep calling war a 'question', Your Grace."
"That's because it is." The Duchess said, "War isn't the answer-it's not even an answer. It's a Question, sometimes the answer to that question is 'yes'-and sometimes it's 'no', and sometimes it's 'not yet'. A lot of it boils down to how many people have to die before someone sits down, and talks to someone else."
“Ask yourselves, gentlemen and ladies. What is the goal of the Succession Wars? What if your nation did achieve the superior position? What would the trade policies be? Taxation? Why was it not until Katrina Steiner and Hanse Davion actually sat down that nobody else bothered to even talk to their neighbors before then? The financial cost is not impossible to calculate to a reasonable degree. The numbers of dead will probably never be fully known from the after effects. Worlds rendered dead can be visited.” Jane began speaking again.
"An Existential war, is one in which one side or both sides, are facing annihilation, extinction, or destruction if they do not fight. These are actually pretty rare in history." under "Existential' there was a new caption;
 
'Mere Survival'.
“Is this really enough? The obvious answer is no. But when push comes to shove, who has really sought more?” Jane added again.
"The conditions of existential war include an inability to survive the outcome of loss or surrender." Elizabeth clarified, "for one side, at minimum, existential war is a condition where the answer to war is 'yes' due to mere survival considerations. Negotiation may be possible, but not without a lot of blood being spilled, a lot of destruction, a lot of death, and a lot of losses. New Dallas fought and lost an existential conflict with the Free Worlds League at the start of the Succession Wars. That world died…now, that conflict didn't begin as an existential conflict, but that is precisely how it ended."
“There has been much talk about what kind of war we face. Is it Existential in nature? One can certainly argue that as the Clans seek to impose a radically different way of life upon us all and are not afraid to kill those who stand in their way.” Jane offered.
"To help make this choice, consider the outcome of defeat." Elizabeth replied, "The Draconis Combine at Kentares imposed an existential conflict on that world-the response was harsh enough that similar actions to those of Coordinator Jinjiro have become unacceptable. How does that compare to the Clans?" She brought up a third screen, "This, is 'Clan Wolverine', you'll never meet one. Not even in the Homeworlds. The Clans called it a 'Trial of Annihilation', but even surrendered noncombatants were sterilized., making it an act of Genocide, the systematic murder of an entire people. Former Steel Viper Khan Breen is currently looking for distant relatives who didn't join Exodus…with the intent of killing them. This speaks to the nature of Clan society and Clan morality. Even House Amaris tended to stop after the third generation. If they'll do it to their own, what will they do to the much more varied and diverse populations of the Inner Sphere?" An image of the destruction of Edo on Turtle Bay reappeared.
“We have numerous incidents of recorded excesses made by each Clan that came to invade. Easily the most notable is Turtle Bay on the world of Edo.”
"How do these compare with the excesses of the Succession Wars?" Elizabeth asked rhetorically, "Well…for the most part, the destruction of the succession wars was executed as part and partial reactions to Optional conflicts…but aside from Kentares, the massacres, atrocities and such were not extended over time, and were not done to surrendered populations. This is part of what makes fighting the Clans off, worth it to the Capellan Confederation and the Free Worlds League-a victory by the Clans, is a threat to 'the next guy in line', it is running the risk of an optional foreign adventure becoming a struggle for mere survival at home, but the option of staying out, is demonstrably not a safe option."
“So some of you are asking ‘why do we need to send people to bleed, be maimed, and die? Supplies and material should suffice, especially since the main combatants are the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine. Certainly replete with enough soldiers.’”
"Which is a reasonable position to hold." Elizabeth offered. "It's fair. This is how we can define the other type of conflict. The Optional war-staying out, is, at least for a time, a viable option."
Under "optional" came a sub-caption of 'can be avoided' and 'goals beyond mere survival'.
"What are the benefits to saying 'yes' to an optional war?" Elizabeth offered the question, "Typically they revolve around either preventing the loss of something, or the gaining of something. THIS, is where ideas of 'National Prestige', personal Honor, national honor and glory tend to reside. The Americans in 1917, the first industrial war of the 20th century, initially were satisfied with supplying arms, food and materiel to both sides, then, they focused on one side, and then…near the end, they joined the conflict to bring it to an end. The first 'world' war of pre-spaceflight, was an Optional war for the Americans. It was very close to an existential war for the nation of France."
“There are many excellent papers published on the hows and whys of the war. The important takeaway is none of the combatants at the start were facing an existential crises.”
"Contrasting with the second global conflict of the 20th Century." Elizabeth brought up another series of images, "A conflict that rapidly escalated because while the Axis powers of that time were beginning an optional war, their intent was to exterminate and enslave their enemies, to force an existential state of crisis, and to resolve it in their favor…this didn't work so well for them in the long run, but from that conflict, we've gained terms like 'War Crimes' and 'Atrocities' and 'War Crimes Tribunals'...the invasion of the Inner Sphere, by the Clans, is for them, an OPTIONAL conflict.'
“The Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions, Ares Conventions, and finally the Articles of War. All these were attempts to regulate the conduct of wars and establish consequences.”
