Turn 7 Results
Martial:
Hazitean: 1d100=37, nope
Tankers: 1d100+15=64, yep, some.
Terrorist Hunt
Need: ???, Rolled: 29+10=39, failure, though not catastrophic.
Another bombing in the news, this one not prevented by a raid of the terrorists usual meeting places. Vorzhan frowned and wondered at the costs of the war, which were starting to escalate- not economically, that was mostly paid for- but morally, and in terms of lives. Dozens were dead already on the Gazinith side, and the civilian losses were of course far, far worse. Still, when Hazitean returned she was still optimistic, but grumbling about how Solarian regulations were holding them back from doing real good. But she then admitted that 'real good' might have put civilians in harm's way, and after a while she admitted that it probably wouldn't have been worth it. Probably.
Reward: Failed, can keep on trying.
Colonial Police
Need: 35, Rolled: 7+10=17, well, there was an incident…
Hazitean takes the first shuttle she can, as soon as she gets back, to deal with the reports. One of the polic had gone crazy, and a dozen were dead on Gazinitah's main mining colony. Worse, before they'd gone crazy, they'd wiped all of the records, including pay records. And the backups. And there were supposed to be backups to the backups, yet in the boonies that sort of thing was often forgotten and…
Well, from the way she laid it out to Vorzhan, it was a wonder that things hadn't turned out even worse.
Reward: Slight hit to colonial opinion, can try again next turn.
Officer Bug?
Need: 40, rolled: 55+10=65, success
Training is a complex and difficult matter at the best of times. Training someone to be a law enforcement officer promises to be even more difficult. Ultimately, at least until a war comes around, there is far less asked of a soldier in terms of the skills they must have and the complexities they must face. Other than those soldiers on the Pirates' Moon, this statement is true, and part of why Vorzhan has stepped so lightly. A committee was formed to carefully draw up a list of suggestions and guidelines for police, which were then debated back, forth, and all around by the castes and people most affected, and finally some compromises were made, and it was accepted--Vorzhan could have insisted on it going out as originally planned, but they understand that some compromises had to be made.
Reward: Police Options opened up, basic standards set.
Tanks, Tanks, and More Tanks
Need: 20, Rolled: 33+5=38, success
There are a few flaws, but it is remarkable how quickly they can be ironed out. The first models are rolling out within months, and soon the orders are all filled. Other polities obviously don't want them, and so once enough have been made so that the army has its fill, the factories shut down, replaced by other factories. There will still be plenty of jobs for the workers as maintenance crew, but in all, the order seemed like a one-time thing. What isn't one-time are the savings.
Reward: 75 Wealth a turn saved, 100 Wealth in scrap.
A Compromise on APCs
Need: 25/50/75/100, Rolled: 64
The debate raged on. Well, simmered on, really. For weeks, and then months, each side argued back and forth as to whether APCs should have weapons, and how many, and...well, it was a bit of a mess, but finally they've found an area of agreement. Modularity. Create a basic frame and then build two 'modifications' of it, one for each of their ideas. Being able to alter the tanks was always something they'd intended to get on, allowing the tank to serve a wide variety of functions, so why not extend that to the APCs?
That, at least, was the logic.
Reward: Further progress on the APC issue.
Shipyards!
Need: 30, Rolled: 84
Captain Bizentara came personally to look through the shipyards and try to help out however he could. Each day when Vorzhan got a holocast from him, he was covered in sweat and grime, and had yet more areas where improvements could be made. But it was only two months into it that the complaints got truly dire. While some of small yards were working, the yard that the battleships had been built in centuries ago had long since been decommissioned. That, at least, came as no surprise to Bizentara.
"On the other hand," the Captain said, "I wasn't expecting that the Osika shipyard would be in such bad condition. It's not fit for anything at all, and it's going to take more to fix it than just throwing more people at it. Same with the Prince Nirinix shipyard, neither of them are in a fit state. Still, we have something, and hopefully we can move forward."
Vorzhan gave a chirp of approval and said, after a moment, "Thank you for the update."
Reward: Information, new options. There are two Medium shipyards and four Small shipyards- however, one of each is in an advanced state of disrepair, too much for them to build anything until they're sorted out. Medium shipyards can build cruisers, Small ones can build escorts.
Diplomacy:
The Big Meeting
Need: 20, Rolled: 19…+2=21
It almost was a disaster, the prep, and B'iyiuna had to fly in to talk to the diplomats. "No, no, no! You don't understand. Talking about the economic cooperatives is not the right thing at all, and if you can't even remember the names of each of the leaders of the E'intiz Republic, you'll have to go. People, people. We know what this meeting is about, it's what every meeting like this is about. A new Hive. A new chance. We cannot bring it down by talking of the petty, or by forgetting our places. This is not the time for ambition, not now. Such obvious displays of grasping, of avarice: it's as unseemly as can be. It's like chewing and throwing up food for someone who is not your child, or offering the worst meal-worms for a guest...it's profane, is what I'm saying, and if I see any of you messing up like this again, you're fired, you're all fired. Image is everything. Remember that."
