Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

Jarow

Well-known member
This is probably too late for this turn, but plan makers and voters: Research is very overstressed, we need to be using all three actions every turn. If we need to save money there's some cheaper things, but this project will be getting us out of the budget shortfall we've been in all quest so far, to a ridiculous degree (we're looking at over 8k income by turn 9, without anything added on from events).

Also, we're going to need to complete all the actions for the main project before we can get the massive project completion; getting the Triton thing like advised would be far smarter than ignoring it so we pay next turn instead.
 

LordSunhawk

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Inserted tally
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Important Update on Plan Formatting and the Tally Program

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
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Administrator
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IMPORTANT NOTE FROM QM

We have found out why the tally program was glitching! From now on, when you are setting up a plan use the following format.

[] Plan: Plan Name
-[] Category
--[] Item

And when voting use the Plan: Plan Name format.
 
Turn 5 - Results and INTERLUDE

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 5 Results

Economic Roll - 5 degrees of success = 17%
Health Roll - 4 degree of success = 4% Pop growth rate
Stability Change roll - 5 degrees of success

Stability Rolls

-Political - 0
--Result -

-Research - 4
--Result - no events rolled

-Economic - 3
--Result = +2% GDP

Meta Event Roll - 54 - no event
Dynasty Luck Roll - 11 - secondary roll - 3

Crown Influence Roll - 3 - SUCCESS - 1000 windfall
Lords Influence Roll - 1 - FAILURE
Commons Influence Roll - 4 - no roll

Build 4 flights of Falcon ASF
Target = 60
Roll = 67
Result = Bare FAILURE - Auto succeeds next turn - due to CRITICAL SUCCESS on Exoskeletons going to spill this over to a success

Upgrade Existing Port
Target = 85
Roll = 49
Result = SUCCESS

Improved Industrial Exoskeletons lvl 2
Target = 60
Roll = 1
Result = CRITICAL SUCCESS

Interrogate POWs
Result = auto succeeds this turn

Public Assistance for Rebuilding
Target = 105
Roll = 32
Result = SUCCESS

Upgrade Power Infrastructure
Target = 100
Roll = 27
Result = SUCCESS

Reorganize Government (Constitutional Monarchy)
Target = 105
Roll = 1
Result = CRITICAL SUCCESS

Rebuild Labs
Target = 115
Roll = 24
Result = SUCCESS


-----

Barely a week had passed since the planning sessions when a visibly agitated Juanita Bailey almost fell into the seat across your desk looking like she’d seen a ghost.

“We have a bigger ‘pirate’ problem than we thought.” she says without preamble, then pulls a flask out of her pocket to take a drink, before holding it out for you. “In that they aren’t. Pirates.”

She takes a deep breath. “They never went rogue, we finally broke their second-in-command and he’s talking. It’s called Operation: Bakkusutabu. The ISF ‘disappeared’ a number of DCMS units and sent them on a long mission to establish a base in this region, with the intention of eventually striking the Federated Suns from ‘behind’.”

You accept that drink at this point. “The unit themselves were drawn from the Amphigean Light Assault Group, supposedly deserters and traitors but fully under the control of the ISF for this mission.”

She looks at you. “They’ll be back at some point, with more forces. We need to be ready.”

[] Write-in

INTERLUDE - New Sekigahara - INTERLUDE

The planet had once been a rather nice world despite the storms that periodically raged. Still intact Star League era terraforming gear had kept the damage to a minimum… until the satellites had been destroyed by the invading DCMS forces causing massive death and destruction. Damage multiplied exponentially as the forces of House Kurita gripped the throat of the small colony in a steel fist. Any defiance against the Dragon resulted in mass executions, even the failure to properly bow and abase oneself before the lowliest of the DCMS troops present resulting in entire families being beheaded for ‘insolence’.

