Mandat de l'impératrice des Cieux - Imperial Princess Troubleshooter Space Opera Quest

[X] Crisis Management


Social Decorum: 2/20 Unskilled (+1)
Political Etiquette: 5/20 Unskilled (+1)
Constitutional Law: 2/20 Unskilled (+1)
Crisis Management: 4/20 Unskilled (+4)
Governance: 1/20 Unskilled (+1)



Deciding which aspect of Ahri's education to focus on is a difficult question, because all five aspects are valid choices. True, when reigning as Empress, Ahri will be a leader, and at the highest tiers, a leader's personal expertise becomes less crucial: their job is to leverage subject matter experts, not to be experts themselves. It would also be hypocritical to demand of Ahri something you yourself can't achieve. But even so, you want her to at least have a working knowledge of her required skills.

You decide that for the next three months, she's going to focus on Crisis Management as her priority. At least, within the short term, she'll have two subjects in which she's made tangible progress. Once she's finished studying, and once you get a better feel for what Ahri needs to prioritise, you'll work up a more thorough semester schedule for her.

Ahri is markedly less than enthused about your decision.

"But why, onee-sama?" she protests. "Isn't that why I have you?" I'd rather study something else is her unspoken statement.

"Because, Ahri, you still need to achieve a minimum level of competence in all these five aspects of rulership," you reply, gently but firmly. "Yes, as a leader, your personal skill is less relevant than your ability to manage your staff. But you need to know enough."

"Do I really, Onee-sama? Can't I just study etiquette and leave the rest to my staff?"

"I'm reminded of something Fleet Admiral Bao Ling wrote: once an Admiral wears stars, she must abandon her previous branch affiliation, becoming all things to all foxes."

"...I don't understand."

You sigh. You've been doing a lot of that, lately. "My point, Ahri, is that as Empress, while you are managing and leveraging your staff, you still need to know enough to know when to delegate, when to step in, and how to assess the results your staff bring you. This is non-negotiable. After this quarter, we'll assess your performance and then reevaluate the direction of your studies, but right now, this is what you need to do."

"I don't like it," she says petulantly, and your lips curl.

"As Grandma Naomi told me, life is full of things you don't like that you have to do. You just have to get it done and over with, and then it's done."

"It's not fun," she sighs petulantly.

"It's not," you agree. "If service was fun, it wouldn't be service. We sacrifice our desires on the altar of service."

Reluctantly, Ahri nods.




"And here you were, afraid she was too obedient!" laughs Princess Natasha.

"I'm actually a little relieved," you tell your mother, snuggling against her fluffy tails, wrapped in her loving embrace. "Goddess, Mummy, I don't know how you managed it."

"I'm still making it up as I go along, Sayang. Parenting never really ends. Besides, any advice I give you wouldn't really work. You're easy mode, sayang."

You blush, embarrassed yet pleased. "I don't think so-"

"Listen to your mummy, sayang," she says, pinching your cheeks.




" Walau( Your dad) eh do I even look like someone who can give you childrearing and education advice? Hello, childless bachelor here. Ah girl you siao( crazy) ah? Si mi lan jiao( cock) I'm a college dropout who went Navy because kenot( cannot) find job, what la you this. Eh you don't sohai( idiot) please, can or not?"

"Uncle Johnny, you're the third parental figure in my life and you have your Masters."

"Don't talk cock( talk nonsense) lah wei-"

You bring up his convocation photo and wave it in his face. For good measure, you pull up that old video and wave your phone at him some more: Uncle Johnny, twenty five years younger, reading to you.

"This is Spot. Spot is a dog. See Spot. See Spot run. Run, run, run."

Your uncle opens his mouth to continue shitposting-

And then he sighs and rolls his shoulders. "Alright, alright, I'll cut the shitposting. Her Majesty asked if I would make breakfast with her a regular thing. I'm thinking of saying yes."

You give Uncle Johnny a raised eyebrow. He shrugs. "What can I say? I'm a loyal naval officer. The Empress commands and we obey."

You give him a look. "I remember I had to work harder to persuade you the first time."

