Mobile Suit Gundam: Pax Iove (An Original Gundam AU Advisorquest)

[x] A peculiar insight.
[x] A dedicated support station.

First to speak is the woman with the bright-coloured hair - Professor Xuan Marta Hoang, an economist late of Gantz-Kepler. You've worked with her officially-former Institute before, but not her department - Belogradchik was many things, but she was no freighter. Her report is... dry, even with your appointment hearings fresh in your mind. Quaoar's major export is research contracts and software licenses, and she's apparently spent much of the last few months tracking navigational computer contracts with Saturn - especially regarding their planned RKV strike on Titan.

Her report interweaves with the man who entered alongside her, who introduces himself as Tadgh Kaspichan, just ambiguously enough that you suspect it's a pseudonym. Apparently, there are concerns that Saturn's RKV launch was done with Quaoar TrueGrav navigators, which should trigger a lockdown if prompted to plot a course that would yield anything close to a relativistic impact. He's identified several potential flaws in Quaoar's blackboxing tech, any of which might have helped them jailbreak the TrueGrav, and has forwarded his team to coordinate with Research to try and amend them - along with a rather pointed warning about the dangers of potential leaks.

It's here that the woman in work clothes speaks up - the transcript-taker on her desk names her as de la Fuente, Chief Eng. QPIC. While she doesn't explicitly challenge Security's conclusions, she does question their priorities - and their heavy-handed treatment of QPIC workers, with hush orders across whole departments despite no conclusive evidence that their work had anything to do with the Saturnians' exploit. She wants the review to first focus on identifying the actual flaws in the existing model, if only for domestic production.


The man on the holocall is the now-former Assemblyman Hargreaves, still on his way back from the Earth Sphere - and not taking questions, on account of several minutes of light delay. In his own words, he made "a grand old Terran musical" out of his resignation; the details of old treaties and Assembly political blocs escapes you, but apparently he managed to wrangle some concessions out of the Saturnians that had Hoang smiling like a bear in a fishmarket. He also spent the first leg of his trip - to Jupiter for a gravity assist, cheaper than a straight shot to Quaoar despite the extra time - on the same ship as Isaac Arcas, preparing to continue his post-Nobel tour on Ganymede. He was full of praise for the "dynamic" Jovian admiral, though not without his reservations. He concludes his report with a grave expression; "Arcas is no Caesar or Napoleon," he says as he shakes his head, "but I see their ghosts in him."

After Hargreaves' theatrical account of his time on Earth, Whipporwhil's report on the state of the Fleet seems perfunctory. The Commodore wants to know if there will be a recall on their TrueGravs, and the Union is finally moving on getting a new Kilauea built - and then her report gets derailed into a debate she had with the Commodore that was probably not meant to be aired with the whole Consulate. Apparently, she wants the Kilauea stripped down and prepared for a refit as a mobile suit carrier, despite the fact that all existing doctrine either has mobile suits based on stations or cruiser-weight ships. And also that the Kilauea doesn't have a carrier configuration even for strike craft. She's halfway into a detailed pitch before she seems to remember where she is, apologises awkwardly for the divergence, and shrinks into her seat.

...and kicks you a large briefcase under the table. Which is standing on a narrow side, so it falls over with a loud thunk, and catches the attention of everyone in the room.

"It's not a bribe!" she shouts, opening the latch with her foot to reveal a pile of blueprints.


You lock eyes with Thomas. His face is level, but his eyes convey a kind of desperate exhaustion that can't be put into words. You nod, stand up to pick up the briefcase, click it shut and set it beside your chair. "Research will consider the Fleet Representative's proposal," you say, giving Whipporwhil a polite if slightly judging nod. She stammers something nervously before promptly announcing her report is complete.

Next to speak is the politician - the House's Delegate, who offers his congratulations on your and Whipporwhil's appointments. He echoes de la Fuente's earlier concerns about the TrueGrav lockdown, especially its possible impact on expanding the L4 civilian shipyards, as well as complaints from voters about the production stoppages at QPIC's orbital stations. The House has also voted to review the Consulate's budgets early next year, especially in light of the "sudden shift in priorities".


