The Art of Interstellar war
Carrying out interstellar warfare is not as simple as it may seem. Aside from the initial orders issued by the Commonwealth.
Initiation
This is issued by the secretary-in-chief of the commonwealth after consultation with the commonwealth assembly. Usually when a crisis is recognised and military intervention is advised. This stage includes both military and non-military options to ensure that every non-lethal option has been exhausted. The order to proceed is passed to the Ministry of Defence and then on to the relevant commands.
The citizen voting system has to be monitored extremely vigilantly during these periods. Not just from corruption and hacking. But also for changes of opinion. The Civil Service has a hard job keeping track of all of this information.
Analysis
At this stage the MOD and the commands may form a consultation committee to analyse the best course of action. This decision will decide what is required, what units to send, what is available, and what the outcome should be. This is then passed to planning.
Planning
The planning stage is carried out by the relevant military command. They have their orders and it is their job to now complete the mission. The mission is passed to the assigned regiments and the starcraft are then set to go.
Operations
The Regiment prepares for launch, Stores are loaded, craft are prepared, final training is completed and the force then departs. Accelerating away from the solar system to the far off world ready to wage war against the insurgents. Continuing to accelerate up to lightspeed communications with the Commonwealth are then lost.
Extrasolar operations are really hard on the troops. They may be away for many years. This is not conducive to a happy family life.
FTL
This is where it can all go wrong!
The regiment is now out of communication with the commonwealth, acting on orders issued and confirmed just a few moments ago. When they arrive at the insurgents system they are still acting on those same orders, years later! The regiment will carry out their assigned mission.
Unfortunately in the time that it has taken for the military force to travel to the operational area negotiations are still continuing, maybe to a peaceful conclusion, maybe not!
To help combat this, Senior military commanders are given great leeway in carrying out their orders. They can decide to not complete their mission or to expedite with extreme efficiency as they see fit.
The peace treaty was signed some three years after we left. Ten years later we arrived back home as the valiant heroes, only to find that we were despised. The civil servants had hung us out to dry!
Copyright RSF