Crazy...and Brilliant:
Hazitean is not the most stable of Xvorzith, not even close. But her thoughts are electrifying, for all that they are scattered and strange, but without official authority and backing, there's only so much she can do. But she's addicted to several substances, as is quickly becoming clear, she has severe mental issues that hadn't existed when you last saw her, she doesn't want to talk about what happened to her, she shifts rapidly from cruel to playful to even flirtatious with you, and adds 'rude' to that when she wants to, and she's hardly made a lot of friends among the soldiery, who are reluctant to accept her.
And she's aware of this, and when not dismissive she realizes that...she's not okay. That she hasn't been okay for years, and that maybe she shouldn't step into the position. It'd take some convincing of her and the military to let her in on that.
Cost: 50 Wealth
Probability: 30% (Success on a certain personal action might increase it by 10 or (less likely) 20 percent.)
Reward: +2 Martial Actions, Hazitean starts presenting her ideas and reforms, possible drop on soldier opinion.
Search for an Martial advisor:
You could decide to give up on Hazitean as hopeless and get another military advisor instead, of course. It'd be more popular at least with the soldiers.
Cost: 100 Wealth, 100 Wealth a year (high salary).
Probability: 60% (40% with any actions that involve annoying the soldiery), better rolls mean better candidates.
Reward: A few options, some choices for who to appoint. Increased soldier opinion
Colonial Police
The colonies have their own military forces, with their own (far smaller and uneven) budget. They, even more than the army, function as much as police as anything. You could make sure you have control of them and figure out what their situation is, whether there are any funds there that could be creatively transferred, and of course whether they are loyal and competent. The colonies haven't stepped out of line, but neither are they completely integrated, and the situation is still more than a little confused.
Cost: 50 Wealth
Probability: 65%
Reward: Options, an outlook on things.
What Did You do Instead?
They didn't patrol as part of the Repatriation treaty. What did they do, then? All of those times they went out. Where were they going, what were they doing? It's all a bit of a puzzle, and one that might be important. Or it might be nothing, it's hard to tell, naval affairs aren't your area of expertise.
Cost: Free
Probability: 40%
Reward: Information.
Moonraker:
It's an audacious plan to say the least, but somehow Hazitean has found a single person who thinks she's crazy...and likes her brand of madness. And they've put together a plan to attack the Pirates' Moon. A full naval task-force will hit it hard and fast followed by a deployment of ground troops to roll them up, take evidence and witnesses, and otherwise get everything, all in the name of anti-slavery. After all, Gazinitah is a proud signatory of the Repatriation Treaty...right? Even if it's not, as you know it actually isn't, slavery is still against the law and it's certainly possible it could be massaged into legitimacy after the fact. Either way, it'd be a bold and daring strike and, besides everything else, give leads on Zaeswin if it succeeded.
Cost: 400 Wealth
Probability: ???, better you roll, the better.
Reward: Start War-turn, potentially controlling Hazitean, attack on Moon. More James-Bond-Movie-Title-References.
Gun it!
That Farsha Mk 2 handgun, and its long-gun version, is a horrible gun. You hate that weapon with a passion. As petty a thing as that is, you hold that grudge very deeply. It's a loud, inefficient weapon, a hog of energy and bullets, and you've seen civilians that have better weapons. You could try to convince the soldier-castes to buy some of a better model and make, in fact you have some ideas already. And you're going to start by buying some on the budget you know about, maybe do some trials to show how much better they are?
Cost: 700 Wealth
Probability: 50%, 60% with Talk to the Soldier Caste
Reward: Your defense forces start using guns that, while not cutting edge, are at least a little less completely and utterly out of date. Also, you're convincing the people who you might be prosecuting to arm themselves better.
Gifts are not Warlike
You need to begin finding some way to even out the budget. And to begin with, the place to cut is the gifts, the graft, the very obvious areas of failure and problems, even if it does annoy some soldiers. Ultimately reducing foreign dependence here is a lot more important than the feelings of the soldiers, and seeing as looking at the loans ticking upwards feels to Vorzhan like watching his life slowly drain away. It was...well, none of it was anything she wanted to deal with, and it was only going to get worse, year by year by year.