Kızılırmak is next, and focuses on the ongoing prosecution of the officials caught in Research's last corruption purge - which also neatly answers where Kriemhilding's journo hatchetwoman has gone, as apparently the Mother of the Constitution has decided to clear out her own office's dirty laundry and poached her for some kind of special inquest. Kızılırmak speaks with a sort of grim satisfaction when she talks about hauling a few particular prosecutors out in front of a grand jury.

QPIC is working on improving stable suit production, including the trials of a new high-maneuverability model. It's the sort of thing that would previously not have been a selling point for a stable suit - no matter how limber the suit is, it would still be constrained by the umbilical, which could only be so long and so flexible without risking the connection. The official reason for the prototype is to allow for more precise maneuvers and a greater operational capacity in the rings or other high impact risk areas, but it's clear QPIC is keeping one eye on another market - and that brings the attention to you.

Aside from a short introduction, Thomas doesn't expect you to have a full report; he welcomes you to the Consulate, looks you dead in the eye, and says two words: "Mobile suits."

The hologram flickers to a blurry recording of the fighting around Titan. Several humanoid shapes surround the familiar outline of a Palomar, two picking off its fighter complement while the last carves through its hull like butter with a cutter rated for main structural beams. "I don't know what the Titanites did, but if Jupiter could figure it out, I trust we can."

"This isn't just about pride. The Spire tossed a live grenade onto Eris; no matter what they say, Saturn's not about to let most of Titan just walk off into the black, and Eris isn't going to forget Saturn, either. And while I stand by my predecessor's decision to admit our guests from Neptune, it hasn't made us any friends on Neso." He gives you and Whipporwhil a pointed look. "The Union's done good by us, better than Old Earth ever did, but by all their own rules Arcas should be in a cell, not on a book tour."

Otgonbayar and de la Fuente both rise to speak, but Thomas holds up a hand. "Not that I'd have done different, if I saw Neso flinging rods at Galatea and had the guns to stop it - but let's not pretend they wouldn't have hauled me to Pluto in a brig for 'interference in sovereign affairs'. Maybe the Assembly would let me off, but they sure as hell wouldn't give me a Union Star. And seeing as 'no more interplanetary invasions' was what we dropped rods on Earth for-" Thomas snarls, takes a deep breath, and shakes his head. "I've been a Union man for longer than there's been a Union; I hope to God I'm wrong. But right now, the biggest things keeping us safe are the Union and obscurity, and I can't be sure how long we can count on either."

"Khwarizmi, I need you to get me something actionable. You know the Institutes, you know the Fleet; I know the Institutes sold you to the House on their multi-purpose hull proposal, but here and now, I'm going to ask only one thing of you: if the Spheres come calling, find something that gives us an option beyond 'surrender'."


You meet his gaze and silently nod, and Thomas answers with one of his own. "Hoang will arrange an aquisitions budget for these mobile suits - I want to get something into our hands sooner rather than later. That means Eris or Jupiter, unless you're damn confident you can go it alone."

What is your recommendation?
[ ] Approach Jupiter about a new-build mobile suit.
The Jovian JMS-3 Hauteclere is the current peak of mobile suit technology, developed on Galatea and assembled by the JSHF's factory cruisers en route to Saturn. The Jovians currently hold the Union's official contract for mobile suit production, and nominally would need to provide them at a reasonable price, but they will likely be filled with black boxes and software locks to cut down on reverse-engineering. Still, the Hauteclere is for the moment the most advanced and most affordable mobile suit in the Union, and you can get one for a reasonable price, completely within Union law. (Whipporwhil and Kızılırmak support this.)

