#982... (How many things had to go wrong for this to happen?)
Victoria stared through the holotank at a man in jade green. For probably the thousandth time, she regretted insisting on a military service instead of taking the political science classes her mother had urged her to take.
"Let me see if I have this fully understood, You're claiming this world, a Lyran world, that was a Lyran world under the Star League...and you want me to tell you what I"m going to defend with? is that right?"
"Aff".
"Okay, do you think I'm stupid, or, is it that you're an idiot? see, one or both of us would have to be blindingly stupid to just give that kind of information to an enemy right before a battle, so why in the name of all that's considered holy would I tell you? Hold that thought..." she turned to her aide, "Is Karl's unit in position?"
"yes Your Majesty."
"gut..." she turned to this 'Star Colonel'. "Alright, you haven't answered my very simple question. why should I, or anyone else with half a brain minimum, agree to play anything your way? are you uncertain of your technological superiority? because so far, it's pretty solidly ahead of us."
this surprised him.
"I will also point out, Star Colonel Malthus that you have a warship within seventy five thousand kilometers of the surface of this planet-there's only one reason to bring one of those that low, and that's to slag cities. I'd ask you to remove it, but I don't think you will-the Dracs didn't, after all...but, in the interest of NOT having to pay for cleanup, I'll admit, we've got ten battalions of Peacekeeper antishipping missiles tracking your warship, and they're nuclear tipped, so if you want to send your ship away and play like this is civil, I'm all for it. How many Divisions did you bring?"
"DIvisions?"
"I'm sitting on a Corps level force, how many SLDF divisions did you bring to contest for this site?" she asked, "YOu didn't think we'd keep holding back once I got Tommy Marik and the Cappies to lay off and let us reinforce, did you??"
"We can bid down-"
"NO. I'm not interested in giving you the easy fight you can get from limiting what I can defend with, especially given the gross technological gap between us, and you. That would be IDIOTIC. I'll defend this world with everything we have here, and I've already ordered forces to mobilize for when, not if, you manage to squeak out a win, I command a nation of TRILLIONS, and if we have to, we can send more soldiers than you have bullets...or, you can tell me why you're really here, and we can discuss things like adults, because it's cheaper than mass-printing 'the Federated Commonwealth regrets to inform you' letters."
She hoped she wasn't giving any tells-she didn't have a corps, she didn't have the nuclear arsenal.
but they didn't need to know that.
"We are here to restore the Star League, we are here to take Terra and bring an end to-"
"Wait, you're here to restore the Star League?" she scoffed, "WHY IN HELL DIDN"T YOU SAY SO FROM THE START?? What do you need? safe passage to Terra? maybe some logistical support? are you really expecting to take it with the tiny vanguard forces you brought??"
this surprised a 'whtat?" from the Clanner.
"You should have led off with that. My parents are trying to restore the Star League, hell, Tommy Marik, he wants to restore it, the Kuritas insist they're the rightfuil heirs to it, so do the Liaos in the CapCon, but we're the ones who at least got two states together as one without a civil war. What's your plan? How many Corps level assets and how many fleets are you bringing back with you to actually make this happen? because you KNOW you're going to have to occupy..." She folded her hands, "Let's talk a new deal here, instead of hinging on a bet over an honor duel, let's talk the logistics, if your plan is good enough, we might be more inclined to support it. Three hundred years of blindsided slaughter ended for good? getting hte Star League back? sign me up-if the plan isn't stupid and wasteful posturing."
The Clanner was visibly shocked...and confused.
the Eldest child of Melissa and Hanse Davion could feel the dice rolling as her gambit formed into an actual strategy. (make them talk, make them listen to their own words...)
Her boyfriend Kai had shown her a book once, where the author's final conclusion was that true sophistication in strategy did not consist of winning battles, but instead, of achieving victory without having to fight.
A little longer, blowhard, talk more, Karl's not ready to stomp on you yet...