Send Jessica

It was only the fifth time you had entered the orbit of your world and you still felt the same wonder as the last four, the shining jewel of your home behind you, the bounty of the stars ahead. Now accessible thanks to the jump gate. You'd come up to give a formal send off to Vivian and Jessica as well as Jessica's new 'personal attendant', a surprisingly carefree woman named Yoriko who nonetheless made all the proper protests about the cramped quarters her lady would be subject to on the way to the True Argon Federation's homeworld. Vivian herself had been rather easy to convince, if you'd wanted her ship you had ample opportunity to take it and now that her life support systems were actually functioning at full capacity the journey with three people would still be more comfortable than the one she set out on.

You'd decided to simply remain on the wharf for the time being as many of the people you wanted to talk to were already present and the rest could easily be brought up. Considering most of your concerns were in space at the moment it felt appropriate.

Not that there wasn't some uncertainty on the planet below. Lady Olan though was able to assure you it was just the normal jitters of something new rather than any true unrest. You were currently quite popular as a steady figure during the troubled times. Your father was also being lionized as a visionary who'd prepared the nation for the new era. How much people actually believed that was a bit up in the air but Alexandre had told you it was at least true in the bars, though there were still some grumblings over the Teladi and Boron members of the kingdom.

"Your timing was perfect." You noted to Maria, "She should have caught you on her sensors on the way out."

"Hopefully they got the message." Selina noted, "The real question is how much firepower they have themselves. We know from what she let slip they've got at least one troop transport and at least some amount of ships if they're calling it a battle fleet. If they're still using war-era tech then our shields, engines and hulls should stand up well but our newer constructions might find themselves less heavily armed. Based on the state of the fighter we saw I think its safe to say they haven't done much in the realm of innovation."

"Well without a wharf it would be difficult for them to do any construction on their own, even if they had blueprints they likely didn't have a full suite of production facilities needed to make use of them." Maria pointed out. Your nation had a similar problem until the transmission after all.

"Which brings us to the elephant in the room. This." You said, waving your hand to indicate the structure around you, "is going to be something they can't ignore. They're going to come for it, either diplomatically or with **** and they won't be the only ones."

"Which means we need more ships, more pilots, and more marines." Selina said, "That first one is the most difficult. Rapiers are barely suited for combat which leaves us with larger ships. Which are great but they're expensive."

"The Boron are working hard on that. Lexi assures me they'll get it done." You promised.

"Good. Now. As for how to deal with the new sector." Selina said, "It's ours. As our only way to leave the sector we can't allow any foreign power to claim it. We'll want to expand our satellite network and ensure we have ships stationed there at all times until we can build a defensive or administrative station. It'll allow us to be warned of any incursions. We can also set up defensive laser towers at the gates but we'll need to make sure we set up a satellite in the sector beyond to make sure they don't shoot anyone they shouldn't."

"We'll also want to continue our exploration of the gates." Maria said, pulling up a map that showed the now outdated information that Ethan had gathered. There was one to each 'side' of the sector for all the meaning that had in space. "As we get further away we'd be wise to start using the Falx to support the scout ship."

You could see the logic in that.

"We'll also want to make sure we're intentionally setting up a line of communication as they go but that's going to cost satellites and satellites..." Selina said

"Cost resources." You finished for her, "Which we're not making nearly enough of to feed all of our demand. We can upgrade some of our production but that's going to be a long term benefit. Any ideas?"

"Quick options will likely depend on this True Argon Federation or any other powers we find out here." Selina said, "Would trade be viable?"

"Our biggest trade would be selling repair services most likely but we'll also likely find people willing to trade raw resources out for refined ones. The rate would probably not be the best considering they're going to need refined materials themselves but it is a possibility. Any other suggestions?" You asked

"War is on the table." Selina said, "If we find someone weaker than us with production facilities we could take them and modernize them. As well as taking any ships they have for our own. We'll have to repair any battle damage but that's far cheaper than building one from scratch. We'll follow all standard laws of war of course, there's no reason for the gate shutdown to have changed those and I presume they'll still be honored." She seemed to be adamant about that point and you knew why.

Those laws were why you had a small Argon community on your world as well as a Terran one. Your world had provided medical treatment for both sides of the Conflict and hosted an Argon POW camp for the Terrans. Given how well they'd been treated it had been fairly easy to integrate them once it was clear the gate shutdown wasn't just going to go away quickly. Many of them had even ended up marrying their former guards. Selina's blood great-grandmother had been one of those guards though funnily enough her own blood mother had married into the family of one of the original Terran pilots.

"How would things look for a war on the ground?" You asked

"I wouldn't worry about that too much." Selina replied. "You have 400 Royal Marines yes?" Aurora had little need for a standing army with nobody to fight. The Marines were your private security and shock troops though not with the training for space. You nodded. "That should be enough. Ground combat is a waste of time. Planets can't move while kinetic munitions can. It's a waste of human life to try and resist an **** when the enemy has the orbit."