"Can you give me the highlights?" Long Caster asked, trying to blink away his exhaustion.
"Yes, sir," Bradford sighed. "You have to take Waltz Squadron off the rotation. Nine Lives is heading down a really dark path, and frankly I'm worried that we might have to take away his access to belts and knives," Bradford said, eyes unfocused.
Long Caster sharply inhaled. "That bad?"
Ooohhhkaaay.
Looking at the list, though, it's a guy from
Rigel who's falling apart, not
Waltz. Is this IC evidence of Bradford starting to lose the plot?
Bradford nodded, and continued. "You have to cut some of the Logistics Division workload down. They're about an inch from collectively keeling over dead at their station or totally burning out, and we'll be screwed if they do either. Tell them "no" on a couple of their pet projects, refund some governments, whatever, just tell them to take it easy because otherwise we'll really be screwed in about a week.
OK. We have to figure out a way to do that... somehow.
Just to clarify,
@huhYeahGoodPoint , ordering fewer
kinds of things is less stressful, and turning back IC to member nations is less stressful? Is there anything else we can do to lower workload?
Likewise, HR. Adam's a good kid, but he's way in over his head. Give him some time and stop asking for the whole galaxy and he'll grow into the role just fine," Bradford said, almost physically deflating.
. Hm. Maybe we can tell him to take the ALL CAPS out of HIRE EVERYONE into merely 'hire everyone?' We still need pretty much every kind of personnel, but we can just have them... not work 100-hour weeks and instead work 60-hour weeks?
OK...
Razgriz- pretty much at peak performance though the oldsters are starting to slow down a bit.
Mobius- Mobius One is at peak performance, the others are 'ready.'
Pixy- peak performance and insane.
Molniya One- she will literally die within minutes if she pulls more than, oh, 1.5g, but aside from that is surprisingly okie-dokie.
Waltz Squadron- Waltz 2 is 'capable,' Azdaha 1 and 2 are 'capable' and 'ready' respectively... and there are only three planes so they don't default to deployment in our doctrine. If we could tack one more plane onto them we'd have something pretty functional, actually.
Rigel 1(?), "Nine Lives," is about to shatter. The squadron collectively is 'spent.' Rigel 2 is 'Spent,' and the others are 'Capable.'
Druid Squadron is 'Recovering.' Looks like they haven't got their F-14X's yet and are still flying Super Hornets.
Strider Squadron is "Ready," with Strider at peak and, uh... we can't seem to evaluate the others on leave.
Waltz 1 is still out of commission.
Cyclops Squadron over at Fort Grey is 'Weary,' with Skald down to 'Dregs.'
Bard Squadron, also at Fort Grey, is 'Weary.' And still in F-16s. We probably shouldn't sortie them; the reduced performance and weak planes mean they're disproportionately likely to get shot down.
Salamander Flight is 'Ready' but with only two planes. Maybe we should combine them with Waltz for now, rotate Rigel out of the line
...
Vahlen's 40 scientists are 'Ready,' but on joint assignment with XCOM OSEA working on sectoid biology. Vahlen is working 120-hour weeks, but apparently the invisitext says not to worry, she's got her mad science freakout on?
Burns' 40 scientists are 'Ready,' and Burns himself is working 60-hour weeks, which frankly is sustainable for now. Audrey Jones is working with that same team on the gunship analysis, and her stress levels are barely ticking over as far as I can tell.
...
Jasper Rhodes' analysts are grumpy, and he's working moderately hard. Georgie is working 70-hour weeks and seems to be under a LOT of stress... Angus Irwin seems quite relaxed.
...
Shen's 30 engineers are backfilling documentation and 'Ready.' Shen works 80-hour weeks and is apparently fiiiine.
The Stonehenge group of 30 (with XCOM ANEA help, with Scrap Queen and McGuinness in charge) seem 'ready' or fine. I THINK McGuinness is OK?
...
In logistics, industrial management division is 'ragged,' and aircraft procurement division is 'flagging.' The base defense team is also ragged. Daniel Snow is working 120 hours a week and probably going to fall apart.
Khatuna is "swamped" as is HR... we need to tell him to just
slow down. A lower hiring rate might help.
The World In Motion
"I ask you, noble Selatapurans, is this any way to treat your starving neighbor, whose great crime it was to be born a few miles in the wrong direction? Was this the outcome you wished for when you voted in your council members, that they might shun your families and friends? Is this not the 'safe harbor for mankind' that you so emblazon on the way to the Lighthouse?
"If you find this even the least bit displeased that the government borrows your voice to fight for something you dno't believe in, join me in helping to tell these councillors exactly how mad we are. Thank you, and may the sea of the future remain ever calm!"
Hm. Not sure what this signifies for us in the future. Obviously government upheaval. But who's the one talking?
⎅⍜⋔⟒⌇⏁⟟☊⏃⏁⟟⍜⋏⟟⋏⌿⍀⍜☌⍀⟒⌇⌇
DARK EVENT: BELKAN DEFECTION
As of 0500 Osean Standard Time, the Principality of Belka has formally announced that they are collaborating with the alien visitors, who they declare to be a force for the weak and low, to lay waste to those who are strong and arrogant, the Belkan speaker claimed. They are friends, willing to offer aid to those most in need, so the Belkans claim. In fact, the Belkans claim, they will help set right previous wrongs, wrongs inflicted by the tyrannical Eastern Osean nations and most of all, the Osean Federation. Pursuant to this, unless the joint nations repatriate stolen land and agree to pay reparations for past wrongs, Belka will collect damages, with the help of their allied aliens.
They have set a deadline of Febraury 14th.
The stage is set for a Bloody Valentine.
⎅⍜⋔⟒⌇⏁⟟☊⏃⏁⟟⍜⋏⟟⋏⌿⍀⍜☌⍀⟒⌇⌇
Well shit.
Hmm. Can anyone recall what the situation regarding Usea and Erusea is? X-COM Osea may desperately need our support soon. We have a week to get ready.
Can we invade Belka, just like in that one modern world war story where the UN invades neutral Lesotho
The problem is that Belka ain't Lesotho. They have some considerable weapons manufacturing capability... and the aliens will be basing out of their territory. Not good. Not good at all.