A Capellan officer raised his hand, "What is so horrible about the Clans?" he asked, "I mean, aside from their visible crimes?"
"Good question." Elizabeth said, "Cadet Janet, what is the central belief of Clan society? The underlying statement of the Founder, Nicholas Kerensky?"
“At their core every Clan believes in the superiority of the Trueborn Warrior.” Janet answered.
"And how is this superiority demonstrated?" Elizabeth pressed. "Would I have any authority under Clan rules?" Helena asks.
“No. Perhaps in some of the more open minded Clans you could have some measure of self governance or even a say as a Senior Merchant factor but even then… Warriors rule all.”
"Nicely evaded, Cadet, your rhetoric prof needs to give you a brush up on how to answer the question you wanted to hear. 'Might Makes Right'. Isn't that it? If someone has something a Warrior wants, if they can't fight, he takes it, isn't that true?"
“Yes. Trade is possible through Merchants but if the deal is too disfavorable or the prize great enough a Trial will be issued instead.”
"And if I have specialized skills or knowledge, say…for example, I've devised a technology that is desirable, what would happen to me under that society?" Liz asked.
“Assuming the technology is sufficiently desirable a Trial for you would be initiated.”
"Stakes, in a bet, in other words." Liz stated, "and if I refused? What would my fate be?"
“At best? Re-education. More typically something far more brutal.”
"Slavery." Elizabeth said, "The system you just described, is slavery. Civilians are treated as property for exchange through a series of bets and contests, or even purchase. The owner being the 'state' is simply deferring responsibility, the system is based on slavery."
“Now some of you are asking how is this different than the systems in use by the Combine and Confederation. In those systems you are not traded as property. Ascension is possible. It is true some Clans do elevate freeborns to Warriors but for the most part those Freeborns were already Warriors.”
Elizabeth brought up an image of equations. "These, are formulas every Navigation certified member of this audience should be familiar with-or even sick of, for the Cadets taking Cu'ong's Hyperspace Calculus 102 class." Liz said. "Cadet Janet, I understand you're on your second turn through that course. How many Warriors knew these equations in your experience, that is, including warriors aboard Clan Naval Reserve vessels?"
“Only Navigation techs and Scientists and a select few.”
The equations hung there, Liz faced the experienced personnel "How many of you officers, sent here, knew these formulas before you got here?"
Most of them raised their hands.
"Look around, folks." Liz said. "Every one of you would be termed 'Chalcas' by the Clans for what you know how to do. The people who know it, are traded like collector cards, because they're property."
“And even Warriors are not immune from this themselves are they?”
"Part of me hates picking on you, Janet, but…how much training did you get in maintenance of your equipment? Or damage control when you were aboard ship?"
“It is understandable. I am a primary source and thus an excellent example as well. Very little. Warriors are not expected to do their own maintenance and thus do not contribute to the upkeep of the vessels we travel on.”
"Back in '57, the Kowloon system was hit by Clan Steel viper, they sent a battlegroup here, Jane, how hard was it to take that battlegroup apart compared to fleet actions in the Amaris War? Best comparison, the naval operation breaching the Rim Worlds Defense line at Eagle's Nest?"
“Not as hard as it should have been. That much heavy iron should have been well outside our capabilities to oppose. Yet we did because of clear lax standards and lack of real experience.”
"Would you say the Clan gunnery was good?"
“Yes. That part was adequate.”
"And that their ships were adequately powerful?" Liz pressed.
“As stated we should not have won that fight with what we had on hand and it would not even be close.”
"In your opinion, what was the deciding factor prior to the release of nuclear weapons?" Liz asked. "WHat made them weaker?"
“Poor coordination. Poor anticipation of tactics. And quite simply put poor decision making.”
"Did the enemy show a lack of maintenance? Or a weakness in damage recovery in your opinion?"
“Recovery for certain was a weakness. As we degraded their crews and inflicted damage it became clear they were not able to keep up.”
"To put this into perspective, ladies and gentlemen, the defense fleet here at Kowloon consisted of one modified Lola II class destroyer, the KCGMS Elizabeth Cameron, one recovered Mako corvette we'd just finished repairing that was due for transfer to the FedCom fleet form the shipyards here, and two deeply obsolete Type 51 gunships that were deemed 'too obsolete for deployment' by AFFC. The attacking force, included a Potemkin, two modified Rigas, and a Nightlord class battleship. WE had some auxiliary dropships and smallcraft and some fighter squadrons. On a pure balance of forces scale, all other factors being equal, they could have and should have eaten our lunch after taking our lunch money. Powerful ships do not make a Navy effective by themselves."
“We did lose a painful number of our auxiliaries but even so we should have lost all of them and we won anyway.”
"This is where the economics comes in." Liz said, "economics is the distribution and allocation of resources to achieve a goal-typically in business, this goal is termed 'profit'. The Clan forces invested heavily in equipment and technologies. We invested heavily into training and organization." she paused, "Not just combat training, but all the elements of infrastructure leading up to, and coming in after, combat."
