HUMBLE SPACER 01 DEC 3306 (mobilization)
01 Dec 2020Igli
Disturbing time is coming apparently. Diplomatic channels are failing and armies are preparing to take on a major role. All that talk of imminent war and a rush militarization of major galactic powers leaves no doubt that something is brewing. I never like alarming rumors and don't look for trouble myself. Usually trouble finds me.Lately as the auto-pilot of my Beluga liner plotted a course to our destination planet and I couldn't be of much use, I decided to sneak into the bar to wet my throat a bit. There I engaged in a conversation with an inconspicuous man, some federal agent by the looks of him. He was dressed in a grey suit and seemed somewhat dusty like some classified case folders he was working with.
He grimly told me what a shame it would be if a fine vessel like that (my beautiful yacht) were confiscated by the authotities following an act of civil mobilization. I shivered and spasmatically gulped down my cognak which was an inappropriate way of consuming a noble beverage. "What use could a passenger liner be to the military command during a war?" - I asked him. "There are plenty of ways to utilize a large vessel like this" - he answered.
It could be retrofitted for different roles, for example: a transport for recruited personnel, or a mobile hospital for injured and mutilated in combat action, or an evacuation barge for the irretrievably wasted personnel. Provided the girls, it could be made into a brothel for high-level command officers.
My acquaintance ordered a third drink and became even more creative. A large and poorly maneuverable ship could be made into a brander or a fire ship - filled to the brink with explosives it would ram an enemy and take them down in a violent explosion. A one-time performance, though. Or it could pretend to be damaged and broadcast a distress signal, and when an enemy came close to investigate, then marines would spring and board them. A war ruse.
A strategist, I thought about the man, and offered him a drink on the house. Then I pondered on what he told me: maybe it was time to wrap up and move into the Alliance space - away from the turmoil of upcoming war?