[ ] Approach Jupiter about an unlocked reactor.
Jupiter is pointedly not exporting the JMS-3's reactor as anything but a black box - at least, not through the Union Logistics Office. But Hargreaves is confident in his rapport with Arcas, and the Hero of Titan carries a lot of weight with the JSHF, and it may be possible to reach some kind of less... Earth-based arrangement. Of course, it would risk being drawn into Jupiter's sphere of influence, or even its opaque internal politics. (Hargreaves supports this option, though cautiously.)

[ ] Approach Eris about surplus reactors.
Eris has plenty of materials, between what the Eridians brought from Titan and the Union's standard support system for new colonies. They're already converting some of their mobile suits back into stable suits for colony and shipyard work - work that you could help accelerate by loaning them a few skilled spacers in exchange for mobile suit reactors they don't have a use for. Helping the Eridians could invite ire from Saturn, but the Saturn Sphere has bigger problems than you. (Hoang supports this option.)

[ ] Approach Eris about a secondhand mobile suit.
Part of the Treaty of Titan meant that the Titanites' mobile suits were disarmed, but their weapons aren't the revolutionary technology anyway. New-build Quaoarian stable suits will work with all the same Union-standard infrastructure, but are specialised in building in the Reaches, and don't have a whole uprising's worth of wear and tear - of course, they will still want some more practical support to include the reactor. (de la Fuente supports this option.)

[ ] Attempt to develop your own reactor model.
The first Titanite mobile suits were developed from stable suits, which means their reactors must have a similar performance profile to a standard colonial umbilical. The Institutes have a thousand concepts that might fit that kind of power into something the size of a mobile suit - though no guarantees as to which will actually work at scale - and while sorting the scientific wheat from the chaff will take time, it will at least guarantee that you're not reliant on interplanetary shipping for your experiments. (Otgonbayar and Kaspichan support this option.)

Choose one Consulate member to meet with during the recess.
[ ] Bohumil Thomas, Chair of the Committee.
[ ] Asm. Ali Hargreaves, Head of Outreach. Still en route.
[ ] Capt. Anastasya Whipporwhil, Fleet Representative.
[ ] Prof. Xuan Marta Hoang, Head of Administration.
[ ] Tadhg Kaspichan, Head of Security.
[ ] Jenivive Filo Kızılırmak, Chief of the Judiciary.
[ ] Jean-Noel Otgonbayar, Delegate of the House of Voices.
[ ] Hanifa de la Fuente, Chief Engineer of QPIC.

* * *

[X] Tadhg Kaspichan, Head of Security.
[X] Attempt to develop your own reactor model.

You follow Kaspichan to the south atrium; he takes a seat on a stool by a tall glass table, and waves you over without ever turning around. "Good to meet you properly." He spins his stool around as you approach and holds out his hand. "Tadgh Kaspichan, but you knew that already. Just Tadgh, one Consul to another." His smile is bright on his pallid face, but he's watching you with curious interest.

You take his hand and shake it.

[ ] Call me Tia, then. (Be proactively friendly.)
[ ] Hypatia. One Consul to another. (When in doubt, mimic.)
[ ] I look forward to working with you, Consul Kaspichan. (Assert professional distance.)

His grip is... unsteady, and you can feel his arm shaking slightly; he meets your eyes with a silent glare, and your first question dies on your lips. The dark veins beneath his pale skin; his sunken eyes; his gaunt frame and ill-fitting suit - they paint a picture.

Tia Learning vs. Tadgh Intrigue: 1d100 [96] + 24 = 120 vs. 1d100 [???] + ??? = 88

You're no doctor, but you've worked with spacers; you know the signs. His career is dedicated to secrets, and you'll allow him his own - but not when they could impact his duties. You match his glare with your own, honed by a life spent in command of spacers too proud for their own good.

"I know what you're going to say, and I ask that you don't." His glare twists into a bitter snarl. "Bohumil, Jean-Noel, and my deputies are all well aware, and if - I stress if - my condition were to deteriorate, contingencies are in place. For all your accomplishments, you are not a physician, and I assure you anything you have to say is something I have heard before."

