The Reluctant Vassal's Guide to Living in the Frontier (with some Treason)

Progress: 2/8.

"I would encourage settling on Asenmach III, namely around one of the volcanic sites. It might sound rather dangerous, but I am sure that it is a welcomed challenge for your kin," you hinted and finished off the drink. "If nothing else, it might prove inspirational for you."

"Ah, unfortunately I don't handle heat well." The face shifted into something that you supposed was supposed to be discomfort. "Perhaps one of my colleagues would be better suited. I hope you don't take offense."

"Only if you decide to never appear again," Radana slyly slid in, causing you to blink in abrupt surprise from the interruption. "I find our conversations quite fruitful and productive, and would like nothing more than to establish a diplomatic rapport. Should I just invoke your title should we have need for further discussion?"

They blinked, then beamed. "Of course. The Mask will be always welcome talks about our people's relationship in the future." A polite nod and then they departed to converse with the settler representatives. That gave you the opportunity to glance at your aide and ask what the last part was all about, not getting it.

"Because, your highness," you could hear just how much Radana was about to say something else, if not for the public setting, "It would be a good idea to have a friendlier point of contact for official talks instead of a hostile or indifferent one. We made a good impression already with the Mask through continued engagement, no reason to let it go to waste from a perceived fault."

"A good point," was all you could settle on saying with an awkward cough. Well, being able to talk the talk was half the reason why Radana was your most trusted retainer for all this. She was able to smoothly cover up any of your introverted quirks, leaving you free to then truly focus on what you were good with.

Such as now, when your hidden gauntlet lit up with an incoming alert. You discretely read it, then hid a smile. "Oh dear."

"Beg pardon?"

"Just a slight annoyance, my shipment's been delayed," you drawled and made a show of relaxing. Your best friend pick up on something and wordlessly fanned herself to look unbothered too, as if one of your little schemes hadn't just borne fruit. "Ah, you just can't trust low prices these days…"


"A smuggler," Dorothea repeated, her brow furrowing. "That was what our destroyer patrols caught?"

"So it would seem," the adjutant told and handed over the tablet containing the full report. "Apparently they were motivated strongly by a posting to try running the line to get a shipment from the Thera system."

That got the Lycoris Knight's attention and she picked up the report with renewed interest. "That's our target."

"Agreed, which is why we offered and they accepted a plea deal, telling us everything they knew about the Free State defenders there. Honestly, what a stroke of luck for us to get this information ahead of time!'

She absently nodded while activating the tablet to start reading. It was tragically sparse on exact positions, but what the smuggler did know was more than enough to inform Dorothea about just who she was fighting: The 1st Gandr, a battlegroup from the Council State of Hayha. They were seemingly composed mostly of regiments and airwings with little naval presence, likely more accustomed to garrison duties than active campaigning. Their leader was described to be more of an administrator than general, adding to this presumption.

The main concentration of this seemed to be on Thera II, which was of little surprise. It was where the system capital of Glacegrad was on, the massive frozen planet providing plenty of space for the industrial base to built upon. Despite this or because of it, there was only the system capital as a concentrated population center on said world, indicating something like a single megacity that supplied majority of production. It would certainly align with the occupied Kelon's attitude of shielded cities.

Aside from that, there was Thera I which was an interesting oddity. It was a much more welcoming environment capable of supporting life, though the source of said life was only from the passing comet in orbit. Dorothea struggled to wrap her head around the idea before giving a mental shrug- it probably wasn't going to be relevant for the coming fight. It was more of a vacation spot that was also appropriately guarded by the Free States. Perhaps that was an opportunity to trap and remove them from the board if the indication of few ships was to be believed.

That being said, it appeared that the defenders too had auxiliaries being provided from other members of the Free States. So Dorothea couldn't completely let down her guard and assume this would be a cakewalk. Yet the more she looked, the more optimistic she was about the outcome of this first campaign. Perhaps it was even worth rushing things a bit to seize the initiative then.

Battlegroup Rampart-One Command: 34 +14 (Dorothea) +2 (Wealth) = 50
Battlegroup Rampart-One has generated one (1) Command Point.

Rampart-One Command Points: 1
Thera Resistance Militia Level: 0
Issue up to two (2) stratagems for Battlegroup Iris for this Subcycle.




REPORTING THERA SYSTEM
Enemy Regiments detected on Thera I
Enemy Regiments detected on Thera II

Enemy Airwings detected on Thera I
Enemy Airwings detected on Thera II

Enemy Ships detected on Thera II

Issue a Plan Order!





- Warming up and getting back into subcycles. Here we go, marching back to war.
- Normally the stratagem plan would come first in its own post, but that dice roll ain't great. So take the opportunity to make your initial arrival plan too. You can choose who will arrive immediately in the orbit of any planet, but beware: any not arriving immediately now will need to wait until the next cycle (35) to join the fight in the system.
- Note that these are just general indications of units- they are not exact numbers. You won't know for certain until you arrive for sure.