Earth, London, The Triangle

[Jorge Silva]

The office was quite large for her. As a matter of fact she wished that her office was smaller, she never did like large rooms for some strange reason and did not know why. Secretary of the United Colonial Republican Navy, Kathrine Almos sat in her chair as she pondered on how to meet General Starlite's demands. He stated that the Army wouldn't be in this operation dubbed "Operation Redemption" which was designed to crush the ARM terrorist group once and for all. Not to mention the S.S. supplied it's own private navy for deployment.


The office that she was in was her's of course. However the carpet was a pea green color and she hated it. She had a oak desk, with five leather chairs in front. Over to her left was a small restroom, then there was the other room of her office. It was a small meeting room for non formal meetings with four couches, a large table and a small stand for drinks. She never liked coffee however, she loved the smell of it but the taste of it made her want to throw up.


However she was not tired today in fact- Her personal communication device on her desk beeped."Yes?" she said "Admiral Ivan Antov is here to see you mam."the yeoman said."Ah, very well send him in." she said and the door opened.

Ivan Antov strode through, he was a man who was 6 feet fall, had short reddish brown hair. He had a five o clock shadow (he always did). His uniform was crisp and neat, his medals shone so bright it almost blind her. Ivan Antov was actually 102 however thanks to the regeneration drugs these days one could live to be on average 205. He looked like he was in his early 60's however. Sitting down in one of the seats he crossed his legs and gave a small smile of gratitude.

"It's not every day the Secretary of the Navy wishes to see me you know. Please tell me you aren't going to force me into retirement, we all know that those pirates that I caught in the Justin System were and are guilty of raiding the tender." he said. "Oh Ivan if I did that you'd think that I hate you? Come on now, you know that I owe you besides you didn't say anything after you saved me from that fiasco."she said.

"Too true, too true. Well what can Admiral Ivan Antov do for you today?" he said smiling though his teeth. "You always are a strange man, even for a Russian. You old communist, I should send you to the Hancock system at least the Navy would be safe from you."she said and laughed a little. "Ah and Secretary then I would send you and all of your capitalist friends to work for Special Security's Navy. I hear that they love making people work to death." he said smiling. In fact Ivan Antov and Kathrine Almos had once been married so they got along great. However they broke up only after 5 years of being married due to Kathrine's spending problem. Other then that they remained good friends and the best of friends.

"Yes well make sure you tell your wife, that I'll see her during Christmas. I really hope that you come back in one piece." she said referring to what she was about to say. "And so then why am I called on today? Surely you didn't want to talk to me for the sake of talking." he said and sat up straighter.

"Unfortunately no. Admiral Antov, you are being sent to head over 4th Fleet. Since Admiral Hallway had an unfortunate heart attack while in the base on Luna, you have the honor of taking the Glaucus System back from the ARM. I won't lie our Intel is shit. The information we do have is from 20 years ago and is not recent. For all we know those two forts at the warp point could be gone, or there could be more then those. We don't know that much at all. I do trust that you'll proceed with due caution?" she said

"Of course Madam secretary. The troop transports will go in last both official naval units and Special Security naval troop transports. I won't have thousands of troops die en route to the warp point only to find themselves destroyed. Do you have any plans on how to capture the objective at all?"he asked. "Yes I do. You'll arrive in the Indra System where you'll then proceed to the Warp point of the Glaucus System. You'll then go through the warp point, destroy the defenses and local star furys'. We know they don't have mines so don't worry about that."

"You'll then proceed to the planetary orbit of Sisyphus and engage the enemy fleet there. Once you have orbital control and only when you have orbital control can you then drop your troops to the surface. Once landing zones are cleared you'll then send down supplies to the surface. It may take more then a week to clear the surface of the ARM military on the surface but it should be easy to do since we know where the settlements are. "

"However we don't know if they built more towns, added any roads, added any orbital defenses of any kind. After the planet is cleared of the enemy you shall then exit via the warp point back to the Indra System. The Corps will leave a division on the ground however and wait for official colonists to arrive to colonize the planet. Do you have any questions as to Operation Redemption?" she said and handed him a folder full of the status of the fleet, information of the system and ARM military information."Mam, the only question that I have is what should happen if the fleet is destroyed. Do we have any re enforcements?" he asked.


"No if 4th fleet is destroyed then the nearest fleet, 7th fleet in this case will take two weeks to arrive in the Glaucus System. And by then the Indra System could be fighting and ARM invasion so you have to win this system...for the Republic." she said. Ivan Antov stood up and shook her hand. "I won't let you down Kathrine." he said. She smiled and almost blushed. "If your trying to hit on me then you have my husband to answer to." she said smiling.


"Oh no we don't want any of that. But Kathrine seriously it's been good seeing you even if it was a business meeting. You know that even though we ended our marriage I'll always care for you."he said. Kathrine smiled, it was true Ivan would always care for her. "I know. Now get out of here you. I have a date." she said. "A date with whom?" he said "Victor Cachet of course, he's trying to start building better weapons for the Navy."

Ivan walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. "I have a bad feeling about this." he whispered to himself.

