Turn 56 - The Swords Collide
Operation Llama Battle Report
- Enemy Forces Reported
- Combat Dropships
- 400+ Avenger
- 200+ Union CV
- 200+ Leopard CV
- ASF Forces
- Over 1k ASFs, primarily Sabres
- Non-Combat Dropships
- Fixed Orbital Defenses
- Engagement report
- Enemy declined to engage at jump point
- They did mass their forces, but communicated that so long as we refrained from attacking their Jumpships at the Jump point they would remain on the defensive.
- Due to force disparity it was decided to refrain from attacking Drac Jumpships
Kuroisara System Report
- 9 occupied orbits
- Inner most world is a dwarf planet barely above the minimum radii to maintain spherical shape
- Orbit 2 is a jungle world with orbital infrastructure and evidence of light inhabitation
- Orbit 3 is a breadbasket world, signs of very heavy shipping activity
- Orbit 4 is a massively industrialized planet slightly larger than Griffin’s Roost
- 2 Jumpship slip orbital shipyard is in orbit
- Orbit 5 is a very dense and evidently heavily mined asteroid belt
- Orbit 6 through 9 are all small gas giants that are very unremarkable
The Drac commander of the system identified herself as Gunji-no-Kanrei Siriwan Kurita. She seemed quite young for her rank, but in the recordings you have of her she was unfailingly polite, yet appeared completely at ease with her rank. The maneuvering of the defense forces was far more competent than anything you had seen out of the Drac aerospace forces since you had last faced then Tai-Sa Gustavson prior to his rebellion.
She also seems to lack the common arrogance that you were used to, her tone in advising your force commander of her intentions should he engage the jumpships was matter of fact and polite, with no threats or bluster, just a simple statement of intention and a desire that there would be ‘no need for conflict in this small matter’. She had even sent a message to you via your force CO that she would much prefer to meet with you over tea, but is quite willing to meet you with a sword if circumstances required, although she would regret the necessity.
Gunji-no-Kanrei… this is the Heir to the current Coordinator…
For some reason
SARAH advises avoiding all forms of seafood if you ever happen to meet with her.
You do receive an urgent communique from the NRI. The rebellion on Tarentum is becoming even more severe, with the rebels currently holding almost half of the population centers on the planet. The rebels have multiple regiments worth of light Battlemechs, which have proven to be quite effective at handling the battle armored infantry and tanks of the NRI.
They are practically begging you for direct military aide on the ground.
Jeremy and the AFGE Ground Forces staff propose dispatching the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Armored Division and 4th Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division to Tarentum to engage the rebel forces. The old War God look is back on his face with this, since he is proposing to send his eldest son into the fire here. You can sympathize, you are sure you looked like that when you first dispatched Jeremy into battle a few years back.
| [] | Approve |
- 3rd/1st AD and 4th/1st ID are dispatched to the NRI
- Massive boost in relations with NRI
|
| [] | Deny |
- Massive drop in relations with NRI
|
And then it is budget time. You don’t have the heart to make any stale jokes about it this year.
General Stewart starts things off as usual. “Your Majesty, we still have bottlenecks with Endo Steel and Ferro Fibrous production, as well as raw Battlemech and ASF production. If we wish to maximize growth and build up our forces to the point where we can engage in landing operations on Drac targets in the near future we will need to ensure that we continue to grow in these areas. We recommend continuing to expand our factories on Griffon IV, as well as build new Mech and ASF lines there.”
Jeremy then takes the podium, he’s managed to shed the War God look again, which speaks well of his therapists. “Your Majesty, for Ground Forces procurement we have the following requests. I will note that our expansion of the 1st Infantry Division is hampered by a lack of Ferro Fibrous production, which really needs to be expanded as rapidly as possible.” he brings up a graphic showing the proposed procurement.
- Mech Forces
- 2 Standard Mech Regiments
- 1 Pathfinder Regiment
- Conventional Forces
He also shows a graphic illustrating how the lack of Ferro Fibrous production is impacting conventional force procurement.
The gap between just how many tanks and such you
could be building and how few you actually are due to shortages in strategic materials that had been long neglected in favor of aerospace materials is… sobering.
General Reyes then comes up... With her powerpoints.
“Your Majesty, while we have no carriers commissioning this year requiring new ASF groups, we do have on the horizon four
Silver Towers which will each require 3 wings. We therefore recommend procuring 3 Carrier Wings this year, so as to get on top of the requirements and not overload our strategic material stockpiles.”
Well, that was quick at least.
Admiral Benjamin is next, with his flip chart and two aides this time, both looking young enough to be fresh from the Aerie. “Your Majesty, I’ll keep it short and simple as well. We have 17 Large and 1 regular dropship slip available for new production, and here is what we in Your Illustrious Navy… Minion One?” the youngster on the left flips the page of the chart. “Desire to have produced… Minion Two?” The second youngster blows a bosun's pipe.
- Large Dropships (17)
- 7 Majestic-class
- 10 Shannon-class
- Regular Dropship (1)
“In an effort to keep the commandant of the Aerie from stabbing me in my sleep, we will not be requesting any PPG-01’s this year.”
General Stewart simply nods as Admiral Benjamin sits down, looking down the conference table to you, “That is all from us, Your Majesty.”
Bridget is more subdued than normal. “Your Majesty, we are prepared to assist in boosting our strategic production, as well as both Mech and ASF production, upon your command. I promise that my people are chomping at the bit, the debriefings from the rescued slaves from the Dracs has been… very motivational.”
Isoroku arrives late, having been in meetings with the NRR and NRI ambassadors. “Your Majesty, I have nothing specific at the moment, but I think I have the ambassadors from both the NRI and NRR ready to start discussing a joint military command structure for the prosecution of the war against the Dracs, but this will be contingent on how the revolt in NRI space plays out.”
He pauses “Oh, and my Cultural Affairs team would like to run a general cultural festival as a way of welcoming our latest refugees.”
Jake looks as grim as you’ve ever seen him. “I don’t have anything directly applicable to the war effort, Your Majesty, but on the expansion and growth front we are in a position to setup outreach centers from various Griffon institutions on Calliope IV. This would allow us to accelerate the process of bringing them on board with us, as well as making them more capable once they are rowing beside us.”
Mary is next, looking somewhat frazzled from how busy she is. “Your Majesty, going to stick with the theme of keeping things simple. We have two recommendations, Electronics and Materials research.”
Neither Harry nor Janet are present for the meeting, being busy implementing projects that began last year.
