Ad Victoriam

[Victor Steiner]

Victor tapped his finger on the table in a slow and steady beat, his eyes locked on to Ward's own, before they glassed over and he looked through her, he became lost in his own thoughts for a moment. It was becoming ever more obvious that Auxesia was one problem of many, although normally they would not be able to challenge Bretonia in any serious manner, the weakened state of the House, the distance of Inverness and a general lack of knowledge about the organization and it's overall capabilities made them a greater threat than he previously thought. He also noted that the Crayterians wanted more from Bretonia than a simple security conference, now that Liberty had largely left Bretonia, the Crayterians were about the only local friends they had, whether Bretonia liked it or not, the House could not afford to expect their allies to act on their behalf alone.

He stopped his tapping and resumed a neutral expression, The Service will send whatever agents we can to support you, I will also try and pull some strings at the top to get a few heavy ships to support us. It won't be much, but I will do what I can. He didn't like Auxesia all that much, he considered their behaviour to be arrogant, acting as though they were the supreme authority on all matters technological with no academic oversight, no ethical framework and the only morals being those that suited them at the time. Auxesia would willingly commit genocide if they thought it to be in their interests. As far as Victor was concerned, they were all psychopaths with a narcissistic streak in them.

I would like to say that the Service believes that a simple all out assault on Auxesia would be met with failure in the long run. Not only is the system large, it is also fairly empty, a fleet would be detected quickly and we are unaware of what defences they have. More importantly, it is wholly likely that Inverness is just one enclave of their people, a large one to be certain, but certainly not their only one. We have no idea how spread out their people are, where they work or with whom. If we wish to destroy Auxesia as a threat, we must engage them on all fronts, not just the physical manifestations we see in space. The SIS will try to discover more about them and where they hide but...well, I don't think I need to say that it will take some time.

He did not like this idea that much, the Admiralty may think that this was a military operation, but he feared that they would underestimate Auxesia and what it could do. The organization was shrouded in secrecy, the reality was no one really knew how large or small they were, what allies they had, their technological advantages and disadvantages or where their agents and spies were located. Any action against them ought to be considered carefully, and his brow furrowed at the fact that no one seemed to have mentioned what might become of the system after Auxesia was destroyed.... if they were destroyed.

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