You Are: A sector admiral of a strained imperium.

[Packrat]

[X] Raid Chuang Mu, Again. You can force these battleships off Imhotep if you threaten their home system in greater force.

Also, prize money leads to loyalty!
Commander Baron Adald Clipaul Imperial +1 Loyalty (Now 15)
Captain Dame Juley Mara Wisanch +1 Loyalty (Now 11)
Commander Dame Thera Phardson +1 Loyalty (Now 15)

Sones and Ranca are already at crazy high loyalty.

Other Officers:
Commander Sir Atthell Ason Perra of the Hawk is still injured and out of action.
Captain Dame Stephua Rosson Maner is mostly recovered from her injuries and can act, but at -1 to all actions.
Lord Commander Andos Lezal Rownett of the Harpy is mostly recovered from his injuries and can act, but at -1 to all actions.

It takes only minutes after you jump above Illam to have Governor General Hawny Andez Imperial on a call, a call that you take in your read room with only Captain Sones and your executive officer. The prince is with a short (for a noble) woman you recognise as Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan, the commander of the newly arrived cruiser squadron, they along with two unfamiliar naval captains appear to be in your command center aboard the sector command station.

"Commodore Strauss!" For once he seems actually pleased to see you. "We were worried that you had been caught up in this enemy attack and lost, given how long you took to return. It appears you were engaged in successful hunting instead?" Then a shake of his head, he motions to the tactical display projected in front of the group.

"Captain Arslan has been taking control of the situation in your absence and was telling me how she now has cutters watching the invaders over Imhotep. If you would, captain." He motions the viscountess forward, who spends a moment assessing you through the screen before she does indeed step forward.

"The enemy have three Heritage class battleships, four light cruisers that are essentially copies of our own Raptor class vessels and an attack skiff. We are getting no Imperial transmissions from the surface at all, the garrison has surrendered along with the entire administration. Fortunately I was here to take command and I-"

You cut her off at that point.

"Thank you captain. You have done well, regardless, we do not have enough ships to push them back across the border. Fortunately I know where this little fleet is based, they are the national navy of Chuang Mu and given their response time they are not acting on any kind of orders from NASP fleet command, this is an independent action. Fortunately I have just stripped Chuang Mu of almost it's entire garrison force. If we put enough pressure on the planet then we can force them to recall their ships, hopefully also destroying their logistical base in the process. To that end I propose..."

Diplomacy Roll:
6 + 6 + 3 + 12 Effective Diplomacy = 27
Good Success

Regardless of the details of your plan, the Viscountess does in fact find herself agreeing to support the raid with her trio of heavy cruisers, their readiness reports when transmitted show them to all be at 100%, fully loaded and armed with experienced crews. This is perhaps not surprising given that your own files indicate she is personally paying for the maintenance of all three ships.

Just what is your basic plan though?

[] Attack Immediately. You will reload the Endeavour's magazines then immediately head to Chuang Mu with the Viscountess' heavy cruiser squadron, bringing a pair of patrol cutters with you for support.
[] Wait A Week. If you wait a week, you will be able to expedite repairs on your ships and bring into service one or more of the captured vessels finishing refit above Ilam.
[] Wait Longer. If you give yourself a few weeks then you may be able to pull in reinforcements, ships from ducal fleets or cruisers from the neighbouring sector corewards.

Unless you attack immediately, you have a lot of options when it comes to ships.

Right now the local shipyard has one fully repaired battlecruiser (The Sword of Democracy) and two Strike Cruisers, all three ships taken into Imperial service and being crewed. Orders have been drawn up to transfer them to the interior but orders can be changed in emergencies like this.

The Sword of Democracy will cost 55 Political Capital, each Strike Cruiser 30 Political Capital. Given this is not a normal and planned allocation of resources you would get a raise of only 3 fleet budget a quarter with the Sword and 1 for each strike cruiser.

[] Battlecruiser (-55 Political Capital, +3 sector budget)
[] Battlecruiser + 1 Strike Cruiser (-85 Political Capital, +4 sector budget)
[] Battlecruiser +2 Strike Cruisers (105 Political Capital, +5 sector budget)
[] 1 Strike Cruiser (30 Political Capital, +1 sector budget)
[] 2 Strike Cruisers (60Political Capital, +2 sector budget)
[] No emergency requisitions.

These ships will begin with crews at Useless (-3) grade and 100% Readiness but you can transfer the crew from one of your light cruisers to a strike cruiser at the cost of one crew grade. For the battlecruiser, you would need to strip two crew grade levels from a heavy cruiser, three from a light cruiser or four from a corvette for each crew level up.

For example you could reduce the Endeavour from Elite (+3) to Mediocre (-1) crew in order to give the battlecruiser a Mediocre (-1) crew.

All ships will have no marines, you can also spend 3 Wealth per strike cruiser or 8 for the battlecruiser to up crew grade by one level through hiring veterans.

If you take the Sword of Democracy, you have the option of stripping your sector command headquarters of personnel to have it start with Green (-2) crew and 4 points of marines. This will impact future strategy and intelligence rolls for some time.

[] Write in with personnel plan.

The Hawk and the Harpy have both been refit to 55% Readiness and Marines 1/3. For a cost of 3 Wealth you can crash refit a cruiser to raise readiness by 10%

[] No Crash Refit
[] Refit the Harpy (-3 Wealth, Harpy rises to 65% Readiness)
[] Refit the Hawk (-3 Wealth, Hawk raises to 65% Readiness)
[] Refit both cruisers (-6 Wealth, both cruisers raise to 65% Readiness)

You do not, at this moment, have the liberty to track down a seller for a share, you can request that the Governor General grant you one for 120 Political Capital, though the cost will reduce if you deal with the current invasion well.

[] Request a Share (-120 Political Capital, become a Lord holding a single Share).
[] Do not Request a Share.

Spoiler: Detached Cruiser Squadron #15

Fafnir
Dragon Class Heavy Cruiser
Speed: 6, Firepower: 6, Durability: 5, Marines 5/5
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan (Diplomacy 12, Strategy 10, Tactics 16, Prowess 13, Subterfuge 13) Loyalty N/A
XO: Commander Amueth Enkis (Diplomacy 7, Strategy 14, Tactics 8, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 5) Loyalty N/A

Smaug
Speed: 6, Firepower: 6, Durability: 5, Marines 5/5
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Captain Dame Teria Thoward (Diplomacy 8, Strategy 11, Tactics 12, Prowess 10, Subterfuge 8) Loyalty N/A
XO: Commander Lord Jose Morgan Arslan (Diplomacy 9, Strategy 15, Tactics 7, Prowess 14, Subterfuge 12) Loyalty N/A

Falkor
Speed: 6, Firepower: 6, Durability: 5, Marines 5/5
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Captain Lord Atrin Rames Arslan (Diplomacy 11, Strategy 9, Tactics 11, Prowess 10, Subterfuge 13) Loyalty N/A
XO: Commander Dame Carea Rosson (Diplomacy 13, Strategy 10, Tactics 12, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 10) Loyalty N/A

Also that was indeed a close vote, it was much less close when I started writing the update! I will add a new option in.