Reward: Disaster averted, preparations continue for the big meeting.
Extending the Common Goods
Need: 20, Rolled: 29+5=34
There are a few hitches, most of all related to cultural differences. Many of the colonists speak in a dialect, and others have strange food preferences, like preferring the carnivorous ulin grub to the herbivorous uhun grub, or all sorts of minor factors that means some shows--and especially comedic bits meant to soften the news--didn't translate over quite as well. Still, once that is solved, and once the network hires on some locals to produce entertainment, including a strange show involving a Xvorzit turned into a giant ulin and hunted by predators from another world, it all seems to go quite well.
Reward: Colonial opinion raised, cancelling out the loss earlier.
Meet the Solarian Ambassador
Rolled: 97+19=116, well, okay!
He was tottering on a bookshelf, halfways to falling, muttering to himself, "Why do you get into these things, why do you--"
Vorzhan slipped into the room, looking around at it. Books were not much in vogue anymore, but there were plenty of collectors, and others who liked the aesthetic of reading a book, so it wasn't that surprising. What was surprising was how flimsy the security had been. They'd literally walked in, expecting to be stopped and have to explain their presence the whole time. Instead, here Vorzhan was.
They stepped forward and chirp-squeaked, "Do you need help?"
"Do I...wait!" the man said, turning. He was tall and thin, somewhat handsome, skin dark like the walls of a cave, eyes bright, one of them clearly artificial, "Vorzhan?! I'm...a little indisposed at the--"
"If you jump I'll catch you."
"No, it should be…" he said, looking down the dozens of feet and saying, at last, "You know what, sure."
Vorzhan's head-wings set themselves as he skittered forward and held out his arms. Down came the ambassador, Miles Yatoni, caught by two strong arms and spun around to see the face of Speaker Vorzhan, big, curious eyes looking at them.
"Well, we...meet again," Miles said, uncertainly, "Sorry about last time, I had a bit of a head cold…"
Vorzhan fiddled with something on their collar and when they chirped this time human speech came with it. The translation technology apparently decided that a rich baritone was the 'right' one for Vorzhan, odd considering their own nuanced identity.
"It was entirely my fault. I should have noted your illness and not offered quite so much food. And also remembered that humans prefer their food to be dead when they eat it."
"Usually, yes. Speaking of, well, would you like something to eat, since you're a guest in--wait, how did you get in?"
"I walked," Vorzhan said, the baritone voice sounding as puzzled as the ambassador.
"You're even stealthy just walking," the Ambassador said, "Maybe? Can you walk?"
Vorzhan walked across the room, and the Ambassador said, "It's the way you move. It looks deliberate, as if you belong there, and you were moving to reduce your profile. And yet it's fast. Huh…anyways. It is a pleasure to meet you again…"
Reward: Acquaintance made with the Solarian Ambassador, Miles Yatoni. Potential rewards later on. Made a pretty good second impression.
Stewardship
Colony Administration
Need: 40, Rolled: 70
The first elections get rather rough, and there are many of the common administrators who keep their positions due to lack of knowledge as to who might replace them, but progress has been made, and the democratization of critical colonial posts has no doubt led to an increased interest in doing the same, or going even further, when it comes to positions on the homeworld.
Reward: Colonial opinion boost, options.
Opening Up Avenues
Rolled: 90, first success in *years*
New embassies means new avenues of trade. Ambassadors missing home-grown food, movies and media, and of course the opportunity to reach out to new client bases. Ultimately, it was a pretty good opening, and Vorzhan was glad that there had been some advantages gained from the program, which had been stagnating for some time under a number of embarrassing setbacks.
Reward: 50 Wealth a turn.
(Hive) Government Fooding
Need: 0, Rolled: 2+10=12, some pushback
Buying the business was successful, and even popular, but the business community was very suspicious that this was the start of centralization. Their lucrative contracts towards providing subsidized, cheap food for the poor were no longer operative, and many complained, though ultimately they couldn't do much.
Reward: Some opinions increased, some decreased, -50 Wealth a turn.
Equal Rights for Equal Laws
Need: 40, Rolled: 62+5=67
The laws needed to be changed, and so they were. There were a few meetings, with Barsa mystics and human activists, and Lucille sent a message congratulating Vorzhan, but it really was that easy. There were a few who were suspicious, though, and others who asked about how well humans could integrate into Gazinith society. And the equality of the laws did, for a short time, have a few strange clauses like the human 'right to head-wings' which was...unlikely to catch on. But overall, integration of the laws was relatively simple.
