2953-07-23 – Tales from the Service: A View From Headquarters, Part 13 

At long last we have finally gotten another chance to talk with Admiral Abarca and his Intelligence advisor in person. Portions of the interview will, as usual, be presented here as a transcript, and the full interview recording will be available on the main datasphere hub. 

This interview was conducted in-person aboard the battleship Philadelphia in the Sagittarius Gate system on 19 July.

D.L.C. - Duncan Chaudhri is a junior editor and wartime head field reporter for Cosmic Background.       

N.T.B. - Nojus Brand is a long-time explorer, datasphere personality, and wartime field reporter for Cosmic Background.      

K.T.K. - Captain Kenneth Kempf is the Naval Intelligence attaché to Seventh Fleet commander Admiral Shun Abarca.    

S.R.A. - Admiral Shun R. Abarca is the commander of Seventh Fleet. 

[D.L.C.] - Admiral Abarca, it’s been too long. 

[S.R.A.] - Almost six months, yes. We have both been quite busy, but I had still hoped to sit down with your team before now. 

[N.T.B.] - We take up enough of your time and the time of your staff with all our queries, I figure. 

[K.T.K.] - We would usually prefer the queries, Mr. Brand. It means we have an opportunity to correct the record before an incorrect story is published. I’m afriad not all outlets query us as often as yours. 

[D.L.C.] - Well, I was hoping we could avoid talking about the Spike Wire story. I have other questions- 

[S.R.A.] - And we will get to them. I find that matter distasteful as well, and its timing is unfortunate. 

[N.T.B.] - They thought they had the scoop of a lifetime, and they just made everyone involved look bad, themselves most of all. 

[K.T.K.] - Indeed. I am honestly surprised that this is the first time it has happened in this fleet’s jurisdiction, given the remoteness of our theater and the relative isolation of the various press teams operating here. 

[S.R.A.] - In general, the press embeds and unassociated media outfits who report on this front for the people back home are fairly respectable people. I have had previous good interactions with the Spike Wire embed team, but chasing fame can make fools of us all. 

[D.L.C.] - It will indeed. I would much rather talk about Force 73, as my messages to your team leading up to this interview indicated. 

[S.R.A.] - A much less distasteful subject, Mr. Chaudhri. Indeed, I am so far quite satisfied with the performance of Captain Bosch and his force. 

[N.T.B.] - We’ve run stories about the struggle to get them supplies. Obviously this was an anticipated issue, but how much has their campaign been hindered by resource limitations? 

[S.R.A.] - A bit. I will be vague, as you probably expected, in my answer. 

[D.L.C.] - Of course. 

[S.R.A.] - It was, as you say, a problem we had anticipated, and it has not been quite as bad as we feared it would be. Progress in liberating the Kyaroh worlds on which resistance is still significant proceeds apace. 

[D.L.C.] - Yes. How many worlds is it now? Four? 

[S.R.A.] - Yes, but only two are of strategic significance enough to have had significant Incarnation presence when our task force arrived. There have been a few naval skirmishes unconnected with the conflict on any given Kyaroh world as well, most of which have been quite inconclusive. 

[D.L.C.] - You don’t sound disappointed by that. 

[S.R.A.] - I am not. Engagements which do not reduce Force 73’s striking power are the sort we can afford best, even if they also don’t reduce enemy forces in the region. A costly victory would end the campaign just as definitely as a costly defeat. 

[N.T.B.] - Makes sense. In the terms sim-game players might use, Bosch needs to play the objective, not beat his opposite number. 

[D.L.C.] - You play sim games? 

[N.T.B.] - No, my nephew does. He just placed in the semi-final round of a planetary tournament on Madurai last month. I’ve been catching up on his matches. 

I am honestly surprised that this is the first time it has happened in this fleet’s jurisdiction, given the remoteness of our theater and the relative isolation of the various press teams operating here. 

[K.T.K.] - Really? Quite the achievement. Which sim-game does he play? 

[N.T.B.] - War Titans. I hadn’t heard of it before he and my sister told me about it. 

[N.T.B.] - Ah, yes. I know of this one. A gang of Marine veterans of Brushfire put it together. Not very realistic, but complex and hard to master. 

[S.R.A.] - The youths who master these games and rank highly on their world often earn Academy slots. Even in my own Academy class, there were two such. Your nephew may be sitting in my chair in thirty-five years. 

[N.T.B.] - I’ll warn him it isn’t so easy when real lives are at stake, then. He’ll be overjoyed to know he came up in this conversation, Admiral. 

[S.R.A.] - Returning to your analogy, though: yes, that is a decent summary. Bosch needs to focus on planets, not fleets. The less Kyaroh worlds that are sending resources and cargo hulls to the Incarnation home worlds, the less war materiel they can produce. Intelligence suggests they have been chronically short of haulers for the entire conflict, and the long runs around Sagittarius Gate to resupply their holdings on the Coreward Frontier are only making this worse. 

[K.T.K.] - I will expand on this, if that is all right. Their haulers are mostly Kyaroh designs, often built in Kyaroh shipyards, and refitted with more efficient Incarnation star drives in Incarnation home space. These vessels are capable of the Gap crossing, but they don’t have facilities at scale to service all of them on the other side, so they need to make the crossing twice and travel across wide swaths of more forgiving space as well before they can reach a proper service yard. Their equipment is burning out, and without the yards in Kyaroh space, they’ll struggle to replace it. 

[D.L.C.] - And they could replace Kyaroh production only by turning over yards that are currently building warships? 

[S.R.A.] - It’s more likely they turn over yards that are currently refitting haulers to building new ones. What we have learned of their industrial base suggests almost all their yards are dual use. This would be little better. They know all this better than we do, and I think our foes will probably devote a large force to protecting or retaking the next Kyaroh system Bosch attacks with a significant orbital shipyard facility. 

[D.L.C.] - If Bosch is... Playing the objective, he will avoid a pitched battle. But will he just retreat? 

[N.T.B.] - From what we know of the man, I doubt it. 

[S.R.A.] - I had a long conference with him before he left, including some brief scenario simulations. I have some idea what he’ll do, but of course I cannot say it publicly. 

[D.L.C.] - Ah, of course. I understand.