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.

As wars rage on and escalate in the galaxy, so too does a people's willingness to continue any military endeavor. Victorious cheers and eager optimism can disappear quickly into jaded cynicism and bleak outlooks when conflicts continue to drag on. Even worst is when the natural outcome of such messy clashes emerges, chilling and horrifying scenes of war-torn landscapes and populations that ignite the push for peace. Adding to this is the scrutinizing judgement of other powers, who would find reason to announce involvement should nearby battles threaten to spill over into their own domain. So eventually, all ongoing conflicts will eventually reach a final tipping point at which it becomes unfavorable on both the popular and political stage to continue and a ceasefire is forced, one way or another.

War Exhaustion is the measure of this, representing the limit at which humanity is willing to go before the overall conflict is considered too much to continue for both sides. It is a preset value depending on the casus belli of the conflict, and is then divided into individual values for the attacker and defender on both sides. Dice rolls add to the score on both sides at the end of each Cycle that represents random chance of scandals or incidents that increase the War Exhaustion, but the primary method in which it is regularly added towards is through conflict itself. Engaging in battles always adds a small value, increasing the greater the size. Even the act of refusing battle and retreating will add to the value, representing mounting frustrations at a lack of definitive conclusion to continued deployment.

By far the most serious way for War Exhaustion to grow is for war crimes to occur, greatly outraging and dirtying any conflict no matter how just. The values are tracked individually for both sides though it is combined for the final value that determines where the scale of public opinion ultimately falls for an ongoing conflict. Thus, if one side has contributed far more to War Exhaustion than the other, they very could be be labeled as the warmongering aggressors and forced to concede more to whatever peace is announced.

The sensors officer sipped demurely at their drink with one hand, the other dedicated to holding the tablet up for them to watch. They weren't particularly concerned by being called out for slacking on duty, not when the other bridge staff were too being rather lax. All was quiet in this orbital holding pattern, affording them all some nice time off to catch up on their favorite shows from back home.

But lax did not mean wholly disregarding duties, the sensors officer still having one side of a headphone pressed to their ear. When the dull console in front of them briefly lit up with a small beep echoing through their headset, they froze. There was a second beep and any thoughts of finishing the drama was shoved aside as they hastily sat upright and snapped the listening equipment over both ears. The motion caught the attention of the others who similarly halted their activities, eyes warily studying the now-working sensors station.

This included the captain of the ship, who slowly stowed away their midday meal and leaned forwards in their seat. "Sensors?" They quietly asked.

"...unscheduled FTL beacon signatures." The readouts were transferred to the captain's own station for perusal. "Multiple identification codes coming through. Imperial military!"

Without further hesitation, the bridge erupted into activation with all the officers leaping to their stations and raising alarms across the ship, and fleet. Airlocks slammed shut and docking clamps disengaged, allowing for attached escorts to swiftly detach from their host ships to fall into formation. No more than a crew of a few dozen were onboard these ships with limited facilities yet still possessing more firepower than ordinary small single-pilot fighter craft. That could make all the difference in any upcoming battle should the unexpected arrivals prove to be hostile.

It wasn't long before realspace presence was confirmed along with visual acquisition. "It's an entire damn invasion fleet," the captain mumbled and hastily gestured to the communications officer. "Quickly, raise the Governor-General. In the meantime...all power to engines. Navigation, get us out of here."

"Captain, are we withdrawing?"

"Of course. We are but one cruiser and destroyer," they growled and gripped at their armrest. "Plot a course to Thera I. I'll take responsibility for ordering the retreat, do it now."

"Understood. Setting waypoints now for the fleet."


"They're running," Dorothea commented with a furrowed brow from where she stood on the bridge of Coral Queen. "Full burn too." That meant that there was no way to catch up to them now.

"Should we launch fighters?"

"And risk our transports? No, it's not worth it," she replied with a shake of the head and turned to the rest. "Secure orbital superiority for now and begin a full scan of the system. Get me information about the enemy forces here, we need to start working fast. I don't want us to drag this this offensive, get to it!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Soon enough, intelligence on enemy positions was gathered, collated, and presented to the commanding Brilliance Knight. It appeared that even with the withdrawal of the enemy fleet, the main concentration of enemy forces was still on Thera II. Predictable, given the capital was there. Yet it seemed that they had purposefully spread out their forces at the moment, covering not just the city but a potential landing site outside it. An undoubtedly tempting target for orbital bombardment, but was it perhaps a trap in its own right?

With everything currently on Thera II, the enemy could rationalize there was no need to hold anything back on Thera I and attempt to transport them to the capital instead. The decision to avoid a fight was suddenly now looking like a strategic instead of tactical consideration, as ships that were still ready to fight could try to draw the invading fleet into an engagement that allowed for transports to sneak on by. Striking first before they could embark and do so was a good idea, but well, it was risky in itself if the enemy decided to slip their orbit to hit the exposed transports in return.

Was it something that the enemy commander would consider? That was something Dorothea had to seriously think about, recalling their description. More of an administrator than a general, so perhaps not so daring. Maybe somebody who would stubbornly try to hold their ground best as they could so long as the numbers could make sense. It was her first time fighting against this unknown individual on the opposite side of the chess board, so some uncertainty was expected. But hesitation could not haunt her decisions so, not when B-R1 looked to her for their next set of orders.



Battlegroup Rampart-One Command: 16 +14 (Dorothea) +2 (Wealth) = 32
Battlegroup Rampart-One has generated one (1) Command Point.

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






REPORTING THERA SYSTEM
Enemy Infantry and Artillery Regiments detected on Thera I
Enemy Infantry, Mechanized, and Special detected on Thera II

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

Enemy Ships detected on Thera I

Make a Strike Plan for Ships and Airwings!




- So here's going to be an interesting adjustment, the separation/creation of a new subphase revolving around if folks want to do an orbital bombardment/airstrike from afar. This will lock the unit into their current location so they will not be able to move in the movement phase while their target might adjust afterwards, giving a hopefully new element of strategic consideration.
- Airwings can strike from orbit and hit other orbits in the system or the planet, which is a big strength and arguably their big contribution outside direct battle intervention. However, they can only do so if there are hangers for them to launch off from orbit (one airwing to a hanger). It will naturally lock the ships there, as they're functioning as carriers, though said ships can also do their own orbital bombardments at the same time. This will also reduce the airwing sortie count by one for the rest of the subcycle. They can still participate in battles later if they have any count remaining afterwards.
- It'll count as a tactical strike on a single random target in the space (and affects all subunits in said target like a regiment or airwing). The only defense is if there are airwings in the target who are also rooted in place on their own strike plan. Do remember the increase risk from backlash when hitting cities.
- For reference, the 11th Saturn Wing has Sortie 2 while 16th Ababil Wing has Sortie 3. As a reminder, the 11th Saturn Wing is a full bomber wing while the 16th Ababil Wing is a mixed. You do have a single hanger onboard Coral Queen to use if you plan on doing so.