The Duchess

[jammi]

Cromwell snorted. "Liberty, late as ever. I seem to recall they were rather tardy with their intervention against Rheinland in 800'. It took an invasion of Bretonia and Kusari before they came to their senses." He plucked the slate from the table and turned it off. "Ground defences are not my forte, but Leeds is probably as well prepared as it'll ever be. The Army should be able to carry on the fight even after the orbital space has fallen. BMM have been taking care of the specifics of their end of the infrastructure. So far as I know, the Royal Engineers have been using their sappers to prepare the various assets that can't be removed for... permenant decomission. The Gauls are in for a rather firey surprise when they land. If we cede anything, it'll be burning ashes."

A silence rolled out for a moment or two as both men contemplated the crackling flames in the hearth. Appropriately, a log collapsed under their scrutiny, sending up a sheet of sparks. Cromwell adruptly refocused. "You asked about our plans in Kusari, didn't you? We've got various contingencies for meeting Gauls within their core space. Generally, we'd focus on avoidance, but we do have one or two more devious tricks hidden away. Kusari takes a very stern view of private paramilitaries and will probably ban the use of our ExSec patrols. Most likely to prevent possible conflicts, but it does also potentially leave us vunerable."

"To circumvent this, King's Cross has been working on retrofitting several of our Shires with end-market docking modules. Simply put, we've developed hull refraction techniques with which we can spoof most scanner technologies. We could easily enough stow a security ship in our hold as a last resort 'pocket pistol'. This could entail taking care of any unexpected pirates, or... opportunistically removing isolated Gaul merchants. In any case, Gateway has managed the last year with relative ease. It may be worth emulating their business practices within the House." He steepled his fingers again.

"I couldn't comment on preventing Kusari corporations from taking cargo to the Gauls - that would be the domain of the Home Office and security agencies. Despite this, my personal recommendation would be to liaise with the Council in order to gather intelligence on who is doing what, and the 'Irregulars' to ensure those who are abusing our trust suffer for it."

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