Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
BTW what happened to the admiral?
IIRC he was "dead" but still running the show and we broke into his house which is why we know so much of their stuff.
Did we capture him? Is he dead?
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Terminus Quest: A CKII Mass Effect Quest
IIRC he was "dead" but still running the show and we broke into his house which is why we know so much of their stuff.
Did we capture him? Is he dead?
- Location
- madison
their incompetence might be eating itself here. They might have put someone in local command who does not know their ships or other captains, because they don't know better. So there may be a local commander, who is dealing with a "doesn't know shit" penalty. Though I doubt they have a second in command if the command ship goes down. Between general structural issues and no experience they may even have a penalty to their roll rather than a bonus.
Still on the loose, as far as I know. We would have handed him over during the exchange had he been caught anyways. I wouldn't be surprised if he's on the opposing light cruiser, because of course the Lystheni, in their attempt to do a decapitation strike, would put the only other person who might qualify as being in some kind of chain of command in a military situation into our reach, thus allowing us to have a complete decapitation strike against them.
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Alternatively they may have thought maybe not and stuck him back on their home world in case their gamble doesn't work, or with the rest of their fleet planning that preemptive strike the Dalatrass mentioned before we smacked her across the room.
Of course I'm predicating this on them being smart and I do not have much hope in that regard.
Still that being said, if this works out do we get another colony? One we have to develop, but how good a world is their world?
Their world is considered "liveable" by Salarian standards. If only just.
That said, if we try to occupy them, a lot of us are expecting there to be a rather nasty resistance movement that we'll have to deal with. We'll need to see the exact situation once immediate hostilities are over, and figure out what our options are. We'll naturally end up claiming all their territory, though whether it's worth much isn't really known to us.
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To the best of our knowledge, he's alive. We broke into his house in lystheni space and stole copies of his files. We didn't do anything to him.
And given he wasn't committing any crimes in Virmire space; yes, he kept showing up under different passports, but all he did was buy stuff, which isn't a crime against us. The passport thing is a lystheni problem.
Or was.
I don't see the lystheni putting anyone in local command other than the dalatrass.
Not when she is right there. And the extreme secrecy suggests that the indivivdual ship captains may not know who is senior to each other, assuming they realized that was a necessary thing to establish.
These are the guys who had their admiral personally handling basic procurement for the shipyards after all. Delegation is not really in their DNA.
This is my conjecture as well.
We aren't currently short on space. And I doubt they have the people to hold the planets they claimed besides the odd outpost.
We're taking the planets in the buffer zone outright, and probably the research planets.
The other planets they claimed I am unsure about.
More worried about space, to be honest.
We are likely to acquire a nasty pirate problem if we aren't extremely thorough about this.
I think it's likely we'll claim what we want and there will be fuck all that they can do about it. I'm not really sure we can allow them to exist as an actual polity anymore, even with client status, but integrating them into our own citizenry isn't a viable short term option either. Maybe just move them all to Taramnal, ensure they've got enough supplies to set up a suitable basic industrial base we can trade something with so they can continue to get supplies while not being a burden on us, leave a couple defense stations in orbit to keep an eye on them, and leave them be until we can come up with a long term solution.
Possibly. But that only works for long if they've got a port of call that they can go to in order to affect maintenance and repairs. It's possible they've got some secret outpost somewhere, but even then that location would have the same issues as the whole of their space, in that they don't have the population or industrial base to maintain a significant navy. (and if they do have such a secret location, only some of their ships would actually know about it) Plus the 3rd RWF will likely be patrolling Lystheni space for a while until we've got whatever defense stations we think we need installed.
- Location
- Sydney
Last time I checked, it was illegal to use a false passport as ID (when entering a nation or otherwise), even if that nation is not the issuer, and is often a very serious crime, relatively speaking. Though some of that might originate from old Cold War paranoia and may be more or less true in this context. Buying stuff maybe not illegal, but entering the nation and doing so under false ID is not only immigration fraud, but might fall under smuggling regulations too.
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
If only he had ever entered Virmirean space, that might be an issue for him. As it stands, all of his purchases were from Virmirean merchants working in Lystheni territory. Thus, any prosecution -- indeed, any determination of illegality -- of his actions falls to the relevant local authority. Dalatrass?
DALATRASS: (Smug smirk, doesn't even bother to respond.)
There you go.
Update's coming along, folks. Expect it tomorrow, as I'll actually then be available to write.
Start As You Mean To Go On
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Shoot first, shoot often. Sucker punch the Lystheni with an all-out assault. You possess the advantage of quality. An alpha strike could easily burn half of the Lystheni's ships before they get their engines started, and secure the battle.
