The Jonesboro Conference, the Rockets, and the Empire's First Suspicion (Full Text)

Type: Narrative — Canon History (Full Text) Status: Canon (confirmed by creator) — full text preserved per archival standard

See World War 1: Outbreak, the Great War, and Jonesboro's Entry for the preceding material. This page covers the climactic Jonesboro war conference and the pivotal moment the Empire first begins to suspect Jonesboro possesses hidden, advanced technology — directly connecting to the "seeding program" and "2000 Secret" documented elsewhere in the archive.

The Nighttime Camera Confirmed

In March, Jonesboro ships 150 tanks, 100 riverine craft, 200 new fighter aircraft, and a high-altitude dirigible equipped with cameras capable of nighttime photography — heated objects on the ground appearing as white dots. As Peplle uses the equipment, the cameras perform exactly as claimed, seemingly vindicating Jonesboro's earlier explanation for the suspicious "white dot" anomalies in its reconnaissance photos. That same month, 40,000 volunteer troops from the Empire arrive in Jonesboro for transshipment to the front — their means of transit never explained.

The Threat Confirmed: The Million-Man Army

On May 3, Jonesboro convenes a full EUN military/political leadership summit. Intelligence confirms the million-man "Mountain Cousins" army allied with Ros is mobilizing, converging on the highways into Ros — devastating news that threatens to overwhelm the allies' already-stretched lines.

Day 2: LMT's Innovations and the Submarine Controversy

Jonesboro/LMT presents new long-range artillery (triple current range, double-potency high-explosive shells) — 80 pieces already en route to Vladimery and Peplle, with crews and training included. LMT also proposes reviving submarine technology: a trained force of 20 operatives able to travel undetected into Ros territory to sabotage supply lines, destroy railroad bridges, and neutralize command/ communications centers. Peplle and Vladimery object that this violates the accepted rules of war (submarines should remain naval-only, not covert ground sabotage).

Day 3: Commitment and Controversy

Vladimery and Peplle accept the artillery but table the submarine proposal for further ethical debate. Perold Jones pushes back bluntly: "The million-man army is coming. If we do not act decisively and quickly, this war may be lost before it has even truly begun... Victory is not guaranteed without bold action." The conference concludes with Jonesboro committing an extraordinary total shipment: 800 long-range artillery pieces, 300 advanced aircraft, a dozen high-altitude dirigibles, 100 riverine craft, 400 tanks, and 3,000 trucks for troop/supply/ordnance transport — a commitment that stuns the allied leadership.

The Delayed Army and Perold's Cold Calculus

A week later, the million-man army remains stalled — heavy spring rains and snowmelt have triggered rockslides blocking mountain highways, and wolves, bears, and mountain lions have killed thousands of troops in the field. Jonesboro hints (without confirmation) that elven magic may be involved, suggesting covert elven support for the allies.

An Empire intelligence officer — posing as a minor scribe attached to an Empire general, actually sent to covertly gather intelligence from the allies — overhears Perold Jones speaking in hushed tones: "We can't allow a force that size to enter the field. Half of it maybe, but not 1 million men. How many can we kill without Peplle or Vladimery suspecting anything?" This is the first hint of a plan for covert, deliberate mass destruction of the approaching army — one the officer immediately recognizes Peplle and Vladimery would never openly condone.

The Thousand-Mile Rockets

Another figure in the room proposes a solution: "Rockets... We can reach a thousand miles with our rockets. Give them to Peplle and Vladimery and let them decide how to deploy them... if that force enters the field in the next week or so, as soon as they clear the highways, the war is effectively over — and we have lost!" Perold weighs the moral cost but ultimately agrees: "Send them the rockets... If we don't act now, we may never get another chance."

"Smart Systems" — The Empire's Suspicion Begins

✅ The pivotal moment: the scribe, already stunned by the concept of thousand-mile-range rockets (impossible by any technology he knows, despite the Empire itself having used rockets in warfare for over a thousand years), overhears one final, more chilling exchange:

"Or we could deploy the smart systems. No one will know." "No," says Perold. "Maybe in 40 or 50 years, but not now. Too great a technological leap."

The scribe cannot make sense of "smart systems," but recognizes he has stumbled onto something far larger and more covert than ordinary military strategy — a hidden technological advantage that seems to place Jonesboro decades, if not longer, ahead of any known power, including the Empire itself. Genuinely disturbed — torn between loyalty to his homeland and uncertainty about what he's uncovered — he resolves that this must be reported to his superiors, regardless of the personal risk or consequence.

✅ This is confirmed as the origin point of the Empire's growing suspicion that "Jonesboro is not what it seems" — a suspicion already referenced in earlier archive material and which continues to build toward the Empire eventually discovering fragments of the truth about Jonesboro's off-world origin and hidden technological seeding program.

Appearances

• Creator-provided detail (ChatGPT export, "Continent Topography and Climate" — see RAW SOURCE, conversations-001.json #19)

Open Questions

• What Perold Jones actually meant by "smart systems," and whether this refers to AI, the Jonesboro Computer, or some other seeded technology, is not explicitly clarified in this source but strongly implied to connect to the broader "seeding program" and "2000 Secret" material documented elsewhere in the archive
• The scribe's ultimate fate and what, if anything, the Empire does with this intelligence is not resolved in the extracted portion of this conversation