Free Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) by Dietmar Wehr Page B

of
succeeding, we needed to program Oracle with our Grand Strategy. As you know,
Admiral, Grand Strategy is the political outcome that all military strategy is
designed to achieve. In very simplistic terms, we want the FEDs to let us break
away. The question becomes how do we convince them to do that? Defeating them
in a series of direct military confrontations either in space or on the ground
is unlikely given their current and expected numerical superiority UNLESS we
engineer battles at a time and place of our choosing when we’re confident that
we can win. The strategy I’m about to describe is risky, but it seems to be our
best chance of achieving our Grand Strategy.
     
    “Oracle
was told to determine the FEDs best economic and military strategy, and once
that was calculated, then determine the best counter strategy that we should
follow. The overall FED strategy is actually quite simple. At some point,
they’ll have the resources to attack, conquer and hold an SSU planet. The
obvious target is Sparta. They know that Sparta is the administrative hub and
the single most important economic contributor to the SSU. If Sparta falls, the
SSU will fall into chaos until a new capital can be agreed upon and set up. In
addition to the obvious immediate economic and military impact on the SSU,
there would also be a huge psychological blow. Oracle predicts that news of
Sparta’s fall would motivate some of the less developed member planets to
renounce their membership and rejoin the FPS if there’s no continuity of
government. With enough momentum, that psychological impact could even spill
over into the more developed group of planets such as Hekla or Gryphon.
     
    “Therefore
the administrative functions represented by the Capital of the SSU cannot be
allowed to be conquered by the FEDs. With that said, Oracle’s strategy is to
shift the administrative, economic and military command structure of the SSU
from Sparta to another secret location, which is being referred to as Site X
for the time being. Political control will remain on Sparta with the
understanding that Site X will assume political control in the event that
Sparta is invaded and conquered. A duplicate Oracle capability will have to be
built at Site X as a backup system. The location of Site X will remain a
carefully guarded secret even from the SSU political leadership. It would be
dangerous for you to know where Site X is if Sparta was conquered and you were
captured. Setting up a backup Capital, so to speak, is THE defensive move
needed to insure continuity of SSU government. All SSU member planets will be
told that continuity of government will take place from and through Site X.
     
    “The
offensive part of Oracle’s strategy is designed to force the enemy’s hand into
attacking Sparta prematurely, and this is how we’ll accomplish that. A task
force composed of unarmored cruisers and modified freighters carrying ground
forces will attack specific economic and military targets on Earth and in the
SOL system. These targets will include shipyards, fabrication plants for ship
parts, command facilities, training and support facilities for ground forces,
commercial shipping and any navy ships that happen to be on Earth at the time.
Targets containing civilians will be ordered to evacuate before those targets
are fired upon. With careful planning and execution, civilian casualties will
be kept to a minimum. The long term impact on the FED’s ability to prosecute
the war will be small, but the population will realize how vulnerable they are
if we should decide at a later point that civilians are legitimate targets.
Their reaction is expected to polarize public opinion between two opposites.
One extreme will call for a negotiated end to the war, while the other will
demand an immediate retaliatory strike on Sparta. Oracle predicts that General
Trojan will be ordered to launch an attack on Sparta with whatever forces he
can quickly organize. By the time that