NationStates Jolt Archive


Of Matters Military

Tsaraine
09-11-2003, 10:04
OOC: You probably don't need to read this, as it's not an RP. It's mainly something I've been planning for some time to free up funds for development.

It takes place after the Iraqstan war. A lot of my stuff probably will, depending on how long the Iraqstan war takes. However, the Iraqstan war will still be roleplayed with the forces, technology et cetera I had when it began.

Anyways, after that rather long OOC bit, here's the actual IC bit...

Domina's Offices, Deep Tsarai, Tsaraine

"Enter!"

Erin tsaKell, Sural tsaChanya, and Schaden tsaKell were ushered into Rene Seingult's offices.

Thankfully, the Domina seemed to be in a good mood; that would certainly help. None of them expected her to like what they were proposing.

"Schaden. Erin. TsaChanya. Sit."

The elder tsaKell got first-name status because he was one of Rene's closest friends, and his daughter because Rene had seen her grow up, and had never stopped thinking of her as "Schaden's little girl"; Sural, however, had always been slightly distant with his fellow Division Commandants, and thus merited only a second name referral.

"So." Rene Seingult leaned forward in her chair. "What is it you're all looking so solemn about? The war is over!"

"It's about that, actually," Erin began. "The Iraqstan war highlighted several important failings of our military..."

"Such as?"

"To put it bluntly, Domina, we can't afford it. We sent over seventy thousand troops to Iraqstan, out of a total one and a half million ground troops, and that not only stretched our funds, it proved that we don't need all those forces."

"How so?" Rene's pleasant smile had turned somewhat dangerous.

"I calculate that we actually need only a third of our current ground forces, if that, for their customs, patrol, and standby duties. The remaining two-thirds are simply a drain on our resources."

Erin paused, awating the Domina's wrath, but it failed to materialise.

"You make sense," Rene said finally. "And what would you have me do with almost a million out of work soldiers?"

"Retrain them, of course. The Education Corps can absorb the cost, and not only will they no longer be draining our funds, they'll be contributing to them."

"You make sense," Rene repeated. "But you're giving away a lot of power, Erin."

"I'm also giving away a large logistical nightmare, Domina."

Rene's lips quirked upwards in a smile.

"You said several failings?"

The smile had vanished again.

"Yes, Domina. Our fast-tracking through air forces to achieve a space force has left the Air Command Division with a very low unit diversity; just Ghost-RAVEs," - Erin used an odd combination of both the fighter jet's common designation, the Ghost, and it's military title, the Ghost-class Rapid Attack VEhicle - "Revenant transports, Ghoul transports, and Ghoul-II GRAVE transports.

"Although I don't speak with the authority of Larak tsaGehn, I know that we need to diversify the air combat vehicles. We need some form of heavy attack unit, probably a helicopter, some way of deploying fusion weapons rapidly, and most importantly, we need some way to get GRAVEs or other fighter craft to theatres rapidly.

"Sural tsaChanya and his Researchers" - no need to mention Kyne ralGhema, who commanded the real power in Division Six now - "Have several ideas for those."

Erin nodded to Sural, who siezed the opportunity to speak.

"For fusion warhead deployment, the Aerospace Development Corps has proposed some kind of military spaceplane, capable of entering atmosphere to release it's payload and landing at a friendly ground-based facility. Although we could launch it from the ground, it would probably be easier to station them at High Stone, in the same way the Commonwealth's aerospace fighters were launched from Yseult Station.

"For the heavy attack vehicle, we're leaning towards helicopters, as antimagnetics are very power-consumptive. However, due to the high maintenance required of such craft, they'd suffer the same deployment problems of our current Ghost fighters.

"To deliver fighters to the battlefield, then, is of critical importance. Due to our lack of coastline and the fledgeling status of the Naval Corps, we cannot invest in seabourne carriers.

"Several of my Researchers feel that the answer would be an antimagnetic-powered carrier of sorts, operating in a similar fashion to the Kash'ha, the Dominion yaucht. However, the power requirements would be progodious."

Rene nodded. "So when can I expect to see results from these ideas?"

Sural blinked, shaking his head slightly. "We don't have any formal research underway, Domina; currently we can't afford it. Hopefully disbanding much of the ground forces will assist with that."