Do you change target to Imhotep and the enemy fleet, once all the above has been considered?

[] Imhotep
[] Chuang Mu

 

[Packrat]

[X] Fate Wants To Make Us Poor
[X] Wait A Week. If you wait a week, you will be able to expedite repairs on your ships and bring into service one or more of the captured vessels finishing refit above Ilam.
[X] Battlecruiser +2 Strike Cruisers (105 Political Capital, +5 sector budget)
[X] Reduce crew from the Endeavor and transfer to the Sword of Democracy. Transfer two levels of Crew and Marines.
[X] Make Sones captain of the Endeavor and Phardson the XO because the Peregrin is at 50% Readiness.
[X] Transfer the entire officer, crew and marine complement of the Hawk and Harpy to the Strike Cruisers.
[X] Strip Sector Command of crew and marines for the Sword.
[X] Transfer the crew and marines of the Peregrine to the Endeavor.
[X] Transfer the remaining marines off the Peregrine, the marines of the Cirrus and Whippet to the Strike Cruiser to give them a full complement of marines.
[X] Commit to selling the Hawk and Harpy for full PC return as soon as we're able to for 70 PC. Mothball them if we fail to sell them before the start of the next strategic turn when we'd have to pay for their upkeep.
[X] Make Wisanch XO of the Sword of Democracy. Make Adald and Ranca Commanders of the Sword of Democracy. Transfer the Crew and Marines of the Whippet to wherever they will be best placed.
[X] Spend 110 Political Capital on Sector Budget. Do this first.
[X] Spend 8 Wealth on the Sword by one level.
[X] Spend 6 Wealth on the Strike Cruisers to increase their crew level by one.
[X] Do not Request a Share.
[X] Chuang Mu


"We will prepare for a week before jumping, during that week... Well your highness, given the circumstances I am going to have to ask for the Sword of Democracy, the Huitzilopochtli and the Perun be transferred to my command, our recent successes have not left the sector fleet's cruisers in a fit state for combat. The Endeavour excepted."

The Governor General does hesitate at that. "Those ships have all been earmarked for positions in the Rimward Fleet already, but if you think you can push back those battleships and thus prevent the fleet from needing to deploy?" He considers a moment, frowning, reaching out a hand and having a servant place an outrageously expensive, pre lit cigar in place. He puffs on it, a perhaps overly dramatic sigh. "In light of your having captured all three ships in the first place Commodore. It can be arranged."

You give a slight bow. "Thank you your highness." Viscountess Arslan looks curious and interjects. "You can crew a battlecruiser Commodore Strauss?" You shrug as disarmingly as you can manage. "I will be stripping quite a few damaged vessels of their crews, captain. Also the station you are now standing in, these will be a busy few days.

Logistical Nightmare Roll
2 + 5 +2 +22 Strategy = 31
Overwhelming Success

Over the next few days you find yourself inundated with logistical concerns as you organise the final fitting out of the strike cruisers Huitzilopochtli and the Perun, largely transferring their crews entire from the light cruisers Hawk and Harpy. Both of the light cruisers are scheduled to be in the yard for months, you need ships now.

Then there is the Sword of Democracy, currently with a skeleton crew of raw recruits and second line personnel who were prepping her for transport to Rimward Fleet Command. Your first order of business is to stiffen the mixture with key personnel from the Endeavour, you do not cripple your old flagship, but you leave her merely well handled rather than at her previous peak of efficiency.

Then you gut the Peregrine, Captain Wisanch's ship fought well in your raid but she is battered and in no fit state for combat, you strip her down to a skeleton crew and send everyone onto the battlecruiser.

Finally, you simply pay. You open your coffers and offer a massive bounty to any former naval enlisted, Imperial or not, who will join the crews of the ships in question. You are in a hurry and you are about to jump into a desperate battle, you are offering as much money as many might expect to make in a lifetime, then more to various recruiters and agents, or bribes to merchant captains or minor nobles so that they will let go prize crew members or the staff of their personal starships. You spend literal fortunes but once you also strip your sector HQ of it's personnel and marine garrison? You have a credibly crewed capital ship with a half complement of marines.

Officer moves are much easier though you certainly do not win any favour from the Governor General as he finds that the reshuffle will not put his Nephew in command of the Endeavour but rather a commoner, even if a higher ranked one, he seems to have decided to remain hands off.

Crew Sniping:
Captain Lord Atrin Rames Arslan
4 + 2 + 2 + 13 Subterfuge = 21

Baroness Commander Ranca Sandra Arril
4 + 1 4 + 13 Subterfuge = 22

Less hands off is that as you try to recruit veterans to stiffen the crew of the Sword of Democracy, one of the captains of the newly arrived heavy cruisers apparently decides to copy you, approaching particularly choice candidates such as former Imperial senior NCOs with counter offers to serve on his own ship, though he is largely unsuccessful after Commander Ranca discovers this then confronts him. Then duels him.

Duel:
Captain Lord Atrin Rames Arslan
1 + 6 + 6 +10 Prowess = 23

Baroness Commander Ranca Sandra Arril
6 + 1 + 3 + 17 Prowess = 27

It is not one of Ranca's best days and the captain seems to be quite competent, after a few exchanges she has a slice in one ear, he is stabbed through the sword arm and lacerated in the side. He backs down from his 'unfair imposition on your recruitment efforts' and both are soon recovered from the incident without real harm.

Eventually though you have the relief and opportunity to relax of jumping for the NASP border commanding a captured battlecruiser with a scratch crew, time in hyperspace rather than organising this mismatched fleet.

You have one battlecruiser, two strike cruisers, four heavy cruisers and a trio of patrol cutters. While you were not paying attention, Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan seems to have also bought the Attack Skiff you brought back from the prize court then somehow found an experienced crew for the little vessel, not that she seems keen on sharing it as a courier. Then again after you review the service file for the twenty year old lieutenant she has placed in command of the ship you understand why she might not be getting instructions to do more than fly in a straight line next to the Fafnir.

