Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

Turn 102 - GrandPappy Told My Pappy

You read the executive summaries of the test reports concerning the Hosho light carrier paired with the new Wright dockable platforms with the newly developed Fleet Defense Wing formations. The general verdict is highly positive, in simulations the combination is extremely capable against the ASF swarm tactics commonly used by the Black Steel. It is hardly a perfect defense, as the Black Steel units will almost always outnumber the Fleet Defense Wings, but it is more efficient than previous tactics.

It is noted that while this is a partial solution to the drone ASF problem, it only exacerbates the drone dropship problem. The main issue is a lack of collars on fleet units. Analysts are requesting a supplemental heavy cruiser design built on a similar paradigm to the Potemkin as effectively a dropship carrier. There’s a note from Admiral Fisher that they’ve been studying just such a proposal, but it is far from ready for construction.

The Pan-Griffon Games are going extremely well, and your daughter continues to have the time of her life as the official hostess of the event. She’s gotten much better at remembering her lines, but her sheer enthusiasm and joy is infectious. The crowd response to her is exceptionally positive, and she has thrown herself into the role with wild abandon.

Of course the family raptor pack is getting in on the fun, and at the Decathlon medal ceremony decided that they, not your daughter, were to give the concluding speech and proceeded to chirrup, churr, and look incredibly pleased with themselves while she stifled giggles behind them. The fact that they somehow managed to get raptor-sized top hats and monocles? You had nothing whatsoever to do with that.

Of course this inspired the two griffkittens, Wadjet and Tefnut, to try to top the dinosauroid pests in the swimming ceremony. The fact that they were wearing full griffkitten tuxedos complete with honest to god stovepipe hats and enormous fake mustaches… and then gave the relevant speech in amazingly snooty accents in a devastating imitation of the mannerisms of the Duc de Nouvelle Picardie… You have to concede that the cats won that round.

Speaking of Nouvelle Picardie, the task force that has been formed to handle the situation there has assembled in Nouvelle Paris and will be jumping into the Nouveau Picardie system in several weeks.

There’s a very interesting situation here in Griffsport. It’s long been well known that the only reason that Rexes are able to be contained in their enclosure at the Griffsport Imperial Zoo is that they quite like it and enjoy the attention. However everybody knows that they are more than intelligent enough, not to mention strong enough, to defeat any reasonable measures confining them to the enclosure.

A truly stupendously stupid and malevolent idiot learned this the hard way when he decided that a remote viewing area of the Rex habitat was the perfect place to abduct a young schoolgirl and, figuring that nobody was close enough to hear or see what he was doing, attempt to rape the poor girl. Only to find himself being plucked off of her by a rather irate momma Rex, deposited inside the enclosure, roared at, inspiring the idiot to take off running, only for the other Rex in the enclosure to give chase, keeping just barely behind him and roaring every so often whenever the moron slowed down. They kept this up until the zoo police showed up and arrested the numbskull. Momma Rex meanwhile kept the girl company until her own parents, along with responding law enforcement, arrived, and when they did they were treated to the sight of the girl riding around on the back of the Rex like a big giant pony.

The idiot is going on trial in a week. Public sentiment towards the Rexes is universally positive, with nobody seeming all that bothered by this demonstration of the fact that the giant dinosauroid predators were not at all contained.

The Imperial Parliament is debating a measure related to military upkeep expenditures. A proposal has been tabled which would further streamline military logistics by applying the latest in computerized inventory tracking and management systems. The current logistics system was state of the art… two decades ago. While only marginal improvements in the overall cost of maintaining a military force are expected, even marginal decreases in expenses are, in the words of the sponsoring Senator, ‘a great deal of real money’.

Initial setup costs might be a bit high, but within 2 years the improvements would more than pay for themselves. If applied to the current year's maintenance and upkeep budget, the improvements would save over $8 billion. Like the Senator said… real money. And as the military continues to grow, the savings will grow as well.

Some media types have made big claims and tried to make hay over the fact that the company which developed the proposed systems is listed on the Griffon stock exchange, with the entirety of the Senate and Chamber of Delegates owning stock. Others have pointed out, quite dryly, that this is due to the fact that the blind index fund that all members of Parliament are part of holds stock in literally every single company listed on every single stock exchange in the Empire, specifically one share in each company per current member of Parliament. Said share is purchased the day that a new member is seated OR a new company is listed, and sold the day that they are no longer in Parliament, with any aggregate profit forming the basis for their retirement payout. They also, quite dryly, note that this is the only investment that sitting members of the Imperial Parliament are allowed to hold while they are in office precisely to preclude even the appearance of insider trading.

The repressed frustration on the face of the media idiots over that self-own is glorious to behold, in your opinion.

You read the ‘argument against’ statement and make a note to go hunt down the chief designer of Majeure Electrique and toss her out the Window of Defenestration a few times on general principle.