<continued from Part III>
* * *
Earth, March 12, 2170
"It strikes me as odd as well," Brigadier Colonel Westphal Green completed
his report, "but RIKER and DELILAH have received confirmation through three
different channels. One of them, you know, I would trust with my life."
A senior analyst officer with the G2 Intelligence and Espianoge, the key
military intelligence asset of Defense�s Military Assistance and Advisory
Command, Green definitely looked the part. He stood roughly
five-foot-eight, boasted rough, sculpted features, and sported a thick mane
of jet-black hair. His slick grooming only contributed to the sly,
scrupulous character eminating from him. The person he was speaking with,
however, clearly did not follow the suit. The major general dwarfed him by
nearly a full foot and a half. Director Ghers Banatm, Major General�United
Planetary Defense Force Marine Corps, inherited his lineage�s correlated
physiology, including the dark complexion and distinctly Negroid-like
features. His handsomely etched countenance drew attention to the deeply
furrowed, sullen brow. Years at the operations end of things forced decades
of experience and weariness onto Banatm�s shoulders. His ears, situated
slightly farther back and lower (at the base) than most other humanoid
species, rose sharply upward and curved forward before the tip of the upper
lobe rejoined just before his temples. They seemed to radiate an earthy
dignity that attested to Banatm�s enervation.
Already pushing the retirement age for most Mutans, the General had
entered the Marine Corps as a infantry private at the age of one-hundred and
thirty. As the CCW-3 reached its peak in the mid-twenties, Ghers bounded
through the ratings and reached gunnery sergeant. Within a week of the
actions at Marist 551 2 A, where the UPDF Marines held off a Corron invasion
force for two months, he had been breveted to first lieutenant and received
command of an infantry platoon in the 5/24 Marine Expeditionary Regi-ment.
Ghers continued to distinguish himself throughout the war, as a brevet
captain and company com-mander, major and divisional G2 intelligence
officer, and ultimately as a lieutenant colonel and full-bird at the end of
CCW-3. Commissioned to Brigadier General in 2138, he commanded as a member
of the generalcy, the 2nd "Rigel�s Sword" Brigade of the First Marine
Expeditionary Force, during the First Bat-tle for Ganymede. When
deep-strike Corron campaign vessels penetrated Jovian space and began their
seige on the Ganymede and Europa colonies, Brigadier General Banatm�s forces
instrumentally contrib-uted to Earth�s momentarily successful push-back of
the enemy�s forces. The Battle of First and Second Callisto claimed the
lives of fourteen thousand Marines�one-thousand seven hundred fifty from 2nd
Ma-rine Expeditionary Space Brigade�and Navy aviators. A few years after
CCW-4 concluded, Ghers and the Marine Corps commandant successfully pursued
the commission of a permanent Marine outfit to en-sure the safety of the
Confederation�s capital world. The VII Marine Fleet Force, a unique
division de-voted to safeguarding the Sol System, stood as the single
largest force. After the Confederation evacua-tion of the Sol System in
2142, the remains of Gher�s devastated brigade were redistributed amongst
other badly undermanned outfits. The brigadier bounced between divisional
command staffs until he managed to pull command of the Fifteenth Marine
Intelligence Brigade, IV Marine Expeditionary Force�then un-der Lieutenant
General Alberta Pacci. General Pacci eventually would recommend Ghers for
the open slot of assistant director of G2 Intelligence. To top it off,
following his promotion to Major General, Ghers inherited the empty chair
the late-Director (Military Intelligence General Two), Lieutenant General
Mikhail Zhaluv, left unoccupied when he went to his grave eight years ago.
