“One point I’d like to make, if I may, Sir,” Marquette put in after a moment, and Theisman nodded to him.

“As the Secretary already said, Ladies and Gentlemen,” the Chief of Staff said, “he and I have discussed the bare bones of all three of these planning cases with Admirals Giscard, Tourville, and Foraker. We’re in basic agreement that while none of us wants to go back to war, if we’re forced to, we’ll fight to win. If it comes to Case Red, that means that we’ll go in hard, fast, and dirty.”

“At the same time, as the Secretary also said, there are certain opportunities which our planning must not overlook. Specifically, at this time, it seems fairly evident that the Manties still don’t realize just how much Admiral Foraker has actually accomplished. We’ve seen no evidence that they even suspect the existence of our CLACs, and so far as we’re currently aware, they’re also ignorant of the increases in our system efficiencies Admiral Foraker and her people have managed.

“Even if they become aware of all those factors, however, the building policies they’ve adopted over the past three years give us a substantial—I repeat, a substantial—advantage over them in modern ship types. Our best estimate at NavInt is that even if they realize tomorrow what they’re actually up against, it will take them a minimum of two or even three T-years to regain parity in hulls.”

“Sir,” Vice Admiral Linda Trenis, the director of the Bureau of Plans, said very carefully, “are you suggesting that Case Red is actually likely to be put into effect?”

“No,” Theisman replied for Marquette. Then he grimaced. “Let me rephrase. If, and I say if, it comes to open conflict with the Manties, I consider that Case Red is the war plan which we would be most likely to adopt. Under the circumstances, and especially in light of how close they already are to the Haven system with their advanced elements at Lovat, we simply don’t have the depth to absorb a fresh, major offensive. Admiral Marquette is completely correct about the numerical advantage we currently enjoy over the RMN. Until and unless our hardware is tested against theirs in actual combat, no one can accurately estimate what the actual balance of military power is, although I genuinely believe it’s presently in our favor. But it doesn’t matter if our fleet is stronger than theirs if they manage to break through to Haven and occupy the high orbitals of the capital. And given the astrophysics of our starting positions, they’re one hell of a lot closer to our capital system than we are to theirs.”

“Because of that, if worse comes to worst and we’re forced to resume operations, we must seize the initiative at the very outset and be certain that we retain it throughout. And to do that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is going to require that we go on the offensive and stay there. Which brings us directly to Case Red.”