TO All Colonial and System Governments Q7

TO All Flag Officers JAC Q7

FROM Admiral of the Black (Brevet) AB Burwasher, COBE

SCJACQ7, ESS TITANIC

DATE 3198.253

OPERATION SLEDGE HAMMER

I have today issued the order for the JAC Grand Fleet to be assembled and to commence Operation Sledge Hammer, the destruction of the Exterminator Base at Granyt.

The Grand Fleet will consist of 85 warships from 6 members of the JAC.

It will be commanded by Admiral Hogan Stipes GFAN. I have every confidence in this magnificent fleet under this most experienced and efficient commander.

We cannot know, with our present information of the Exterminator Base, whether the Grand Fleet will be able to destroy it. However we will not be receiving any significant reinforcements in the near future, and the function of the Exterminator Base is to build ESBs. It is clear therefore that we must strike at the Exterminator Base immediately before the odds in our favour decrease. Now that we have found this base we must take the war to the Enemy of Humanity.

Some of you may be concerned about the risk of sending so large a proportion of the JAC Fleets to Granyt. You may wonder if there will be sufficient strength to defeat ESB attacks upon our colonies. You may be worried that the Exterminators will inflict crippling losses on the Grand Fleet. The JAC has taken these points into account and can provide the following answers.

1. Three JAC Fleets will remain within the Aligned Systems: Fleet Midgard at Xynam, Fleet Rodger Young at Potomax, and 6th Allied Fleet at Dyme. These Fleets are each strong enough to defeat a ESB. They are spaced along the eastern edge of the Aligned Systems, the "Front-line", to provide timely cover in the event of ESB attacks. It is quite impossible to guarantee that inhabited systems will not be damaged by single ESBs, but these Fleets will bring them to battle and will destroy them. In the past attacks have been made by two ESBs, but these have ceased and, due to the number of ESBs that have been destroyed, we do not expect them to recur.

2. ESBs have inflicted heavy losses on Human Fleets in the past. But this was when we were defending inhabited planets with insufficient strength and yet had to accept battle. However our combat experience has shown us that our warships are faster than ESBs: we have the ability to avoid battle altogether, or to impose it in favourable circumstances. The Exterminators cannot do this. It is therefore possible for the Grand Fleet to accept battle at Granyt when we consider that we can destroy the enemy without sustaining unacceptable casualties. Thus the Grand Fleet can go to Granyt safe in the knowledge that if the Exterminator strength is too great to be defeated, we can maintain the fleet in being.

I have instructed Admiral Stipes to destroy the Exterminator Base by driving asteroids into them. This will minimise casualties to the Grand Fleet. The combat task of the Grand Fleet is to destroy the ESBs at Granyt. Once this is accomplished there should be no necessity to engage in combat. However I am aware that many Colonial Governments would wish to capture Exterminator equipment. So far Earther, Martian and Esteeler forces have made such captures. My concern about missions intended to capture equipment is that they may incur heavy casualties.  

While there is always a desire to provide material for scientific investigation and intelligence analysis, captures should be not be undertaken unless absolutely necessary. It is therefore JAC policy that static Exterminator structures (planetary bases and orbital station) should be destroyed by asteroid bombardment. I would remind you that the losses incurred on Flypaper IV were too high and that the Granyt Base is assessed as 3 to 4 times as powerful. However it was agreed at the Potomax Summit that a Joint Intelligence Team, to be chaired by a Sirian representative, would share all the information gained from captured Exterminator equipment. Teams of experts from all Colonial Governments should be allowed access to all Exterminator artefacts without delay. I trust that this will eliminate any overwhelming desire by all nationalities to get their own Exterminator kit. Such desires would reduce the efficiency of JAC operations and help the enemy.