“Of course,” Honor replied.

“Thank you, Ma’am. Very well, then. First, we had three basic problems to consider. One, we have to respond to a threat whose parameters we cannot establish with any degree of certitude. Two, our resources are limited, and those currently off-planet—Fearless’s Marine detachment—aren’t concentrated in one place at the moment. Three, the ideal solution requires the integration of our Marines and their firepower with the NPA’s local expertise and troop strength into a single force operating under a unified field plan.

“After lengthy discussions with Major Isvarian, my platoon commanders and I have come to the conclusion that we won’t know how powerful the opposition is until and unless we actually see it coming at us. There’s simply no way for us to know at this time, though that may change if new intelligence is developed on Medusa. Anything that gives us some clear picture of potential enemy troop strength would be invaluable, and Major Isvarian has assured us that his people will do everything they can to get that information for us.

“Next, there’s the problem of getting our own available strength concentrated. The NPA only has about a five-company field strength, once we allow for essential detachments, and my own company is understrength just now. So, with your permission, Captain, I’d like to recall the Marines currently detached to the customs and inspection parties. I believe the traffic volume has dropped to a level which would permit us to reduce the number of inspection boats and consolidate Navy ratings to crew them, which would release our Marines for possible ground combat. If we can do that, I’d have four full-strength platoons to work with, not three partial ones.”

Papadapolous paused and raised an eyebrow at Honor. In turn, she glanced at McKeon and raised an eyebrow of her own.

“I think we could do that, Ma’am,” the exec said after a moment. “We can probably get by with two fully-crewed inspection boats, given present traffic levels.”

“Very well, Major Papadapolous,” Honor said. “You have your Marines back again.”

“Thank you, Ma’am. That gives me much greater flexibility.” The Marine smiled briefly, and Isvarian nodded his own satisfaction.

“Given that troop strength,” Papadapolous resumed, “I’d like to move it down to the surface as soon as possible. Our basic deployment plan is intended to provide maximum coverage for the off-world enclaves with, as Dame Estelle and Major Isvarian have requested, as much capability as possible to go to the aid of any of the native city-states, as well.

“Toward these ends, I intend to reconfigure two squads’ worth of our battle armor for the recon role. As you no doubt know, Captain—” the Marine’s tone suggested that she might not know but chose, diplomatically, to assume that she did “—our powered armor is designed to confer maximum tactical flexibility by allowing us to configure it for specific mission parameters. Normally, we operate with fairly heavy weapon loads, but that limits our endurance in two ways. First, the weaponry itself displaces power cells we might otherwise carry, and second, most of our heavy weapons are energy intensive, which ups the drain on the cells we can carry. It gives us a lot of firepower, but only over relatively short engagement times.