Despite this, resistance continued. Hardly a day went by without the tough-minded Poles who’d called this planet Nowa Warszawa detonating bombs or ambushing patrols. They may be outnumbered, outgunned, out of luck… but they were never out of *pluck*. The Dragon was finding this planet very hard to digest.

-----

The last scars of the pirate attack are finally gone from the capital and gleaming towers of alloy, concrete, and glass glisten in the semi-tropical sun. The city is even more beautiful now than it had been when you were little, and the sight fills you with pardonable pride. The population is equally happy with the result and there are massive street parties and parades taking place in every neighborhood.

You do your best to attend as many of them as you can, your husband at your side and your son in your arms. The people absolutely love it.

Meanwhile the first meeting of the new Parliament goes incredibly well. Politicians favorable to your plans and goals overwhelmingly win at the polls, to the point where the few who disagree with you have been heard to good-naturedly grumble that this is truly a Parliament of Love.

The new labs are also open, and the researchers fall over themselves babbling about all the wonderful projects that they can now carry out and practically beg you for the opportunity to do research for the crown. It's quite touching in a way.

The last gas turbine power plant is taken off line one morning, replaced with a gleaming fusion plant. For the first time since the Catastrophe the planet is fully fusion powered.

Thanks to some inspired effort by the aerospace workers at the main defense factory, 16 Falcon ASFs were completed and just before the end of the year the Aerie is able to provide not only pilots but support crews for all of them. The completed squadron does a beautiful fly-by of the capital in celebration to the enthusiastic cheers of the residents.

Meanwhile, bà has been hard at work… behind your back. Sergeant Ngô shows up in your office rather diffidently requesting that you accompany her to the main meeting room, where you find not merely bà but elders from most if not all of the local Vietnamese-descended population waiting for you with a proposal.

They have gotten together and raised the funds to purchase the pair of Triton’s you need to secure the sea lanes to the new resource and expansion area, in exchange they want two things. First that the new city be called Huế mới, or New Huế, and that the natural harbor that the port would be located in be called Vịnh Cam Ranh in tribute to the finest deepwater port on Earth (according to bà at least).

You agree, as it is quite a sensible request (and spares you the need to come up with a name yourself. It would have probably been another bird pun, now that you think about it).

Work on dredging out and expanding the harbor of Port Reach proceeds smoothly, helped immensely by the new industrial exoskeletons. The improvements to their systems make everything far smoother and industrial concerns are snapping them up as fast as they can be produced.

You are present for the dedication ceremonies for the new wharfs along with the commissioning of the new submarines. Representatives of the new House of Lords and Commons are both along to add their presence to the situation and spend most of the events working with your people to coordinate messaging and present a unified front. All of your advisors have been promoted to the Lords (even a loudly protesting Tyler who pronounces you a traitor to the family for making him have to be responsible in public. The fact that he chooses a stylized tank with a jester’s cap hanging on the barrel as his personal sigil… you spend quite a bit of time complaining to your loving husband about this. It’s his fault after all that you are now related to that loonie).

You do later discover that there are many interesting places inside submarines for certain activities with said loving husband. Since the baby is back at the palace under the care of bà you take the opportunity for a little practice at ‘little sibling making’ made all the more amusing because you are doing it in the otherwise empty control room for the submarine.

On the plotting table.

It’s totally Willis’ fault that you have absolutely no self-control when he nibbles right… there…

Totally.

If only you didn’t have the threat of House Kurita in your backyard hanging over you this would be perfect.
 

CurtisLemay

Wargamer, Amateur Historian, Writer
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
Founder
[X] Plan: Queen's Planetary Security Directive 1

This is now a matter of grave planetary security and a defense of the realm. I hereby authorize the following actions:

1. Preparations to be made to do everything we can to ensure the planet is defended to the utmost, we should expect when the Kuritans return, they
will return with at least a regiment's worth of troops. We will be made an example of. If we lose, our fate will be that of the people of Santiago. I
expect the military will tender their budget requests with this in mind.

