Turn 12: House Party
Date: 12/816 AS
[X] Hylia Base
[X] Alien Discussions
-[X] Talk with the aliens more about local politics in the Terminus systems, lay groundwork for appearing attractive as an ally and trading partner and bulwark against more hostile powers and non-state actors.
-[X] Open to beginning trade at a low level; not groundbreaking unique technologies yet, but civilian level goods, consumables, and raw materials would be a good starting point.
-[X] Entertainment wise, half military/half cultural. Showcase a suitable performance by a fighter squadron, and highlight a meal that is a tasting menu of a myriad of cultures (or multiple meals featuring different cultures if the talks are scheduled across multiple days).
The sudden appearance of the alien fleet on the far side of your system is yet another sign of just how important it is that you secure their FTL technology. Despite roughly knowing when and where they would arrive your, admittedly relative basic, scanners failed to pick up their approach. This disquiet lessens only somewhat when said alien fleet proceeds to make ist way to the station on a sub-light speed, that while high is at least within the range of your own ships.
The talks themselves are a surprisingly uneventful affair with the Asari delegation expressing their disappointment at not being able to visit a true human world and hope that they will be able to convince you soon that they are no threat to humanity. The utilitarian design of the base, a stark contrast to what you have seen on Larrisa, is remarked upon but what really gets their attention is the fact that said base posses full gravity without your possessing mass effect generators (or using rotation). While the Asari are hard to read you think that this revelation is at least partially responsible for them losing some of their (graceful) arrogance and causing them take humanity a bit more seriously.
What however certainly makes them take humanity seriously is the staged performance of your fighters. It seems like your fighters are considerable bigger than the what the Asari are used to, indeed it seems like the first though your fighters to be strange gunboats, which leads to many of the Asari presume that it it's your lack of technology that lead to such an oversized model. In fact when you ships first fire their weapons, invisible to the human in many parts and thus artificially coloured in the vids, your are surprised by how many of them remark on your strange choice of a practice weapon only to be fall into silence when you reveal that your ships are equipped with a wide range of direct energy weapons as well as shields. It seems that while the Asari (and perhaps most of the alien races) are no stranger to the principle of direct energy weapon weapons on the (small) scale and (comparatively high) power of your models is nearly unheard of. If true your military situation might not be as hopeless as you expected though it is a bit early to make any definitive statements.
The actual talks after goes as well as you could have hoped for with the Asar being very open to the idea of trade and future cooperation. While you are quick to deny their request for samples of your weapons, they also prove interested in several of the consumer goods you presented, one for example being bretonian coffee which seems to cause mild euphoria in Asari but also a wide range of more conventional stuff. In regards to raw materials the asari prove to be highly interested in your offer of valuable metals like gold as well as palladium, which seems to be relatively rare in their home system and be widely used in electronics and bionics. In return the Asari offer a wide range of high quality luxury products, highly precise tools and a number of other gods that that could help DSX though their current unwillingness to trade anything with Mass Effect technology limits your choices somewhat. Still it is a very solid basis to start from and makes you optimistic for the future.
For the moment all trade will happen on a specially designated station in orbit of Larrisa but both you and the Asari agree that if successful those barriers will be reduced step by step. The only problematic topic proves to be the one regarding closer cooperation between governments with the Asari clearly wanting more information than you are willing to give before opening up even more.
Result: Trade with Larissa established, Larissa views humanity positively and is interested in future cooperation, mutual trust established and likely to be helpful in future talks, access to a limited variety of Larissa goods
Mass effect Research:
Your research in the Mass Effect meanwhile shows that the element zero reacts to electrical current with changes in gravity through a lot more research is needed to be able to predict and understand those changes.
Result: limited (?) progress on understanding the Mass Effect
You have 6 Action Points that you can spend anyway you wish at 1 point per action. You can also add 1 Focus Point (giving a + 20 Bonus) to a chosen action, representing DSX focusing on that action.
(Survey actions, especially in the Terminus sector will also have a chance of unveiling new Jumphole connections/unlocking new systems)
Sirius Sector:
You may be hundreds of light-years removed from the Sirius sector with the goal of exploring a completely new part of space but that doesn't mean you can ignore what happens in the Sirius sector.