You open your mouth to speak, but he cuts you off.

"I know that look, Commander, and I will stress that we are colleagues - you are not my CO, I am not one of your crew. This is neither the time, nor the place, nor your responsibility. Do you understand me?"

You don't like it - but what more could you add that a Consul's doctors couldn't already have said? His defiant glare calls to mind other faces with sunken eyes and pale skin, smiling out at the stars from a medbed - or before pulling a helmet closed for one last spacewalk.

You still don't understand.

"I hope you'll never understand, skipper."

You hold his's gaze and nod once.

Tadgh Kaspichan trait revealed: Laika's Disease.

The dark look vanishes from his face as swiftly as it appeared, and he once again looks no different than any number of slightly tired Institute students you've toured around Belogradchik. He spins his stool around and orders some kind of multicoloured juice blend while you still in the silence.

He finally breaks the silence with a snort. "No need to stand on ceremony - I'm sure you had something more to discuss than one man's personal troubles. Setting that unpleasantness aside, I'm glad to see you come to me; Rajesh is a good man, but it's easy to disappoint a good man. Your reactor proposal?"

"I've had proposals before the Consulate before, but it's different, as a Consul myself." You shrug noncommitally, and then quietly add, "Does the room always feel so... big?"

"What do you think?" He points one finger at you - or rather, up at you. Even seated on the stools, you're half a head taller than him, and a fair bit broader. "You get used to it, if you don't wash out. Ask Ali if you need the grand encouraging speech; there's never enough truth in those to be Security business." He laughs at his own joke.

"The idea's ambitious, but you can count on my vote. It's not my job to trust, and I'd ask if you think we can do it - but given that the alternatives are Jupiter and Eris? Even if Bullock and Arcas are saints - and no saint makes it to GP or admiral, however much they might charm dear Ali - everyone can see Jupiter's star rising, and the Union's pissed away their chance to stop it. There's no way we'd warrant priority through the Union for even one mobile suit until Mars had built a few hundred. I'm optimisitc about the Eiridians in the long term, but we live in the present, and we just don't know enough about the Eridians to trust them yet. Maybe it will turn out we can - but we can't afford to wait." He snickers. "Or at least, Security can't - I imagine Marta will have a few choice words about what we can afford as Admin measures it."

He hums and strokes his chin, a faint smile on his face. "Jean-Noel will blunt her, though. The man bleeds grey and blue; he'll slurp up anything the Nationalists can staple their feeble pride to, and the House has a gift for making budget questions vanish when it lets them puff out their chests. I'd say if there were any competition, it'd be the official buy from Jupiter - especially if Ali decides not to go forward with meeting his handsome Jovian away from prying eyes. Just in case, you might want to get Hanifa on side; or the new Fleet girl, I'm not quite sure what her price is yet."

"Her price?" you hiss, not hiding your offense on behalf of a fellow officer.

He blinks, seeming to only now remember that you're there. "Probably not the advice you wanted, is it? Too much time making sausages, you forget most people buy them pre-cooked. Price, persuasion, principles, call it what you want, it all comes down to what you need to do to get their support, and what they need to do to get yours."

"And if I just want them to do the right thing?"

"People always do the right thing. This," he waves his hand around the room, "is all just how we decide what the right thing is." A chime sounds from his belt, and he snaps a small display from his pocket. "It was nice meeting you - I'll see you on the floor."

Tadgh Kaspichan trait revealed: Cynical.

* * *

The recess ends, and the Chair calls the Consulate back to order, to vote on and affirm the proposed agenda.

Most of the votes are largely perfunctory. Hargreaves - not really in position to set a bold new agenda - essentially proposes to continue the policies from Thomas's time heading Outreach, and capitalising on his own recent negotiations to strengthen Quaoar's position in the Outer Reaches. You're not the only one leery about his proposed commercial and research agreements, and cast your vote alongside Hoang and de la Fuente to table those provisions until a more thorough investigation of their impact - and the sheer logistics involved - can be carried out by your office and Hoang's. Your opposition is joined by Otgonbayar, though only after his own flat opposition to the plan fails to garner any further support; in the end, you're carried through by Kızılırmak, who questions if Hargreaves is trying to exert undue control over Research and Administration. You can spot the moment that transmission caught up to him by the sudden look of shock on his face, and the stammered denials.