2. If the planet cannot be held through conventional means, we should prepare for a long guerilla resistance. I expect that arms caches, and the
identification and training of key individuals, the pre-positioning of arms, and the organization of resistance cells commence forthwith. I hereby also direct General Wolf to form a unconventional warfare force consisting of one battalion in strength to train and assist these cells.

3. I also direct all departments of the government to cooperate and make continuity of operations plans to maintain the government in case of
invasion.

Furthermore, I will make a speech to our people on the nature of the threat in a weeks time. I also authorize our Director of National Intelligence, Ms. Chambers to release to the media all information about this threat commensurate with preparing our people, without compromising our sources or
methods.

I furthermore order Ms. Chambers to begin to quietly look to see if there were any ISF assets on planet before we were hit, and if those assets continue to exist. She is to spare no effort to get whatever information she can, and if possible, turn one or more of the prisoners.

Quietly, I will approach Sergeant Ngo, and ask her to take charge of the unconventional warfare and guerilla resistance project. I will ask her to tap whomever she has to. Whomever.
 
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Jarow

Well-known member
A brief summary of our IC knowledge and guesses about the inner sphere from the discord ("-" for knowledge, "--" for possible suppositions):

-We have late Star League background knowledge (pre-Richard Cameron)
- We know the Kuritas are currently claiming the title of First Lord
--Star League has collapsed
-We know Combine and FedSuns are at war
-We know their "pirate" forces were not substantially more advanced than us, beyond dropships and mechs
--From this, we can guess at technological stagnancy
-They didn't know we were there (though they do now)

We don't know:
-Whether or not Liao, Marik, or Steiner still exist (Specifically, we've been told only Davion resists Kurita's claim to being First Lord)
-The reasons the pirates weren't more advanced
--Could be more "pirate-seeming" less advanced than front line was used
-Current borders
-Anything about periphery nations
 
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Interrogation Notes

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
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The following is a summary of what the senior prisoner has revealed and/or claimed
  1. The Kuritan forces are here as part of Operation: Bakkusutabu.
  2. That the forces for this operation were drawn from the Amphigean Light Assault Group
    1. This formation does not appear in any of your data about House Kurita or the Draconis Combine
  3. That Coordinator Hugai Kurita is the acknowledged and rightful First Lord of the Star League.
  4. That only the perfidy of House Davion has stood against the rightful First Lord and is solely responsible for the conflict within the Inner Sphere.
  5. Anybody who stands against the rightful First Lord will be treated as traitors and destroyed.
  6. The forces you destroyed were only a 'very light' scouting group that hadn't been expecting such a 'violent and lawless' response to their 'righteous and reasonable' demands for planetary surrender and subjugation to the Rightful First Lord.
    1. it is noted that in the initial communication from the raiders that no mention was made of the First Lord.
The interrogator notes that after the first crack via narco-interrogation methods that they've been simply allowing the prisoner to rant and recording all of his claims without challenging him on them. If he is, in fact, an ISF agent as he claims, according to the data that you have they are fanatics who would be more than willing to do anything possible to mislead interrogators even after appearing to break, and that any of his claims that appear slanted towards demoralization or claims of their inevitable victory due to the Might of the Dragon can be discounted as the ravings of a fanatic.

Further interrogation is scheduled, with a return to full narco methods and corroboration from other prisoners to check against his claims.
 

Thors_Alumni

Well-known member
He said Hugai Not Takashi like I expected. That is interesting since Takashi and the others of his generation have probably not been born yet. Okay so since we know that they will probably return.

