It got us Fan, a character I conceived on the spot and immediately fell in love with, so that's good
That vote was meant to point us towards which of the major factions on Tabgach you would've engaged with, first probably by making an enemy of them. By that time it was too late to pull back and say no harm no foul. You'd killed the captain and attacked the crew essentially without provocation. The fact that they were flying the Reaver Queen's flag doesn't matter to them; their men are still dead. Even if you'd let the
Rude Awakening go without furhter harm because 'oh shit we actually really like you guys, our bad, hugs and kisses!' Yingyue and her crew at least would've been your enemy.
I doubt that would've happened, though; if the votes had been for one of those options you would've likely kept it no matter what. Unless you still went for the bloody massacre even without them being slavers.
As for specifics, it would've depended a great deal on how you chose to handle it after that point. At the spot where the crew vote is now, I would've called for the crew's opinion on how best to handle the situation.
If you'd kept the Empress' cargo, you would've bought the rebels some breathing room, and they would have tried to get into contact with you for further aid, thinking you sympathetic or at least neutral to the rebels. You could've maintained your independence or chosen to lead a faction of the pirate crews into the rebellion against the Empress. If you'd given the supplies to the rebels, they'd have been even more grateful and you would've gotten access to a knight. In either case though, she would've retaliated in spectacular fashion with some tools she might still end up using so I want to keep a surprise
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
. I legitimately do not recall what was actually
in the crates (if pressed I would guess Eldar spirit stones or ammo caches for the war effort), but Caihong freaked out about it because regardless of what was in them attacking an Empress' ship in this culture is roughly equivalent to declaring war on the heavens.
The cannon would've been something you could keep yourself and turn into a defensive weapon for Shang (or if you were crazy you could mount it on the Rude Awakening). Had you given it to the Empress, she would've offered either you or your mother a letter of Marque against rebel forces. The Tech Monks would've been a bit of a neutral option for you; they would've been grateful and you would have a liaison permanently with the fleet. This would be unprecedented, but not really much to talk about. The Kuji-Nan have always been neutral and this is just a normal matter of tech for them; they wouldn't be great friends but they'd give you an ear. Either way, the rebels would've seen you as a threat and deployed greater forces to stop/attack you.
Kuji-Nan technology would've been a risky play but a very fun one. You could've just returned the tech to them directly, in which case they'd be miffed, but at least you gave it back. If you kept it for yourself, you would've pissed them off something fierce and they would have seen you as a threat in need of eliminating. And you would've gotten buddhist cyborg warrior monks trying to assassinate you in your bed in Shang. Fortunately, your crew would've been able to make use of powerful technology and possibly even cybernetic enhancements. If you'd handed it to the Empress or the rebels, though, that would've pissed off the Kuji-Nan AND the faction you didn't help.
Sun-Sin's general view on the war and these factions would've been influenced heavily by whichever one of these options the voters went with. If he'd, for example, given the Kuji-Nan tech to the rebels, he would've been cavalier about technology and support the dying (but not dead) movement to take the Empress down. If he'd instead returned the Empress' supplies, he would've been entirely unsympathetic to the rebel cause, and view the Empress as the rightful ruler of Tabgach.