Administration spars with QPIC over the issue of planetary versus orbital infrastructure investments. Both want to expand lift capacity, but Hoang wants to focus on building planetside rail connections and expand existing spaceports, while QPIC wants instead to focus on more vertical investment by deploying medium-capacity space elevators on underserved regions on the surface, connecting to small shuttleports in orbit. Hoang calls it a "Kessler nightmare", citing the issues Charon had with similar wide elevator installation; de la Fuente counters that Charon only got so bad due to overcrowding at its primary spaceport. In the end, the vote is hung with most of the Consulate abstaining, and Thomas requests that both offices prepare their own proposals - though he also gives you a pointed look.

Security wants new telescopes beyond the Rings, and has a few proposals on a system to improve tracking of unpowered objects that might approach Quaoar orbit. Their presentation - given by two aides with only a few nods from their Consul - is well put together, but suspiciously vague about the reasons that this is their focus. It's about this time when you notice that someone has slipped a couple of extra files onto your desk, and they include several pieces of long-range telemetry believed to show a group of Titanite mobile suits cutting their reactors after a gravity assist, causing the existing system to flag them as asteroids.

Whipporwhil seems confused at where Security got the footage, before you stage-whisper "telescope accident" to her. After a couple follow-up questions, you eventually see the light of understanding dawn, and she immediately begins scribbling down what looks like a deployment pattern for civilian telescopes, set up to optimise the time the array would be observing an orbiting body in the same system. When you point out that this kind of thing is frowned upon by the Union, she labels the sun in her diagram "Not Sol", winks at you, and goes back to the equations.

Thankfully, you don't need to remind her that it's her turn to speak, as the moment that Security's presenters leave the centre stage, she points a finger at the main projectors and the holograms switch to a real-time display of the 3rd Flotilla. Her first priority, she declares, is building up back to Quaoar's full complement of ships under Union policy - the fact that Quaoar has never actually been at full capacity before doesn't seem relevant to her. That means two new destroyers and eight corvettes - not unreasonable, given the yard capacity of the Reaches, but you do a double take when she says she wants the ships all built at Quaoar's local yards.

Hoang stares at her like she's grown a second head when she offhandedly mentions that it should be "straightforward" to refit the yards to be able to lay down destroyer hulls, and de la Fuente seems locked between horror and fascination as she passes around her proposal for expanding Juvit's berths into full sized atmodocks. Fascination seems to win out, though, as while she abstains from the proposal at present, she requests the designs to be forwarded to QPIC for a more formal safety review. The motion is defeated, in favour of building a pair of corvettes in the existing facilities, but Whipporwhil doesn't seem all that discouraged.

Last - and perhaps most contentiously - the vote returns back to the question of mobile suit development. Your aides have conveniently assembled a dossier of promising prospects, but they're all just that - prospects. As predicted, Otgonbayar seizes on them to wax lyrical about the value of Quaoarian ingenuity - though you can't help but wince as he fumbles some of the terminology.

Hoang is the bitterest opponent, asking after costs and production capabilities at every turn, despite all of you knowing that these early stage proposals have neither. She manages to bring Whipporwhil on side by pointing out the inherent delay of building something from first principles that's already rolling out of Jovian factories, while de la Fuente is sceptical of the process's ability to produce useful results, especially with the economy already under strain. Hargreaves seems to take the opportunity to get into a political debate with Otgonbayar, countering Nationalist talking points with Unionist ones as if on the campaign trail rather than in the Consulate's chambers - the multi-minute comms delay makes it seem almost comical, especially how Otgonbayar visibly deflates each time he realises he needs to wait not only for Hargreaves' response, but also his reactions.