Reward: Boost to immigration, small opinion boost across the board, made Lucille happy.
Legal Reforms
Need: 30, Rolled: 97+10=107, crit success.
Vorzhan would learn later why, but at the time they had been stunned by the progress made, and the strange avenues of research Mauris' went down. They managed to craft a set of laws that allowed the worst drugs to remain heavily restricted, while regulating the medical industry and opening up limited use of less dangerous drugs,for every species. There were now laws on the books for human-specific drugs as well, Barsa-specific drugs, everything under the sun. And since they had time left over, they even managed implement legislation aimed at criminal cartels and criminal activity by companies. It was one of the most comprehensive set of reforms Vorzhan had seen in a while.
Reward: Major legal reforms. Huge impact.
INTRIGUE
Yaziha Roll: 8, nope.
Bread AND Circuses
Need: 30, Rolled: 87+5+5 (external)=97
To be popular, one had to be able to answer 'what have you done for us lately', it seemed, with most species, to different degrees. And lately, despite a string of minor military setbacks owing to their lack of equipment, the rebels have been able to fund medical procedures, entertainment, and even saved many from death, starvation, privation or economic exploitation. The rebellion is expanding, all out of odds with its own rather limited successes thus far, though many wonder how long the momentum can be kept up.
Reward: +10 to Constitutional convention, new options unlocked.
The Dark Side of Reconciliation
Need: 50, Rolled: 84+10=94
They had thought they were safe, they really had. Then a few disappeared, and then a few more. It was done subtly, and at the moment nothing more had been done than private trials and investigations into them. They had murdered, they had used drugs to rape, there were abuses there that couldn't be ignored, and finally justice, slow and inexorable, was grinding over them. There are a few different ways that Vorzhan could proceed from here.
Reward: Prisoners, some options on what to do with them.
Cyber-Agents
Need: 50, Rolled: 19+10=29, failure
Vorzhan looked down at the agent. Then at the gun in their own hand. Another assassination attempt? This time using their own agents' programming against them? It was as distressing as it was annoying, since the enemy agent hadn't even hurt Vorzhan, despite genuinely having the drop on them. Luckily they could be interrogated, but for the moment, improvements to cybernetics were going to have to take a back seat to damage control.
Reward: You get nothing, good day sir and/or madam. Can try again next turn.
Financial Control
Need: 30, Rolled: 58+10=68
There was a certain fitting synergy to expanding the government corporations to include food products, increasing regulations on criminal or black-market corporations, and using all of this as a subtle, careful weapon to maintain economic strength. Only time would tell, however, how effective it was.
Reward: Stewardship options, +5 to all economy rolls.
A Traitor in the Ranks
Need: 50, Rolled: 10+5+32=47…+5 (friend-nudge)=52
It nearly failed. Repeatedly. It was a comedy of errors, or would have been if the comedy couldn't have been written in blood. Agents got sick, missed their cues, accidentally said just the wrong thing, codes were cracked not by the cunning of Zaeswin's agents but by sheer incompetence, and yet at every step of the way, Vorzhan and their friends were able to steer things back on track...barely.
If anything, the confusion and mistakes make the whole operation more likely, in a way. Zaeswin doesn't treat fools lightly, and there's a purge even before the information about hidden traitors comes in. There are also a lot more agents being dragged off to unknown locations for unknown experiments than usual. Either way, Zaeswin's whole network is a mess, and the bug hasn't even stepped in to try to fix it, not really. It was...curious, but also frustrating.
Reward: Dissension sewed in their ranks, further options and information.
LEARNING
Better Mining
Need: 50, Rolled: 53, progress, locked in for one more turn
Kikkizit assured Vorzhan that progress was being made, but it would take a while for results to come in. At the moment, a lot of the equipment seemed almost too expensive for the advantages, so refinements would be needed unless they were willing to accept costs that weren't particularly acceptable.
Reward: Will finish next turn.
Caste-based Research
Need: 40, Rolled: 94
Kikkizit seemed glad to finally get into this research, since there was so much to do. At this point, the first step was legalizing the research, and then there would be more than a little waiting to see results. One early result was finding that at least three or four prominent castes that claimed genetic diversity and historical differences from other, less prominent castes, lacked both. This is controversial, to say the least, but it's likely just the start. After all, with the turn towards populism that Vorzhan had embraced, and the increasing influence of the masses on economic policy, there was nothing more timely, Kikkizit said, then a renaissance in Caste Studies.
Reward: Caste-studies begin in earnest.