Another nod. "So why are you here, Schaden? Another crisis?"

Schaden tsaKell nodded unhappily. "I'm afraid so, Rene. This comes from the Hydroponics Division Commandant - she's off supervising something urgent in Nova Reio.

"I've been asked to tell you that, with the expanding population, we will begin facing food shortages within a few years. Hydroponics alone simply can't provide enough food for our population, no matter how intensive, and we lack an economy geared towards trade to purchase it.

"Expanding into the former provinces is also not an option, given the political situation and the relative aridity of the soils there."

"So, what solutions do you offer me?" Rene asked, frowning.

Schaden shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't have any yet, although Hydroponics has people working on it."

The Domina's frown deepened. "You know I want solutions, Schaden, not problems. Are there any other impending crisises I should know about?"

"Thankfully not," Schaden replied. "The other Divisions appear to be fine."

"Very well. Tell Hydroponics I want possible solutions, and their effectiveness, on my desk in two weeks. TsaChanya, if your Researchers come up with any other bright ideas, I want to know about them. Erin, you have approval to begin scaling back the Ground Command, although that may be more of a logistical nightmare than running them.

"Dismissed!"

They stood, bowed, and filed out of Rene's office.

"Well," Erin murmured to her father, "That went better than I thought."

"I told you she's amenable to reason," Schaden replied. "Most of the time, that is."

OOC: Argh. Look upon my works, ye quality, and despair. Not the most inspired post in the world.
Tsaraine
10-11-2003, 09:56
OOC: Rubber time, how I love it. The Goldfish of Eternity ate some time between the first post and this one, OK? (actually, I got bored waiting).

Domina's Offices, Deep Tsarai, Tsaraine

Several weeks after the beginning of Division Seven's scaling back, Erin tsaKell was once again in Rene Seingult's office.

The Domina greeted her with a smile, and waved her to a seat; much less formal, and more cheerful, than she'd been in the past. They had SHODAN to thank for that, apparently.

Maybe she's been getting nailed, Erin thought irreverently. Fortunately, Rukine Knights weren't advanced enough for Kaiten to sense that thought. Yet.

"So," Rene said, "How goes the scale-back?"

"Quite well, thank you," Erin replied, smiling back. "Most of the other Divisions will be getting a lot of new junior-level members soon. Although, as you know, Division Seven has traditionally been the repository for the more violent members of the State; Dad says he'll put some people to watching them."

Rene nodded at that, the famous regal nod of the Seingults. "I imagine the SSC would be swelling with new trainees?"

"Not so many as one would think, actually; according to Dad they lack the discipline. Why I'm here, though, is a different matter."

"Do tell."

"Well, while polling the remaining Commandants as to how we could make the smaller Ground Command more efficient, I've found that a lot of them want a re-ordering of the military rank system as well."

The Domina raised an eyebrow. "That would take some arranging, since it would need to be mirrored in the Air, Space and Sea Commands. What precisely do they want changed?"

"The Field Commandants want their hierarchy sorted out; in the Iraqstan war we had three different FieldComs, and they occasionally got their jurisdictions confused. The PlatComs, CentComs and LegiComs want the rank names changed. They say there's only so many different ways you can abbreviate "Commandant", and it makes for difficulties under fire."

"Hmm. Makes sense. Did any of them say what we should change the ranks to?"

"Several suggested using the ranks of the Western Roman Empire, actually."

"That makes sense too, I suppose ... Centurions instead of Century Commandants, Legates instead of Legion Commandants, and all the way up to Dux Bellorum instead of Field Commandant... Ha. Perhaps I should change "Dominion" to "Imperium" while I'm at it, and start calling myself "First Citizen" and "Pontifex" as well?"

"It's your choice, Domina," Erin said neutrally. After all, she'd already changed "Commonwealth" to "Dominion".

"No, I don't think I should," Rene continued, almost to herself. "I am no Caesar or Augustus; I'm the one who kills Caesars before they rise."

She grinned suddenly. "Besides, "Imperatrix" sounds like an occupation involving leather and spikes. None of that for me, thank-you! You may tell your troops I'll consider their requests. I'll think about Imperium, too."