“On the surface of a world the Clan technological advantages are as advertised. In space we have shown that this is not so. Examination of their vessels have revealed their main heavy weapons are little different from ours.”
"So it's really peer?" Kong-sao-shao Wei Mai Chan asked.
"Not really." Elizabeth said, "Some of it is misallocated advances. The clans use a between bulkheads filler material that expands to seal air in-which is great, if you get an occasional meteor impact or microstrikes, but…it's not so great if you have something like a weapon that generates energy releases, heat, or shockwaves."
“Tyra Miraborg.” Jane said as an image was added, "Her move, ramming the Dire Wolf? Would not have worked against a ship flying under SLDF doctrine in a combat zone-because the fires and the atmospheric shock that caused most of the casualties would have had no medium-the Star League's Navy in a war zone ran outer decks depressurized to limit the spread of secondary damage, and didn't wait for specifically assigned crews to begin damage recovery."
“Thus our training in suits and basic training.” Mai nodded.
"Naval Minister Helena Drillson studied extensively on the Star League's best practices, that is, practices done by their best commanders, and commands, when she was formulating the recovery of the Lyran Commonwealth's naval branch."
“She has studied all the best records and the databanks on the Elizabeth Cameron certainly were quite helpful.” Jane added.
"There is a rumor, Duchess, that you also participated in that defense." Chu-Sa Hitomi let it dangle before continuing, "from a ballistic missile submarine."
"We missed." Liz said flatly, "We lured that Nightlord over the Western sea, but all our shots missed." she chuckled, "DBS's script for their miniseries got that detail wrong, but it's understandable given who my husband is."
“This will all be covered in more detail later. For now our main point is that we can recover from our losses because we planned for this and have been laying a lot of ground work to make it possible to do so.”
"If you get nothing else out of this seminar, folks, 'if you can't afford to lose it, you can't afford to use it'." Liz stated, "ANY strategy that relies on a single point of failure, or has multiple failure points that must be constantly addressed? Is doomed to fail. I was in our 'worst situation backup', and it didn't work, what worked, was the rest of the contingencies Admiral Wells, and Jane, covered specifically so that firing missiles from a submarine would be…unnecessary, Jane? Or superfluous? Hole cards should be to get an immediate temporary advantage, not something you rely on to win, but more of a 'nice to have'."
“Which is one of our other advantages. Simply put we’ve solved the headache that plagued us all and continues to do so for others. The best military hardware does you no good if it doesn’t get where it needs to be or buried under seven thousand metric tons of requisition forms for more requisition forms. Or worse having to sort out over a hundred different suppliers and parts.”
"Standardization." Liz said, "is a force multiplier. The difference between making the most use of each kilogram, or cubic centimeter of transport and storage and not doing so, is the difference between a readiness rate of over ninety percent, versus a readiness rate average of thirty percent. One of these, makes better use of your logistics than the other. Common parts and structures means you can devote more training and practice time to fewer tasks, which increases proficiency and with it, effectiveness."
“And establishing good habits early makes adopting them easier.”
"For phase three, which some of you will be entering in just a few weeks, we're going to be conducting simulated fleet exercises using these:" 
The imagery blanked and then displayed four Type-51 pre-dreadnought gunboats. "These aren't the warships you're going to command when you get back to your home services, but they have enough similarity to what you'll be using, that they make an adequate, albeit imperfect, simulation of real-world Warship operations, they'll be in concert with combination Dropship/Jumpship groups to allow you to practice naval formation fighting, simulate most of the skills you'll need, and engage in mock-combat wargames to sharpen the lessons most of you senior people already learned at your service academies. Each team of senior officers will be in charge of a crew made up of Cadets and NCO personnel, this is to develop the Cadets for reassignment to SLDF's multinational formations. If this pilot program works, it is likely to be replicated at a Service Academy in each realm-including the practice gunboats." Liz explained, "To provide naval officers with experience at the low end, and take advantage of lessons learned by veteran officers in developing those up-and-coming juniors. Simulators may be cheaper, but there's no replacement for actual experiences."
“We train without them so that it is as close to the real thing as we can get so when we have to do the real thing we’re ready. It takes a toll to be sure but if we pay the toll now it will be less later.”
"Your casualty rates." Knight said, "that's part of this, isn't it?"
"One casualty in training saves ten in the field. Or hundreds, in the case of naval operations. It's simple math-if you lose someone in an optional, controlled environment, and it reduces the chance of loss in an actively chaotic real-world scenario, you're going to come out ahead in those active, real world scenarios. Mind that these exercises will include a lot of the 'office' parts of officer work, including managing resources, recovery from damage, and injury recovery, not merely gunnery and piloting-because piloting and gunnery can be taught in a simulator, but managing a ship and executing a mission? That's got to be done real time."
“And Helena will be giving you all lots of lectures on the logistical, administration, and other such elements of leadership over your coursework.”
Liz inclined her head, "Jane, I think I've contributed about enough, I need to let you folks get back to work, and I need to get back to my job."
“It was a pleasure, Duchess.”
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
36