[] Corsair Mining:
You "ambassador" on Crete has been approached by several groups of Corsairs looking for a way to expand their mining operations. And indeed despite the relative resource richness of the lower Omicrons the mining operations of the Corsairs are primitive compared to the rest of the Houses and mostly limited to their home system. Providing assistance in this matter could help to strengthen the more "progressive" parties on Crete and allow you to test some of your, currently still mostly theoretical, ideas of "reforming" the Corsairs. On the other hand it would strengthen the Corsairs industrial power which could become a problem if you ever come into conflict with them.
[] Option 1: DSX
Thanks to your close cooperation with the IMG and your own, ever expanding, mining operations you have amassed a significant amount of knowledge and expertise in this area which should be enough to help the Corsairs establish and optimise their own operations.´, especially if you add in some of your advanced machinery
Cost: High, Result: DSX provides expertise and limited material assistance for Corsair mining operations
With the help of your experts the Corsairs are starting to modernize their mining operations and professionally surveying their territory. It will likely take some time till the positive effects will be really felt by the Corsair industry but your contacts on Crete are optimistic and promise you to remember this favour.
Result: Corsairs expand mining operations, grateful for your help
Red Hessians:
The Red Hessians powers has declined enormously since you started your operations against them, though to be fair a lot of it is likely due to Rheinland itself, and while the organization might not be fully defeated it is certainly weakened and its influence contained. In all honesty you were ready to call the operation a success and were actually just discussing about how to best extradite your more exposed agents with Alexandra when an high priority message of one of said agents reached Solitude. It seems like he managed to turn one of the strategic advisors of the commander of the Ronneburg, the Red Hessian base in Omega 5, and through her gain access to a number of highly confidential documents, including the coordinates of the main Red Hessian base in Omega 11 as well as a nearly complete list of current fleet deployments. Sadly your agent and his source where forced to flee shortly after the message but if you act quickly enough you could strike a truly devastating blow against the Red Hessians.
(You can pick multiple actions if you want though every single option costs one action)
[] Unholy Alliance
One of the key advantages of the Red Hessians in the Omega regions has always been the ability of the various bases to support each other in emergencies, like for example to shift reinforcements from Omega 11 to Omega 5 in the face of a Corsair attack or the opposite way if the Rheinland police got to bold. You however are in the nearly unique position of having contacts in both the Corsairs and Rheinland and may be able to use those to organize a "coordinated" assault on both bases at the same time. Convincing both parties to trust you in the limited amount of time you information remains accurate could be tricky but if you succeed the Red Hessians stand little chance of defending against a two pronged attack.
Chance of success: 65%, Result: Rheinland and Corsair attack Red Hessian bases in Omega regions
(Optional options)
Option 1.2 Assist the Rheinwehr:
Omega 11's hostile environment and isolated position mean that the Rheinwehr is relatively unprepared for operations there and might welcome your assistance.
Result: +10 to roll, assist Rheinwehr in the attack on Freital Base
Needed: 35 Rolled: 51 (11+20+10+10)
The basic idea behind the plan might have looked simple but its actual execution proves to be anything but that. Both the Corsairs and Rheinland are at first sceptical in your ability to get the respective other to go along with the plan and convincing them takes valuable time that makes assembling a big enough strikeforce a true challenge. Rheinland especially is struggling to gather enough ships with most of their forces being tied down in clean-up operations in the Berlin system as well as a large scale fleet maneuver on the Liberty border. Your reinforcements, made up in a large part of forces normally escorting your artifact transports or patrolling the southern supply route, are therefore very welcome and help Rheinland to secretly gather in a significant fighter force supported by a squadron of frigates and a single, aging, cruiser near the Omega 11 Jumpgate in the Stuttgart system. The Corsairs meanwhile hectically recall the majority of their Bretonia raiding forces back the Cardiz while also mobilising reserve forces in Omega 41 and their home system.