"I'll admit to being flattered by her request. Me, asked for personally by the Empress. You don't get that every day." His sardonic grin softens. "Besides, I told you I'd help, ah girl," he replies, sipping his tea. "Between your dad, your mum and me, I think we did a good job with you - more so your mum and dad, of course - so if there's anything I can do to help the Empress, I'll do it. My one stipulation is that we mix things up a bit, don't have me always coming to the palace. Take her to your house for the weekend sometimes - it's less eyebrow-raising for me to visit my goddaughter's house than it is for Sir Yonatan to visit Her Majesty's palace. Something like that."

"Why not your house, Uncle?" you ask, knowing full well what he's going to say.

"Yui, please," he shakes his head chidingly. "I have enough rifles to outfit a squad. You have absolutely zero guns. It's so much easier on all of us if we go to your house. I don't want to have to pack up my guns and keep them away." He grins cheekily. "Besides, your house means you're the host, which means you have to layan me."

"I'm holding a cup of hot tea, my hand might suddenly spasm," you warn him.

"Please don't. For your sake. Ri-Sumeragi will not be happy that you spilled her tea."

"...it is good tea," you allow. As a flag officer, you can appreciate very well an adjutant who makes an excellent brew. As a former adjutant, you feel a stab of professional jealousy at how her tea's so much better than yours.

"You're still my favorite adjutant," Uncle Johnny says, gently patting your shoulder.

"Thank you."




You close your eyes, and when you open them, three months have passed you by. You're shocked at how fast the year went by.

Ahri has gotten down to studying, and she's put in the work. You can see improvement, not just from her studies, but also from her sessions with Uncle Johnny. Your godfather is firm but caring, kind yet no nonsense. His protestations aside, he's good for her. What you'd hoped for is coming to pass: he's helping to draw her out of her shell, being a male role model in her life (and, perhaps, another pseudo-parental figure to accompany you). She's still Unskilled, but at least she's making progress. But at the rate she's going...you're not sure she'll be ready in time. You make a mental note to revise her study plans, you want to be sure she's as prepared as you can make her-

-but you have to table that for now, because Daniel is back from Fenghuang space, investigating SA-Caledfwlch.




Daniel's report isn't as promising as you'd hoped. He gives you the highlights: the team has spent the last three months getting situated, observing SA-Caledfwlch leadership, slowly trying to develop HUMINT sources amongst the dock workers, surreptitiously mapping out facility spaces. Operating underground, trying to stay under the radar, limits the actions that the team has been able to take.

"In the end, all I can say for sure, Your Highness, is that the yards are busy. Workers are spending money in the bars and buying new vehicles, overtime is being freely granted, and the general mood of the workforce that we've sampled is tired but positive. We know that there's a lot of work going on in the yards, but we don't know where that work is coming from. We're still working on developing HUMINT sources, as well as other intelligence gathering methods."

"It doesn't seem like much to show for three months of work," you muse disappointedly, and Daniel nods.

"I'm afraid so, and I apologize, ma'am. The past three months were, essentially, foundational work. The silver lining is that's all done, we can start crawling forward through the maze."

"Interesting analogy. Which brings us to the next point: you suggested that we revisit the investigation when you returned. I want to hear your recommendation."

"I believe we should continue the investigation, ma'am. It's a marathon, not a sprint. The question remains for how much longer do you want to continue running the investigation, and who should be running it. Time is our greatest enemy. I believe we'll need another three months at least, more likely six. At the very worst case, we may be looking at any time between twelve to thirty six months."

"I presume you're not in favor of going back to investigate?"

"As an intelligence specialist, my natural inclination is to see through the investigation," he agrees. "But I'm your Equerry, ma'am. My place is here, running your staff, and developing your personal intelligence team. I need to be here to support you. I will follow your orders, but I don't like leaving the investigation out of my hands, or on leaving you hanging."

"If you were to pull out now, would the investigation stall out?"

"I'd say it's a fifty-fifty chance, ma'am. Major Yamashiro and her team are still there and assisting with the investigation. I'm not sure whether IRG command will continue to sideline a Tier One team for an indefinite period of time."

"Tier One?" you say, raising an eyebrow. Daniel nods.

