Lunchtime had ended in the mess hall of the Station, and the shift workers were returning to their posts. Meanwhile, in the barracks of the Naval Forces 58th Flight Wing, located on one of the divisions reserved for the Naval Forces contingents of the Hokkaido System, a man was at a desk filled with papers and data disks, feeling the hunger.
Captain Hiraku Shimoe had spent the last 4 hours enduring a battle against the never ending paperwork that afflicted his Flight Wing and his position. Mission Reports, transfer notices, supply requests, some out of ordinary pleas from Pilots from this or that squadron.
In the midst of the open files in his terminal, a large red note stood out amongst the rest, as if announcing an inevitable cataclysm that would occur to him.
[Strategy Meeting with Fleet Admiral, 3p.m., Matsumoto Briefing room 2.]
Shimoe looked at the nearest display that presented the hours, and he felt it was time to retreat from the bureaucracy battlefield, and live to fight another day.
He turned off his terminal, picked up if uniform jacket and a pack of food rations, and headed to the transfer terminal. It would be a while before he could get a hot meal.
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At the Matsumoto, Captain Shimoe arrived at the Briefing Room 2, a few minutes before the appointed time. Inside he found Admiral Mochizuki Tatsuya, together with part of his staff.&
In a hologram projection on the tactical table that stood in the center of the room, a projection of Admiral Ishikawa appeared, presumably being transmitted from the Battleship Sado.
The Admiral acknowledged the arrival of the Officer, and gestured for him to come closer, so they could begin the meeting.
"Ho, good afternoon, Shimoe-san, we were waiting for you to begin." said Mochizuki when he eventually noticed Shimoe. "That is good to see you fine and well. Please take a seat. As you can see, Ishikawa-san couldn't make it. He will be participating to this reunion by holo transmission. Arigato."
"Yes, sir thank you. Good to meet you again, Ishikawa-san."Shimoe said to the ones present. "I suppose if it involves the Northern Fleet main commanders, I guess this is not about my command current duties alone, how can I be of service, sir?" He said as he remained standing, as standard protocol.
"Indeed, indeed..." thoughtfully repeated Mochizuki while looking down at the bunch of reports filling the meeting room table. "We would like to review North Quadrant's situation, as I believe we tend to not give it the attention it deserves."
Mochizuki sat up straight back and considered all the men present. "I do not need to remind you, fine gentlemen, of the numerous threat endangering this Quadrant... Ah.. Where to start. Those Aliens are a concern. So are Blood Dragons, even if their activity appears to be limited since a while. And of course there is the problem of Gallia."
The fine Admiral Mochizuki searched in his pockets, and grumbled in satisfaction when he found his box of fine cigars. "Do you mind, gentlemen?" He asked.
A faint sigh could be heard from the speakers near Ishikawa's hologram projection. "Go ahead, admiral.." He turned his head and talked quietly, seemingly giving some orders in the background on the Sado. "Alright.." He cleared this throat and turned his attention back to the meeting. "As the admiral has already pointed out, our enemies up here are dangerous and numerous. Currently our operations are rather limited in the system with the Sado being mainly here to observe and keep that infestation limited to Heaven's Gate."
"And so you require more scouts in the sector. Are the squadrons of the 58th to be deployed to Tohoku?" Inquired the Captain.
"It is unfortunate that operation to retake Heaven's Gate did not succeed..." commented Mochizuki while attempting to fire up his cigar. Soon enough, the smell of Tobacco started to infest the briefing room. "Certainly, Smimoe-san. We will see about that. But would you please first give us your impressions concerning Hokkaido status?"
"Yes Admiral. Currently the Otaru station sector has been secured, and the patrols to the Kyofu gap have become increasingly efficient.
We still suffer damages to the radiation, and to occasional ambushes in the deeper reaches of the nebulas. We were hopefull that the introduction of the Raijin would help with both, but the results so far were not entirely sucessful."
"Hai hai. What can you tell us about Blood Dragons?" pondered the fine Admiral between two smokes.
Shimoe pondered a little before replying, finding odd the line of questioning.
"Well, most of what he have found is in our reports. Activity in the Hokkaido sector has decreased, but in return we have seen havier assets being used in Tohoku and in deep strikes in New Tokyo. I believe that Admiral Ishikawa is better informed about the situation in Tohoku than me." he concluded.
"That is fine. Could I now ask you your personnal opinion regarding the situation in Nagano and Rishiri?"
"I believe High Command, and yourself admiral, have your own plans of what will be done regarding our presence in the New Territories. I believe that the established idea of moving forward our command center of the Northen Fleet would allow us a stronger presence in securing Nagano space, as well as consolidating the travel in Rishiri, which links us to the Gallic border.
Currently the prospect of further needs of extension beyond Nagano seem unlikely, so we should improve our presence in the new colony, and focus our attentions on the hotspot that is still Tohoku, sir." He said as if he was reading from a script.
"Ah yes, yes. I understand your position on this matter, Shimoe-san. Thank you for giving us your personal opinion regarding those matters."
The fine Admiral Mochizuki took a puff from his over priced cigar, seemingly enjoying this little pleasure, before going. "It is important to listen to your subordinates, for they are the ones on the fields, hai?
That said, let's please come back to the Tohoku situation, gentlemen. What is your opinion, Ishikawa-san? Are you in need of support at the moment?"
Ishikawa cleared his throat again. "Right. The situation right now is rather calm with nobody gaining any ground. We can probably hold our position with our current forces, but without additional reinforcements it will be hard to gain an advantage and take a firmer hold onto the system."
Shimoe asked "Hmm, does command intend to do something to change the situation? If so, how soon?"
"As soon as possibly, Shimoe-san, as soon as possible" emitted Mochizuki between two puffs from his cigar. "Moving key assets to support the forces already deployed in Tohoku will take a while... But we already agree to move several wings to the system."
Ishikawa nodded in agreement. "That would be good. We'll prepare for a scouting operation in advance to get a clearer picture of how strong the presence of the enemy really is."
"In that case, I would like to volunteer our men for that task sir. Our pilots are not afraid to push forward into the enemy territory to get a clearer picture. With your premission." Said Shimoe to the admirals.
"That is good to hear. I trust both of you to do your best for Kusari, hmm?"
The fine Admiral Mochizuki then glanced around "Anybody has something to add?"
"I suppose we all agree then."Ishikawa said and turned towards Shimoe. "Shimoe-san. I'll expect your men on the Sado then. In the meantime I'll pepare a wing of our own assets."
"Best luck my friends. Dismissed!"
That said, Mochizuki began to speak with his batman about various stuffs before getting up and leaving the meeting room
"Ha-!" - replied Shimoe with a salute. With another salute to Ishikawa's hologram, he abandoned the briefing room back to his barracks in anticipation for the missions to come.
Ishikawa gave him a short nod before the hologram projection flickered and finally faded out.