Raiding Fleet:

Spoiler: Detached Cruiser Squadron #15

Fafnir
Dragon Class Heavy Cruiser
Speed: 6, Firepower: 6, Durability: 5, Marines 5/5
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan (Diplomacy 12, Strategy 10, Tactics 16, Prowess 13, Subterfuge 13) Loyalty N/A
XO: Commander Amueth Enkis (Diplomacy 7, Strategy 14, Tactics 8, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 5) Loyalty N/A

Smaug
Speed: 6, Firepower: 6, Durability: 5, Marines 5/5
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Captain Dame Teria Thoward (Diplomacy 8, Strategy 11, Tactics 12, Prowess 10, Subterfuge 8) Loyalty N/A
XO: Commander Lord Jose Morgan Arslan (Diplomacy 9, Strategy 15, Tactics 7, Prowess 14, Subterfuge 12) Loyalty N/A

Falkor
Speed: 6, Firepower: 6, Durability: 5, Marines 5/5
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Captain Lord Atrin Rames Arslan (Diplomacy 11, Strategy 9, Tactics 11, Prowess 10, Subterfuge 13) Loyalty N/A
XO: Commander Dame Carea Rosson (Diplomacy 13, Strategy 10, Tactics 12, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 10) Loyalty N/A

Attack Skiff 'Mizrak'
Speed: 14, Firepower: 3, Durability 1, Marines N/A
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Regular (0)
Captain: Lieutenant Dame Ariah Brighte Arslan (Diplomacy 7, Strategy 6, Tactics 5, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 9)

Spoiler: Mimir Sector Squadron

Sword of Democracy
Sword class Battlecruiser
Speed: 8, Firepower 10, Durability 7, Marines 6/10
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: You
XO: Captain Dame Juley Mara Wisanch (Diplomacy 6, Strategy 13, Tactics 9, Prowess 12, Subterfuge 9) Loyalty: 11, +4 from Blackmail for effective 15.
2nd Officer: Baroness Commander Ranca Sandra Arril (Diplomacy 10, Strategy 10, Tactics 9, Prowess 17, Subterfuge 13) Loyalty 18
3rd Officer: Commander Baron Adald Clipaul Imperial (Diplomacy: 11, Strategy 11, Tactics 8, Prowess 11, Subterfuge 8) Loyalty 15

Endeavour
Virtue Class Heavy Cruiser
Speed: 5, Firepower: 5, Durability: 5, Marines 2/5
Readiness currently at 95%
Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Captain Waltin Sones (Diplomacy 14, Strategy 12, Tactics 10, Prowess 13, Subterfuge 15) Loyalty 20
XO: Commander Dame Thera Phardson (Diplomacy 13, Strategy 9, Tactics 11, Prowess 14, Subterfuge 14) Loyalty: 15

Huitzilopochtli
War God Class Strike Cruiser
Speed: 10, Firepower: 3, Durability: 2, Marines 4/4
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Mediocre (-1)
Captain: Captain Dame Stephua Rosson Maner (Diplomacy 13, Strategy 8, Tactics 12, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 8) Loyalty: 10 - HURT, -1 to all actions
XO: Commander Sir Atthell Ason Perra (Diplomacy 12, Strategy 10, Tactics 9, Prowess 10, Subterfuge 15) Loyalty: 11 - INJURED

Perun
War God Class Strike Cruiser
Speed: 10, Firepower: 3, Durability: 2, Marines 4/4
Readiness currently at 100%
Crew: Regular (0)
Captain: Commander Dame Jule Sice Wison (Diplomacy: 9, Strategy 9, Tactics 14, Prowess 13, Subterfuge 9) Loyalty 11
XO: Lord Commander Andos Lezal Rownett (Diplomacy 11, Strategy 9, Tactics 10, Prowess 13, Subterfuge 12) Loyalty 6. - HURT, -1 to all actions

You leave behind in Illam a selection of battered light cruisers and corvettes with skeleton crews, but even without the detached squadron, you have a far more powerful force under your command than at any point since you lost the Righteous.

Just over ten days later your small fleet emerges from hyperspace at the edge of the Chuang Mu system and you witness utter panic as the light cone of your arrival washes over space. Commercial traffic immediately diverts, defence stations spin up, a few cities inexplicably blackout even though you are light hours away and thus would achieve precisely nothing. You also see the monitor launching almost immediately whilst the jump signature of a departing attack skiff is also detected. You are now on a timer

You also now have a battlecruiser and four heavier vessels to simply start carving through the orbital defences while your three cutters and two strike cruisers get to work chasing down civilian shipping.

Turkey Hunt
3 + 1 + 4 + 22 Strategy = 30

Chuang Mu Defensive Planning
6 + 1 + 5 + 14 Strategy = 26

Success

You do succeed in capturing a fair proportion of the larger civilian vessels, about fifteen ships from bulk haulers to passenger liners, but you were concentrating more on the planetary defences and in the wake of your earlier attack there seem to be fairly effective warning systems and prepared rally points. Many of the civilian vessels are alerted by attack skiffs acting as couriers and have sufficient time to jump out of the system or back to the dubious safety of the homeworld.

Then as you begin to push through the screens of the planetary defences, ships start to jump out, there is no way they can evacuate a world but people are certainly fleeing. The entire time your ships are being bombarded with signals from hundreds of thousands of private transmitters, insults, threats, pleading or sophisticated software attacks against your ship's systems, though those mostly succeed in temporarily crippling some of the captured civilian vessels, they are pointless against warships.

Certainly you, personally, receive tens of millions of transmissions, messages, images and videos, detailing various tortures, punishments or inventively horrific defilements that are being wished upon you.

But you are now on the bridge of your new flagship, the four heavy cruisers flanking and providing supporting fire but shielded by the massive vessel's dense screens of point defence fire.

Reducing Planetary Defences
1 + 3 + 5 + 22 Strategy = 31

Chuang Mu Defensive Planning
3 + 3 + 2 + 14 Strategy = 22

Good Success

Whilst no fortress world, Chuang Mu is protected by belts of weapons pods strung out dozens of light seconds from the planet itself and whoever is managing their reactions is good. The trick with planetary defence networks of this sort deciding when to fire, the weapons themselves are utterly vulnerable to a warship at any range but hard to detect until they are activated, the closer they are when they fire the more chance they have of achieving something but the more likely they are to be spotted and eliminated.

They are never going to seriously threaten a force such as you command, not without being far, far denser, but they can force you to conduct a controlled sweep whilst expending ammunition, especially as most of the objects your lidar sweeps detect are harmless decoys.

