"Right now, they are calm and peaceful, playing by all the rules and talking loudly about healthy competition and international law," said Ms. Scipio. "Which they can do because they are winning the peace. They are targeting our industrial sectors, government contracts and subsidies with legal and low-level greyzone covert activities. They feel safe from retaliation due to their leverage over our transportation networks. Attacking us is currently profitable for them, which means the activity will intensify over time. I do not suggest starting a war of aggression but we need to re-establish deterrence."

She brought up a series of slides - graphs showing corporate security incidents over time, broken down by faction. "As you can see, the incidents have been gradually escalating as they become emboldened. My previous instructions have been to harden our facilities rather than going on the offensive or investing in any sort of credible deterrence force. This approach has not produced results. We are spread too wide and thin to secure everything, and all an offensive costs the Polygon is sending a Johnson to engage a local Cyber Knight, who will pick our most vulnerable facility."

"I have three proposals detailed. Option one is to stay the course as we are, hardening as much as possible with the money we have. This will cost 5MC and, in my view, will not accomplish anything but kicking the can down the road. Option two is to withdraw all our assets from the field into hardened central facilities. This will cost 20MC in lost business, revenue, working from home premiums, and so on, but represents an organized withdrawal rather than a chaotic rout. Option three is a capability building program specifically targeting the Polygon. We would make contact with pirate groups operating out of Florida, reach out to the Yu Jing State Empire, and invest in internal combat assets. This would either force them to quit the field or begin an arms race, and if we do this immediately the show of resolve would communicate clearly that this is not a cycle they want to be locked into. I project they quit the field, though I would not recommend making this full investment for a second year or they will regard it as aggressive intent. This will cost 50MC."

It is very clear which option she favours.