[Silent Running] START Command Council, Partial Meeting Transcript
*Session_Start Timestamp D2230-04112442 Protocol START_11B Encrypt Omicron Tango Red*
Yanagimoto Takeshi, Vice Commander (Research & Intelligence): "...is the situation as it currently stands on Isandlwana. Habila still holds the entire landmass, and the situation is at a standstill and looks to remain that way for quite some time. The Drivers have a pretty airtight blockade up, but it turns out that Habila is less dependent on imported weaponry than they were counting on at this stage. If they're going to dislodge him, it's going to take something like five or even ten percent of the total Peacekeeper force."
Samnang Dara, Vice Commander (Operations-Spinward): "Hell of a mess."
Yanagimoto: "I said it was going to take a lot of Janitors, One-shot."
*laughter*
Nicodeme Liakaros, Vice Commander (Admin): "So what are they going to do, Tiger?"
Yanagimoto: "They seem to be going for it, but it'll take time. The Janitors aren't really set up for fighting a drag-down conventional war, and it's going to take time to pull the forces they need together."
Liadhn Corrigan, Vice Commander (Operations-Central): "Time for some other tinpot dictator to think that if Habila got away with it, so can he- and that the Janitors are going to run out of men to keep the lid on pretty soon."
Liarakos: "I was afraid you'd say that, Blowback."
Yanagimoto: "There have been a number of colonies expressing interest in top-flight weaponry from the colonial arms industries. Talking Heads are trying to halt proliferation but they're not having much luck. The colonies need the coin too badly and asking people not to sell the same gear the Peacekeepers already use rubs folks the wrong way."
Corrigan: "How many, Tiger?"
Yanagimoto: "A dozen or so, as far as I can tell. Of course, some of them might want it to defend against a possible attack."
Patrick Caffey, Commander, START: "And some want to be the ones to launch that attack. It's unlikely we'll be able to tell the difference until it's too late."
Katlego Mbeki, Vice Commander (Operations-Trailing): "The Janitors might not be able to bring Habila back under control in time. And if another major crisis starts before they can do it-"
Caffey: "The Confed might start folding. We know."
Dara: "There are options. I've been pulling together some specialists quietly into START 43. We could insert them on Isandlwana and solve the Habila problem that way."
Caffey: "No go, One-shot. If Habila dies nobody'll believe the Recondos didn't do it, and that leaves two problems. First, I'm not going to let a bunch of cybered-up idiots take credit for our hard work. Second, everyone will know that Habila was too big for the Confed to take head-on, and that'll be almost as bad as letting him go."
Corrigan: "We could hit a high-value target. He have a Navy?"
Yanagimoto: "Used to, Blowback. Drivers sent in two destroyers. The planet doesn't even have satellite TV anymore."
Caffey: "I hate to cut this short-"
Corrigan: "No you don't, Chaser."
Caffey: "Allright, so maybe I don't. I've had a feeler from the Confed Executive. They want us to consider taking some of the crashers we've tamed in captivity and inserting them into Habila's military systems. The idea...is that the Janitors can then walk over quickly while their systems are all snarled."
*Silence, timed at 47 seconds*
Liakaros: "Are you serious, Chaser?"
Caffey: "Serious as a heart attack, Rake. Executive seems to feel that this may be the only way to end the crisis before it splits the Confed."
Mbeki: "The hell they say."
Corrigan: "We keep those things out of the human sphere, Chaser, we don't bring them in!"
Yanagimoto: "I should point out that the Executive may be right about the impact on the crisis on the Confed itself."
Dara: "Tiger's right. If the human sphere fractures..."
Caffey: "Then it fractures. Look, we all know the score here. The Confederation itself was never more than a means to an end to keep the colonies in line, make sure they didn't expand faster than we could clear new worlds, and to let us do our jobs. The Confed was set up to support START, not the other way around, whatever the org charts say."
Mbeki: "Tell the Executive that!"
Caffey: "I just did, Sunburn."
Dara: "We're going to allow the Confed to split?"
Caffey: "It may not be up to us anymore. You've all seen Tiger's projections. If this crisis doesn't do for the Confed it'll be the next. Or the next. Any way you slice it, within the next forty years or so the sphere is going to undergo a massive political realignment, with a probability of-"
Yanagimoto: "Eighty three percent within forty years."
Caffey: "Thanks, Tiger. I submit, ladies and gentlemen, that we have two choices. We can allow the START Corps to remain aligned with the Confederation itself, and try to prevent the breakup. That might work, but if it doesn't, whatever new human entities that emerge will be unlikely to trust START."
Mbeki: "That'll go well."
Liarakos: "Might be a bit messy. And if they went playing around on their own our secret would probably be out."
Corrigan: "Entire planets of gray goo are a bit hard to hide even for you, Rake."
Caffey: "Or we can make preparations to make START an independent entity, able to work with whatever governments may eventually form in human space. Nobody will like us-"
Corrigan: "Oh, like they do anyway."
Caffey: "-but hopefully everyone will trust us enough to cooperate with us. Of course, any movement like that on our part will weaken the Confed itself."
Dara: "Bringing the chaotic transition period closer, which will play merry hell with our operations."
Mbeki: "Unless we manage the transition by encouraging the right colonies to break away in the right combination."
Dara: "Oh good, I was wondering when actual treason was going to show up. If we hurry, maybe we can get to full-scale rebellion before I head off for tennis."
Corrigan: "You heard the jefe, One-shot. If we don't do this-"
Dara: "I know. I know. But breaking with Earth..."
Caffey: "Sunburn has a good idea. But One-shot is right, this is a major step. I want it unanimous if we're going to go forward. All I'll say is that I think the Colonial Confederation has outlived its usefulness as a tool to START, and it may be time to find other ways of carrying on with our mission without it."
*Pause, 17 seconds*
Dara: "Oh, what the hell. But I want a quid pro quo. Dibs on telling Grant about this."
Yanagimoto: "That's your price?"
Dara: "Tiger, we're going to actively encourage secession and try to manage the biggest social realignment since the Exodus to make sure that the START Corps comes out on top of whatever's coming, not to mention breaking every law in the Confed books. All I want in return is to see the look on the chief Talking Head's face when we finally tell him. That so much to ask?"
Corrigan: "Yes, dammit! I'll regret it the rest of my life if I'm not there."
Dara: "You can tag along, Blowback, but I want the pleasure of delivery."
Caffey: "Much as I hate to interrupt these eloquent negotiations...do we have a consensus?"
*Nods, around the table*
Caffey: "Very well. The Xenophon Contingency is now active. Decrypt and unseal your parts of the plan, ladies and gentlemen. It's time we made sure START can stand on its own two feet."