The operation starts with your offensive in the Omega 41 system, designed to draw the enemy troops even more out of position, followed by the Rheinland group jumping into the Omega 11 and trying to cross the system as quickly as possible. Sadly it seems like the Red Hessians are not caught as off guard as you hoped and respond quickly by sallying out in force, meeting your force at the border of the Jeschke Fragment, the asteroid field hiding their base. With the intense background radiation of the system playing haywire with the targeting system of your capital ships the fight quickly dissolves in a brutal close range fight, made even more deadly due the fact that a loss of shielding automatically results in massive radiation poisoning. However despite the ferocious and heroic efforts of the Red Hessians they are unable to defeat your forces and are forced to slowly but surely fall back, with your forces, led by the Rheinland cruiser, following them deeper into the field.
Meanwhile the Corsairs initial attack wave gets slowed down by the unexpected density of the minefield surrounding Ronneburg, giving the Red Hessians enough time to recall most of the reinforcements send to Omega 11 and Omega 41. The Rheinland criminals decide to meet their rivals in a clearing near their base but the battle soon covers large portions of the normally static with the two most powerful criminal syndicates in southern Sirius determined to put a bloody end to a conflict over century in the making. But while the veterans of the Red Hessians, many of whom are piloting recently upgraded ships, are a match for the ferocity of the Corsairs their greener, less experienced troops begin to give way before the Omicron exiles. The commanders of the Red Hessians try to counter this by throwing ever more of their reserves into the fight, with some initial success, but with news of the attack on Omega 11 spreading and reinforcements becoming unlikely the strategic situation starts to look very unfavourable.
In Omega 11 meanwhile the attacking force finally reaches the Red Hessian base after a gruelling and exhausting slog through the asteroid field. Several of the frigates had to fall back after a wave of suicide bombers broke through the fighter cover and caused serious damage to the capital ships with even the cruiser suffering several hull breaches. It's captain, a veteran of the Nomad crisis, however is confident in his ships and men tenacity and continues to lead the charge. Unable to stop you and the Rheinlanders the Red Hessian force splits into two parts with the bigger one making a desperate last stand before their base while the rest do their best to evacuate the base and its personnel before your bombers can overwhelm its defensive systems. In a another situation your forces might have pressed the attack and totally annihilated the enemy but after the exhausting fight to reach this point and the hostile environment your and Rheinlands commanders decide against such an aggressive course, a move welcome by many of the pilots. So however the Red Hessian manage to extradite a significant part of their members before your forces finally overwhelm the defenders and breach the defenses of Freital base in several locations. The initial plan was to land a boarding team on the base to secure valuable information but a lucky (or perhaps unlucky) torpedo hit damages the reactor powering the base, leading to its near total destruction. Your forces try to pursue the enemy but their ships redline their engines and scatter making it nearly impossible.
The battle in Omega 5 develops similarly with the Red Hessian fighting a heroic but ultimately doomed battle that after several days of nearly continuous fighting ends with a resounding victory for the Corsairs, though at a terrible cost in lives and blood. Unlike Freital Ronneburg is far more robust and withstands several bombing runs forcing the Corsairs to land troops on the station. And if anything the fight inside the station is even more brutal and ruthless than the one outside with neither side expecting or inclined to offer mercy.
All in all the operation was a success with the stranglehold the Red Hessians had on the Rheinland border territories and Omegas being seemingly broken and the former powerful criminal syndicate reduced to its core territories inside Rheinland. However you had to pay a steep price for this with the Rheinland police and military suffering significant casualties in the attack on Freital and the Corsair losing nearly half of their forces in Omega 5 (though that on the other hand makes it a bit more unlikely that they will looking to expand into Rheinland proper anytime soon which may not be the worst thing to have happened). Your own forces meanwhile also didn't escape the battle unharmed with many promising career cut short in the radioactive fields of Omega 11 and 41.
Result: Red Hessians defeated, Corsairs and Rheinland suffer high casualties, DSX suffers significant casualties with readiness reduced for 20% (2 years till recovery)
[] Option 2: Omega 41 Offensive
It is often said that the best defence is offence and while you don't one hundred percent agree with that statement you can see the reasoning behind it. Based on Alexandra's information Henry thinks that it may be possible to push the Red Hessians out of the Omega 42 system, an important waystation on your southern route to Rheinland and Bretonia (which also makes a perfect staging ground for further military advances). While such a direct attack would put you on the radar of the Red Hessians their ability to fight back is severely limited.