Westphal Green, on the other hand, had not served as a rifleman since
his late thirties; a fact he grew steadily resentful towards as he drew near
fifty. His rank of Brigadier Colonel, UPDF Army, put him on level enough
ground to fraternize freely with the upper-echelons while avoiding the
chains that accompa-nied a promotion to the generalcy. Of course, Green
understood that his current situation might change at any time. His next,
and probably last promotion�to brigadier general�would most likely receive
con-gressional confirmation within the next year or two. Nonetheless, he
resolved long ago that getting kicked upstairs and tied to a desk hurt a lot
less than retiring. After all, with thirty years in the intelli-gence
business, the ASF couldn�t simply "let" him go. The past four years of his
career mainly involved high-level courier command and control. "Courier
service," of course, was in itself a far stranger task than it�s name
suggested. Not only did the job requirements include directing well over a
hundreds intel-ligence circuits flooding in an out of the Confederation on
the hundreds of non-aligned sovereignties�including the hostile Corron and
H�than empires, but the job entailed an occasional break from the
intelli-gence racket to actually direct operations carried out based on his
intelligence. The Helsinki File Incident of 2159�the foreign investigations
aspect of it, of course�had ballooned Green�s career and brought him to the
attention of G2�s analysis bureaucracy. Now, Green felt a eerie, sinking
feeling that had accompa-nied him through Helsinki, as well as the entire
Fourth Corron-Confederation War. High-level ops tended to disconcert him,
but only a handful of intelligence campaigns had ever disturbed him this
much. The two that had either involved a full-scale war or the threat of
genocide. In his hands lay reports and analy-ses that seemed to lend
credence to both of these possibilities. Green swallowed the thought and
replayed the briefing in his mind.
Nearly two decades ago, G2�s Studies and Operations Groups�working with
the Central Intelligence Network�had managed to recruit several
highly-placed Corron officials and clerks on outlying worlds to gather
intelligence floating in from Corron Prime. Green himself had led the
recruiting effort for the 1052nd Military Intelligence Brigade�surgically
modified to resemble a member of the Empire�s Hw�italni ethnic family�during
the 2150s that managed to solicit the favor of a Representative to the
Imperial Senate (or Council, whichever way one translated it) from the
high-born Turas family. For the first decade, Green�s brainchild network
gathered badly needed information on the Corron social and po-litical
structure. However, Green and the Confederation intelligence community
quickly learned that se-crecy was not only in vogue amongst the Corron
government itself, but an inherent, traditional practice as well. The real
names of Royal Family members were unknown to officials of the lower ranks,
and even today, the family-structure and ranking system of Corron society
was a vague outline sitting in one of the CIN�s high-security vaults. Of
course, Intelligence was aware there was a monarchial system in place, and
that the current monarch was a queen/empress/etc. Furthermore, at least
twenty-eight royal names (not pseudonyms) were listed�without faces,
unfortunately�in the CIN�s database.
If gathering information on and analyzing the domestic structure of
Corron society was an intelligence challenge in itself, G2 found its task on
keeping tabs on the Corron military forces mind-harrowing. Thirty years
ago, it was presumed that the Corron forces�know within the Empire as the
Hwi-zhemal�orra�maintained a strictly organized, centralized military unit
that was primarily based on troop transports. However, in 2139, the
Confederation would gain accurate and shocking intelligence through one of
the worst defeats in its history. As Commander General Hw�italni Mika
slashed and burned his way through the Blue Corridor�so named after the
distinctive low-visibility coloring of his fleet�s hulls�the Hwi-zhemal�orra
Fifth Star Brigade would become a feared name amongst the Core Worlds. G2
gained valuable insight into the operating structure of the Corron military
organization. Largely feudal and in many cases, inefficient, G2 was
surprised to learn that incredible compensation was made through the
Hwi-zhemal�orra soldier�s impressive capabilities. With leeway in
initiative granted to Corron com-manders by their government was unrivaled
by any other military power�even the Confederation. By the word of a
commanding general, all the feudal, ritualistic and bureaucratic excess that
plague the Empire�s domestic situation dissipated into the oblivion.
