Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:36:53 GMT
Eltan Vocaphtol Irving scratched his head as he sorted through the mound of paperwork before him. It never got any easier, even if it was expected. Adding ten new systems to the Accord's Ancerious colony only saddled his old oaken desk with even more sheets of bureaucracy. The last sheet was a requisition form for additional supplies, the one before that a planned layout of the infrastructure that needed to be built on their new acquisitions. The sheet in his hands as of this moment, a report on the movement of Accordite fleets in former Auraxii space and the next was the exchange that took place between a force reconnaissance fleet and an Auraxii garrison over the system of Rotan.
Rotan. It wasn't terribly long ago that Eltan was there. It was to be called the Great Crusade, as the Auraxii commanders had called it. Though if you could call the quashing of a few backwater natives a crusade, evidently you don't see much action. Regardless, it didn't get far off the ground before their central government collapsed and everything went to hell in a hand basket. The Fleet Admiral wasn't sure if he should be ashamed of the Auraxii for such an utter failure of higher intelligence by committing literally their entire fleet to the Crucible and thus leaving their own homes completely barren of defenders, or to the Artificia for having the stones to make such a bold move. Those hologram-people did not peg him as the type to take such aggressive action, even when the opportunity presented itself.
Regardless of that question, certainly, what the Auraxii did have before their collapse was already...
Eltan sighs and facepalms at that thought. He was no economist but even at the most cursory of glances, the Auraxii economy and infastructure before their collapse was certainly lacking, even compared to the unwieldy and oft-clunky machine that was the Accord. But now there was nothing but ruins and fire, and the Accord had to clean up behind the bunch of idiots that caused it all. Food riots were the foremost concern, and thoughts of the Accord's own food riots during the Great War sprang to mind. The difference was that Accordites are not typically cannibalistic--though there was no real regulations against it, per se--and that the typical Accordite hab-block had communal gardens to grow their own produce.
The fact that the Auraxii are cannibals from day one and are still starving is a testament to how poor the situation is. Several Generals on-site have already ordered distribution centers to be fortified to kingdom come to ensure that a deranged mob doesn't end up destroying the site or stealing all of the food--or both. Live ammunition has also been authorized in the same reports, brutal as it may be, from the reactions of several systems these measures have become the bare minimum to ensure law and order. Though Eltan has warned those same commanders not to push their luck--the Auraxii have always been reliant on near-slavery to get at least half of their economy running, and their whole race is rather egotistical and proud. Their former naval system is a testament to that.
Fortunately the passing of the Varrens as equals has gone by...relatively smoothly. Truth be told, both he and many other commanders feared an Auraxii uprising now that they have been robbed of their former position in society, though those fears have not been completely subsided. ACOG is keeping an eye on the situation as a whole and the military is ready to crush any wanna-be warlord. Maybe such actions were permissible under the old regime but the Accord is running the show now.
The knighted admiral leans back in his chair, a brief break to stretch his back and arms that were beginning to cramp up after countless hours of work and ink. He had expected more resistance from the Auraxii navy, truth be told, though a nagging part of his mind cannot shake the question of where those Great Crusade-prepared vessels went off to...
Then the intercomm on his desk goes off. The man gingerly reaches past his paperwork to press it.
"Sir, Madam-Fleet Admiral Kyra is on the line. Should I patch her through?"
"Yes, please and thank you." A pause, and a click. "Kyra, how's it going? Harvest fleet isn't giving you too much sass?"
"Not on my watch, Eltan. What about those new planets?"
Eltan sighs. Here we go. "Truth be told, it's a bloody nightmare. We're looking at some systems completely stripped of infrastructure and everyone is pissed off to some degree. So some planets it's relatively fine so long as we don't go out of our way to piss off the locals and vice-versa, but on others... well, think the Kalayan Food Riot, except it's still getting worse."
"So how many casualties are we looking at?" Straight to the point as always, but that was Kyra for you.
"Tens of millions. Maybe hundreds of millions, total. I've been working with the Genoa boys to lay out infrastructure and the Stanford labcoats to identify the most critical crops to grow so we can start laying local produce down on rations, but it still needs time. Time that a lot of people just won't have before they wither away. There's nothing we can do about it, as it stands we've already diverted almost a third of our food exports to the situation but even our full agri exports would be just enough to handle the situation." A pause. "And that's not concerning the freighters. We simply don't have enough supply ships for this situation."
"So your solution is to let people starve, hoping they won't blow up the very infrastructure that is meant to save them."
"Essentially, yes."
A pause from Kyra. "Well, it's a plan, at least. From the sounds of it, these Auraxii didn't have one of their own and would've killed themselves anyways."
"Sad but true. Well, I have to get back to the paperwork, I'll keep you appraised of the situation where I can."