The density of the defences is variable though, sometimes you will be pelted by individual disposable railguns, other times the squadron will be swept by a volley of hundreds of torpedoes as dozens of pods expend themselves in a time on target barrage.

Readiness Degradation Checks:
Falkor reduces to 95% Readiness
Smaug reduces to 95% Readiness
Perun reduces to 95% Readiness

By and large, despite the best efforts of the defenders, these attacks only manage to expend your ammunition, the Heavy Cruiser Falkor and the Strike Cruiser Perun both start to fray under the strain though, depleting ammunition faster than expected, suffering overloaded shield generators and with crew fatigue building.

The Heavy Cruiser Smaug manages to misalign her point defence weapons, a torpedo slipping past to detonate in her fields and strip the sensors from one side of the ship, though they are quickly replaced with spares to leave her with some minor armour damage. Gratifyingly non of your own ships make a similar mistake.

With a hole cleared in the orbits of the outer defensive shell over the course of a day, you push in, engaging the heavier inner defences. Here you are occasionally assaulted by long ranged torpedo volleys from the orbital stations, but their launch flares give you minutes to anticipate the arrival of the weapons and most are intercepted before their terminal guidance and thrust engage.

Readiness Degradation Checks:
Falkor reduces to 90% Readiness
Endeavour reduces to 85% Readiness
Huitzilopochtli reduces to 95% Readiness

Or at least that is the theory, the Falkor continues to suffer, her systems gradually degrading under the strain of constant combat, whilst the Endeavour, having been put through months of repeated combat without ever taking a significant hit, finds herself struggling in the absence of her most capable crew and under her new captain. Sones is rather unhappy as he reports the impact of several railgun rounds along the dorsal armour, penetrating the outer hull of your former flagship.

The Huitzilopochtli also reports light damage, a failed manoeuvrer catching several long ranged torpedoes in the edge of her shields with thermal shock damage taken to her ablative armour.

Then, another two days of constant low level combat, you are through and in Chuang Mu's high orbitals. Finally the elderly monitor lumbers toward your fleet whilst a pair of orbital fortresses open fire, two corvettes trying to hang back to support the old battleship and a torrent of fire from ground based weapons joining the mix.

The reason for the Yuzhao's earlier reluctance to engage now becomes evident, she is a relic. Perhaps a hundred years ago she was the envy of any ship in space but she is now a half hulk, Commander Ranca reporting from her signals intercepts that large portions of her armour have been removed to reduce stress on her fatigued hull whilst her crew consist of the students of Chuang Mu's naval academy.

Spoiler: Battle for Chuang Mu

Yuzhao
Monitor
Speed 3, Firepower 6, Durability 7, Marines 8 – Durability 42/70. Crew: Useless (-3)
Captain Qiu Guo Strategy 14, Tactics 15, Prowess 9

Corvette 1:
Speed 5, Firepower 2, Durability 2, Marines 2, Durability 20/20. Crew: Regular (0)
Captain: Strategy 11, Tactics 10, Prowess 5

Corvette 2:
Speed 5, Firepower 2, Durability 2, Marines 2, Durability 16/20. Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Strategy 10, Tactics 12, Prowess 10

Defence Base 1:
Firepower 5, Durability 6, Marines 3, Durability 60/60. Crew: Regular (0)
Captain: Strategy 15, Tactics 8, Prowess 7

Defence Base 2:
Firepower: 5, Durability 6, Marines 3, Durability 60/60. Crew: Experienced (+1)
Captain: Strategy 7, Tactics: 13, Prowess 5

Chuang Mu Surface Defences:
Firepower: 3. Crew: Regular (0)
Commander: Tactics 7. Will fire on every Imperial target not engaged in a boarding action.

Round 1:

Sword of Democracy, fires at Defence Base 2
Firepower 10 + Tactics 21 + Crew 1 + Roll 18 = 50

Endeavour, fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 5 + Tactics 10 + Crew 1 + Roll 10 = 26

Huitzilopochtli fires at Corvette 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 11 + Crew -1 + Roll 14 = 27

Perun fires at Corvette 2
Firepower 3 + Tactics 14 + Roll 10 = 27

Fafnir fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 16 + Crew 1 + Roll 9 + Multi Attack 6 = 36

Smaug fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 8 + Multi Attack 6 = 33

Falkor fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 11 + Crew 1 + Roll 11 + Multi Attack 6 = 35

Yuzhao fires at Falkor
Firepower 6 + Tactics 14 + Crew -3 + Roll 14 = 31

Base 1 fires at Endeavour
Firepower 6 + Tactics 8 + Roll 9 = 23

Base 2 fires at Sword of Democracy
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew 1 + Roll 13 = 33

Corvette 1 fires at Huitzilopochtli
Firepower 2 + Tactics 10 + Roll 8 = 20

Corvette 2 fires at Perun:
Firepower 2 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 14 = 29

Surface defences fire at everyone:
Firepower 3 + Tactics 7 + Roll 7 + Multi Attack 4 = 21

Yuzhao takes 11 damage, halved. Durability 38/70
Defence Base 2 takes 17 damage, doubled. Durability 26/60
Defence Base 1 takes 3 damage. Durability 57/60
Corvette 1 takes 7 damage. Durability 13/20
Perun takes 2 damage. Durability 17/20

Round 2:

Sword of Democracy, fires at Defence Base 2
Firepower 10 + Tactics 21 + Crew 1 + Roll 9 = 41

Endeavour, fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 5 + Tactics 10 + Crew 1 + Roll 18 = 34

Huitzilopochtli fires at Corvette 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 11 + Crew -1 + Roll 8 = 21

Perun fires at Corvette 2
Firepower 3 + Tactics 14 + Roll 14 = 31



Fafnir fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 16 + Crew 1 + Roll 15 + Multi Attack 6 = 42
Smaug fires at Yuzhao

Firepower 6 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 9 + Multi Attack 6 = 34
Falkor fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 11 + Crew 1 + Roll 11 + Multi Attack 6 = 35

Yuzhao fires at Falkor
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew -3 + Roll 14 = 30

Base 1 fires at Endeavour
Firepower 6 + Tactics 8 + Roll 8 = 22

Base 2 fires at Sword of Democracy
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew 1 + Roll 13 = 33

Corvette 1 fires at Huitzilopochtli
Firepower 2 + Tactics 10 + Roll 7 = 19

Corvette 2 fires at Perun:
Firepower 2 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 12 = 27

Surface defences fire at everyone:
Firepower 3 + Tactics 7 + Roll 13 + Multi Attack 4 = 27

Yuzhao takes 21 damage, halved. Durability 28/70
Defence Base 2 takes 8 damage, doubled. Durability 16/60
Defence Base 1 takes 12 damage. Durability 45/60
Corvette 1 takes 2 damage. Durability 11/20
Perun takes 0 damage. Durability 17/20
Corvette 2 takes 4 damage, Durability 12/20

Huitzilopochtli takes 6 damage from planetary defences. 13/20 Durability.

