Star Wolves - The Tribes of Yggdrasil: Book 1

Chapter 19

Planet: Orbiting Earth

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High Commander Clare Artman sat alone in her state-room aboard the Gungnir, mulling over her plans to defend the billions of souls that made up the Solar Inclusive Democracy. She wasn't anxious about the possible invasion, so much as she felt a desire for the best outcome. Like women warriors before her, such as Boudicca and Joan of Ark, she didn't fear death—she feared failure.

Artman felt she was called by the gods to play her part in this grand adventure of life, and was driven to succeed. She knew there was no such thing as perfection, only the striving for it; she strove for it.

A tone sounded from her wristcom. "Yes?"

"M'am," her comms officer said, "Supreme Commander Gilbert is ready to start the briefing."

"Thank you, on my way."

Artman made her way to the war-room aboard Gungnir. They expected the Hrymar anytime, so face to face meetings were eschewed in lieu of virtual conferences, that way every commander was at their post in case the shooting started.

She took a seat beside Captain Willms and the comms officer activated the conference.

Holographic images of a dozen people appeared around the table. Notably were President Dalia Rukundo, Head of the entire SID, Daryl Gilbert, Supreme Commander of all SID armed forces, as well as Lynette Rivera, Planetary Defense Force Prime Commander. Also attending was Soo Kenaugh, System Defense Force Prime Commander, and finally, Artman's immediate boss, Archibald Lowe, Prime Commander of the Interstellar Armed Forces. The entire senior leadership of the SID were here, as were the members of the Alfar Red Council—minus Iforr, who was trying to obtain reinforcements and shift the tide of the upcoming battle.

Technically this was Prime Commander Kennaugh's command, as she was in charge of defending the Sol system, but given that the leadership expected a possible land invasion, and extra-solar incursions, all military commanders were here.

"Thank you all for coming," President Rukundo began, "I will save my normally verbose political speeches for another day." She smiled weakly. "You are all here because you are the best at what you do, and the SID trusts you, as I trust you. There's not much for me to say here, so...," she gestured beside her, "I'll turn the briefing over to Supreme Commander Gilbert."

Artman liked that about President Rukundo. She was never longwinded when it mattered, in fact she was one of the most pragmatic and practical leaders she had ever known, and being succinct in a situation like this was telling.

Gilbert, a dark haired, athletic man in his fifties, nodded. "Thank you Madame President. We all know why we're here. Our sovereignty and system wide security is under imminent threat from a possible Hrymar invasion. Normally, Prime Commander Kenaugh would lead efforts to defend the system, but based on the scale of the attack we believe is coming, I will lead this overall defense effort."

Kennaugh, a striking Asian woman in her forties, closed her eyes and nodded in agreement graciously.

Gilbert continued, "I want current readiness statuses from each of the Prime Commanders. Prime Commander Rivera, will you please start?"

"Certainly, sir." Rivera replied. "Our ground forces are as ready as they can be. If the incoming fleet is as large as we believe, then we expect some ships will get through and we may be hit with nukes. I don't want to beat around the bush. That's the hard truth of it. We have teams prepared for evacuation and clean up duty. We hope it will be enough. We have soldiers in highly mobile air-carriers to respond to any enemy ground troops that might land. If these things are slave traders, then they're going to want to hit soft targets with high population centers. That means many cities in Asia which are densly-populated and under defended. We've been trying to balance the defense of those regions for years, but due to local religious and social constraints, they've always pushed back, and so we're now faced with less than ideal defense conditions in that region."