A Castle Federation station is supposed to have one remaining squadron of Badger fighters awaiting removal. An investigation instead finds four squadrons, even though only two should still exist in service across the entire Federation. Newer fighters have been sold off and replaced with old Badgers while the records conceal the substitution. The fictional example shows how a force can retain apparently adequate numbers while losing the equipment it was funded to operate. The investigation also links the fighter-substitution scheme to a person implicated in a sexual assault.
Notable Point · 2:46:22-2:48:07
Extra obsolete fighters expose a fictional procurement fraud
An impossible number of obsolete Badger squadrons reveals that newer fighters have been sold and secretly replaced, separating recorded force strength from actual capability.