The Olympics are being hosted in the Okusawa system this year and you are actually able to clear your calendar enough to attend in person, rather than having to send a representative.
The year starts with some excellent news as well. Economic prospects in the Steel March rose significantly thanks to a series of major investments by various manufacturing companies in building new factories in the region. In addition a local manufacturer has released a new line of dropshuttles optimized for the corporate market, with enhanced communications equipment as well as very luxurious interior spaces for such small craft. Sales are booming.
Combat operations against the pirates have concluded, generally successfully. While your forces weren’t able to save all of the hostages they did manage to rescue the majority. The pirates themselves proved unwilling to surrender, perhaps believing that it was better to die on their own terms rather than get spaced or hanged. Several of the minor polities in that region of the Fringe are very grateful to you for rescuing their citizens, earning you some excellent PR and goodwill.
Unfortunately none of the systems involved are wealthy enough to sustain any sort of trade route, thus goodwill is about all that you get from the entire exercise. Along with some valuable combat experience for your ground troops. The former pirate base is being repurposed as a forward supply depot for your patrols under the joint ownership of the local polities.
Prior to the Opening Ceremony you have some private meetings with representatives of the NRI, the NRR and Kilburrough.
The NRI is requesting a formal agreement from the Empire that the region of space south of their current borders, running roughly from the 30 to the 40 line on your charts, is reserved to the NRI for expansion purposes. In exchange they are willing to increase their commitment to your joint defense operations as well as lower a number of remaining trade barriers.
| [] | Action | Result |
| [] | Agree to the NRI Proposal |
- Roughly doubles chance of NRI presence during Black Steel raid events, reducing your casualties
- Reserves the region directly south of the current NRI borders for NRI growth
- Improves relations with the NRI
|
| [] | Refuse the NRI Proposal |
- Severely harms relations with the NRI
|
The NRR is requesting something similar, only involving the region to their own south. Their region of concern is somewhat narrower than the NRI’s, being from the 21 to the 29 line. They are offering to commit their new
Sleipnir-class cruisers to joint defense operations on top of their current commitment of aerospace fighter assets. You check the intelligence reports and the
Sleipnirs are really more of a frigate than a cruiser, massing as much as one of your destroyers but optimized for close range slugfests. The design actually has more armor than some of your ships twice the mass, but is painfully slow and relatively weakly armed. You can already hear Admiral Fisher growling about all of the ‘obvious’ design flaws, but this is, according to reports, the first indigenous compact-core warship developed by the NRR.
| [] | Action | Result |
| [] | Agree to the NRR Proposal |
- Adds a chance for a number of NRR warships to be present for Black Steel raids on top of their commitment of ASFs.
- Reserves the region directly south of the current NRR borders for NRR growth
- Improves relations with the NRR
|
| [] | Refuse the NRR Proposal |
- Severely harms relations with the NRR
|
Kilburrough, meanwhile, is requesting your permission to open up trade negotiations with the Fringe. They are offering to have all such trade be carried by Imperial hulls and fully subject to Imperial regulations and inspections to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. In the many decades that the Griffon Empire has been doing business with Kilburrough there has not been a single instance of them abusing any of the regulations or rules you’d put in place, and your bioethics experts all agree that Kilburroughan standards in that area are at least as high as your own, which is to be expected since your bioethics code is broadly based on Kilburroughan practice in the first place.
| [] | Action | Result |
| [] | Agree to Kilburrough proposal |
- Improves relations with Kilburrough
|
| [] | Reject Kilburrough proposal |
- Harms relations with Kilburrough
|
With the diplomatic meetings out of the way, it is time for the Opening Ceremonies. Okusawa went all out on them this year with a magnificent celebration of the history of the Griffon Empire told in a somewhat fantastic abstract manner through music and dance. You find yourself dancing along to songs from your own youth, much to your grandkids embarrassment. It’s as if the kids cannot imagine grandma knowing how to do the bangbang. You don’t care, you are having fun along with millions of your subjects and you have no need to stand on dignity. The Griffon royal family has always been a ‘popular’ royalty, not at all stuck up.
Your grandkids are definitely getting embarrassed when the couples dances start and you and Markus proceed to ‘get down with it’ with all the enthusiasm of your younger days. The scandalized cries of ‘Grandma!’ warms the cockles of your heart.
The entire crowd continues dancing throughout the ‘ceremony’, which quickly resembles a massive block party more than any sort of formal event. Granted, they do manage to get all the ‘formal’ stuff done, but the focus is clearly on the music, the vibes, and the fun times.
You are completely exhausted by the time it’s all over. You are no longer a teenager with endless reserves of energy after all. But it was an amazing fun time.