Cost: High, Chance of success: 80% Result: Attack Red Hessians in Omega 41
(gives +10 to any of the actions above)
[] Option 2.1: Deploy Hood:
This might also be a good opportunity to test your battleship in actual combat
Cost: Medium, Result: +20 to the roll, Hood unavailable for this turn (possibly more depending on how the battle goes)
(Free Action)
Needed: 20 Rolled: 61
The biggest challenge for your operation in Omega 41 is to get the Hood there in time which despite your best efforts proves to be impossible due to the difficult to predict nature of the jumpholes. Your forces are thus forced to start their attack on the Red Hessian holdings there without the backing of the battleship which results in your offensive quickly bogging down, in no small part due to a lack of supplies and easy repair. However the main goal of the operation, distracting the Red hessians from the attacks in Omega 11 and Omega 5 is still achieved and your officers do their best to make sure that the Red Hessians are unable to send reinforcements to either place. And once the Hood arrives in the system your forces regain the advantage and manage to slowly but surely push the Red Hessians out of the system, completing their defeat in the Omega's.
Losses on your side were higher than expected, in no small part due to the widespread use of mines by the Red Hessians, and both you and Henry are unsatisfied by how big a challenge the criminals proved to be for your pilots but it still is a resounding military victory for your young organization that deserves celebration. Your southern supply lines should now be secure and in no danger of any attack, provided you don't start a fight with the Corsairs.
Result: Red Hessians in Omega 41 defeated, DSX losses amount of 15% combat readiness (2 years to recover)
General results for Red Hessians quest chain:
Red Hessians are seriously weakened and reduced to their core territories in southern Rheinland (primarily Rheinland), alliance between Outcasts and Red Hessian prevented (though some technological advances still reached the Red Hessians), Junkers tolerate your artifact trade and dislike the Red Hessians, Red Hessian are involved in Cardamine smuggle put in a minor capacity, Rheinland economy grows more quickly than expected due to higher stability with most of its criminal underground made up of smaller, less influential groups and syndicates, Red Hessians dislike you and view you as an enemy
[] Hunt for Element Zero - Sirius Version:
You research into possible eezo deposits in Sirius has so far been relatively unproductive with the best you can find being mentions of trace amounts that may possible be eezo. You have contacted you contacts in the Houses to have them look into the matter but if you want quick results your best is probably to look for the stuff yourself, starting in the territory claimed by you.
Result: Look for eezo deposits - you will almost certainly find enough for initial research but more substantial deposits depend on the roll (but even then a good roll might simply tell you that there is not much to be found - the stuff is rare)
Rolled: 28
With all the combat operations against the Red Hessian taking most of your attention the surveying action for eezo in the Sirius systems lacks proper oversight and is conducted rather inefficiently. Your men only manage to cover a small part of your territory and fail to find any noteworthy eezo deposits. In fact what little material they manage to gather is in the low kilograms and barely enough for proper scientific experiments.
Terminus Sector:
The new frontier, full of alien artifacts to discover and resources to exploit.
[] Directorate for Xenobiology and Xenorelations:
When you started DSX you expected some form of alien contact and thus made sure to hire experts in those fields but the sheer scale of your discoveries have far exceeds what you expected to deal with which leaves you a bit short to actually staff the many projects you need to get done as quickly as possible. Hiring more scientist is therefore only logical and while you at it you might as well combine the whole thing into its own directorate for easier administration and better efficiency.
Cost: High, Result: New directorate, (passive) bonus for dealing with aliens technology etc.
Optional Option:
Option 1: Cryer
Cryer Pharmaceuticals owes you a favour for you help in defending its base in Sigma 17 and you could likely use this to secure the services of some of the best bio-technicians and xenobiologists in Sirius.
Result: Use favour to secure the services of some of the best bio-researchers in Sirius
It is funny how when you were a freelancer you often laughed at the overly bureaucratic structure of the companies employing while now that you are leading one said companies (or at least something that is similar to them) you can't imagine to function without said structures. An organization as big and as complex as DSX simply requires a lot of delegation to work and you have begun to really appreciate the difficulty of finding adequate and trustworthy subordinates.