As you engage, Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan ignores your plan as her squadron accelerates forward to engage the elderly monitor, bracketing her, the overlapping point defences of her well handled cruisers shutting down the elderly capital ship's return fire though she is handled well, avoiding most of the torrent of railgun and torpedo fire raining down upon the ancient hull and resisting through sheer bulk if nothing else.

This leaves you with little choice but to engage the planetary defences and the corvettes with your own vessels and you direct the Sword of Demoracy to focus her heavy railguns upon the most crisply firing of the two main asteroid stations. Normally, you could have reduced these from long range with a capital ship, but it would take days or weeks along with much of your ammunition and you know those battleships are coming. Now you have to do things the hard way.

Or the not so hard way, your initial volley is about the most perfect you have ever delivered and you shatter much of the station's defensive rock armour as at least one torpedo glides right through their shields to contact detonate.

The Endeavour engages the other platform to good effect while your strike cruisers exchange long ranged fire with the enemy corvettes. Both of the enemy light ships seem to be well handled and professionally crewed though, whilst your cruisers are decisively winning the exchange the Perun does take a few hits.

As the two sides close, the Viscountess' heavy cruisers manage to land repeated hits on the monitor while your own offensive slackens. Perhaps now the station you targetted is concentrating more of it's fire defensively, but you still continue to steadily smash through it's protection as the Endeavour lands solid shots of her own. Your strike cruisers also start to swing the battle their way, hitting both enemy corvettes.

Right at that moment the sporadic fire from the surface finally achieves something, a volley of counter orbiting missiles fired from the other side of the planet intercepting the Huitzilopochtli as she manoeuvrers then detonating in her shields to send the cruiser reeling, her armour melting through holding.

How do you want to continue the battle as the range closes?

[] Tactics: Blow Them Apart. You do not want to risk losing marines and you are decisively winning this engagement. Destroy the orbital defences and the trio of enemy ships.
[] Tactics: Board The Ships. Send your strike cruisers to board the corvettes and seize them.
[] Tactics: Board the Defences. There are likely to be significant numbers of troops aboard the bases, concentrate on boarding them as the Sword deals with the corvettes.
[] Tactics: Board Everything. Try to take the corvettes and the defence stations by storm. This could be tricky, you are undermanned when it comes to marines.

Also how do you react to the Viscountess apparently deciding she wants the monitor for herself?

[] Viscountess: Let Her Have It. Three heavy cruisers is a pretty good force match up to reliably engage a monitor and her squadron seems to be doing well. Leave them to it.
[] Viscountess: Redirect Her. Try to persuade her to change targets then engage the monitor with the Sword of Democracy. Her cruisers should leave the capital ship to your capital ship and suppress the defences. (Diplomacy roll required).

Additionally once you have reduced Chuang Mu's orbital defences how brutal are you willing to be to try to loot the planet? Keeping in mind that it will take at least a week to suppress the planet to space defences sufficiently that you can safely land troops or loot the orbital infrastructure.

[] Planet Surface: Bombard Population Centres. You do not need to land troops at all and can stop them from shooting you by holding their population to ransom. Nuke a city, nuke more cities until they surrender all moveable wealth through the system, bombard people if they hesitate, delay or attempt to trick you. (Will take about a day to get going, then you can start looting on a massive scale depending upon rolls).
[] Planet Surface: Bombard Infrastructure. You do not need to land troops at all if you just keep breaking key infrastructure until the population are willing to 'negotiate' your going away. This will also help harm their economy long term. Target key transport systems, industrial sites, power generation and data centres until they pay you sufficiently. (Will take a few days to get going, then you can loot on a large scale depending upon rolls whilst only inflicting megadeaths.)
[] Planet Surface: Planetary Suppression. Winkle out their planet to surface weapons over the course of a week or so then target the surface military whilst launching commando strikes from orbit against key targets. Force their government and populace to the negotiating table. (Will take probably about two weeks. Looting depends heavily upon rolls)
[] Planet Surface: Ignore it. Once you have control over orbit, you are going to focus on what is happening there and leave. You do not want to waste time negotiating with billions of very angry people or dealing with the surface weapons.

On the subject of orbital infrastructure just what do you want to do with it? There is the usual selection of orbital factories, refineries, research centres and similar along with cities supporting a population of a hundred and fifty million or so. There are extensive civilian shipyards, a space based fleet training and headquarters station and military slipways able to manufacture small numbers of modern warships from cutters to battleships. Notably, the largest shipyard looks to have the hull of a capital ship currently in it.

[] Orbitals: Mass Scatter. Do not waste time, shoot everything out of orbit and surround the planet with shattered wrecks as soon as the fight is over.
[] Orbitals: Destroy Military Targets. As soon as the space based defences and ships are gone, put railgun rounds and torpedoes into the military stations and shipyard.
[] Orbitals: Loot Then Destroy. Once you have control over orbit and the planetary defences are suppressed, send marines to pick through the orbitals and coerce the populace into handing over civilian shipping along with high value portable wealth. Once that is done, destroy everything of military and industrial value, leaving only the habitation stations.
[] Orbitals: Loot. Once the defensive fire has ended, send in your marines to loot the orbitals, extract tribute, then once you have everything of interest or value that you can take away have the military stations demolished, de-orbited into one of Chuang Mu's oceans.

Also do you want to rename any of your newly acquired ships?

[] Write in.

The main choices about the fate of Chuang Mu are balancing time, brutality and loot. I am happy to add more options if people have suggestions.


Also do not get too excited over monitors being 'loot pinatas', their 'cost' is mostly for political capital on defeat purposes and maintenance cost, they are not exactly easy to sell. Certainly in this case where we are looking at a broken down monitor with a maximum of about 60% Durability.

Also I am not 100% sure that I got everything matching the instructions but it was a messy pile of administration and I think you ended up with a half decent squadron out of the mess of crew cannibalization.

