La Marine Nationale Gauloise - Transmission Centre

[conmann35]

--CONTRE-AMIRAL, BARON EVERETT FONTAINE, LA ALGERIE, AQUITAINE--

*The screen flashes with Fontaine's comm-sig momentarily, then reveals the man himself.


Bonjour, messieurs et madames.

You've all likely noticed by now the general silence from la etat-major, coinciding with the collapse of royal dictate, the incapacitation of Charles and the disappearance of Chanteloup. I myself have been busy every waking hour trying to dodge bullets, polish the hull of my battleship and consolidate the situation in such a way as to maintain strength in this period of troubles. My shipboard quarters are decorated with intelligence reports rather than medals, that should give you all an idea of how the past months have flipped us on our feet and slammed us with a mace at full force.

As you know, in response, many secondary and Intelligence units have fled with us to Aquitaine, and continued to hoist the flag of Roi Charles and Marquis d'Avignon, in defiance of those who have denied us our final victory over the Bretonians and "western" Sirius as a whole. It's an enviable stance to take, for some, but it is ultimately foolish in my opinion. Scorched-earth tactics are a total waste. In my opinion, we would have been better off with precision strikes rather than saturation bombardment of an already largely secured target. Alas.

Those of you still loyal to the core values of Gallia would do well to heed my reasoning.

It will seem to be a very strange logic coming from me in particular, I'm sure, but given the situation, I find our lives to be a more valuable resource than our devotion to a lost, and likely, very mad, man. It pains me to concede my pride to the enemy like this, but if the Marine Royale Gauloise dares to make a stand in the Hebrides as it is, there will be nowhere else for us to run should we lose again. Our old nemeses have commandeered the Guillotines that we were all so fond of, and they will not hesitate to use it on us given an opportunity. We must preempt this with the olive branch before it is too late.

The plan is simple. La Marine Royale Gauloise will be abandoning its position in the Hebrides Enclave and shall seek safe passage to the Gallic Border Worlds, specifically the Duchy of Burgundy under the rule of Valentin Trintignant.

If an untimely end is not consideration enough for us to make a run for it, I beseech you all to consider the other reasons why I am making this choice. First, weariness. Gallia has been fighting for years upon years on multiple fronts with little substantial progress in the war, and little spoils to pay for the expense of all that time, hardware and manpower bled.

Second, we are hardly in a position to fight given the disasters of New London and the retaliation in Agincourt. The Marine's chain of command has been severed without an adequate replacement. I do not consider the Marquis of Marseille's claim to regency sufficiently legitimate to build a new command structure around, nor is she the Roi that I pledged allegiance to upon joining the Marine Royale.

Third, the Hebrides Enclave is in infrastructural chaos, and struggling to support itself. It is also looking too far to the past and the present rather than the future, embroiled in its desire to finish a fight it can no longer win. I am a businessman by trade, and be it in statecraft or business, it is always imperative to know when a commitment is unsustainable.

Fourth, it is my understanding that a number of you enlisted with la Marine Royale to serve the legitimate Gallic nation. That nation, it seems, is no longer the one presided over by le Roi. Perhaps that conviction still lies within you, even if the name of Gallia is changing.

Finally, it is also my understanding many of you enlisted to protect your homes and families from those who would seek to evict or destroy them. I am no exception to this, and likewise, my wife and sons would weep for time immemorial if I were to meet an unnatural end.

Thus, I have made my case.

It is up to you, sailors of la Marine Royale, to make your own path now. I am organizing, with the aid of close logistics staff, a convoy to make an exodus from the Gallic Hebrides to Burgundy as quickly and safely as possible. Any sailor who chooses to remain with the Hebrides Enclave is free to do so, as long as they understand the repercussions of remaining with that flag. That said, this is very well our one and only chance to secure an amnesty with the Core Worlds, especially if the Hebrides Enclave remains on a war footing.

Make your choice, messieurs et madames. Bonne chance.

Honneur et Patrie. Valeur et Discipline.

---

Vagrant elder
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