Tales from New Terra

Chapter 6: Into the Fire

Former UPLS Nagglfar, New Terra City

February 22, 51 After Arrival, 12:03

President Tyler Bennet thought the worst was over when the Senate unanimously cleared him of wrongdoing. After two weeks of subsisting on pure caffeine, he thought his vindication would finally bring about some much-needed rest and relaxation. Instead, the Senate hearings had been replaced with regular meetings with the New Terran military brass and the heads of the Republic's nascent defense industry as the engines of war roared to life.

Bennet wanted nothing more than to pass out after the CEO of Axiom Corporation left the bridge. He'd just spent the last hour listening to a presentation filled with barely-comprehensible military buzzwords and even less understandable slides on why the New Terran Air Force should shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade its 20 year old fleet of A/F-1 Shrike vertical takeoff interceptors. Truthfully, Bennet thought the additional range garnered by the proposed upgrade would be helpful in the conflict across the ocean, but he had also zoned out for half the presentation and appeared visibly relieved when the executive stopped talking.

Fortunately, Bennet had half an hour of free time before his next meeting with the military Joint Chiefs. Unfortunately, however, he'd barely put his head down for thirty seconds when an aide interrupted him.

"Can this wait?" asked Bennet, hoping to get some rest.

"No sir," was the reply. "The insertion team sent to Qua-Toyne just reported back. They uh ... they had a 'friendly and productive' meeting with the local leadership, who have asked for our support in their war with the Lourians."

"God fucking damn it. I was very clear about not coercing the- Y'know what? Get me Kelerchian after this. Oh, and absolutely no word of this gets out to the press," responded Bennet. "I assume the Joint Chiefs want to see me?"

"Yes sir. They want to meet with you right now, if you'll have them."

"They're meeting me in half an hour, as scheduled. ATLAS, lock down the bridge until 12:30. No exceptions."

"Of course, Captain."

-----

Bennet woke up to the rumbling of the two massive steel bulkheads sealing off the bridge sliding open. Behind them were the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking officers in the New Terran Armed Forces, and William Tygore, Bennet's Secretary of Defense. The assembled officials all looked slightly miffed at being locked out in such dramatic fashion, but let it slide upon seeing their commander-in-chief.

The officials took their seats around the bridge's central table, which projected a holographic map of the New Terran continent and its surroundings, and tried not to notice the sweat marks where their immediate superior had presumably been napping. Bennet quickly ran his fingers through his hair before putting his hands together and announcing the start of the meeting.

"So, how's the situation out there?" asked Bennet.

"Bad," was the response from Secretary Tygore. "Really, really bad. I mean no disrespect sir, but you got us into a real big mess with this Lourian business. We can barely protect our own continent, and now we're expected to sustain operations on the next one over?"

"Wait, but isn't our military supposed to be able to operate out of austere locations?"

"Part of it is," conceded Tygore. "But, that's not meant to be permanent. Our frontier forces are meant to execute anti-access, area-denial strategies, and if that fails conduct a fighting retreat until we can organize a counteroffensive."

"We can deploy Marines overseas and support them with our fighter and transport fleet," added General Thomas Ayers, commandant of the New Terran Marines, "but we can't move enough to turn back the primary Lourian offensive. Our friends in Qua-Toyne have a three-tiered defensive line in the hilly forest regions surrounding their capital. We call these tiers Alpha, Beta, and Charlie. We're already seeing several breakthroughs in defensive line Alpha, and the Lourians have begun shelling defensive line Beta. The most a limited detachment of Marines can do is stabilize the front by interdicting the Lourians' forward heavy artillery. We'd need to move in heavy equipment to start turning the tide."