 

[Packrat]

Spoiler: Winning Plan

[X]Plan Fast and Furious
--[X] Put effort into leaving as much chaos and destruction behind you as possible: Kessler Syndrome, Totalled infrastructure, and Targeted Agriculture whenever Possible.
[X] Tactics: Blow Them Apart. You do not want to risk losing marines and you are decisively winning this engagement. Destroy the orbital defences and the trio of enemy ships.
[X] Viscountess: Let Her Have It. Three heavy cruisers is a pretty good force match up to reliably engage a monitor and her squadron seems to be doing well. Leave them to it.
[X] Planet Surface: Bombard Infrastructure. You do not need to land troops at all if you just keep breaking key infrastructure until the population are willing to 'negotiate' your going away. This will also help harm their economy long term. Target key transport systems, industrial sites, power generation and data centres until they pay you sufficiently. (Will take a few days to get going, then you can loot on a large scale depending upon rolls whilst only inflicting megadeaths.)
[X] Orbitals: Loot Then Destroy. Once you have control over orbit and the planetary defences are suppressed, send marines to pick through the orbitals and coerce the populace into handing over civilian shipping along with high value portable wealth. Once that is done, destroy everything of military and industrial value, leaving only the habitation stations.

As you set your plans for victory, the battle for the high orbitals of Chuang Mu continues, the defenders fighting relentlessly despite the inevitability of their defeat in the face of your weight of metal. You have over a third of a million tons of Imperial warships, pushed through their peripheral defences in record time, every ship competently handled. They have to know that they cannot win.

So they fight grimly in defence of the planet below and bleed you as hard as they can.

Miraculously, the Yuzhao manages to land hits on one of the trio of modern heavy cruisers demolishing her, the Falkor's armour holding firm as a handful of rounds from a century old railgun hit squarely enough to punch through her shields. The battered hull of the monitor, a fleet flagship in her heyday, cracks and buckles even as your own heavy vessels continue to batter at the orbital defence stations.

Your shiny new strike cruisers by contrast fair poorly against the well handled corvettes, their armour holding, but sustaining hits as their point defences are overwhelmed.

Even as you direct the Sword's heavy weapons to crippled one of the defensive stations, stripping away almost half of her torpedo silos and turrets, the Endeavour sustains minor damage, further attrition to your strike cruisers. You are aware of the Viscountess' squadron overwhelming the monitor's fire and hammering her with volleys of torpedoes as you shift targets.

With the most dangerous of the defence stations crippled you swing the nose of the Sword around, new targeting solutions, turrets whir, the battlecruiser's vast magazines spitting forth a fresh volley of torpedoes.

As your strike cruisers turn away from the relatively lumbering and smaller ships, both corvettes find themselves outpaced, then spiralling wildly through space as they are hammered by your flagship.

The ligher ships make little impression upon the defence bases but one of the corvettes is left spinning through space, crippled, her main drive failing as she desperately broadcasts her surrender. Your accept, then focus upon her twin.

The second corvette is caught by your main batteries right afterward and her hull fails, the vessel blasted to pieces with only a handful of escape pods managing to flee the multiple pieces of tumbling wreckage. As this happens your cruisers continue to assail the defence platforms and you are aware of a surrender from the Yuzhao.

The Fafnir acknowledges with a denial. Then the ancient monitor is savaged, a fusion torpedo breaking almost completely through her shields before detonating and leaving her blind along one flank as railguns punch through her devastated armour belt.

You press your own attack, swinging the Sword toward the least damaged orbital station, coordinating with both strike cruisers to saturate the enemies defensive fire then leaving them a shattered wreck, their surrender is broadcast, there is now only one half crippled defensive platform along with the monitor. The monitor that is screaming her surrender, declaring that her crew are untrained cadets even as the pleas are ignored and the ship is riddled with railgun fire from a trio of barely damaged heavy cruisers.

Spoiler: Combat Rolls

Combat Round 3:

Sword of Democracy, fires at Defence Base 2
Firepower 10 + Tactics 21 + Crew 1 + Roll 12 = 44

Endeavour, fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 5 + Tactics 10 + Crew 1 + Roll 14 = 30

Huitzilopochtli fires at Corvette 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 11 + Crew -1 + Roll 10 = 23

Perun fires at Corvette 2
Firepower 3 + Tactics 14 + Roll 7 = 24

Fafnir fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 16 + Crew 1 + Roll 16 + Multi Attack 6 = 43

Smaug fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 7 + Multi Attack 6 = 32

Falkor fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 11 + Crew 1 + Roll 4 + Multi Attack 6 = 28

Yuzhao fires at Falkor
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew -3 + Roll 15 = 31

Base 1 fires at Endeavour
Firepower 6 + Tactics 8 + Roll 7 = 21

Base 2 fires at Sword of Democracy
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew 1 + Roll 12 = 32

Corvette 1 fires at Huitzilopochtli
Firepower 2 + Tactics 10 + Roll 11 = 23

Corvette 2 fires at Perun:
Firepower 2 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 13 = 28

Surface defences fire at everyone:
Firepower 3 + Tactics 7 + Roll 7 + Multi Attack 4 = 21

Yuzhao takes 13 damage, halved. Durability 22/70
Falkor takes 3 damage, doubled. Durability 39/50
Defence Base 2 takes 12 damage, doubled. Durability -8/60, -2 Crippled
Defence Base 1 takes 9 damage. Durability 36/60
Corvette 1 takes 0 damage. Durability 11/20
Perun takes 4 damage. Durability 13/20
Corvette 2 takes 0 damage, Durability 12/20
Huitzilopochtli 0 damage, Durability 13/20

Round 4:

Sword of Democracy, fires at Defence Base 2
Firepower 10 + Tactics 21 + Crew 1 + Roll 8 = 40

Endeavour, fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 5 + Tactics 10 + Crew 1 + Roll 9 = 25

Huitzilopochtli fires at Corvette 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 11 + Crew -1 + Roll 10 = 23

Perun fires at Corvette 2
Firepower 3 + Tactics 14 + Roll 9 = 26

Fafnir fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 16 + Crew 1 + Roll 12 + Multi Attack 6 = 39

Smaug fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 8 + Multi Attack 6 = 33

Falkor fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 11 + Crew 1 + Roll 15 + Multi Attack 6 = 39

Yuzhao fires at Falkor
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew -3 + Roll 13 = 28

Base 1 fires at Endeavour
Firepower 6 + Tactics 8 + Roll 11 = 25

Base 2 fires at Sword of Democracy
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew 1 + Roll 12 -2 Crippled = 30

Corvette 1 fires at Huitzilopochtli
Firepower 2 + Tactics 10 + Roll 4 = 16

Corvette 2 fires at Perun:
Firepower 2 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 11 = 26

Surface defences fire at everyone:
Firepower 3 + Tactics 7 + Roll 13 + Multi Attack 4 = 27

