The Inquiry into Harvest 137

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There is no sex in this story, sorry about that.

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In a galaxy far, far... No, forget that. Actually it is the our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and in the not too distant future...relativity speaking .

Location: Hearing Room 4, Parliament Building, Capital City, Designated home Planet of the Trisystem Consortium.

Sergeant at Arms: "Attention, Attention, The Parliamentary committee on Security Affairs Inquiry into the Military Operation known as Harvest 137 is now in session; Lord Representative Tarnglay presiding. Those summoned to give testimony are reminded that they are bound to testify honestly and face charges of perjury and treason should they knowingly give false statements or withhold information.

Lord Tarnglay: "Thank you Sergeant at Arms. Let the record show that the other members of this Board of Inquiry are Lord Representative Lockraw, Representative AAgar, Representative Joniw and Representative Fghar. Testifying will be Vice Marshal Miklak, Supreme Commander of Consortium Forces in operations Harvest 137. "

"Vice Marshal I will remind you because this Board of Inquiry has no power to impose criminal or civil penalties you are not entitled to legal representation, however you should know that your testimony here as well as the recommendation of this board can weigh heavily in whatever action your military superiors may choose to take. You also may not make any statement not related directly to the questions of the board members. Lord Lockraw you may start the questioning"

Lord Lockraw: "Thank you Lord Tarnglay. I would first like to thank the Vice Marshal for his years of service to the Consortium. Vice Marshal Miklak perhaps refresh our memories of the purpose of operation Harvest 137.

Vice Marshal Miklak: "Yes sir, Harvest 137 was a standard colonization operation of a planet system for the purpose of accessing resources. Only one of the planets in the system had any sort of intelligent life with only D level civilization and technology. They were capable of only the crudest level of space flight confined to their own solar system for the most part."

Lord Lockraw: "How many such operations had you participated and lead during your career."

Vice Marshal Miklak: "I have participated in 6 such operations and have been privileged to command another 6. I might add that up until Harvest 137 they were all successful"

Lord Lockraw: "Was there anything in the intelligence reports to indicate that harvest 137 would be more difficult than your other operations."

Vice Marshal Miklak: "No sir. The intelligence reports indicated that besides their low level of technology they were a highly fragmented dysfunctional society with little global level cooperation."

Representative Fghar: "Then what went wrong? At the cost of trillions in credits and equipment plus hundreds of thousands of casualties this operation ended in what can only be termed as a defeat no matter how you, the administration and the military council and its supporters try to frame it. We were not only forced to leave the planet but the whole system in exchange for our POWs."

Vice Marshal Miklak: "While I disagree with the honorable representative's characterization of how the operation ended the problem was that our intelligence was incomplete on the planet and left out some important factors that had we known in advance we would have been better prepared."

Lord Tarnglay: "I would like at this time to remind Representative Fghar and other members that the purpose of this inquiry is not to engage in political rhetoric. Board members are to confine their questions and statements to relative matters not to try and score political points "

Representative AAgar: "If I may go next Lord Tarnglay; Vice Marshal what is it that was left out of the intelligence reports; are you blaming this on a intelligence failure?"

Vice Marshal Miklak: "The intelligence report was incomplete. Because of the low level of their technology and the fragmentation of their societies we underestimate them."

Representative Joniw: "Vice Marshal we spend a not inconsiderable amount of the taxpayer's earnings on intelligence gathering how did it go wrong."

Vice Marshal Miklak: The intelligence was good as far as it went. In fact in terms of their technological level, economics and resources it was almost 100%. Where it fell short was cultural and societal. We just assumed that they would be over awed by our technological superiority and quickly surrender."

Representative AAgar: "And that did not happen, why?"

Vice Marshal Miklak: "Well a small portion did, also there is a "Peace at any price" contingent in almost every society but after we started our colonization effort we found they were in the minority. In fact we were surprised at the extent they would go to in fighting back. We never expected them to use their weapons of mass destruction on their own population centers that we had occupied, as they did on four occasions. "

Representative Fghar: "How is it you were unable to defend against that? Our defense systems should have provided adequate protection or should have for what we spent on them"

Vice Marshal Miklak: "Those systems worked as designed. Not a single enemy missile or manned aerial vehicle managed to penetrate our defenses systems. Instead we suspect that the nuclear devices they used we delivered by their special operations teams on foot or in civilian vehicles. They infiltrated into the large urban areas by mingling with local populace. Because of the large civilian populations we were unable to seal off these areas 100%. Across the board their skills as insurgents was stunning

Lord Tarnglay: "Facing such fierce resistance why did you not change tactics?"