General Mika demonstrated this boundless operational latitude with
proficient efficacy; leading his diminutive, yet remarkably organized,
flotilla of warships and transports filled with Imperial Marines into the
heart of the Confederation. During the space-side en-gagements, G2 quickly
learned of the Hwi-zhemal�orra�s ability to adapt to a rapidly modernizing
battle-field. Despite the fierce attachment to traditional tactics and
strategies, the ingenuity with which Mika and his officers executed
traditional maneuvers earned the Corron Imperial Navy a great deal of wary
re-spect from their Confederation counterparts. Finally, the ferocity of
Corron groun forces unleashed bore down against the unprepared Confederation
defenses. They waged their grisly, brutal ground war no against some
outlying border world�bordering the edge of emptiness and insignificance;
instead, they fought through the deserts of Ganymede and rained nuclear fire
down on Mars. Eventually, their Marines spread across the blue-white visage
of Earth, the Imperial Army�s immense reserve taking up the slack as Mika�s
shock forces swept away the last vestiges of Terra�s organized resistance.
By 2142, the Sol, Pol-lux, Tau Ceti, and a full third of the Core Worlds lay
at the mercy of Commander General Hw�italni Mika and the Corron Empire.
As the war progressed along the front, the intelligence G2 had gained
there�at an unimaginable price�would pale in comparison to the intelligence
Confederation "observers" and "expeditionary forces" amassed on Earth,
Pollux II, and Ceti 4; fighting alongside the native resistance movements as
they strug-gled to break the yoke of the Corron dominion. On Earth, the
struggle for independence had broken out into some of the most violent and
bloody wars of attrition in the First Quadrant�s history. Green had been
onworld at that time�a young eighteen-year old recruit in the UPDF Army,
when Mika�s forces first be-gan attacking the space stations and orbital
colonies in Earth�s skies. Close to two billion people died between 2140
and 2142, including Green�s parents and older brother; victims of a
genocidal space war waged unilaterally against an unarmed civilian populace.
He and his three younger sisters managed to hide out as civilians with their
grandparents in England. Green, however, would eventually leave the
re-stricted life of an "occupied" citizen to link up with the various
British resistance groups around Prest-wick, Scotland. It was during that
time that he linked up with operatives from the Central Intelligence Network
and Defense Intelligence Department G2. During that time, Green gained a
great deal of intelli-gence on Corron planetary tactics, developing tactical
doctrine for operating against the blue-skins in dirt-side engagements while
refining and testing several concepts of planet-wide, guerilla warfare.
Still, a gruesome price often accompanied his actions, and more often than
not, non-combatants paid for the re-sistance�s struggle. When a Corron
garrison-governor�fittingly called "The Butcher"�ordered the exe-cution of
five-hundred thousand residents of the Northern Chinese-Tibetan area in
retaliation for attacks by local resistances, Green had hooked up with an
Asian militia to secure the rescue of close to a thousand of the Butcher�s
prisoners. The rest were herded into a deep valley and saturated with toxic
chemicals and acids. Following the war, Green visited the site; its name
translated from Chinese to "The Valley Of the Burning Rain." Ironically,
over a century and a half ago, this flourishing valley had once served as
the death-bed for two-million people; victims of the Zentraedi Holocaust.
The reports Green had passed on to General Ghers seem to re-open that
chapter in his life. The first segment of the briefing regarded the reports
of increased activity detected on an orbital facility above one of Corron
Prime�s two moons. Docking reports and appropiation bills, passed through
the courier chain leading to an operative only a handful of G2 and CIN
officials knew as YOKKURI, were immediately handed over to CIN agents
implanted on Naman�a common-world ("common-worlds" were semi-neutral planets
usually known for their high merchant traffic) about fourteen lightyears
away from the Jarao sys-tem. Furthermore, a photograph�an outdated one from
the Fourth Corron war�was included. Pictured on it was a Corron military
officer; short in stature, sharply-dressed, and donning a pair
of...sunglasses. The trademark depiction of.
