Turn 85 - All That Is, Was And Will Be
You receive reports from your observation teams in the Nya Kopenhamn system. Both planets have erupted in outright civil wars, with the current lunatic governments desperately clinging to power against massive, well organized insurrections that your people have
absolutely nothing to do with. Honest, that’s your story and you are sticking to it.
Your forces, however, have been waiting for this opportunity and a number of assault dropships are used to intercept attempts at using WMDs against the rebels. Your forces have orders to avoid anything that could be interpreted as offensive action, purely acting to prevent blatant atrocities.
By all reports the fighting is fierce on both planets, but the issue is still very much in doubt. You do have a pair of Light Brigade Combat Teams on standby in the system, along with a pair of Infantry Divisions. That should be more than enough force to handle both remnant government forces and any overly enthusiastic insurgents.
The relief efforts at GX-J24 are underway. The hunter-gatherers on the completely failed colony world have no real name for the place, they are in such poor condition that you are mildly impressed that there were any survivors at all. Another few months and there likely wouldn’t have been. The very low tech colony is relatively self-sustaining at their Victorian level of technology and are a very Bengali society, calling the system simply Bāṛi, or ‘Home’ in the Bengali language. It’s as good a name as any, you guess.
They aren’t all that bothered either way in regards to the Empire, their own government is pretty much non-existent above the village level. Having completely lost all technology, mostly due to a serious Luddite movement shortly after the initial establishment of the colony itself, followed by a period of massive civil wars which the Luddites technically ‘won’, before accidentally wiping themselves out by going too far into primitivism and dying out to a flu epidemic of all things.
The negotiations with the Space Bourbons are heating up again, with your Foreign Minister reporting that they are threatening to end talks unless they are ‘shown sufficient respect’. What this means is vague, after all they sent an Admiral to do their negotiating and you sent your Foreign Minister. Evidently you are not being sufficiently deferential and showing suitable awe at their ‘power’.
Thanh recommends countering with sending a large naval squadron centered around HMS Morristown carrying several of the new Heavy Brigade Combat Teams to… demonstrate how seriously you are taking them. Have the Warships remain at a discrete distance, land the three Heavy Brigade Combat Teams that you have available, and have them parade past the hotel where the negotiations are taking place on the anniversary of your coronation. If they complain, have the Foreign Minister advise the Space Bourbons that this is merely a celebratory parade meant to honor the anniversary and inquire as to why they haven’t brought along suitable gifts for the occasion.
Leila isn’t completely sold on the proposition, but doesn’t think it’ll hurt all that much to try. The Bourbon negotiators don’t seem to take her very seriously, as far as she can tell because she has boobs rather than balls. Having the heavy and assault mechs and tanks of a few Heavy Brigade Combat Teams march past might well convince them to take her seriously, but there is a risk that they’ll decide to up the aggression level instead.
Considering that your granddaughter and heir is now a Company Commander in the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team that might send a stronger message of… intolerance for their rather sexist behavior. Erin is incredibly enthusiastic about that, although the Sergeant who runs the attached squad of battle armor troops and who is part of the formidable Ngo clan seems more than capable of keeping her from excessive enthusiasm in the field.
Alternatively you can simply hold the course, allowing the Bourbons to, in even such a small way, dictate your reactions is, well, reactive rather than proactive, and you have no intention of rewarding their intransigence. Continue ordinary troop rotations and in general treat the delegation with precisely the level of respect it deserves.
| [] | Action | Failure Chance | On Success | On Failure |
| [] | Send in the Navy | Medium |
- +1 to Friendly Diplomatic Counter
- Makes future actions easier
|
- -1 to Friendly Diplomatic Counter
- Increases Bourbon bellicosity
|
| [] | Hold the Course | Low |
- +1 to Friendly Diplomatic Counter
- +1 to Enemy Diplomatic Counter
|
- +1 to Enemy Diplomatic Counter
- Makes future actions more difficult
|
There’s some surprisingly good news from Okusawa. A coalition of community leaders who’d previously been rather hostile towards the occupation, while not
quite veering into the sorts of activities that would have justified dealing with them harshly has publicly endorsed the Empire as having proven itself to be a ‘worthy’ government. This prompts a flurry of attempted assassinations by the ISF fanatics, but the sheer amateur hour levels of incompetence shown in those attempts is a strong indicator of just how weak the ISF has become. There is hope on the horizon for a resolution to the insurgency on the planet.
Out of a bit of morbid curiosity you check and determine that neither of the not-so-dynamic and really-not-intrepid duo of inadvertent Special Branch catspaws has been involved in any of this, so you guess you’ll get to look forward to more reports of those shenanigans.
For some reason there has been a massive surge in emigration to New Capricorn, the reasons are a bit confusing but apparently there is a massive fad involving bathing in the mud pools present on one of the continents there having ‘significant benefits for youthfulness and beauty’. The cosmetics industry on the planet is absolutely exploding as a consequence, so people are moving there in droves to find work in the industry. You yourself don’t see the point, but both your wife, your surviving daughters, and your sisters are all buying tins of the stuff and smearing it all over their faces. You are told that it is impossible for you to understand because you are a man, which you find just a little insulting but, since you don’t understand, likely true.