Vice Marshal Miklak: "We did try. We attempted to switch from an open invasion to a liberation type campaign. We tried to exploit their cultural and societal divisions by trying to align with one group against another. That failed also because for most of them it was obvious we were not there as liberators and as much as they distrusted each other they hated us more. The groups we did manage to sway toward our side were too small in number to make a difference."

Representative Lockraw: "In your opinion, what made this planet so different?"

Vice Marshal Miklak: "In other operations the inhabitants were much less diverse we were able to develop a single cohesive strategy and apply the appropriate tactics. This planet's population is so diverse that we faced no single military doctrine and only a loosely unified command. They only cooperated with each other out of absolute necessity. The result was an unintentional but beneficial high degree of compartmentalization. The defeat of one group did not compromise any of the others to the same extent it would have had they been less diverse and more unified. Because of our lack of resources we could not launch offensives to take them all out at once. When we launched an offensive against one group the others were quick to seize the opportunity to move against us."

Representative Fghar: "Why is it, Vice Marshal, that the security forces are always so quick to blame a lack of resources for their failure? I suggest that it was not a resource failure but a command failure. The forces at your disposal were in many ways more numerous that used in operations against similar opponents."

Vice Marshal Miklak: "With respects Representative but the enemy faced was similar only in population size and technology but as already stated they are more widely diverse than any opponents we faced before. They used no single doctrine, some had no doctrine at all and other s felt no reason to follow their military doctrine so as make one wonder why they bothered creating one. Only a portion of the forces we faced followed a rigid doctrine and while we were more successful against they seem not to notice the hardship, it was as if they were used to it, resigned to the suffering."

Representative Joniw: "So you faced a warrior culture"

Vice Marshall Miklak: "Well.... yes and no, some warrior cultures did exist but they were never many of them. The whole planet is a contradiction. Their historical records show much praising of peace and deploring war and violence yet that same record shows they will go to war with each other over almost anything at the drop of a hat. Countries that had gone to war with each two are more times end up being strong allies, even friends but at the same time others maintain hostilities over issues that are centuries old, dividing along family, tribal and religious lines. We faced an enemy where segments of the population engaged in suicide attacks or even armed children in the fight against us. Their one quasi world governmental body engaged in what they called peace keeping operations with military force but never really established any peace. In reality they collectively embrace war they just do not want to admit it to themselves. One option would be destroying the planet but the GAX444 Accords prohibit planetary destruction unless the home planets face a similar threat."

Lord Tarnglay: "It is time to wrap it up. Vice Marshal if you could sum up please what you think the biggest mistake was and how best we could avoid repeating it."

Vice Marshall Miklak: "Yes sir, we failed to research this planets history more thoroughly. We relied too much on just knowing about their economic and technological levels. I think had we known more about their history, cultures and societies we probably would have decided to just leave them alone. But hind sight is 20-20."

Lord Tarnglay: "Thank you Vice Marshall, I also want to thank my fellow board members for their time. We will reconvene tomorrow after to the morning parliamentary session to draft our finding and recommendations. This inquiry is adjourned."

Vice Marshal Miklak exited the hearing room and found his Executive Commander, Commander Trkeik, waiting for him.

Commander Trkeik: "So, how did it go?"

Vice marshal Miklak:"Not as bad as I expected. Except for Fghar, the civil authorities, like the High Command, are trying to make this go away quietly. I would not expect a courts martial or even a disciplinary hearing."

Commander Trkeik: Well we have already been punished haven't we? You have been reassigned to the Supreme Command's office in charge of protocol and ceremonies while I have been made commander of the scrap and salvage yard. Our careers are over and we are both being encouraged to quietly retire in a year.

Vice Marshal Miklak: "I am afraid that even with our forced retirement this incident is not going to quietly disappear. I fear that years from now this whole thing is going to come back to bite us in the ass. By us I mean the whole Consortium.

Commander Trkeik: "What do you mean? We sustained a lot of casualties but the Security Forces were not measureable weakened by the operation. We are still more than a match for any of our competitors.

Commander Miklak: "Remember all those old archives we read about them and their attempts to contact life on other planets by broadcasting signals into space? There was a debate among them that maybe they were making a mistake in letting other life know where they were.

Commander Trkeik: "Well they were right. That is what put them on our survey charts"

Commander Miklak: "Actually the mistake was ours. We let them know we are out here. Think about it, a whole planet that really lives for war and holds a grudge forever. When we evacuated the system we left a lot of technology behind on top of what they captured from us. They are going to become a threat far faster than anybody thinks. "

Commander Trkeik: "You are probably right but why don't we warn the Supreme Command or the Parliamentary council?"

Vice Marshal Miklak: "Already tried. They refuse to accept that a Class D system would be a threat anytime soon. Plus you and I are the disgraced leaders of a failed military operation. Nobody is going to listen to us. However you can rest assured we will hear back from them sooner than later. When Earth comes they will not come in peace."