"The Butcher," Ghers snarled. Green smoothed his green and black
uniform, nodding in grim under-standing; he easily recognized the
contemptuous ire breaking through the general�s reticent facade. Mid-way
through CCW-4 on Earth, Green made the acquaitance of a particular Mutan
officer, working as a DeForce "envoy" to the resistance, during the
observation effort in Eastern Europe. For nearly two years, Green and his
Mutan companion continued to shuttle some of the best data back to the DoD�s
Intelligence SOGs. However, the Mutan field officer had accompanied Green
to Asia when the Edinburgh Resistance detached several liaisons to help tear
down the Butcher�s regional government. As a result, Green barely escaped
with less than a thousand refugees while his comrade�Ghers Kuthal, the
general�s first-born son�was executed along with hundreds of thousands of
others in the Valley of the Burning Rain. So many others had died�close to
sixty-seven million�under the Butcher�s tenure as military governor of
Eastern Asia. After the cease-fire, the withdrawing 5th Star Brigade had
managed to evacuate him. Every appeal from the Confederation to extradite
the genocidal war criminal had failed; adding to the strain of the already
tenuous cease-fire.
Ghers curtly examined the rest of the briefing packet, which basically
listed the variety of activities�genocidal or not�the Butcher had
participated in while a member of the late General-Commander Mika�s
occupation forces, as well as a small listing of post-Occupation titles and
duties. Currently, he held the rank of Commander and was at the helm of a
flotilla of some of the Corron military�s finest attack vessels. However,
it was his most recent accomplishment that further outraged the general.
"No name, aka, �The Butcher.� 2155, appointed to the Imperial Senate Review
Committee for Planetary Offensive Tactics. 2159, elected to the candidate
position for the <No family name available�assumed generic> fleet com-mand.
Commissioned to <No family name available> to fleet command in January,
2160. Received command of the Romeo-November�what? Romeo-November 13?"
"Yes, Sir," Green nodded. Eight years ago, the Romeo November 13�known
to the Hwi-zhemal�orra as the Arisula, the "Battle-axe of Ula"�crashed onto
an asteroid just outside the Rubian system. The Defense Force, playing up
the event as a humiliation to the Hwi-zhemal�orra and an intelligence
triumph for G2, escorted the "humiliated" crew�with their Romeo-class
battlecruiser (after G2 and the CIN had finished disecting it for all that
it was worth�to the Giovanni Buffer Zone. Two years later, it was
dis-covered that the cruiser had been deliberately beached so that the
Corron military could gain a better per-spective of the Rubian defense
perimeter�an intelligence community farce that the CIN and the Depart-ment
of Defense had struggled vainly to keep under wraps. Despite its eventual
public revelation, the compromised security organization in the area had
been maintained, as the Confederation focused its wrath on a handful
bureacratic bodies in both the CIN and DoD�s G2. "Granted an audience with
the Empress soon following. Rumor is that ever since, she�s entertained his
presence at all advisory functions pertaining to offensive operations.
Apparently, that�s how he secured the command of the Foxtrot 2A."
Foxtrot Two-Alpha, the designated code-name for the Corron command
carrier Kw�al, was a Hellfire (Tringal)-class behemoth of a ship, twice as
large as the Confederation Patton-class dynacruiser and more heavily armed
than anything in the Defense Force arsenal. Still, it were poorly shield;
several of the earli-est producation models of the Hellfire (Intelligence
had learned eight years ago) had cracked up during atmospheric re-entry.
Torpedo bombers and the powerful energy and ballistic weapons onboard
Confed-eration vessels pretty much levelled the combat field. The Kw�al
itself had been recently refitted and sent out on a renewed campaign by the
Hillth family to incite the Confederation into a brush-fire border war. It
was in just over a year ago that the Butcher made his presence known once
again. In a daring raid against the Ishtar-anai system, Hwi-zhemal�orra
forces had razed the outer industrial asteroids works with thermo-nuclear
warheads. Proceeding to the inhabited sixth planet, the Kw�al descended far
enough to execute an attack on the civilian capital. Some twenty-thousand
were killed during the incident; although the Hwi-zhemal�orra were expelled.
The Corron Empire categorically denied officially sanctioning the attack.
Fortunately for them, their harrowing attack on the Confederation thirty
years earlier was more than fresh in the memories of the UPC�s citizens and
council representatives. War was to be avoided at all costs.