In the end, the questions come down to two things: your ability to deliver a prototype in a reasonable time frame (in particular, by comparison to getting suits through the Union's logistics office), and the potential that such work might distract from addressing other ongoing issues. As the voices die down, but before Thomas calls the vote, everyone turns to you to speak - after all, it's your department.

You have 8 Influence.
The Consulate is voting on office priorities. Quaoar is not an autocracy, and while the Chair often makes recommendations, their only formal role is to break ties in the wider Consulate. The Consulate broadly supports you beginning work on mobile suit production infrastructure, with the main challenge being in the particulars - you have recommended producing a Quaoar-made reactor from scratch. The opposition vote is to acquire Union standard mobile suits from Jupiter.

Current Consulate support:

Members of the Consulate who are not committed to an option have their odds of each option given in brackets. The first number is their chance of voting for your proposal, the second is their odds of abstention, and the third is their chance of voting for the opposition proposal. A die is rolled for each non-committed Consul to give the final result.

How do you plan on currying support?
[ ] [HoO] Persuade Hargreaves that his work in the Saturn negotiations would be reinforced by a new Quaoarian technological triumph. (DC 60 Diplomacy check; -1 Influence on failure)
[ ] [HoO] Bargain for Hargreaves' support by committing to issue a report on his proposed joint research initiative with Pluto and Haumea this turn.
[ ] [HoO] Bargain for Hargreaves' support by committing to resuming TrueGrav exports within two turns.
[ ] [HoO] Don't bargain with Hargreaves.
[ ] [CEQ] Persuade de la Fuente that Jovian mobile suit imports might threaten local stable suit manufacturers. (DC 30 Stewardship check; -1 Influence on failure)
[ ] [CEQ] Bargain for de la Fuente's support by committing to issue a report on the TrueGrav breach this turn.
[ ] [CEQ] Bargain for de la Fuente's support by committing to release a mid-throughput space elevator design within two turns.
[ ] [CEQ] Bargain for de la Fuente's support by promising QPIC production rights to any reactor prototype.
[ ] [CEQ] Don't bargain with de la Fuente.
[ ] [FR] Persuade Whipporwhil that developing a reactor will not significantly delay doctrine development when compared to acquiring Union models. (DC 50 Martial check; -1 Influence on failure)
[ ] [FR] Bargain for Whipporwhil's support by committing the Belogradchik to observe and report on maneuvers this turn.
[ ] [FR] Bargain for Whipporwhil's support by committing to issue a report on potential Kilauea refits this turn.
[ ] [FR] Don't bargain with Whipporwhil.

Please use plan voting!

CK-style council mechanics are usually built around a reasonably autocratic core, where the ruler sets priorities with varying input from advisors. Quaoar is not an autocracy - while the Chair gets to do a lot of the talking, it's the Consulate as a whole which decides how things go, and that means you'll need to get 3-4 of your fellow Consuls behind your plans if you want official sanction for them. While you certainly can act in your specialty without Consulate approval, officially approved projects will have a lot more Resources available, and you can call in support from the other backers of the project if you need help.

While this is technically the case for all the business of every office, most of those votes in the Consulate will not be put up for vote in the quest, just because it would drag the system down and turn it into essentially a conventional CKQ rather than focusing down on the one specific asset. On particularly contentious measures - and those directly relevant to Research - there will be a separate negotiation and vote step similar to a vote directly proposed by Research, but for the most part, it will be Khwarizmi's background and character that decide how non-Research votes go.

When making a proposal, early votes will tell you who will be supportive of you from the start. The more support you get, the more resources you can call on as part of the project - so don't think you only need the bare minimum of votes to pass something! The general view of the Consulate is that if you voted for it, you're invested in its success, so if you can win someone's support for a project even when it isn't absolutely necessary, they will be more willing to provide resources, assets, or expertise that might otherwise require spending Influence.