We should do the following.
1. Build emergency weapon and supply caches all over the planet. and I do mean all over.
2. Increase our military funding.
3. Build and train up more troops and equipment.
4. Continue our current infrastructure and economy buildup.
5. Make plans to build a resistance for an extended occupation if the worst comes and the Combine occupies our planet.
6. Make plans to seize any Combine Dropships if the opportunity gives us one.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
[X] Plan: Rough Goal Description
1. Notify populace
2. Buildup defenses
3. Prepare resistance/government continuity systems

Overall, Curtis's plan is a bit too specific for me to be comfortable throwing my support behind it (I'd prefer trusting advisors for numbers), but I do like the general idea; so they're fairly similar
 
Turn 6 - Advisor Advice and Actions

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 6 Advisors and Actions

The mood is more grim than the year before. The announcement about the threat from the Draconis Combine had produced a grim resolve along with resolutions of support from both houses of parliament.

There are a few flashes of good news

First of all, evidently that plotting table on the submarine has special fertility powers. You are pregnant again, and the doctors tell you that this time you are bearing twins.

You complain about this to Sergeant Ngô, bà and anybody else who will listen, but for some reason nobody is at all that sympathetic. The good sergeant has finally found herself a husband of her own and is pregnant at the same time, bà is just happy to have more grandbabies, and your husband is insufferably smug over something that is clearly totally his fault.

In shocking news, Janet has been with the same boyfriend for over a year with no sign of the regularly scheduled epic break up. For a change Janet is complaining to you about how her boyfriend seems to completely miss every signal she gives that she’d really like to sleep with him, and instead insists instead on being totally romantic and taking her to all sorts of beautiful places for truly lovely dates. Personally you think this frustration is good for your friend and is probably why this relationship is actually lasting for a change, but you have learned enough discretion and wisdom to keep your mouth shut on the subject and just nod along making sympathetic noises.

Bà. of course, is incredibly smug about this, as Janet is dating one of bà’s many grandchildren. Sergeant Ngô’s brother, in fact.

Janet doesn’t stand a snowball's chance in hell.

Sergeant Ngô is running the betting pool, according to her her brother is incredibly dense when it comes to women… you have a major bet going on next year.

The researchers at the university labs are incredibly enthusiastic, so much so that they’ve apparently been working on their own dime and announce the release of a major breakthrough in computer-controlled manufacturing systems that are being snapped up by manufacturers across the planet. This is resulting in some labor disruptions, however, as the improved automation reduced workforces around the planet.

They also turned over plans and specifications for fortification techniques to harden important sites against attack. These were networks of bunkers, firing positions, artillery positions and command and control sites linked together into a fortification system.

General Wolf has three specific requests from the military, in keeping with your instructions for preparation for any incoming threats and in regards to the ongoing project to expand into the new resource area.

“First of all, in conjunction with the construction of the new port and settlement at Vịnh Cam Ranh,” he begins, managing a credible pronunciation, “we should pull the trigger on standing up the security force in the area. Second, I strongly recommend that our researchers finalize testing so we can begin procurement of the following weapon systems. The Foxhound hovertank, the Roc heavy ASF, and the Chasseur hovertank. A single 4 ship flight of Roc’s can savage incoming dropships, while the Foxhound and Chasseur would be lethal against the sort of threats we have already seen from the Dracs. Finally we are ready to start implementing the recommendations for creating a standing militia, you simply need to give the word to authorize us to begin.”

Tyler pipes up. “There are two things on my end, first of all we should get the new port up and running to progress along the planned project trajectory. We are already seeing great results from phase 1 and we need to carry that momentum forward. Secondly we need to implement a stronger unemployment insurance system to help those displaced by industrial automation find new work without losing everything. We’ve only just managed to get everything back on track and these new technology advances are threatening unrest and instability we can ill afford.”

Dr Young gives a sour look at Tyler then turns her attention to you. “We are ready to start promoting the new expansion area, in conjunction with the new construction and increased security this will allow us to have the people we need in place for later phases of the project.”

Professor Chapman nods “And it is also time to extend government offices into the new area as construction begins. It’s expensive, but vital.”