Until now. Now, the Butcher was about to wage another reckless attack
against Confed citizens; only this time, the Confederation possessed
information which could be used to circumvent him. Still, would the
Administration be willing to break its own self-imposed peace to use it
effectively?
"We can�t just sit on this one," Green understatingly pointed out.
Ghers nodded in agreement. Unfor-tunately, despite the realities Earth had
faced under the Occupation, the rest of the Confederation wasn�t simply
going to risk it�s sorry excuse for peace on the basis of a single report
and a planetary size thirst for vengeance. Terra had been playing her hand
too poorly politically to simply force the issue down the Council�s
throat�and Command answered to the Council.
"Still, this is too weak to actually commit to," Ghers replied
objectively. "No one on the defense com-mittees will buy this without
�human� confirmation."
Green nodded understandingly. The truth was that everything the
Confederation received through Cor-ron channels was immediately suspect.
The psychological profile of the individual and the reaction of the
individual to the varying social climates inherent in Corron and
Corron-subjugated cultures made it com-pletely unfeasible to abide by
standard confirmation rules on information as sensitive and vital as this.
"Sir, there is something we�ve been considering for sometime over at
Operations," Green interjected. Ghers looked up interestingly. The reason
he liked Green so much was even though he served in the analytic department
of G2, Ops was still his primary home. I hope he doesn�t get caught up in
this bu-reacratic mess, Ghers remarked; it seemed like (it actually had
been) decades since he could enjoy at least a simulated drop with his Marine
company�fighting blueskins along the Majestic Frontier, biggest damned
mountain chain on Jarao IV. With that thought, he beckoned for Green to
continue. "I talked over with Admiral Dawson, and he and Vice Admiral
Rawlings think they can get the ball rolling if we come up with an abstract.
Believe it or not, they actually think that the Boss will go for it."
Ghers�s brow furrowed heavily; it was rare he let anyone outside of
administration go over his head on something like this. However, if
Westphal Green felt concerned enough to do so, he automatically felt
compelled to hear him out. "All right, West. What exactly made you skip
seven levels of command to get this point across?"
"Well, Sir, Ernaas Mur approached me for Admiral Smith about three weeks
ago," Green began. Ad-miral Michael Smith had been a Navy skipper who had
found himself unwillingly kicked upstairs two years ago. Lieutenant
Commander Mur was his Centauran god-son, as well as the chief tactical
officer onboard Smitty�s alma mater�the Benyamin Cohen. "Shocked the hell
out of me the first time I heard it, but here it goes."
Major General Ghers nodded in partial undertanding. Green had known
that Smitty sent a courier back to Earth with reports of potential of
increase in the Hwi-zhemal�orra�s offensive posture at least two times
before, and both of them had gone before the chiefs of staff months ago�to
no avail, unfortunately. Nev-ertheless, when one considered the outright
increase in the Imperial Forces� operational status towards the coreward
extent of their territories, Green agreed readily that Smitty�and every
other admiral and skip-per out there�had a right to feel concerned.
Apparently in a pointed attempt to elicit the entire Seventh Fleet�s bitter
resentment, Vice Admiral Vara and her deployment and strategy oversight
committeee had recommended against CINCGIOV�s bid to strengthen on-station
forces up to sixty-five percent. In fact, the Congressional Military
Oversight Subcommittee felt thoroughly convinced of the "necessity" to
maintain a "low profile" in deforce�s responsive posturing. Instead, the
farsical Druse Kingdom envoys, while trying to spin their insolvent
negotiations as "progressive," applauded the response and weakly called for
mutual good faith from the Empire�s side. Green snorted, and the look on
the Director�s face ensured him that the rest of Intelligence agreed as well.
"Anyway," Green now reached the main bulk of his story. "It seems that
Admiral Smith�s been send-ing out Chattanooga pickets out to snoop past
Jarao�s interstellar territory, and after over three months he feels worried
enough to report back to us. When Smitty worries, I worry."
