Humans are weird: Logistics of war
The war council was a collage of chaos and grandeur the likes of which were rarely seen.
Set deep inside the coalition’s flagship, a massive Imperial Pyramid ship of the Nosva, the leaders of the allied races disused the next steps of the campaign against the Rimward Federation. A stalemate had persisted since the last failed offensive of the Coalition against the fortress systems of Dul’vo, Rigmar, and Sulivin which had left the front more or less stabilized for the moment. Though the assault had been a disaster it had forced the Rimward forces on to the defensive as they began fortifying key systems which in turn gave breathing room for the Coalition to regroup and rearm.
The coalition leadership had gathered in a private antechamber and began laying out the direction they felt was needed. Though the coalition was made up of at least a hundred varying species only the nine most powerful races had been allowed into the meeting. Their individual contributions towards fight, either in terms of military force or war material, had ensured that were they not kept happy the coalition could fall apart.
One by one the leaders spoke to the gathered assembly and laid out their plans. the Draxic wanted to use their newly rearmed might and form a spear head that would drive straight for the Rimward homeworlds while the Altan’s put forward a similar idea but in favor of the Rimward staging planets closest to the border.
The Flinchestet, Draul, Qwivil, and Wonta were in favor of opening a dialogue with the federation leadership in an attempt to sue for peace before things escalated further.
The Polip felt that they should see what the enemy would do first before anything else to which the Zefillem were of a mind to agree with, though were as the Polip saw it as a chance to expose the enemy’s true intentions the Zefillem saw it as a chance to prolong the war and continue to sell goods to both sides raking in a fortune.
When it finally came time for the human representative to speak their plan was the most strange of all. The humans plan was to detach several dozen small strike forces from the main fleet and hit various industries far behind enemy lines.
The Draxic and Altan’s were against the plan from the moment the human stopped talking, proclaiming the intended targets were not even military sites nor industries that produced machines of war. The Flinchestet argued that such a rash and random attack could cause untold retaliation across the entire front and those that they had gathered into their corner agreed. Even the Polip and Zefillem couldn’t find merit in attacking such facilities.
Once they had all finished the human reached into their pocket and pulled out a small sphere of metal. They rolled it over to the Draxic representative and asked them to pick it up and tell them what they see.
Calmly picking up the metallic sphere, the Draxic could find nothing out of the ordinary and stated that it was simply a metal sphere. They passed it around between the delegates who all in turn observed it and found nothing remarkable as well.
Finally having the ball passed back to them the human began their speech.
“There was a time when these metal balls, ball-bearings we call them, were the most crucial part of our machines of war. A tank’s turret would not move, a fighter plane could not lift itself off the ground, even some machine guns would not fire without these tiny devices.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out several more. “When people think of war they think of the tools and soldiers of death; but they hardly take the time to consider how such destructive forces come to be.”
They began pacing around the table, calmly dropping a ball bearing on to the table they all sat at as he passed a delegate. “Weapons are not cut from stone, nor sheen from the fabric of space. They must be forged, manufactured, refined, and then delivered to those who can implement them properly to the destruction of their enemies.”
The sound of a bearing bouncing off the table made some of the delegates twitch their heads nervously.
“So many components go into manufacturing a single rifle that some find it hard to believe that if a single piece is missing or misaligned that the entire rifle will not function; but that is what happens. One missing piece no bigger than the nail of your finger and the greatest weapon the universe has ever seen stops to function.”
Another bearing hit the table as the human passed the Altan who snatched it off the table and began reexamining it as if the humans words had triggered something in him.
“Our enemies are so focused on defending the weapon factories and mining operations that they have left secondary facilities virtually defenseless. Crippling these industries will bring their entire operation to a halt.”
The human stepped close to the Draxic and spoke softly beside them. “Imagine weapon factories silent, imagine enemy soldiers deprived of ammo and supplies, imagine entire armies being taken off the front line to defend facilities far behind their lines that gaps open as wide as the breath of stars themselves.” His pace continued as he saw the Draxic picturing their grand offensive against far weaker enemies and claiming far greater territory then they had pictured before and let lose a toothy grin.
The human spoke of how their plan would set of a chain of events so far reaching that it would exceed merely delaying production. Foremen, business leaders, industrialists, and even military personnel would be called forth to account for the destruction of the facilities. Some would escape ridicule while others would suffer from it. Old rivalries brought to the surface. Factory workers laid off at other factories now lacking the needed material. Loss of income for families that was used to support them leading to angry. Anger leading to protests, protests leading to riots, riots leading to revolutions.
For the Flinchestet who prided themselves on political manipulation they could respect the domino effect the facilities destruction would trigger. They could map out the projected retaliation routes the enemy would most likely need to take if they felt their honor was called into question and needed to prove themselves.
Even the sly Zefillem now seemed to be accepting of the idea as the demand for materials would skyrocket allowing them to price gouge on the black market like never before.
At the end of the speech the human asked if their plan was agreeable to which the majority of the council switched their initial vote and agreed that it was the best approach and in the coming days the following offensive would later be dubbed by historians as the “Ball Bearing Blitz”, the final campaign that broke the back of the Rimward Federation.
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