Snippet #2315861

Federation Sol military district officials enjoyed the benefits of gigantic office buildings, the best humanity had to offer in terms of personnel and a budget one could by an entire planet with.

In the frontier Helen the local used a requisitioned school house as an HQ, a largely drafted body of demoralized, disillusioned, ill trained, poorly equipped "soldiers" and a merge budget which normally gets swallowed by Bureaucracy despite it being drawn from the fortunes of local inhabitants.

Helen's solution was to do the only thing she could do, act. In too many new Sydney garrison units sloppiness, inefficacy and petty corruption went rampant. This was a natural consequence; if the Federation didn't take the frontier seriously why should the frontier take the Federation seriously? This thought was quite contagious, Helen was not immune to it; it was this sense of neglect which was responsible for the near complete abandonment of Federation drill and protocol and Helen was no different in that regard.

Helen kept her troops busy in every possible way from chasing "ghost" in the desert sands as the saying went when the risk was affordable to fixing up the road. Helen made clear what she wanted and when she wanted it but the how was as influenced by her direct subordinates as it was by her will.

If an officer made a minor error he could be reprimanded, if an officer was responsible for a failure he could be court-martialed but if an officer was irresponsible, sloppy or self motivated with the lives of his soldiers and the mission he would be executed. Among the now battle hardened and dwindling NSG officer core this was a rarity however among the green Federation transfer officers it happened.

Now under "siege" by the horrendous insurgent presence of this area and with no effective means of supply and reinforcement to build up a force powerful enough to conduct attacks it seemed all Helen could do was attend meetings.

Today was exceptional since Leslie Montgomery, the commander of all federation forces in the area was leading it. The commander had taken temporary control of Helen's office since it was near to the problematic zones but Helen didn't mind it too much so long as she got it back after the meeting.

"Enter" said the commander casually releasing the door's lock from the terminal, Helen and four other officers entered the room taking their designated seats around the former head master's conference table. All the officers knew the problem at least as far as their duties where concerned; the insurgent presence in the area made Federation law and Federation order a laughing stock and there was nothing the Guard could do in this populated area.

The commander had given them a day to consider their view on the way forward, the broadcasting equipment had been "wired" to his terminal but the words he would speak where not yet officially sanctioned for the time being.

"Fellow officers, we return here a day after our last meeting. The time for talking on this subject is now over; we now must make a decision"

A short silence followed until broken by Helen who had deep reservations with what the Commander was suggesting.

"Are we truly going to accept this course of action? The implications of such an action are all too clear in my eyes; we would loss the last shreds of authority we have over this region"

"As if we have any authority over this area left" interjected Arnon commander of the Western sector. "When was the last time we sent a patrol into the streets and the villages without it losing at least a few dozen to injury? The entire countryside is as thick as rats with the bastards; even desert duty is preferred to town patrols now"

"I hardly see how the favorite tasks among the troops is relevant Protested Chao" Chao was the commander of the civil police forces and like Helen had similar concerns to the local Inhabitants of the area.
"I agree that our control over the residential areas is difficult but the general populace still at least officially respects our authority"

"Its relevant because before this mess the least favored tasks in the guard were the desert patrol duties… now that's moral for you." Began Arnon clearly interested in picking a fight.

"Our latest statistical analysis in this area has concluded that one out of six civilians is aiding the Insurgents actively while one out of three is supporting them discreetly. Explained Grim who had since replaced Morris Greece after the latter had been assasinated as local sector central intelligence officer, he was always happy to add something when he could to any matter in discussion.


"I can't see how it's even a possibility; we don't have the means to enact any such policy regardless of the situation" added Helen ignoring Grim's unsettling report since it was mainly based on federal records.


"While we have no answer to the insurgents in terms of specific targets and flushing them out to the open we have sufficient destructive power to eliminate any surfaced resistance at least for the time being" said the Commander trying to redirect the officers to making a decision. "This capability is eliminated by the fact that the Insurgents hide among the populace rendering any counter insurgency effort futile"

"Aren't we simply pushing on the problem to somebody else?" asked Satoshi the Combined operations officer in charge of organizing operations with other units.

"The refuge camps are specially designed to process a great number of people, they don't catch all the Insurgents but they do temporally eliminate a process group as an effective Insurgent force" voiced Grim

"So we are just playing for time, I rather kill 50 Insurgents in a raid while the area remains populated then 200 once the area is evacuated… its sheer folly!" protested Chao.

"The point is you are not getting 200, hell you don't get 50! We are lucky to catch 10 most times" counterattacked Arnon who never quite liked Chao due to his civil service rather then military background.

"This discussion is not about enemy losses" said Helen who had by now heard enough and wanted to get this over with. "This is about our losses, we don't need 50 or 200 enemy dead, what we need is 10, 50 of our own alive."
This battle is a battle of attrition we can't afford to fight, the real battle is not yet upon us yet we are being bled white slowly but surely. This is a fight for survival and we are losing.

We can't afford to alienate the local population any further, the more ammunition with give the Insurgency against us the more it will have to fire at us. If we want to avoid a massacre we should withdraw while we have the chance and regroup in safer areas. By careful use of provocation tactics we may then show the people what the Insurgents really are instead of wasting ourselves futilely in this expensive and costly deployment."

"We also can't afford to lose any more sectors! The more we lose the greater the power of the insurgency and we have lost quite enough already. Major I understand your local sympathies and applaud them however I will not accept any more withdrawals. Not one step back! That will be our motto from this day fourth with god as my witness we will show these rebels the Iron fist of the federation!" Snapped the commander who had clearly had enough with the debate.

"Are we agreed then?" asked Chao who seemed to resign himself to the decision understanding that the commander had made up his mind already and that nothing would change it now.

The officers nodded, The Commander activated the broadcaster and began to read out a text he had written two days prior to the meeting.

"Attention, Attention please stand by for an important announcement. Concerning the acts of armed aggression against the peace keeping forces of the New Sydney garrison The Federation has no alternative but to order the evacuation of affected regions.

Civilians will be sent to the Refugee concentration and administration zone in Atmos. The only persons remaining in the area will be those wearing the uniforms of the Federation military.

Any one found in civilian clothing upon the completion of the evacuation will be shot. That is all"