"And?"
"Well, it seems that the Corron have increased operational exercise
activity along the border by thirty-five percent; that�s to our last
estimate�three weeks ago. Smitty feels really good about this one."
"Impossible, the whole fleet would be up in a titty." Ghers scoffed,
drawing his frame up in his chair. "NAVINT would�ve heard something before
they could�ve moved a ship up to the line."
"First of all, do you really rely on Naval Intelligence?" Green�s asked
nonchalantly. "We both know they�re being held on a tighter leash than the
rest of us, and we�ve been doing their jobs for a decade. The information
you�ve been getting from Admiral Messeur has been way to scant�I�m surprised
Rawlings even puts up with his mess. The man has been caught twice
distorting the NIEs, for Chrissakes!"
"Calm yourself, Colonel," Ghers said with only enough warning to bring
the brief back on track.
"Sorry, Sir. In anycase, Admiral Smith�s telling us the enemy�s newest
exercises are out in the open and blatantly uncoordinated. We both know
that the Hwi-zhemal�orra closely models the factional clan structure of
their civilian society. Commander-General Haano may be the big man across
the buffer, but NavInt knows that individual families may posture their
fleet elements without central coordination. Ad-miral Messeur has claimed
they�ve seen this pattern once or twice in the past fifteen years. His
arguments do make sense, I�ll admit. Still, I�d lean towards Smitty�s gut
feeling over analyses with his John Han-cock anyday. Even if that wasn�t
weak enough, I still don�t count in the big scheme of things, and the
Secretary will undoubtedly lean towards the admiral�s conclusions;
�low-profile� is the monthly buzz-word over at the Committee House."
"To summarize," Ghers completed Green�s thought, "Admiral Messeur thinks
he�s looking at a burp; and everything�s just rosy. Seems our dear Director
of NAVINT is voting early this year. Kind of makes you wonder what the Boss
looks for in an NIO anyway�loyalty or astuteness. Oh well, I guess I can�t
fault Messeur there, he always had a better nose for saving his ass than
doing his job. How long has Smitty been in on this?"
"We know about the five-percent annual increase; but Admiral Smith�s
predicting between seven and twelve percent. They�re spreading it around,
so God knows how much is floating through the Eastern Giov. Don�t forget,
they have a Reserve that doesn�t exactly suggest the most defensive posture
possible. Probes can�t scan that deeply into Imperial space, so we can�t
get mass readings on any charted star thirty lightyears behind the
demarcation line. So, Mike�s information could only be better than
ours�he�s actu-ally tried shipping them out into the Buffer Zone."
"God help him if CINCGIOV ever got a whiff of it," Ghers smirked.
"Yeah, I think Admiral Cannady said the same thing," Green turned up the
corner of his mouth devi-ously. "In any case, I�m putting my confidence in
Smitty. He�ll back you up on your proposal."
"Even so," Ghers leaned back, sighing ever so slightly, "there�s still
no guarentee it�ll work. Vara chewed Smitty up at the last conference.
When I head down to Bravo Eight next week, though, any op-eration you can
come up with an finalize will be presented to our friendly, Honorable
Senatorial Admiral Westinghouse. I meet with SecDef tomorrow night, but
that�s all set. All right?"
"Thank you, Sir," Green rose to his feet. Ghers looked over the brief
one final time and signed it, handing it back to the "courier."
"I�m looking forward to a good write-up, something tangible�understand?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Dismissed."
* * *
* * *
+-----------------+-<The Badass Reverend of Funk Prez>---+
| Presley H. | Political Science / Computer Science |
| Cannady II | and Electrical Engineering Undergrad |
|<revprez@mit.edu>| at the Mass. Institute of Technology |
+-----------------+-<Anime Manga Development Group>------+
+ Author of Liars and Dreamers, a Robotech fanfic +
+-------<http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/1731/index.html>-+
| MIDN 4/c A-2-2 SQD, MIT-Harvard-Tufts NROTC Battalion |
|_|"The art of war is of vital importance to the state"|_|