[Michael Hobbar]

8/11/3358

"We can't do that. Not with the Special Drop Corps. Have you seen the casualty list so far on the operation to take Sisyphus Senator? I haven't yet and we will not know until April because of the communication network. You know how it is, we have to wait at least six months to hear back. Unless the navy has invented an FTL drive then I don't know. These projections for our new budgets will hamper our ability to defend the outer colonies from any ARM or terrorist attack." General Starlite said speaking to the senate committee overseeing funding for the military. The Special Drop Corps was having a 40 percent drop in funding for it's budget. That would mean that they couldn't have as many active troopers in the field, not build as many tanks, people would have to be laid off to make the tight squeeze.


"General if you don't realize it, the UCR is in a recession, we haven't seen a financial market this bad since 3287 and it's only going to get worse if we keep our military commitment. We are trying to save any kind of money we can at the moment. Besides, Special Security will help fill in the holes that your Drop Corps cannot fill." Bill Sulvo said. General Starlite was sitting at a table alone, a pitcher of water had been placed to his right. The room was full of senators who were currently in front of him in a row of theater like chairs and tables. There were at least 20 senators who were on the committee. And Bill Sulvo from Trio was always known to be anti military. Sulvo had commissioned this year for a 68 percent reduced budget within the army and at least a 80 percent reduce within the navy. Both bills had currently passed by the Senate and Republican Judges.


The United Colonial Republic was in it's fifth year of a recession that was caused by Human Corporation mismanagement in the medical industry. Drugs that people had invested in had not worked and were found to be false. When the market learned of this, it had fallen like a house of cards. The housing market, travel, heavy industry had all followed in their paths. Taxes helped but only a little. The government was spending more then it was receiving, so it decided to cut the entire military budget which made up for 30 percent of it's entire budget. Other things such as social services for disabled and the poor were cut to the bone.

"Senator Sulvo is right." said Akin Aloki through his special breather. Aloki was a senator from the pacific state of Gorda. During the 28th century, Earth nations colonized the oceans to help relieve over population and mini nations were founded underwater. People living underwater for generations developed gills eventually and had to wear special breathers to walk on land. the device was black and sprayed a fine mist around him whenever he talked. It was a gargled voice though. He had a dark skin and black hair. "The military budget needs to be trimmed. We only have terrorists to worry about and the SDC can protect the colonies with this proposed budget." he said.


"Senator Aloki, your missing the point. It's not just terrorist groups. What if a entire planet rebelled, or for that matter what if all the outer colonies rebelled as they did during the civil war. A large military force would be required to sterilize the situation. I agree we will tackle wasteful spending and I will see to it that we do. But cutting our budget like this will leave us almost defenseless. Every trooper will only get 40 percent of what they would get now. Annual pay for a officer is 1,400 a month that drops down to 800 with this budget. Could you live on 800 credits a month? Well?" the general asked the senator. General Starlite was beginning to remember why he hated London. The senator was silent.


Three hours later, the Senate Committee had cut the budget of the Special Drop Corps. This would have an effect on not only the SDC, but the fate of mankind.......

[Michael Hobbar]

7/6/3358
SDC Reactionary Department
00:15 hours

The work day was finally winding down for Major Greere. Being in the SDC's reactionary department was not as fun as the job said. Shortly after the Republican Civil War, the UCHD reorganized it's bureaucratic departments. Each branch had a "Reactionary Department." The Reactionary Department was responsible for telling their own branch of a problem and how to best handle it. This was created because during the civil war, military units had been sent to places that were seen as valuable but in reality weren't useful at all. So after the war (and during the debate of Human Corporation) the UCHD created such a bureaucratic office. Greere was one of the those unlucky souls who read reports from different colonies that requested military assistance.


His work office was actually small, it was only large enough for three people, on one side of his desk it was a complete mess. The other side had neatly stacked papers for approval and to be sent to the department of the SDC and how best to handle the situation. His job was to make sure they weren't wasting time. If a request was not accepted it was sent back to the colony..whom contacted S.S. It was near midnight, he stayed in his office trying to get the last paperwork of the day done so he could get that two week vacation without any worries. He was hoping to use that time to take his family to the Venusian Orbital Hotels. Venus had many recreational stations in orbit. The orbit also held a few automated mining stations but for the most part Venus was a fun place. Not the planet of course!

He was so tired, so he grabbed the next file in it's original package "OFFICE OF COLONIZATION, LONDON." Was the writing on the package. Opening it up he started to read the report. That bastard David Noal was at it again, requesting more troops from the corps to head security probably because some stupid outerer had shot a beast and had a nightmare about it. He hated outerers, they always complained about this or that. "VL-624" he muttered to himself and read about when it was founded. It was founded last fall in 3357 and established to see if a colony could survive, take samples from plants and animals. Map out the terrain with the orbital satellite that had been provided for both mapping the surface, radar and communication with the Republic. They went off line sometime between May and June. Well it sounded more like there was a problem with the communication equipment.

But Noal would bitch to the department and say that they weren't protecting innocent colonists. Well screw him! He only glazed over the report and never fully read it. Signing his signature on the official form and checking off certain categories he placed it in the out box. The department preferred paper over electronics due to a hack by ARM two years ago. He also made a note in the comment section "VL-624's communication satellite or up-link is most likely malfunctioning. Urgency not needed but it is preferable to send a unit that can fix the problem."

As he walked out of the door, Noal never would of guessed it but it would be on his shoulders that the department never sent a real force. To deal with a threat...a threat that would soon engulf all of humanity.......