Childcare and Healthcare
Need: 35, Rolled: 42
Well, it definitely seems as if it is valuable right now in ways that Vorzhan hadn't predicted. The boom in births continues, though if the economy slacks off, so too will this element, and with it comes the need for daycares, accommodations for working parents (which was to say, most parents), and of course healthcare for the one bearing the eggs. There was a lot to consider, and while maternal mortality was low by most standards, it should be at next to zero, and only above it because of the chance of deaths occurring among the general population.
Reward: Childcare options.
Scaling Cruisers
Need: 15, Rolled: 97
The weaponry was not that hard to modify, ultimately, and the designs were intuitive. While battleships and (Kikkizit guessed) dreadnoughts were different not just in scale but in qualitative ways, light versus heavy cruisers was solved in a month, and the escorts too were an easy fix, technologically. What Kikkizit couldn't do, however, was draft the designs, there were far too many choices, many of which they either couldn't make or couldn't make with a good certainty of being correct.
Reward: Naval options.
PERSONAL
Lucille's Games
Rolled: 62+19=81
They are polite with their opinions, but there are a few stinging comments that slip through, of sorts. The spy games and such could be improved in a number of ways. Not merely in terms of realism, but there were tons of missed opportunities in many of the games for integrating certain things far better, and the Xvorzit characters were often stereotypes. Plus, some of the games Lucille found hard were almost too easy, though Vorzhan realized that this might be a result of biological differences between the species. Either way, they didn't expect Lucille to be so amused, nor for her to request that she be allowed to send them on.
She then sent more games, including the same game, but somehow changed...mostly for the better. And so Vorzhan played those and sent a message about the flaws there, as well as what they'd noticed in the games that were new. And on it went...though where was it going?
Reward: ???, one new option next turn.
Among the People
The people may change, but ultimately Vorzhan can no more not be a part of them than they can be separated from their own limbs. They're treated oddly, among the common bugs. Reverently, and yet with the expectation that they like all of the same things, the same coarse jokes and the same sorts of food. And of course it's all but impossible to get out of having sex at least a few times, here and there, as much for politeness as anything else. It was something they were aware that Lucille might find odd, and when they sent a letter talking about it, Lucille sent a holocast of her laughing.
They still didn't get what the big deal was, and Lucille's comments about how most human politicians fuck their voters figuratively were rather odd, since it didn't match Vorzhan's own descriptions of the acts.
Humans were bizarre, though, so what could one do?
Reward: Public opinion booth, relaxation, more running into cultural differences.
PERSONAL- OTHERS
Mauris' Request
"They were...rather insistent, and in all honesty, I think they made some good arguments," Mauris said, taking on a rather lower tone of voice than their usual median one, "And so, well, I'd like to ask for either time off or an understanding that things will be somewhat slow going for a while, until I can hatch the eggs."
"Oh," Vorzhan said, wings fluttering in an embarrassed way. So far as they knew, Mauris' had identified strongly as 'male' which was to say, the one who would implant but not bear the eggs, and yet here...s/he was. Now, on the other hand, this happened often enough that it shouldn't be awkward, yet it was, just a little bit. "I am glad for your fortune. It seems that everyone is pairing off to make broods lately."
"It's an economic boom," Mauris said, shifting a little bit. Their belly had seemed a bit swollen, but they'd figured it was food, rather than the eggs growing inside them. By the end of the year, around time to deposit the eggs to be hatched, they'd have difficulty walking far. Now, they could be taken out at certain points, but it wasn't a very popular option for a number of reasons, and was regarded as something only a workaholic would do...though of course, all Xvorzit thought it perfectly natural to work up to a few hours before the eggs hatched, even if their work would be much slower towards the end.
Reward: Uh...yay? Will get to vote on which option to take in the turn news.
Yaziha's Desires
"I'd like to open up a training camp. Maybe more than a few," Yaziha said, "It's meant to be the next step, isn't it?"
"Training the next generation?" Vorzhan asked, "Usually, yes. Though is that what you really want?"
"I...think it is," Yaziha said, "Never liked brats that much, you were an exception, really, but maybe there are more if I'd look. At the very least, I don't feel like I'm done yet. All of that time locked up on the prison world, worked half to death...there has to be something good coming from that, and I can't stop working. It's, well, it's a part of me. Living, working, it gets in your blood, beats out a four step tango, you know?"
Vorzhan, who worked almost constantly to one degree or another, nodded, "Very well, I'm sure we could figure something out, though...if you want to retire and settle down, just tell me."
Reward: Yaziha wants to train new spies and agents. Options towards that direction. If the tree is begun, lose Yaziha as a general agent.
*****
A/N: Wow, a lot of near failures, here.
