"Well, we're damned if we do and damned if we don't." The president paused for a brief moment and added more. "Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette—the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace."
"Mr. President?" Secretary Conner raised an eyebrow in question of the comment.
"John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States of America, said that. So true in 1841 and perfectly meaningful in 2383. Just when we've got the approval from the public that we need, something like this comes along and inevitably will destroy all we've worked for. Possibly overnight, and maybe even in a few short minutes."
"Yes sir." Conner nodded agreement. "I understand sir."
"Damnit." Alberts paused for a second as if he were going to change his mind but then thought better of it. "We don't attack. At least not all out."
"Sir? The longer we let them dig in, the harder it will be to dig them out," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs advised from the other side of the table.
"I realize that, Sandy. But we really need to know what they are up to. My director of national intelligence seems to be a little short on data in that regards, right Mike?" the president scolded his DNI. The DNI only grunted in acknowledgment.
"We support the withdrawal of Senator Moore and that is all we do on the ground. The press would have a field day if I let a Republican senator get killed and do nothing to try and get him out. Beyond that, we take out the Separatist armada of ships above Tharsis. We do not go to ground with full mecha divisions. One division of tanks and one squadron of fighter support. Understood?"
"What about our troops still left on the ground in the region, sir?" The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs asked. "We're not leaving them behind to die, are we?"
"They'll just have to hold out a little while longer while we look for a diplomatic solution." Alberts scanned the room for further insights but there were none. Again, the political chopping block was a lonely place to stick one's neck. It was obvious that the Joint Chiefs did not like his decision but wouldn't risk their careers to contradict him. But that was okay, they didn't have to like the order. They just had to follow it. "Let us move on it, people."
"Yes sir, " Conner replied, and immediately began passing along strings of orders to the senior advisors in the room and across the system via AIC QM.
Alberts decided to take a stroll around the West Wing and wait for further developments. The end of his era was going to come soon and he feared now with much less praise than he had hoped for. His legacy was changing dramatically by the second.
"CAG on deck!"
"At ease." Lieutenant Commander Jack Boland stepped up to the podium in the front of the briefing room. The large gray conference room was more than thirty meters wide and twice that deep and could hold a seated audience of more than a thousand people in the stadium seating. The room was crowded and standing-room-only at present.
"All right, here is our game plan fresh from the Looney Bin, up the food chain, and White House blessed," Jack started, sarcastically. "Before I go into that I want to make certain that everybody has been briefed on the new Seppie Stinger mecha that is comparable in capabilities to the Marine FM-12s. Everybody has been briefed at this point, right?" Jack paused and saw affirmitive nods and grunts and saw no hands go up.
"Good. Okay here is how it will work. We are going to have two fronts of attack. The first is a support and cover mission for the fleet's frontal assault on the Seppy armada in space hover over the Tharsis territory. The electronic warfare and recon air wings will be deployed immediately following exit from hyperspace. Then, Lieutenant Commander Chavez, you will take the Demon Dawgs in your Ares fighters and cover the Madira and, Rabies, keep the CO free of any Gomer Gnats and Stingers that might decide to pester him while he is giving what-for to those damned Seppy rust tubs out there. You are to fly protection for the fleet not to engage the Seppy boats. The main fleet will be firing their supercannons, missiles, and DEG batteries full bore. Maintain full IFF squawk and stay out of the firing solutions." Boland paused for a moment and moistened his lips.
The sims he had completed in the Looney Bin had suggested as much as fifteen percent casualties for this mission. Out of the fifteen hundred or so pilots in the room about one thousand of them were combat pilots—the others were support, rescue, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and rearming/supply vehicle pilots. The casualties within that group of pilots was usually fairly low. For this mission two hundred of the combat wing would be held in reserve. Out of the eight hundred combat pilots that would be deployed for the mission more than one hundred and twenty of them might not make it back. Jack never liked thinking about that part of the mission planning.
"Second layer cover for the Madira will be provided by Captain Cameron's Utopian Saviors and their FM-12s." Jack nodded at Captain Janice "Bigguns" Cameron. There were those with less pure minds who often thought that Janice had gotten her call sign because of two fairly large assets that she sported proudly, but her nickname had originally been "Big Guns" because she was a very large caliber gun nut. Her other assets simply acted as a catalyst to the evolution of her call sign, which eventually became officially "Bigguns." Jack had had nothing to do with her call sign.
"Lieutenant Cameron, tag up with Rabies after the briefing. Any questions on the first attack wing?" Jack paused and waited for questions. He scanned the room and saw nothing but professional acknowledgment there. The Madira had the best pilots in the system.
"The second group will be air and ground support for the extraction of a small force of lost armored e-suit gyrenes and a handful of civilians. Note that one of these civilians is a United States senator and is to be protected and extracted at all costs. Gods of War will fly cover and Lieutenant Colonel Warboys and Warboys' Warlords will drop the Army M3A17 transfigurable tanks for ground and heavy fire support. At this point the SH-102 Starhawk rescue vehicles will be dropped to extract the evacuees and any wounded. Gods of War, make certain to support the colonel's extraction once the targets have been evacced. Also, we have intel that there is heavy Seppy drop tank activity in the area and there are some reported SAM mobile sites as well. Watch for that. Your AICs have the particulars."
"Another note here is that we expect to have the full contingent of Cardiff's Killers gyrene FM-12 strike mecha from the Churchill along for the ride planetside. Keep in mind that the Killers, the AEMs, and the civilians have been fighting their way to this evac for several hours now and they are battered and tired and probably running low on ammo. We have to cover their backs and get them out. Let's step in and do the fighting so they can retreat ladies, and gentlemen. Finally, as soon as the civilians are gathered, immediately evac them to the Madira or the nearest orbital platform taking the least amount of heat at that time. Once all the civilians and the Killers are evacuated, the Starlifters will drop in and load the tanks pulling out the Warboys. The Gods of War are last out, flying cover."
"Are there any questions?"
There was dead silence in the large conference auditorium. The pilots knew their jobs and didn't have to ask about the odds for survival. They had all seen enough combat to understand when things were going to get bad and they knew that some things were best left unasked.