Dr Palmer looks up from her notepad “I agree with General Wolf in terms of getting those military projects up and running, in the main. I’d make one change to both his and Tyler’s recommendations, however. Instead of finalizing the Chasseur or expanding the unemployment insurance system may I strongly recommend improving the overall undergraduate education system. This would permit rapid retraining of workers to counter the job losses in automation while also improving research outcomes.”

Juanita had simply sent you a memo from the prisoner camps where she is overseeing interrogations. “We still need more resources for intensive POW interrogation, the budget line item is on your desk for the drugs we are using, please ensure we have sufficient supplies.”

Janet nods, a bit less enthusiastically than normal, probably thanks to her being a bit off her game due to the novelty of having an actual steady boyfriend who won’t jump into bed with her immediately. “We’re ready to expand the justice system into the new settlements as well, this is the best time to do it, as we’ll have it in place to handle the frontier town atmosphere.” She takes a breath. “That’s something I should warn you about, boom towns like this can have unexpected effects, both for good or for bad, having the law firmly in place can prevent the bad.”
 

Jarow

Well-known member
[X] Plan: Project Growth and Defense Setup
-[X] Military 4
--[X] Secure port and settlement
(Advisor project step)
--[X] Establish Militia
(Stage 1 defense setup)
-[X]Interior 4
--[X] Financial Sector Reform (Interior)*
--[X] 2) Build New Port
(4 stage, we want them all done as quick as possible)
--[X] Expand unemployment benefits
(Prevent unemployment issues)
-[X] Diplomatic 3
--[X] Recruit miners and settlers
(This one gives bonuses and is requested)
-[X] Political 3
--[X] Extend government administration to new settlement area
(This one gives bonuses and is requested)
-[X] Research 3
--[X] Improved Education lvl 1
(Don't want employment collapse)
--[X] Roc Heavy ASF
(Most important new design: something to kill dropships with)
--[X] Chasseur Hovertank
(Better for geurilla type defense, small potential for getting any next turn)
-[X] Intelligence 3
--[X] Establish dedicated intel agency*
--[X] Interrogate POWs
(We need to know everything they can tell us)
Justice 2
--[X] Financial Sector Reform (Justice)*
--[X] Setup judicial system in new settlement area
(Prevents "certain events" from hurting us, advisor recommended)

Next turn is going to hurt, with ~2k unspoken for income after project, but the sooner we get the economic buffs the more income we'll have in total to spend setting up the needed defenses.
Also, the unemployment thing is essentially meant to balance Automation (which gives +1% GDP growth and -5% upkeep costs for level), so we almost certainly need it to not become an issue
 
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Turn 6 - Results and an Offer

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
TURN 6 Results

Economic Roll - 2 degrees of success = 7%
Health Roll - 7 degree of success = 7% Pop growth rate
Stability Change roll - 7 degrees of success

Stability Rolls
-Political - 2 rolls
--Result - add +10 to all difficulty targets this turn

-Research - 6 rolls
--Result - 2 free technologies (multiple crits on events) - fortifications and automation lvl 1

-Economic - 1 roll
--Result = +5% GDP

Meta Event Roll - 12 - all ratings +10
Dynasty Luck Roll - 31 - Identical twin boys

Crown Influence Roll - 10
Lords Influence Roll - 10
Commons Influence Roll - 5

Secure Port and Settlement
Target = 95
Roll = 35
Result = SUCCESS

Build New Port (Vịnh Cam Ranh)
Target = 95
Roll = 75
Result = SUCCESS

Expand Unemployment Benefits
Target = 85
Roll = 79
Result = SUCCESS

Recruit Miners and Settlers
Target = 95
Roll = 14
Result = SUCCESS

Extend Government Administration to new settlement area
Target = 95
Roll = 58
Result = SUCCESS

Improved Education Lvl 1
Target = 70
Roll = 25
Result = SUCCESS

Roc Heavy ASF
Target = 95
Roll = 35
Result = SUCCESS

Chasseur Hovertank
Target = 95
Roll = 50
Result = SUCCESS

Interrogate POWs
Target = 65
Roll = 59
Result = SUCCESS

Setup Judicial System in new settlement area
Target = 95
Roll = 95
Result = SUCCESS

-----

Things get very busy, very quickly. It seems that no sooner do you wake up in the morning than you are plunged into an endless round of meetings, barely snatching time to take care of your son in between progress reports and such.