Start As You Mean To Go On
Mira vs. the Lystheni: 68 vs. 40. Two degrees of success.
In the end, there never was any doubt about how this would go.
The Lystheni were ready for treachery, but they weren't ready for you. No matter how prepared they were to start a fight, nobody can sit with their ships combat-ready at all times, and when your vessels open fire, the Lystheni barely have a chance to start up their drives. Your ships take a few hits, but the barriers soak everything. The platform doesn't even come under fire.
You return to your cruiser and fall back from the system as the offensive begins.
Now, you knew in advance that the Lystheni would have plans to remove or sabotage the research stations in Sikel if hostilities broke out. You also know that light takes time to propagate. A detachment of the third has been waiting a light year out from Sikel, on the outer edges of the gravity well and in the perfect place for a precision FTL jump. Had things gone well, they would have retreated, a year from now the Lystheni would be notified how very serious your intentions were, and all would be well.
Things have not gone well, and the Lystheni get their notification as the task force pops out of FTL within visual range. By the time they muster a response, quarian marines are already storming the stations. The tale is the same elsewhere. The 3rd RWF, mauled as it is, is a professional and blooded fighting force with dreadnoughts, and the Lystheni's glorified and disorganized weekend warriors collapse in the face of your allies' advance.
You'd like to call this a campaign, but that would imply that there was organized opposition. It's the moments after that hold true horror.
* * *
"What were they hoping to accomplish?" you say, staring down at the mutilated test subject and trying to hold back your gorge.
"Something to do with how various phenomena interact with the salarian body," murmurs Durrahe, looking at the Lystheni with mixed revulsion and regret. "This latest was using nuclear fission to induce radiation sickness and studying the effects. We're still going through their notes, but it would seem that this is only the latest in a series of experiments to see how different kinds of energy can affect salarians. Almost every salarian in Lystheni space has been exposed to something. Obviously, not this for most of them."
"But why?" you ask.
He shrugs, hopeless. "We don't know. Something to do with the artifacts they recovered from SO 4. Again, we're still going through their notes. They managed to delete a lot of files, though. We may never know the full truth, unless some of them talk."
The test subject croaks in agony before expiring, going blessedly limp and silent.
* * *
You expected complications when it came down to storming the Lystheni's planets. The 3rd moves in to blockade the Lystheni worlds, and that goes as expected. But, just as you prepare to make landfall...
"Prime Minister, transmission from the planet's surface!"
You look up. "What is it?"
The salarian at the comms panel stands. "A salarian female claiming to be a rival of the Dalatrass. She wants to speak with you regarding her people's surrender, ma'am."
You grunt, your bad mood from the research stations returning in full. "That so? Put her on."
The man nods and steps aside, and you take his place. You stare at the console for a moment, wondering if you even want to spend more time talking after what you've seen.
Then you shake your head and unmute the link. You at least want to know your options. "This is Prime Minister T'Vael."
There's a moment of silence, and a quiet breath. "Is she dead?"
You tilt your head. "Is who dead?"
"My bitch of a sister. The, 'Dalatrass.'"
You lean back. You hadn't realized that the Dalatrass had a sister. "She is not. She's in my custody after attempting to murder me. And you ask this...why?"
"Because after what she's done, she deserves it. I assume you captured her research stations? That should tell you enough. But perhaps you want more. We can discuss that. But first I want you to accept my surrender."
You grimace. "And you have the authority to offer that?"
There's a laugh on the other end of the line. "Haven't you realized how our society works yet? Nobody has the authority! Nobody but her. But I have power, and enough confused and scared people who will listen to it. At the very least, I want your word that you'll spare everybody I can command and get away from your best targets for bombardment."
You consider her words for a moment.
"If it helps, I can give you her Admiral," she continues. "I managed to capture him when word reached us of your invasion."
You notice one of your people waving for your attention, and you mute the line again. "What is it?"
"We've tracked her signal, ma'am," the batarian says. "If you prefer, we could just bombard her position. Wipe out the last of their leadership."
Now isn't that a thought?
The conquest of Lystheni space was swift and effortless. Now the time has come to take the fight to the ground, but you first have a decision to make regarding this woman's offer.
[ ] Accept her offer. Whether or not you can trust what she says, she's left you a lot of room. If you can reduce the number of potential combatants, and perhaps even avoid a fight entirely, you will.
[ ] Refuse her offer. You are not acceding to restrictions on your actions when going into your army's first ground invasion. She can surrender in person to the soldiers who find her, just like everybody else.
