796 UC May; enroute to Heinessen; Tanya
Onboard the Serebryakov
With most of my tasks on Iserlohn taken care of, I was on my way back to Heinessen. Taking with me the First Sub-Fleet of my Fleet as I did not want to be seen as taking Fleet Admiral Lobos request to return to Heinessen without the due respect it deserved. Plus it would not be wise for an Admiral and Theater Commander to be seen traveling through Alliance space without an escort. Did I need an escort of some two thousand ships? Most likely not. Yet considering the seriousness of the issue for which I have been asked to return to Heinessen. I do not want to give anyone the impression that I am not taking it seriously.
Sitting in my office I went over the reports I was still receiving from the 3rd Fleet and Iserlohn as well as from Naval HQ on Heinessen. While reading over them I mentally went over the tasks I had ensured were being carried out before heading back to Heinessen.
The first subject is continuous training for the 3rd Fleet's newest Rear Admirals. This was carried out by Bruno and Gale who had both suggested more war games as well as sieging the station itself. I did not think anyone would realistically be able to take the fortress on its own. Not without considerable military power to back them up or an extreme amount of luck. Bruno and Gale intended to get both of our junior Admirals up to an acceptable level before I returned from Heinessen considering I would be gone for a few months. I intended to grade both of them on their work and if they did well enough in training them. I would put their names forward to be considered for promotion to Vice Admiral. It was still too early for the 2nd Fleet to be deployed for this foolish invasion. But getting a new Vice Admiral who would be there to help rebuild it would give any one of them invaluable experience. Of course, that decision likely will not be made until next year after this foolish invasion is over.
Next was getting the shipyards up and running to build new ships. I learned why spaceships are built in space and not inside of a space station. As the process is long, dirty, and makes a mess of everything. It also required an absurd amount of space to build the various parts and armor. We were lucky that Iserlohn kept a stock of spare parts meant for general maintenance and repair in addition to enough parts to build a ship. There were enough slip spaces in the station to repair a handful of ships at a time. These berths or slip spaces could also be used to build a new ship. Which would take up that valuable space that was needed for repairs and refits of damaged ships.
So if any ship received any serious damage during the invasion they would have to pull back further behind Iserlohn to get the repairs they needed. Smaller-scale repairs and basic maintenance were still doable in regular ship berths. But anything requiring specialized equipment would have to wait until the start of next year or be sent to Heinessen for repairs.
After that, I spent time reviewing all the information I had available to me about the status of the Free Planets Alliance, information about the Empire and the nearby colonies as well as the Imperial Navy from when we captured Iserlohn, Oberstein's briefing on Reinhard as well as his educated estimation of what Reinhard would most likely do during the invasion if we pursued Commodore Falk's suggested invasion plan. Though Oberstein did make sure to point out that while he was certain he understood the drive and purpose behind Reinhard's actions. Depending on how the invasion went could affect his understanding of the man.
"Fleet Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm's primary goal in any invasion of the Galactic Empire by the Free Planets Alliance, is to score an overwhelming victory against the invasion force. Destroying it so utterly and completely that the Free Planets Alliance will be unable to recover from their losses."
"As Fleet Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm stands within the Imperial Court and the Imperial Navy. He will be the first to be ordered to stem the tide of the invasion and send the Free Planets Alliance back behind Iserlohn Fortress. The two factions of High Nobles and Imperial Navy Fleet Admirals will both want him to lose face from this action. Thus he will only have his own Admirals to rely upon. As he commands one-third of the Imperial Navy he will be able to field 100,000 warships and approximately 15,000,000 soldiers."
"By all standard estimations. Reinhard von Lohengramm will lose any battle in which he engages the Free Planets Alliance invasion force even if he fights on an even footing. However, the Count will not fight fair, nor will he engage the Free Planets Alliance invasion force on any field resembling a numerically fair fight. That is not to say he will turn down a numerically fair fight. But it is in the interest of his plans to ensure that any fight he engages in will ensure an overwhelming victory in his favor."
"Therefore, I estimate that he will encourage the High Nobles along a predetermined path to pull back to a more defensible Starzone. Encouraging them to strip their worlds of food and supplies necessary to run their worlds to deny the Alliance any resources. Placing strain upon the Free Planets Alliance logistics to feed and supply the worlds along its invasion path. Straining logistics to the point the invasion is forced to come to a halt and once it is forced to stop. He will begin his offensive."