"Will do. Oh, and Eltan?"
"Yeah?"
"We're opening up an opportunity for expeditionary units to try and rescue Sir Kyndon. Make sure to inform friendlies about it."
"Hah! I've been waiting to hear those words forever! I'll be sure to put a word in."
Rotan. It wasn't terribly long ago that Eltan was there. It was to be called the Great Crusade, as the Auraxii commanders had called it. Though if you could call the quashing of a few backwater natives a crusade, evidently you don't see much action. Regardless, it didn't get far off the ground before their central government collapsed and everything went to hell in a hand basket. The Fleet Admiral wasn't sure if he should be ashamed of the Auraxii for such an utter failure of higher intelligence by committing literally their entire fleet to the Crucible and thus leaving their own homes completely barren of defenders, or to the Artificia for having the stones to make such a bold move. Those hologram-people did not peg him as the type to take such aggressive action, even when the opportunity presented itself.
Regardless of that question, certainly, what the Auraxii did have before their collapse was already...
Eltan sighs and facepalms at that thought. He was no economist but even at the most cursory of glances, the Auraxii economy and infastructure before their collapse was certainly lacking, even compared to the unwieldy and oft-clunky machine that was the Accord. But now there was nothing but ruins and fire, and the Accord had to clean up behind the bunch of idiots that caused it all. Food riots were the foremost concern, and thoughts of the Accord's own food riots during the Great War sprang to mind. The difference was that Accordites are not typically cannibalistic--though there was no real regulations against it, per se--and that the typical Accordite hab-block had communal gardens to grow their own produce.
The fact that the Auraxii are cannibals from day one and are still starving is a testament to how poor the situation is. Several Generals on-site have already ordered distribution centers to be fortified to kingdom come to ensure that a deranged mob doesn't end up destroying the site or stealing all of the food--or both. Live ammunition has also been authorized in the same reports, brutal as it may be, from the reactions of several systems these measures have become the bare minimum to ensure law and order. Though Eltan has warned those same commanders not to push their luck--the Auraxii have always been reliant on near-slavery to get at least half of their economy running, and their whole race is rather egotistical and proud. Their former naval system is a testament to that.
Fortunately the passing of the Varrens as equals has gone by...relatively smoothly. Truth be told, both he and many other commanders feared an Auraxii uprising now that they have been robbed of their former position in society, though those fears have not been completely subsided. ACOG is keeping an eye on the situation as a whole and the military is ready to crush any wanna-be warlord. Maybe such actions were permissible under the old regime but the Accord is running the show now.
The knighted admiral leans back in his chair, a brief break to stretch his back and arms that were beginning to cramp up after countless hours of work and ink. He had expected more resistance from the Auraxii navy, truth be told, though a nagging part of his mind cannot shake the question of where those Great Crusade-prepared vessels went off to...
Then the intercomm on his desk goes off. The man gingerly reaches past his paperwork to press it.
"Sir, Madam-Fleet Admiral Kyra is on the line. Should I patch her through?"
"Yes, please and thank you." A pause, and a click. "Kyra, how's it going? Harvest fleet isn't giving you too much sass?"
"Not on my watch, Eltan. What about those new planets?"
Eltan sighs. Here we go. "Truth be told, it's a bloody nightmare. We're looking at some systems completely stripped of infrastructure and everyone is pissed off to some degree. So some planets it's relatively fine so long as we don't go out of our way to piss off the locals and vice-versa, but on others... well, think the Kalayan Food Riot, except it's still getting worse."
"So how many casualties are we looking at?" Straight to the point as always, but that was Kyra for you.
"Tens of millions. Maybe hundreds of millions, total. I've been working with the Genoa boys to lay out infrastructure and the Stanford labcoats to identify the most critical crops to grow so we can start laying local produce down on rations, but it still needs time. Time that a lot of people just won't have before they wither away. There's nothing we can do about it, as it stands we've already diverted almost a third of our food exports to the situation but even our full agri exports would be just enough to handle the situation." A pause. "And that's not concerning the freighters. We simply don't have enough supply ships for this situation."
"So your solution is to let people starve, hoping they won't blow up the very infrastructure that is meant to save them."
"Essentially, yes."
A pause from Kyra. "Well, it's a plan, at least. From the sounds of it, these Auraxii didn't have one of their own and would've killed themselves anyways."
"Sad but true. Well, I have to get back to the paperwork, I'll keep you appraised of the situation where I can."
"Will do. Oh, and Eltan?"
"Yeah?"
"We're opening up an opportunity for expeditionary units to try and rescue Sir Kyndon. Make sure to inform friendlies about it."
"Hah! I've been waiting to hear those words forever! I'll be sure to put a word in."