TBntG-3 Chpt 36

=The Bull and the Genie=
==Chapter 36 - Book III - The Clan Invasion==
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
==Operational Planning==
----
===Reason for Rescuing former Enemies===
Terra, Sol System (ComStar Space)
The map blazed in the briefing room. 
 
"Oshika, prefecture capital. Just over four billion on it, and A lot of BDS believers." General Mary Cheng glanced over at the assembled officers. "This isn't like the wars we've had experience in. We're not landing to capture the local customs house. We have to land and take it, which is why we have two corps tasked with the initial landing, Third and Seventh." She glanced around the room, noting the Clan reps. "Normally we'd bypass it. Between our forces and the Clans, the Combine now has under ten Jumpships not accounted for, and that's being generous. Oshika has launch centers for just over two thousand suicide fighters, maybe a hundred or so aerospace fighters and twenty or so modified Dropships. We know they've been building non-stop on Luthien and other core worlds, so the decision has been made to make Oshika our test run for future planetary invasions. If our tactics and operations have any major flaws, it's better to find out now than when we're trying to drag the BDS brass out of their hidey holes."
 
"There is another reason," Will said. The Primus stepped up. "Image five, please." The image appeared, a vast compound. "You're looking at one of the Dragon's Mercy Towards the Repentant Sinners. A concentration camp. We believe that Oshika has at least three million prisoners, many of them brought in from other worlds. Most of them are intellectuals, politicians—the kind of people a local resistance might form around. They're being allowed to repent by working for the Dragon." He shook his head. "Worked to death, the actual term is worked to death. But these people are important. They're not only people who were hostile to the Black Dragons, but they are the kind of people needed for the post war era. Which is why they're isolated here. As part of our operation, we will be liberating them and providing humanitarian assistance." 
 
"Don't see why we need to help the Dracs back on their feet," someone muttered. Mary glanced in his direction. "General."
 
"Are you volunteering for salted bomb duty to kill off the people, Colonel?" Mary asked. "You know the rules. The Draconis Combine, as in a major state with a military, is never going to rise again. But unless we're willing to be just as bad as Jinjiro, we have to think about the day after the guns go silent—and these groups are the ones who may help us keep the guns silent." 
 
Not everyone agreed, Mary could see, but nobody else spoke up.
----
===Careful Planning===
"GUN CONTROL just got a little more complex," the general said. Katherine winced. "Complex" was a bad word for infantry. "Here's the 27th Munitions plant, which has some goddamned Haiku name which I can't remember. They're making dirty bombs."
 
Lovely, Katherine thought. Not just nukes but filthy ones. 
 
"Now here's the complex problem. See, the BDS doesn't think Robots are honorable, or maybe they just killed all the operators. So we have this little subsidiary labor camp. About 25,000 people in it, average life expectancy according to the intelligence agency about two weeks on the line. Normally of course we'd focus on the plant, but…" he projected another image. Several men, families with them, being shoved into a bus. "Meet some of the Yakuza heads of Luthien. Whether they're alive or not, we don't know, but unless the BDS has been more successful than every LEO in history, there are probably crooks on their capital—and these gents and ladies can help us contact them, maybe even get some commandos on the planet to secure the leadership before they retreat to the Dragon's Anus or some other hideyhole." 
 
"Ah, yeah, sir, telling twenty five thousand people that we're just there for the guys with tattoos…" The Colonel let her voice trail off. Katherine heartily agreed with her. 
 
"You'll have transport. Once you've secured the base, and secured the camp, we'll bring down a security force and troop ships to bring them up. Your brother will be making noise about a hundred miles away hitting the capital, and well, once they realize a Davion is there…"
 
Please don't get nuked, Victor. She wouldn't pray that he didn't stick his head right in the lion's mouth, but hopefully nothing in said mouth had a rad count attached. 
 
Let's see. First off, take a munitions factory, make certain we have the records and nobody decides to go out in a blaze of Atomic glory. Then take out the guards of a concentration camp, full of panicking, sick people. Find the people we want. Then hold it, probably against everything the locals can throw at us, until the Navy remembers that they promised support, even for a lowly infantry captain like me. 
 
Lovely.
----
===Shadows of Invasion===
Admiral Sandra Jenks looked at the images. Icons blazed in the holo. Thirty destroyers, 12 cruisers, six carriers, not to mention the parasite warships they carried. The boffins had wanted to bring the 200K dropship they'd designed to carry warship armor and guns, but "only a 10 percent chance of something going horribly wrong" was not something you wanted to hear going into combat. The first wave, but nobody was going in there with conventional JumpShips and light troop carriers until the world was secure.
 
"No battleships," The Snow Raven liaison asked. "You have them, Quiaff?"
 
"Yes." She gestured. "But all they would be is a magnet for every suicide ship and missile in the theater. I don't want to risk giving them that kind of propaganda victory. If I keep it with destroyers, cruisers and carriers, I may have an easier time convincing them to spread their fire out." She shook her head. "Besides, it's not like we need more heavy metal." Production lines from Terra to Samantha churning out warships and you geniuses decided to overthrow your government and go to war with everyone else. "And your forces?"
 
"Ah, Kh—Star Captain Frederick has had us clearing out the region bordering our current possessions. Some of our new battleships need a working up period." 
 
"You've produced more than a few."
 
"Clan engineering."
 
Which can't keep up with us in numbers so you have to build larger ships. But Sandra wasn't about to bring that up. After all, they were all one happy family…
 
And compared to the Fucking Black Dragons, even the Smoke Jaguars were nice neighbors.
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
Book 3 - 36