The History of FLEET (page 4)
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While the resulting power struggle between the Board and her spy ring was fairly mild, when the dust settled it had illuminated serious deficiencies in the Board's counterintelligence efforts. FLEET ordered an overhaul...and the new generation of Board political pundits wasted no time in nudging their sympathisers out of key posts. The resulting upheaval allowed the Board's ever-chaotic politicians to shine, regaining their former prominence and installing more liberal attitudes. The resulting internal friction was...spectacular, to say the least. Spectacular, and highly nerve-wracking. Co-operation plummeted, infighting peaked, and outright sabotage was not unheard of. Boardies accused FLEET of resorting to scare tactics and intimidation to silence their critics. FLEET responded by very publicly laying the foundations for an invasion of Earth. The Board immediately ordered a bilateral disarmament program. FLEET started running tactical drills right outside the Funky Horror. Boardies started arranging public humiliation of major FLEET officers. And so on, ad infinitum...
 It ironically took the Green family's next powerplay to break this highly dangerous deadlock. Whether she knew of the infighting is unknown, but Hazel Green's polite offer to assist with the construction of Nemo Base provided a target to both sides of the argument that, handily, wasn't each other. The resulting wave of internal security sweeps was amusing, if one was a paranoid maniac, but crucially they allowed all involved to find other outlets for their anger over the dispute - the long-suffering FLEET Intelligence and Board Internal Security Bureau. Given the backlash, it was no surprise High Command okay'd the project over their objections. FLEET in turn responded by quietly funnelling more resources into their intelligence effort and tightening their security, creating their current clearance-obsessed public image in the process. By now, the friction has cooled somewhat, becoming more of an internal rivalry as each organisation seeks to outdo the other. More and more areas of operation are becoming joint commands as FLEET engineers learn how to deal with Board weirdness, and vice versa. While many oldbies still eye them with alarm, their views are increasingly dismissed as extremist. FLEET's ranks continue to swell, alongside their resources as more and Boardies are trained in FLEET methods and tactics aboard FLEET assets. In the meanwhile, the rising darkness continues to rise, with hotspots and occult activity growing steadily, stretching both forces thin and making the Admirals' visages grimmer and grimmer. If they ever did plan to invade, then now would most certainly be the time...and yet the button hasn't been pressed yet. It remains to be seen how long their patience will hold. |