Luckily one of the first lessons you learned as a freelancer was of the importance of making and maintaining useful contacts which is why when it comes to staffing your new directorate you can call in the favour Cryer owes your for their help in Sigma 17. After some discussion (and maybe a call or two to some of your old contacts in the LSF) the Liberty company is willing to part with several of its leading xeno-biology teams, in fact recent advances in the area have made it already a target for eventuel resizing, as well as giving you the right to approach and higher the top alumni of its private university, widely reported to be one of the best in the field.
Naturally such experts as well as their equipment costs a lot of money but considering the massive profit of your artifact trade and mining operations this is an easy price to pay.
Result: Directorate for Xenobiology and Xenorelations established, you also gain basic knowledge of Cardamine
[] Hunt for Element Zero - Terminus Version:
You research into possible eezo deposits in Sirius has so far been relatively unproductive with the best you can find being mentions of trace amounts that may possible be eezo. You have contacted you contacts in the Houses to have them look into the matter but if you want quick results your best is probably to look for the stuff yourself, starting in the territory claimed by you.
Rolled: 55
For quite some time your search for eezo on the "Terminus" side of your territory looked to be as (un)succesful as the one on the Sirius side but then one of specialist responsible for maintaining the extensive satellite network in the Nirn system noticed several interesting gravitational anomalies on the reports of the initial survey of the system. A hastily assembled expedition verified his suspicion that one of the inner planets of your system may hold a sizeable deposits of eezo. The problem is that the highly toxic atmosphere of said planet, coupled with extreme tectonic activities, makes getting at the stuff nearly impossible though if you don't find another source soon you will likely have no chance but to try it.
Sirius News:
Kusari:
While construction of the Chugoku jumpgate is not yet officially finished the gate is finally operational, if in a limited manner, and the KNF has started a major offensive into the Blood Dragon held system. Fighting is reported to be fierce with the Blood Dragons making good use of their knowledge of the system to ambush isolated Kusari forces and escape before reinforcements can arrive. The KNF attempts to counter this by employing the full might of its military with several cruiser groups and capital ships being deployed to the theatre. Official sources say that victory is only a matter of weeks but contacts in the KNF have admitted that they are preparing for a far longer campaign
Liberty:
Liberty military-industrial complex experienced a very unpleasant surprise last month when one of their new Osiris class battleships, the Endurance, was ambushed by a force of Lane Hackers and Outcasts and only narrowly escaped total destruction. The exact details are unclear but it seems like the Lane Hackers managed to hack into military com-channels and convince the Endurance to send the majority of its escorts to deal with a bogey emergency signal, leaving it open to an attack by the criminals. This is a massive blow to the anti-piracy operation of the navy as well as its general reputation and political analysts expect that heads will roll (figuratively speaking of course).
Intelligence report: Golden Chrysanthemums
According to your contacts in the Blood Dragons the GC was forced to abandon its base in the Hokkaido system due to the ever increasing military and police presence but it seems like the group was able to extract most of its personnel and is now reorganizing itself somewhere in the Sigma systems, likely with the assistance of the Outcasts which also operate in the area. Considering the still significant support the organization enjoys in several parts of Kusari it is expected that the GC will recover relatively quickly.
Name: Deep Space Exploration (DSX)
Directorate:
CEO - Edison Trent
Directorate of Security: Henry de Bohun (previously BAF)
- Vice Director: Dalton Mortimer (previously BAF Marines)
Directorate of Administration: Mark Davis (previously Zoners)
Directorate of Logistics: Gerd Müller (previously Daumann)
Directorate of Industry: Talia Drake (previously IMG)
Directorate of Intelligence: Alexandra (previously the Order)
Directorate for Xenobiology and Xenorelations: Jessica Harper (Independent/DSX)
Reputation: Powerful Minor Power
People are starting to treat you like a proper, if rather small, mega-company and as always success begets envy. Competitors start to take you seriously and criminals start to take note of your ships and their contents. Your recent involvement in the Red Hessian conflict especially has brought you to the attention of several groups active in area. Rheinland companies and organizations generally view your action positive but many also start to wonder just where a company as new as yours gets all its firepower from. Oh and the Red Hessians really dislike you.
