Transcripts:I4.07
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Panel 1: President Kokato face to mid chest. He's wearing a blue suit with a grey collar and light dress shirt.
Kokato: You have your orders, and I've been told preparations are well under way for the counter-assault.
We were the ones prepared for this war, and we are the ones that outnumber them.
Your "defensive posture" has gained us nothing general.
Panel 2: A white haired general and a gray haired general, each in a light blue uniform with a blue tie and grey shirt. The white haired general is looking more or less towards the gray haired one.
White haired general: With all due respect, Mr. President, it has gained us time...
Gray haired general: The strategy prepared was contingent on the I.D.S. suppressing the family mages...
Without their support, any engagement that is supported by a malsan family mage is going to turn against us, even with numbers.
Panel 3: The back of President Kokato, head and full torso, standing before the two generals with a significant distance between the president and the generals.
Kokato: With their dependency on those mages, their combat infrastructure is pitiful. Any engagement without their support will be a massacre.
Why do you think they rely on the so called "shock-and-awe" of their family mages? Because behind them is nothing.
Gray haired general: But as you say, their combat power is in the family mages. Trading losses does us little good. If we cannot get them off the field, the Malsan combat power does not diminish.
Panel 4: President Kokato in profile view.
Kokato: A handful of mages cannot hold territory. If we attack, they will have to withdraw and regroup on their territory, at which point we can escalate to more destructive methods.
Remember, what the bitch really wants is our industrial infrastructure. There is little chance of them engaging an escalated counter offensive.
Even if they do have the "reported" extra tactical class mage, two or three tactical class mages cannot suppress the conflict, and the I.D.S will have to step in, as we originally planned.
Panel 5: The gray haired general, no background detail.
Gray haired general: Mr. President, if we do not have a method of suppressing the family mages, our losses will be sharply compounded in morale. People's willingness to attack a tactical mage tends to be inverse with their knowledge of what they can do.
The red sky event over malsa may have been a propaganda event, but it was effective. If something like that actually happens on the battlefield now, entire divisions may break and simply desert the field.
Panel 6: President Kokato's face in profile.
Kokato: I have seen things that make me perfectly aware that there are forces at play beyond what we can fully appreciate, but I fail to see how your approach will make us win.
The Malsan Consul has launched a dangerously infectious campaign that we do not have a viable political answer to - we cannot follow their lead in denouncing PACT and the I.D.S., but even small breaches in corporate alignment to our interests will cost our lead in arms development.
We will leverage that arms development advantage today... Let PACT and the I.D.S. see that this battle is not so one-sided, and they will see the opportunity to support us.
Panel 7: The grey haired general, face to just far enough down to see his arms appear to be folded behind his back.
General: I wonder if the I.D.S. will take the reveal of the... special units... so well, Mr. President.
They do not like people developing technology they did not intentionally release.
Unless you mean to tell us that your contacts there are, in fact, responsible for the... developments... there.
Panel 8: President Kokato, face to elbows.
Kokato: You should stay out of the speculation business, General. You are useful to me, but do not think that I am unaware of your... skepticism. If you are unable to execute your duties, you will be replaced.
Leave the politics to me, and I will handle the I.D.S, PACT, and the people.
