Bretonian Armed Forces Defense Intelligence Staff (DIS) (iRP) (AO)

[pbrione]

--Transmission to Bretonian Fleet--
--HMS Suffolk--

As you are all aware, our situation in Leeds has taken a turn for the worst. Stokes and the Tau Gate are lost, at least for the time being, and I must warn against any BAF pilots launching reckless counterattacks seeking vengence, as that would not serve our purpose. A War Cabinet combining the Admiralty Board and Government has been formed to direct our war effort, and it is they who shall be guiding BAF policy. I have been instructed to relay to you today the first of their War Cabinet Directives to the BAF which reads as follows:

Primary objectives for BAF at present:
1. Consolidate defences around Derby and York in Leeds system, halt any further Kusari advances
2. Hold open supply route through the Edinburgh - Tau 31 Jump Hole to Planet Harris that supplies may reach Harris
3. Escort any traders entering the Leeds system, to ensure that they do not attempt to breach our blockade and supply the Kusari. People taking any supplies to KNF bases are to be turned back.

I also have been instructed to forward the following recording of the Prime Minister's stirring speech to the Bretonian Parliament to all comms channels.

My Lords, Members of the House of Commons, and Citizens of Bretonia,

I know many of you have seen the reports or heard rumors from the BAF forces in the Leeds system. I regret that I must confirm those reports. The Battle of the Taus is over, and the Battle of Leeds has just begun. Earlier today, Kusari forces began a massive offensive through the Tau-31 gate, and have taken the upper part of the Leeds system despite a valiant defense by the BAF, BPA, and Bowex forces stationed in the system. Our stalwart defense has halted the Kusari advance before they could reach Planet Leeds itself.

As dire as our circumstances may seem, I assure you that we are far from defeated! Measures are now being put in place to fortify our defences around Leeds, and meanwhile we are taking steps to build up our forces ready to one day strike back against our enemy. But to do so, we must mobilise all our available forces, and be prepared to endure great sacrifices. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by space, air and land, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

To aid in that victory, the entirety of the Bretonian economy and it's populace must be dedicated to the war effort. Every citizen, whether in Leeds or elsewhere in Bretonia, must stand ready to defend our worlds against Kusari aggression. Leeds shall not fall! Bretonia will not be defeated!

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in Leeds, we shall fight in orbit and in the atmospheres, we shall fight hand to hand on our space stations and battleships, we shall defend our systems, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the Planets' surface, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, Leeds or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire across the stars, armed and guarded by the Bretonian Armed Forces, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, foreign fleets of our allies, with all their power and might, step forth to the rescue and the liberation of Bretonia.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the Bretonian Realm and its Empire last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'

--End Transmission--

---

Sir Stanley Nelson




<span style="color:#000066">Charles Canning </span><span style="color:#000066"> Foreign Secretary</span>