Thankfully he’s been weaned to regular baby food a bit early, so you aren’t having to breastfeed him, not that you minded much to be honest. But as it is he is still spending far more time with others watching him than you’d really like. Although considering that you’d really like to spend all of your time with him…

Your current pregnancy advances along familiar lines, only… worse. Your morning sickness isn’t as bad, thankfully, but it rarely is for second pregnancies. Instead your cravings have become almost ludicrous and are setting those around you into wild goose chases for bizarre food combinations to satisfy them.

You’d normally complain about this with Sergeant Ngô and spend time pointing out the myriad ways this was your loving husbands fault, but you all are far too busy for such.

You are so busy that when the time finally comes for you to give birth it’s a welcome respite, despite the pain. Sure it takes longer and is far worse in every way with twins, but you somehow manage not to crush Willis’ hand into paste and at the end, exhausted, drained, deliriously happy, you have two bundles of absolute joy in your arms.

You arranged for Janet to have a camera when you told everybody the names you’d selected, and you manage to catch a look of startled happiness on bà’s face when you announce that the elder of the twins was to be named Quan Ezekiel, and the younger James Frederick. Janet manages to catch Sergeant Ngô in shot when Quan’s name is announced, as he is named after the good sergeant's father and bà’s son.

Sergeant Ngô gives birth about a week later to her firstborn.

Things like this make everything worthwhile, in your opinion. It’s not about power, or politics, or anything else. It’s about making sure that these little bundles of love have a future to grow up in and, in the fullness of time, give you grandbabies. You are really starting to understand bà and her obsession with grandbabies much more. It’s an affirmation that what you’ve done has been ultimately worth it, that all the difficulties and challenges mattered.

But all the work has a purpose, and that purpose is coming more and more into view as frantic effort starts producing results.

The new port area is fully surveyed and officially named Vịnh Cam Ranh with the city being built from the ground up around it being officially named Huế mới, or as just about everybody calls it who isn’t of Vietnamese descent New Hue City. Sergeant Ngô complains regularly about how nobody seems able to properly pronounce Hue.

Making certain that government and justice facilities were already present as the city built up is paying dividends. You are able to ensure that the city grows according to pre-planned lines and not haphazardly. The streets are in a proper grid, with only the coastal and ring roads being anything but arrow-straight. The infrastructure needed for the port itself is swiftly built and the initial work on the high capacity railway to the mining area has begun.

Even before the mines come online there is already commerce starting, as bolder people strike out into the wilderness surrounding the new city to establish farms and prospect for resources. Exotic lumber has quickly become a major market in the new city.

After an initial panic as the unemployment numbers came in it quickly became apparent that your shotgun solution of boosting both unemployment benefits and investing in worker retraining plus improved educational facilities is already drawing fruit. Unemployment numbers have actually dropped below where they were when the new automation was introduced as commerce booms.

Your labs are benefitting from the influx of skilled workers as final testing is completed on a pair of weapon systems. The Roc has your husband extremely excited, he managed to wrangle some stick time in the prototype and reports that while it is slow and sluggish compared to the Falcon, it handles better than he expected and the sheer firepower is awe-inspiring.

The Chasseur, meanwhile, is pure fun. You and Sergeant Ngô manage to spend an afternoon blasting about the testing grounds in a pair of the test articles and you swear neither of you ever stopped grinning for days afterwards. The virtual-360 displays in the cockpit, the helmet mounted sight, all of that are just details compared to the raw visceral fun of hitting 190+ kph while weaving around like demented motorcyclists.

