T'lia delivers a briefing for SEMC Command and Squad Leaders.
"Good Evening, this briefing is confidential and therefore any breach is subject to sanction by the interested parties I represent in this matter. There will be a null comms event during the briefing. Please do not make sudden or perceptively offensive motions that will cause a negative audience appreciation outcome"
She adds "That's a slightly amended standard SuSAG briefing intro just so no one forgets who we are up against. Please relax and take your ease. If anyone wants refreshment Roland has a selection of light beverages and snacks".
"We are about to commit to a standard covert insertion of the SEMC into a friendly and covert facility established on Tarsus. This asset is not to be compromised by the execution of this mission. The SEMC will be billeted in the vehicle sheds of a large ranching concern who are allied to our cause. The ranch, like most on Tarsus, has frequent landings by atmosphere capable traders. Thanks to the planetary government's relaxed approach to self defence, their own airspace and law enforcement airspace is broadly a free for all". She spares Frank a smile "That's what happens when you put farmers in charge of orbital traffic!"
"Tarsus is a democracy of farmers and while strategically dependent for its protection as a member of the Agric Combine has little to no interest in the greater politics of... well... anywhere else. Long ago Tarsans pragmatically decided that since votes had to have a value like hides, meat or grain - they should have a price". She reads with open disdain from a projected hand computer "Votes were to be centrally registered; they could be sold, given away, or, on the holder's death, a vote could be bequeathed (rules of inheritance governed in the event no will had been made). It is even permissible to vote in a certain way in return for money or other rewards". She venomously adds "After these founding imbecile farmers had sown the seeds of their own destruction they had some lawyers agree to monitor their already fatally corrupted system to give it the veneer of seeming security... and that's how SuSAG just bought the entire world. They control a majority of votes in planetary and local government - the only dissenting areas are Regiment and Stenden where The True Son of the Star gains enforced popularity among Pavabid ex pats and refugees".
"Geopolitics bites as we are infiltrating into a militarily active area on the border of Stenden and the Freelands of Nob Plain. We will be hosted by the Kruger family on their ranch and will conduct operations from there. I ask that every courtesy is offered to the family and their people while we are covertly billeted there. These people are under pressure from both SuSAG owned ranchers to the south and insurgents across the Groot Rivier from The True Son of the Star's expansionist fanatics. Here is a local map".
- Tarsus Geo Local.jpg (87.08 KiB) Viewed 313 times
T'lia adds "We will soon shift on the McClellan Factors' flagship a 1000t Triad Class Merchant Vessel named Triskele. It's sensor and comms profile are almost an exact match to a vessel you previously encountered on Inchin referred to by the code name: Óðins vagn. That is an entire coincidence".