Yuzhao takes 27 damage, halved. Durability 9/70
Falkor takes 0 damage. Durability 39/50
Defence Base 2 takes 10 damage, doubled. Durability -28/60, -5 Crippled
Defence Base 1 takes 0 damage. Durability 36/60
Corvette 1 takes 7 damage. Durability 4/20
Perun takes 1 damage. Durability 12/20
Corvette 2 takes 0 damage, Durability 12/20
Huitzilopochtli 4 damage, Durability 9/20
Endeavour takes 2 damage, Durability 41/50

Round 5:

Sword of Democracy, fires at Corvettes 1 & 2
Firepower 10 + Tactics 21 + Crew 1 + Roll 9 -4 Multi Attack = 37

Endeavour, fires at Defence Base 2
Firepower 5 + Tactics 10 + Crew 1 + Roll 10 = 26

Huitzilopochtli fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 11 + Crew -1 + Roll 12 +4 Multi Attack = 29

Perun fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 14 + Roll 13 +4 Multi Attack = 34

Fafnir fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 16 + Crew 1 + Roll 8 + Multi Attack 6 = 35

Smaug fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 13 + Multi Attack 6 = 38

Falkor fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 11 + Crew 1 + Roll 13 + Multi Attack 6 = 37

Yuzhao fires at Falkor
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew -3 + Roll 18 = 33

Base 1 fires at Huitzilopochtli
Firepower 6 + Tactics 8 + Roll 13 = 27

Base 2 fires at Endeavour
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew 1 + Roll 7 -5 Crippled = 25

Corvette 1 fires at Sword of Democracy
Firepower 2 + Tactics 10 + Roll 13 +2 Multi Attack = 27

Corvette 2 fires at Sword of Democracy
Firepower 2 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 15 +2 Multi Attack = 32

Surface defences fire at everyone:
Firepower 3 + Tactics 7 + Roll 12 + Multi Attack 4 = 26

Yuzhao takes 11 damage, halved. Durability 4/70
Falkor takes 0 damage. Durability 39/50
Defence Base 2 takes 1 damage. Durability -29/60, -5 Crippled
Defence Base 1 takes 7 damage. Durability 29/60
Corvette 1 takes 10 damage, doubled. Durability -16/20, -8 Crippled
Perun takes 0 damage. Durability 12/20
Corvette 2 takes 5 damage, doubled. Durability 2/20
Huitzilopochtli 0 damage, Durability 9/20
Endeavour takes 0 damage, Durability 41/50

Corvette 1 surrenders.

Round 6:

Sword of Democracy, fires at Corvette 1
Firepower 10 + Tactics 21 + Crew 1 + Roll 9 = 41

Endeavour, fires at Defence Base 2
Firepower 5 + Tactics 10 + Crew 1 + Roll 13 = 29

Huitzilopochtli fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 11 + Crew -1 + Roll 10 +4 Multi Attack = 27

Perun fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 14 + Roll 15 +4 Multi Attack = 36

Fafnir fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 16 + Crew 1 + Roll 6 + Multi Attack 6 = 33

Smaug fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 5 + Multi Attack 6 = 30

Falkor fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 11 + Crew 1 + Roll 8 + Multi Attack 6 = 32

Yuzhao fires at Falkor
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew -3 + Roll 8 = 23

Base 1 fires at Huitzilopochtli
Firepower 6 + Tactics 8 + Roll 13 = 27

Base 2 fires at Endeavour
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew 1 + Roll 11 -5 Crippled = 29

Corvette 2 fires at Sword of Democracy
Firepower 2 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 7 = 26

Surface defences fire at everyone:
Firepower 3 + Tactics 7 + Roll 10 + Multi Attack 4 = 24

Yuzhao takes 26 damage, halved. Durability -9/70, -2 Crippled
Falkor takes 0 damage. Durability 39/50
Defence Base 2 takes 0 damage. Durability -29/60, -5 Crippled
Defence Base 1 takes 9 damage. Durability 20/60
Perun takes 0 damage. Durability 12/20
Corvette 2 takes 15 damage, doubled. Durability -28/20. Completely Destroyed.
Huitzilopochtli 0 damage, Durability 9/20
Endeavour takes 0 damage, Durability 41/50

Yuzhao attempts to surrender, Fafnir actual refuses and orders squadron to continue to fire.

Round 7:

Sword of Democracy, fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 10 + Tactics 21 + Crew 1 + Roll 12 + Multi Attack 6 = 50

Endeavour, fires at Defence Base 2
Firepower 5 + Tactics 10 + Crew 1 + Roll 10 = 26

Huitzilopochtli fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 11 + Crew -1 + Roll 11 +6 Multi Attack = 30

Perun fires at Defence Base 1
Firepower 3 + Tactics 14 + Roll 9 +6 Multi Attack = 32

Fafnir fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 16 + Crew 1 + Roll 13 + Multi Attack 6 = 42

Smaug fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 12 + Crew 1 + Roll 7 + Multi Attack 6 = 32

Falkor fires at Yuzhao
Firepower 6 + Tactics 11 + Crew 1 + Roll 14 + Multi Attack 6 = 38

Yuzhao fires at Falkor
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew -3 + Roll 11 = 26

Base 1 fires at Huitzilopochtli
Firepower 6 + Tactics 8 + Roll 7 = 22

Base 2 fires at Endeavour
Firepower 6 + Tactics 13 + Crew 1 + Roll 7 -5 Crippled = 25

Surface defences fire at everyone:
Firepower 3 + Tactics 7 + Roll 12 + Multi Attack 4 = 26

Yuzhao takes 34 damage, halved. Durability -26/70, -4 Crippled
Falkor takes 0 damage. Durability 39/50
Defence Base 2 takes 1 damage. Durability -30/60, -5 Crippled
Defence Base 1 takes 74 damage. Durability -54/60, -9 Crippled
Perun takes 0 damage. Durability 12/20
Huitzilopochtli 0 damage, Durability 9/20
Endeavour takes 0 damage, Durability 41/50

Defence Base 1 surrenders

Yuzhao attempts to surrender, Fafnir actual refuses and orders squadron to continue to fire.

Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan appears to be repeatedly refusing the attempts of the crippled and ancient monitor to surrender, her well handled squadron of heavy cruisers relentlessly pounding the ailing warship as her sensors and defensive fire degrade. The Arslan heir is however not under your command even if she has been told to assist you. What do you do?