[ ] Wipe her off the map. She says she has power. You don't like the idea of a post-war Lystheni society having anybody entrenched, and a mid-war society with an obvious rallying point is just as undesirable.
[ ] Write-in.
APPROVAL VOTING. TWO-HOUR MORATORIUM. THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.
I hope you enjoy, everybody. Now, I'll be away from my computer for the upcoming week. My wife and I are headed out of the country on a trip to Rome! I may possibly find my way to an internet connection I have the time or interest to exploit during this time, but I doubt it. See you! Have fun!
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Thank you for taking the trouble to update for us.
And have fun in fair Italy!
EDIT
As for the update:
Jesus Fucking Christ. Is the dalatrass insane?
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- Location
- New York
[X] Accept her offer. Whether or not you can trust what she says, she's left you a lot of room. If you can reduce the number of potential combatants, and perhaps evenavoid a fight entirely, you will.
Bombarding the position of someone who is trying to surrender would be pure evil.
Bombarding the position of someone who is trying to surrender would be pure evil.
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HanEmpire
Delicious
No reason we can't ask her some pointed questions before anything else.
EDIT:
Frankly, I'm more interested in answers than anything, and I suspect just killing her out of hand would be counterproductive to that. If she can't answer our questions to our satisfaction, then sure, we can kill her. That said, we should at least ask those questions first.
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- Location
- Northish
I don't think we have the forces or time to occupy an entire planet either way. Destroying their space based infrastructure and spaceflight capabilities would be much more practical. Pop a recon satellite in orbit to check up on things and that should prevent problems in the medium term. It is not like they are not already shielded from the Rachi by us so we are not leaving them to wolves here.
DevilsAdvocate
Always follow the golden rule.
She IS [supposingly] the idiots sister.
- Location
- the Moon
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[ ] Accept her offer. Whether or not you can trust what she says, she's left you a lot of room. If you can reduce the number of potential combatants, and perhaps even avoid a fight entirely, you will.
[ ] Refuse her offer. You are not acceding to restrictions on your actions when going into your army's first ground invasion. She can surrender in person to the soldiers who find her, just like everybody else.
At the risk of offering unsolicited advice, make sure y'all do as much touristy stuff as you can, it's way cheaper to drink heavily in the states.
And you absolutely must see the sea of lost luggage in Fuminko when you land. It's... something else, and very stereotypically Italian.
[ ] Refuse her offer. You are not acceding to restrictions on your actions when going into your army's first ground invasion. She can surrender in person to the soldiers who find her, just like everybody else.
Hot damn! Enjoy your trip.
At the risk of offering unsolicited advice, make sure y'all do as much touristy stuff as you can, it's way cheaper to drink heavily in the states.
And you absolutely must see the sea of lost luggage in Fuminko when you land. It's... something else, and very stereotypically Italian.
Valkur
The True Valkyria, Valkur!
- Location
- Fólkvangr
...I believe poptart is I'm the military or was in the military...hmmm
Anywho I think we should get local support where possible and force vassalazation. I've had enough of these North Korean expires.
After her surrender we can either make the Dalatress sister our puppet or full on annex them.
Anywho I think we should get local support where possible and force vassalazation. I've had enough of these North Korean expires.
After her surrender we can either make the Dalatress sister our puppet or full on annex them.
- Location
- Sydney
[ ] Accept her offer. Whether or not you can trust what she says, she's left you a lot of room. If you can reduce the number of potential combatants, and perhaps even avoid a fight entirely, you will.
If there is a chance we can end this conflict, we should take it. We control the orbitals, so the risk for us is minimal.
If she is lying, we will know none of them are trustworthy.
If she is telling the truth, we will know it was their leadership that was the problem.
If there is a chance we can end this conflict, we should take it. We control the orbitals, so the risk for us is minimal.
If she is lying, we will know none of them are trustworthy.
If she is telling the truth, we will know it was their leadership that was the problem.
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LoganBert34
Apprentice Clerk
- Location
- Australia
I say accept. We can always backstab later .Just saying that we found new evidence that she was involved in the madness and Japanese-esq crimes against sentients should be trivially easy at this point.
We have a chance to get on the right foot here, and have a leader who might make a good ally with considerable local backing.
My main reason for voting war a few votes back was because I wanted something like this to happen: A leadership shakedown.
We have a chance to get on the right foot here, and have a leader who might make a good ally with considerable local backing.
My main reason for voting war a few votes back was because I wanted something like this to happen: A leadership shakedown.