Beyond that, you make the time to be present at the graduation and pre-deployment review for the new garrison forces heading to Huế mới. It still feels a bit odd to take the salute of an entire regiment of infantry, but satisfying at the same time.

Juanita comes into your office for the first time all year, as she’d been personally overseeing the interrogation of the prisoners.

“OK, I have good news, bad news, and take it as you want news.” she says without preamble, shuffling a set of folders out of her briefcase and setting them on your desk.

“We aren’t facing quite as much as we’d feared initially. The Kuritans have a battalion drawn from the Amphigean Light Assault Group, so accounting for the 4 mechs we’ve already destroyed no more than 32 more. All of their mechs are of the same design as the 4 we’ve already taken down, so we know we can destroy them with enough firepower. They also currently, at least as of 6 years ago, only have access to a single Tramp-class jumpship, so at worst we’d be facing 3 dropships worth of forces at a time. This could change at any time, so that is not something to count on.”

She pauses, turning the page. “They do have several regiments worth of infantry and armored vehicles, they outnumber us by quite a bit but are limited in how much force they can bring to bear at one time. According to the prisoners they’ve already conquered a nearby planet and are working on pacifying it, which may explain why we’ve seen nothing if they’ve gotten bogged down there. The force that attacked us was a recon group searching nearby systems for anything ‘interesting’ and evidently they thought we’d be easy pickings.”

She pauses once more, looking up. “As for the rest of the claims, that the Coordinator is the recognized First Lord and such, well… with your permission I have somebody I’d like you to meet.”

You nod, intrigued, as Juanita rises to her feet and goes to the door, bringing in a wisp of a woman who looks like a particularly strong breeze would send flying.

“Your Majesty,” she begins, unusually formal for her, “this is Dagny Sigurdottir, of the Magistracy of Canopus.”

Dagny gives a surprisingly graceful curtsey to you. “Your Majesty.”

“Ms Sigurdottir was one of the young women held by the Dracs that were liberated by our forces. After Your announcement about the Kuritan threat she approached my office. Ms Sigurdottir wasn’t among the ‘comfort women’ by chance, she’d deliberately allowed herself to be taken by them.”

Juanita takes a breath and smiles slightly. “Your Majesty, she is in the same line of work as I am, as an agent for the Magistracy Intelligence Ministry. She was tracking the disappearances of several Canopian traveling entertainment groups in Kurita space. With Your permission?”

You nod, your eyes on the revealed intelligence agent.

“Whatever You’ve been told, Your Majesty.” Dagny says calmly. “Kurita is not acknowledged by anybody who isn’t already a Drac as anything more than a particularly brutal dictator, especially after Kentares. There is no Star League, and while all of the House Lords claim that they are the rightful First Lord, none of them have any hope in hell of actually holding the title. The Inner Sphere has been in a nearly constant state of war since the fall of the Star League and have utterly blown themselves into wreckage and ruin.”

She meets your eyes steadily. “So, Your Majesty, I have been providing Your people with briefings about what I know about the Inner Sphere. And…” her lips curl into a ghost of a smile. “While I hope I may be forgiven for hoping that You will choose to ally Yourself with the Magistracy at some future time, I am still willing to do anything I can to help You in resisting those rapacious beasts who pretend to be human when it suits them.”

The hatred in that last sentence is audible.

“I am a fully trained Mechwarrior, Your Majesty, as well as an intelligence agent. I give you my word, so long as You do not attack my home, I am willing to serve You in any way You require.”

As she says that, she braces to attention with a precision any soldier would envy, and awaits your response.

[] Accept her into your service
[] Decline the offer
[] Write-in
 

Jarow

Well-known member
[X] Accept her into your service

Potential Mechwarrior instructor and Inner Sphere information source get!

Note from discord: Canopus and Concordat are our closest neighbors. As a result, there is a potential for eventual strife from a well-embedded intelligence operative if our relationship goes bad; but I think we'd be more valuable as a friend than enemy.
 
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