"I'm convinced of it, ma'am. They don't make a big deal of it, but the way her team operates, the way her shooters behave and carry themselves… they're not just special forces, they're a cut above."

"Interesting. I wasn't expecting the IRG to send a Tier One asset. I think we can be confident Major Ueda is capable of running the investigation," you say, to which Daniel nods. "How bad would it be if we left her in charge of the investigation?"

Daniel pauses, carefully choosing his words. "I'm not concerned with Major Ueda's competence. My concern is that she won't have the same… purpose, behind her investigation. And ultimately, leaving the investigation in her hands means that we will be beholden to the Imperial Royal Guard. We'll only get what information the IRG deigns to share with us."

"A valid point, but in the worst case, we can rely on Her Majesty for assistance if the IRG proves intransigent," you muse. "This investigation is, afterall, proceeding on verbal orders of the Empress. I don't think we will get too much resistance from the IRG - they'll also want to look good in front of Her Majesty. But I'll have a word with our IRG liaison, Major Nakahara. And if need be, with the Commanding General."

Daniel nods, noncommittally. "In that case, Your Highness, as I see it, there are several options to consider. The first is for me to return to continue to run the investigation. You can have full confidence that things will progress, but I'll be away from your side, and unable to support you.

"Another option is to accept the reality that we have to leave the investigation in Major Ueda's hands. She's capable, no doubt, but it does mean that whatever intelligence we receive will be, at the very least, slanted by the IRG's focuses and biases, and there's a chance they could miss things; her team's not Fleet, ma'am, not like we are.

"I personally believe that now is the best time to expand our investigation team. Rather than expending all of our strength on a single task, we could expend a third of our strength on a task. Once the team has been expanded, we could then have more flexibility in acting." He hesitates, then shakes his head. "As I see it, these are the options you have, ma'am."

"There's something else you're not telling me, Daniel," you say calmly. "I'd like to hear it."

"It's nothing, ma'am. At least, I can't be sure it's something."

"Nevertheless, Captain, I'd like to hear it.

Daniel purses his lips, and withdraws a sealed ziploc bag from his briefcase, handing it to you. "This was sent to my house, addressed to me."

You pick up the bag: inside it is a handwritten letter on a sheet of A4 paper. It's short and to the point:

To Captain Daniel O'Farrel,

The ancestors say that one should never serve two mistresses, but there are those who fail to heed that wisdom. Consider this a demonstration of my bonafides. I'll not spoon-feed you, but I'll point you to the river. It's your choice if you want to drink before the river runs dry.

Once you've established my information is good, follow my instructions. Let's do business.

Your mistress will appreciate what I have to offer.

Stuck to the bottom of the letter are two post-it notes: one with instructions for a dead drop to contact the sender (and that gives you a raised eyebrow: analog methodology in a digital world), and one with a string of letters and numbers: a Navy serial number. You feel your blood run cold at that realisation.

"It's handwritten, no signature, no return address, no obvious identifying marks on the paper. The envelope has all the correct postal stamps, but I haven't been able to verify that this letter was actually sent via the postal service." Daniel frowns. "I still don't know what to make of it."

"What does this letter sound like, to your ears?"

"They're implying that someone in the Navy is selling secrets and this lead is time-sensitive," says Daniel reluctantly. "I'm not sure this anonymous lead is worth following, ma'am. It could simply be an elaborate prank. Or, more sinisterly, it could be an attempt to discredit us by baiting us into investigating an innocent naval officer."

"Or they could be telling the truth."

"Or that. To be able to verify for sure, I would need to investigate…"

"And if someone's trying to bait us, you'll be walking right into their trap."

"I'm afraid so, ma'am. It's why I haven't investigated the dead drop yet."

A dilemma, to be sure. So many things to do, but only one thing that you can do at this time. Choosing one means sacrificing - or at least postponing - the others. Resuming the investigation removes Daniel from you for the duration. Expanding the investigation team sacrifices being able to act now for being able to do more in the future. Investigating this anonymous lead is time-sensitive, but it could be a trap.


Where will you utilise Daniel?

[ ] Resume the SA-Caledfwlch Investigation
[ ] Expand your investigation team
[ ] Investigate the anonymous lead