Cost: 100 Wealth
Probability: 70%
Reward: Gain between 400 and 800 Wealth per turn to put towards reducing foreign investment or military budget-areas, will roll for that, represents how exacting your cuts are, as it were. Reduced soldier opinion.
Loans Adjusted
Each turn you receive [900 Wealth] worth of Iashec investment in your military. You could reduce that to 0 and shift the money around, paying for it with inflation, internal loans, and other obfuscating methods. Ultimately it'd be a drain and a problem, but it could be done, and once there's actual revenue within the military budget, the holes and work-arounds could be removed.
Cost: 50 Wealth
Probability: 75%
Reward: Debt to Iashec increases only by their investment in the Black Budget, -900 Wealth a turn until you figure out how to patch that leak/lack.
What's With Research?
They are paid almost nothing, exiled to a moon of Gazinitah, and they get all sorts of weird communications at odd hours. It's really, really odd and makes very little sense. Some of their research is medical, and there are at least a few small papers released from them in the last year, but other than that...it's really, really odd. What's going on there? It's all pinging your...well, your nerves, and as someone who has been successful and alive for all of these years, your nerves are most definitely something you listen to.
Cost: 20 Wealth
Probability: ???
Reward: Find out what the hell's going on there, ???
Tanks for Nothing!
You have tanks. Lots of hover-tanks, just sitting there. They weren't rolled out because of fears about the escalation of violence, and there are calls to sell them. Or at least some of them. A lot of them are really, really old and outdated, and apparently keeping them up is expensive, eating up a good deal of resources more than newer models, which while outdated haven't been completely and totally supplamented as useful by every other power in the galaxy. You could sell them, for scrap and parts and--once properly disarmed--for historical re-enactment and other such niche usages.
Cost: Negligible, (basically 0 Wealth when it's all factored in.)
Probability: 70% (Failure means you don't find buyers, get a bad price, some of the tanks get stolen by nuts, so on. You'll still get something.)
Reward: 250 Wealth, 500 Wealth freed up per year, smaller but more up-to-date tank corps. Possibly new Options if you roll well enough. The joy of imagining historical re-enactment with hover-tanks.
Security or Liberty?
There have been calls to decrease the scope of the defense forces to interfere in internal affairs. The police should handle it, and the idea that there is a need for forces with special weapons or more militant tactics to deal with crime seems to many a sign of all that was wrong with the old order. Others have argued that in these chaotic times the need is greater than ever. Separating them and enacting laws to further this split would cost little directly, but could cause bruised egos and negative effects. The demand for this is increasing, and at the moment, resting under military control, police-reforms are all but impossible.
Cost: 150 wealth
Probability: 60%, failure means laws are poorly written, bitterly opposed, or wind up compromising and not fully separating police and defense-forces.
Reward: Separate police and defense forces, updated planet page to represent this, improved opinion of the common Hiver, grumblings among the defense forces, ???
With the Fleets
You are not a bug that gets along with ships. You sometimes get a little sick, really, in hyperspace. But you know that the fleets are important, for fighting the pirates, protecting the world, all sorts of things. Learn more about the fleet. How loyal are its officers, other than the few you know personally that you'd be sending orders to and hoping they could work out everything else? How good are its ships, does it have enough in the way of budgeting? There's a lot you don't know, and that's not a good thing when they're sitting overhead with weapons that--were it not for treaties against it--could scour all of the life on the planet if given long enough for a sustained bombardment.
The budgetary information and the links with some of the lower officers have given you an in towards this.
Cost: Free
Probability: 75%
Reward: Fleet information acquired, possibility of gauging the opinion of the fleet towards you, possible improved relationship with them.
Talk to the Soldier Caste
You've known soldiers, you've befriended soldiers and loved and hated those from the soldier castes. They are people just like anyone else, as much members of the Hive as any, and you could talk to them, get to know their desires and their fears, and try to open up to them.
Your relative laxness has gotten them to open up somewhat for the moment.
Cost: Free
Probability: 70%
Reward: Improved relations with soldier-castes, get gossip/news/information about their concerns and what their leaders might have in mind.
