Tod 5 op 10  A Question of Numbers  (replaces tod1 op 10 Ack-hard)

The Empire has been routed from the Illini Sector.  Their retreating forces have been completely destroyed.  There is no Imperial presence past the Annon sector.  This will be celebrated as a great victory for hundreds of years.  The Illinii, though new to space travel, have now developed sufficient forces to hold their own here.  They have become the forwardmost strong point of the Alliance against the Empire.  All behind us, half the curling tail of the galaxy is free.  The rest of the tail and the head is in Imperial hands.  We have the productive capacities of some 60 free planets and the possibility to expand to perhaps 40 more that are habitable by our various races.  The Empire has many times that number, but 5 times more area to manage.  Plus, many of the planets now under Imperial control would be ours if they had any choice.  Production from those places is somewhat stiltified.  

The Annon sector is empty of any planets or bodies of size.  The Illini feel that they can patrol this area also and use it as a buffer zone now that they have the latest technology.  Now that their sector is safe and they know the value of their production technique, they have allowed us to license the use of the machinery with special coding in it's main chips that will melt it down if the machine is used by the wrong people. They must be periodically updated with an encrypted code or they will go off.  Each machine has a different entry code in the chips.  Each machine can thus be tracked and its output plotted.  With these and other safeguards, their production methods have begun to be distributed with interesting results.

The supplies of war materials and means to ship it have increased ten fold and so quickly that pilots, navigators, laser techs, crew chiefs, radar people, comm people, cooks, and in general all the key people needed to expand the operation are in short supply.  Since supply can now surpass demand, the Illini patent machinery has been coaxed into producing all manner of "luxury" items in remote parts of the galaxy.  Since many of the peaceful planets in our Alliance have been able to restore their agriculture without being ion bombed by the Empire food is not a problem either.  Now that we have won a major victory, and proved to people that we can win, volunteers have increased.  It's just a question of time and numbers.

We will thus leave this sector and the Annon sector to the Illini and the many people behind them.  We will take our attack forces over to the Mansion sector, so called because of the number of planets and rocky moons there.  It is probable that at one time the Annon sector or the one next to it (Skeglik), had a large sun and many planets.  Astronomers have deduced that it collapsed and went nova, scattering its remains to the Illini sector and the Mansion sector, where, met by other gravitational forces they remained.  The sector in front of and next to Mansion is Hersher, where there are many Empire strong points and some weak ones.  Therefore with the Illini, Annon, and Skeglik sectors behind us, we will mount operations from the Mansion sector into the Hersher sector.  We can expect the Empire to do the same in reverse.  Here the distances are not so vast and different tactics will have to be employed.  It will be harder to isolate an Imperial Army and Strike force again like at Illini.

For this reason we are revising the fighter dock concept.  The Illini technique can produce two Corvettes for the price in materials of one freighter.  For this reason we will try using the Corvettes as mobile fighter platforms in the more hazardous forward areas.  We can put six Awing3's in each modified Corvette and provide better crew accomodations overall.  We will put two on each station for a while and see how it goes.  For every three stations or six Corvettes there will be a Frigate and x and ywings and an old freighter fighter dock in the rear in the Skeglik sector.  We have a base there on the few rocks that are large enough to house one.  From here Illini supplies and those made in that base with Illini equipment are brought up to the Mansion sector. It is days away however, and you will rely on your "team" of a Frigate, fighter dock, six Corvettes and fighter compliment.  A considerable force.  You must maintain pressure on their forward areas so massed attacks are not possible on our forward areas.  For this reason we will try to insert a "patrol presence" in their forward areas and disturb their communications, supplies, and prevent the massing of capital ships.  We will project a dozen such teams into their forward areas so this can happen.