"His first target in his offensive will be to destroy the already strained logistics. Destroying any convoy, he cannot capture and use later as a sign of goodwill and faith to the people of the worlds that were stripped of all food by the retreating High Nobles. He will do this long enough for the Alliance to become desperate enough to start raiding the local populace for food and supplies. Once this happens, he will expect the morale of the Free Planets Alliance to be so low and the state of their equipment to be so poor. That he can deploy all of his forces at once to overwhelm twice their number with minimal losses and overwhelming victories in his favor. With one large force sitting at the rear waiting to intercept any retreating fleet and destroy them."
"Even if a small portion of the Free Planets Alliance Invasion Force escapes. So long as he destroys more than two-thirds of the invasion force his victory will be seen as a Hero by the people of the Galactic Empire. Which will put him in place to start replacing members of the Imperial Navies upper echelons with his subordinates. Giving him control over the entire military of the Galactic Empire. Leaving him only needing to deal with the High Nobles to reach the Kaiser and the Goldenbaum Dynasty."
"High Nobles who will have been seen as cowards who fled their territories instead of standing and fighting against the invading forces of the Free Planets Alliance. Leaving them in a weakened position and allowing him to easily maneuver them into weaker positions until he can remove them. Leaving himself the only trustworthy person within the Imperial Court and plenty of power to remove the Kaiser usurp the throne and destroy the Goldenbaum Dynasty."
"The Galactic Empire may then devolve into a civil war as forces gather to oppose the usurper of the throne. Their own goal will be to set themselves as the next Kaiser and creator of the next Dynasty. At this time the Free Planets Alliance will be too weak to take advantage of the infighting. Giving Reinhard von Lohengramm time to secure his new position and power while making plans of his own to invade the Free Planets Alliance. An invasion with the full might of the Galactic Empire and not just a singular probing attack."
"This is the likely course of action that Count Reinhard von Lohengramm will take and what will likely come of the Free Planets Alliance if it pursues the suggested invasion plan by one Commodore Andrew Falk. Which presumes that it is possible to make a singular push into the heart of the Empire without considering the possible actions of one's foe."
Oberstein's briefing also included details of the various Starzones that would be in the path of the Free Planets Alliance invasion of the Galactic Empire. They did not paint a pretty picture of what we would have to face if Reinhard did not follow Oberstein's predictions.
The first Starzone right after Amritsar was the Tyr Starzone.
Spoiler: Tyr Starzone
Which had three exit points. The one to the southwest went down towards the Fezzan Corridor and the Geirsburg Fortress. A fact I would need to keep in mind and something the planners back in Heinessen should have kept in mind before planning this invasion. While the southern exit headed to the Heimdallr Starzone and the eastern exit led to the Sigmund Starzone.
Spoiler: Heimdallr Starzone
Spoiler: Sigmund Starzone
Both Starzones led further into Empire space where we would undoubtedly find resistance from the High Nobles who were not told to pull back or retreat by Reinhard von Lohengramm. Both starzones also led into the Vǫlundr Starzone which was where Oberstein expected Reinhard to encourage the High Nobles to all retreat to. Where they and the other High Nobles could hide out and gather their strength to fight against the Alliance with overwhelming numbers.
Honestly, thinking that the war could be ended with a singular push into the heart of enemy territory was just absurd. If anything, it would make the enemy resist more and fight harder. And we would be too spent to try and stop them. I got away with it in my second life because both of our sides had taken horrendous losses over several years of constant trench warfare. Draining the Francois Republic of men and resources to make them effective enough to resist us and by their own surviving military fleeing to Africa leaving them defenseless.
But here though that just would not happen. Sure both sides have been locked in an unending war for the last century and a half. But their side has since had time to recover, rebuild, and grow since they built the Iserlohn Fortress. They should be in a good enough condition that if they are invaded and their capital occupied they will resist us at every turn while we would be spent and unable to resist or defend ourselves while in the heart of their empire.
If Commodore Andrew Falk's plan went off without a hitch. If Reinhard von Lohengramm did nothing but stand aside. If the High Nobles did nothing but let us march through their lands 'liberating' their worlds and people. If the Imperial Navy just sat on its asses and let us besiege the Capital of the Galactic Empire, Odin. If the people of Odin, somehow deposed the Kaiser and welcomed us with open arms. There would still be the entire rest of the Galactic Empire to consider and the ambitions of those who thought they could do better than the previous Kaiser and that by rallying their fellow High Nobles they could remove us and install themselves as the next Kaiser.
It leaves me to wonder just what exactly the Officers Academy is even teaching nowadays that idiotic plans such as this are greenlit and approved by one-third of High Command.
I can only hope that my talk with Admiral Green Hill will be fruitful and that I can help him convince more of High Command to not back this idiot's plan.