"She's on enough...
...tranquilizers to turn an armor-bear into winnie-the-pooh, how good is she going to be tonight?" Curiatis asked.
"The expert I want up there would scare the shit out of them for all the wrong reasons." Victor countered. "Deformed zombies don't inspire trust and I'm not sure I could get Anh Cu'ong in front of a camera in any case. If Lizzie hadn't gone full batman, we could have used her instead-she's a good speaker and knows how to work the room."
"Batman?"
"Classic english lit, and art history, a 'superhero'." Victor said it with a sour expression, "Look it up in your nonexistent free time, some of the material's intriguing in a horrifying way."
"the failure of the experts to corner her."
"yeah." he sat down in the Archon's traditional oversight box, looking out over the Estates General. "I shoujd be in the field, Mom should be doing this, or..."
"Katherine disqualified herself with a murder plot, your highness."
"I know, which means she stuck me with...with all this!" he shook his head in frustration.
Bianh Vu Dao's drugged state didn't keep her from looking dignified as she stepped up to the witness podium.
"Jumpships." she said, "Most of you wouldn't have a seat in here without them. Every interstellar capable nation exists because our ancestors built jumpships,"
she fussed with her notes before continuing. "This is something everyone in here ought to be aware of right there with potty training. Every world in the Commonwealth was colonized from somewhere, goiing all the way back to the very beginning, and it wouldn't be a commonwealth, we would not have a nation without the flow of goods and information carried on jumpships...and neither would the enemies of the Commonwealth."
she put the notes down. "But, I'm told, the axis of decision, is a walking tank with an extra-special heavy equipment operator. This has decided the priorities of this body and by extension, the High Command since the end of the first clash of the succession wars-earlier, even, with the advent of the Ares Conventions and then, the repeal of those conventions and the founding of the Star League-which solidified this surface bound walking tank as the axis of decision-and who can argue with success? Tharkad's defenses are strong, right??"
"I challenge anyone here, who ascribes to that idea, the following challenge; 'Walk to Tamar without a jumpship'...or, we can try a shorter route, maybe Gallery? Hesperus?? can you march from Hesperus II to the aid of Tharkad without ships?"
she paused agian, "Damn, I thought that would be hilarious, I'm not a good speaker, I didn't take Rhetoric at the Academy...or any academy. I'm just a spacer who does Miltia part-time, Tonight marks the longest continuous period I've been on the surface of a so-called 'habitable' world since I was five. That's Twenty Two Hours continuous, for those of you keeping score...but I am a Lyran, and I care about this nation, and I gave my word-I swore an oath..." she turned to look meaningfully at Victor's position. "...and I was ordered to address you all in person, so I'm here, to explain my reality."
she tapped a control on the podium, and a holoprojector in the floor rose, and lit.
"This is the Tharkad system. This is not to scale, because if I did it to scale, nobody would be able to make out the icons of Tharkad's defense network, which is why I'm here tonight-the Capital is undefended. To be more specific, there are 'defenders' and they're good at their jobs, but to an attacker who knows the basics, this world is as undefended as an unlocked door in a slum. what should be the same defense as a shotgun by the bed? is all you have-an intruder can walk right in, right past the highly trained, expensively equipped, extensive, defense nets that you all have relied on since the Star League was a wet dream in the mind of the Terrans...and for a while, it's been alright, but here's the problem; We Lyrans have an enemy whom has taken forty percent of the realm, and that enemy has a fleet of warships, and despite how wonderful 'mechs and 'mechwarriors are in ground combat? They're worthless if you can't get them from where they are, to where they are needed...especially when your enemy can do so without issue."
"Colored in red? that's the detection range of the Deep Radar and early warning networks of the Tharkad system. For the last four months, I've been probing holes in that network-while filing flight plans telling them exactly what I'm doing. an enemy will not be so courteous, but even as a non-enemy, the response times measured out in the days, when in a real crisis, the needed timeframe is minutes to seconds."
she rested on her hands, "Tharkad has fine, powerful gates, and no curtain wall. The strike that can decapitate the Commonwealth can be launched tomorrow and you won't know it was even coming before cities are burning, Mount Asgard has been cratered, and your people are wearing green bondcords and saing 'aff', or having to learn Japanese."
"If you don't believe me, believe this: My Duchess, Elizabeth Ngo, was eleven years old when she formulated a means to destroy the capital world of the Draconis Combine for less than half a billion kroner from start to finish, if her plan were put into action, there would be no defense and whoever did it would be among the worst criminals in history...but if an eleven year old girl can understand it, to that level? A Psychopath like the ones who scoured Edo from Turtle Bay can certainly grasp how to do it...and do it without so much as enriching a single lump of uranium or buying a single laser trigger. but let's talk less...apocalyptic methods."
a course lit up. "This, is a course any bandit, pirate, or criminal can use to evade ninety nine percent of Tharkad's traffic control to deliver or extract raiders to or from any point on the planet. The gap is so wide, an invasion fleet can use it, and the fastest response outside of ground based fighter units, is several days away from being able to deliver an effective response. They can have an army standing in the Triad before the outer bases have even got word the planet is under attack."
another course lit, "this is another one. Total transit time is three months, but it's three months where they can listen in on every broadcast and Civil Defense cannot see them coming...because resources are limited, trained personnel? also limited. There's nobody to witness the arrival and call it in, because the outer system is empty of people, bases, and cache sites. The fleet units based here, cannot do anything but try to defend a fixed point, because they have no fall back position and no way to maintain the ability to fight beyond that first clash."
"This system, is undefended. the planet is well defended-but at a significant disadvantage-losing orbital superiority loses air superiority, lose air superiority and you're fighting from the low ground against an enemy who can strike at will. The impact of this, can be seen in some of the defeats the AFFC has suffered on the Clan fronts-forces that could not be reinforced or relieved because the enemy can protect his airspace, and we cannot protect our own, because his convoys are protected and ours? ours are not."
she gestured at the Archon's box, "The Archon Prince has a plan to deal with this critical crisis. It's probably a good idea to listen to that plan, and even better to put it into action, before someone remembers how easy it is to wage total war against an unprepared opponent. Thank you for your time, Ladies and Gentlemen."
she walked off the stage.