Ethos: Pragmatic Lawful
The large presence of highly trained military and industrial personnel means that your people tend to follow the rules and avoid ethically questionable actions. Your recent activities however have started to encourage a more open minded and practical position when it comes to criminals.
Supply: Extremely well supplied
Your supply network not only finally catched up to your increased demand but the recent influx of capital and resources from the artifact trade have allowed Müller and Davis to seriously "future" proof your logistics network and you now have to resources for a number of serious investments. The defeat of the Red Hessians in the Omegas has secured the majority of your souther supply lines which has made Müller and Davis very happy.
Manpower: 13.500
You are reasonably well staffed with many experienced people in non-combat roles, especially space exploration and mining. Your organisation has expanded significantly to deal with the increased need for manpower but your security has been up to the task so far. However some of fellow directors have started to complain about lacking personnel skilled enough for upper/middle management positions, especially since your recent additions to DSX have increased the need for those immensely.
Military:
Level of equipment: Standard
Your military is well equipped and can maintain several ongoing operations
Average experience:
Veteran: Nearly all your pilots and soldiers have proven their mettle on various battlefields and skirmishes.
Size (compared to other factions in Sirius): small to average
- You command a military force roughly equivalent to three aircraft Groups
- Capital ships: 1 corvette (Valiant)
Force composition:
The large majority of you military force consists of (former() BAF pilots who mostly field heavy and medium fighters. You also employ a double strength squadron of heavy fighters from the Order while the rest of your forces flies a wide spread of semi-"civilian" ships.
Readiness:
65%
Expected time till full replenishment 2 years (12/818)
Current deployments:
Short ranged patrols - minimal decrease of ready military forces
Long range escorts for artifact trade - notable decrease of ready military forces
Clean-up operations Omega 41 - notable detachment
"Ground" Forces:
A battalion of Royal Marines (BAF)
Installations:
Nirn:
Solitude/Alpha Base: The main base of DSX is located in one of the bigger asteroids, circa ten kilometers in diameter, of the outer asteroid field in the Alpha01 system. The metal heavy composition of the asteroid paired with advanced stealth systems mean that the base is hard to detect for any known sensors.
The base is still undergoing construction but can already house more than five thousand people as well as their associated ships and equipment with the current goal to create enough room to comfortably house ten thousand people. Recently a small industrial complex has been added to it, allowing it to produce a small amount of basic materials.
It is also home to a well equipped pilot training school where the next generation of DSX is getting trained as well as a officer's school/internal university capable of providing top tier education and training.
In regards for active defenses it features numerous military grade point defense turrets as well as a lesser number of anti fighter guns.
Omicron Lambda:
Cintra: Located near the Omicron Theta jumphole in Omicron Lambda this small asteroidbase primarily monitors said jumphole and to oversee the local patrols.
Voss:
VossKa: Located near the Mass Relay in the Voss system this small station is currently home to a detachment of scientist trying to research said Relay.
Vega:
Padirac Station: A small space station whose primary duty is to serve as an logistical and command hub for any DSX activities in the Vega system,
Hyrule:
Hylia Base: A well armed base located in the Hyrule system it serves the dual purpose of a military staging ground as well as a launching pad for further projects of the system.
Border post Goron: Designed to monitor to the Larissa Jumphole and any ships travelling through it it has also extensive facilities specially designed to deal with aliens.
Omicron Kappa:
Fortitude: A well armed base located in the Hyrule system it serves the dual purpose of a military staging ground as well as a launching pad for further projects of the system. It also the main logistical centre of your artifact trade and from it your ships transport the artifacts to the rest of Sirius.
Special:
Hood: The Hood is a refurbished battleship that now serves as a civilian carrier. It can carry up to four wings of fighters and operate independently from any base for long amounts of time. It may lack most of its offensive weaponry but even its current state it packs a nasty punch when going up against smaller spacecraft.
Mining operations:
Mining operation (rare metals) in Omicron Kappa
Small mining operation (diamonds) in Omicron Kappa
Mining operation (Ice) in Omicron Kappa
Small mining operation (diamonds) Nirn
Other Operations:
Artifact Trade: Active in all of Sirius