[] Leave Her Be. She is not under your command, how she handles the engagement with her own cruisers is her own business. Also she is a ducal heir and the monitor is essentially worthless.
[] Request She Stops. Open communications to the bridge of the Fafnir and firmly request that the Viscountess accept the Yuzhao's surrender.
[] Demand She Stops. Immediately open a channel to Captain Athryn and demand that, as a point of honour as an Imperial noble, she accepts the Yuzhao's surrender.
[] Board the Yazhao. Force her hand, have your strike cruisers latch to the Yazhao's hull and send your marines through her airlocks before following with the Sword of Democracy once the orbital defences are suppressed.
[] Intercept Fire. Move the Sword of Democracy alongside the Yazhao and link your defence grids, intercept the Viscountess' fire and take the monitor's surrender yourself.

 

[Packrat]

[X] Intercept Fire. Move the Sword of Democracy alongside the Yazhao and link your defence grids, intercept the Viscountess' fire and take the monitor's surrender yourself.

So this seems by far the most popular decision and I want to move things along before I go to sleep. Also this is bound to lead to interesting discussions.

You have had enough, the Yuzhao, her crew and captain, have fought well, they are struggling to defend their homeworld against attack. Even if they are the enemy they have done nothing to deserve being murdered.

You have your comms officer broadcast a request that the Yuzhao's surrender be accepted, there is no immediate response.

To the shock of your officers you order the Sword of Democracies' retro thrusters engaged, spin her around, fire up the main drive then boost at an agonizing twelve gravities to join the battle around the battered monitor. Even with your extensive enhancement, you and your crew strain to remain conscious, then there is the constant shudder of the hull as your point defence cannons spit fury at incoming Imperial munitions.

Your bridge crew are obviously shocked but so are the trio of Dragon class cruisers, you blunt the force of the assault and, for a few minutes at least, the ongoing battle is reduced to an impasse. You find yourself receiving a direct transmission from the Fafnir and after accepting it, Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan's communications icon blinks into your field of vision.

You accept the call.

"Commodore." Her mental tone of voice is curt, frustrated. "I am not quite sure you know what you are doing but will hear you out, your competence is obvious from your conduct so far even if your heritage is lacking. In fact? I will appeal to you."

A momentary pause then.

"Do you truly think that you will prosper in peace? You mouldered for three years as your officers and crew were stripped from you and the wealth you won in the war was depleted."

You do notice that this communication is massively encrypted, beyond Imperial Navy flag levels, your implants are not going to be able to log this.

"I came here hoping for an ally. Let us turn Chuang Mu into the spark that ignites a second war. Push this rabble of anarchists into attacking across the border at the cost of this rediculous planet. You? You will flourish. Maybe you will find yourself a count, or a duke. Or a prince."

How do you respond?

[] Write In.

 

[Packrat]

[X] Plan Wings of Icarus

You feel the fire of the Sword of Democracy's defensive turrets slacken as all sides, perhaps stunned by your intervention, begin to stop firing, though some emplacements on the planet's surface continue to launch up at your fleet to minimal effect. This interaction is happening as fast as implant accelerated thought, your bridge crew have really only had time to look shocked. Captain Wisanch's armoured form has turned.

"Sir!"

Your conversation via implant with the Viscountess continues.

"I suffered during three years of peace, but I have prospered despite that. I was sent to a sector stripped of ships, in less than a year? Their violations of the treaty have allowed me to capture vessels more than equal to my starting forces for the loss of a single cutter. You know full well that I already have the wealth to buy a Share. I stand upon the bridge of a battlecruiser that I cleared with my own sword."

Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan immediately answers, her mental tone crisp. "Precisely, commodore. With my aide? You may even break and take their battleships. War is coming either way but if we destroy this planet and slaughter it's navy, citing their violation of the treaty with capital ships? The Imperium will accept this, you will be lauded. The NASP will not. They will pour across the border before they are ready. The Rimward fleet will blunt them with four squadrons, 24 battleships, the Home Fleet will be drawn out from the throneworld."

You wince there, you remember it, you served in the navy for fifteen years before the war with the NASP, six out of every ten men and women you ever served with died within a year. A million and a half Imperial sailors, officers and marines, eight million more from the army, countless civilians.

"And if we violate the treaty then what of the Earth Sphere, Viscountess? Do you think they will stand by in the face of a massacre of an entire world, or will they intervene with greater force? We already know they paid for mercenaries and gave New Australia the drive technology that makes those strike cruisers possible. We cannot touch them in return, we did not lose last time due to weakness, it was due to their interference."

Torpedoes, already launched, hammer into the last defense platform, it was already crippled, fusion explosions wipe out the last of the station's sensors. Now blind, it broadcasts surrender to leave only the battered monitor and ground based defences.

She has an answer for that. "We have extended diplomatic tenders to factions within the Earth Sphere. Portions of their gestalt wish for fewer, larger human polities instead of a scattering of squabbling individual systems. They look upon us favourably." That... is news to you, you did not realize that people negotiated with the Earth Sphere or what the implications of a gestalt are. She continues.

"When the NASP fleet crosses the border they will do so with overwhelming strength. You, in this posting, will be crushed regardless of your skill, or rendered irrelevant in the face of the naval response. Cooperate with me now and I will give you a Share, immediately, I hold twenty six and will transfer one to your ownership. When we return triumphant, with the treaty violators punished? You will, in short order, be given orders to take your battlecruiser to New Atlanta in order to personally report to the empress how you drove back the initial incursion of the NASP invasion despite its overwhelming force. You will be promoted, you will not be caught when the New Australian Combined Expeditionary Force crushes the lead echelons of the Imperial Navy but will be elevated as the man who seized one of their vaunted capital ships with a lone cruiser."

That is rather a lot to take in, also there is further thrumming of the Swords hull as point defence turrets annihilate the last of the torpedoes that were heading toward the ailing monitor, which has started to broadcast it's surrender to your capital ship now that you have interposed yourself between her and the now silent Dragon class cruisers.

Captain Wisanch has had time to speak now. "Sir! The Viscountess is refusing surrender of the enemy capital ship. Commander Ranca is requesting immediate permission to take an assault shuttle to the Fafnir and challenge her." She sounds shocked but almost approving.

You continue your implant driven communication, though you do respond verbaly as well. "I am in communication with the Fafnir's captain." You raise a gauntlet clad hand as well.

"Viscountess. This risks serving as a rallying cry, a lightning a fire that forges the NASP from a squabbling rabble into a true peer nation rather than a dis-unified mess prone to squabbles such as the one we exploit this moment. I am also not blind to reality. I know why the bulk of the fleet hangs above the Throneworld and why I was sent here to fail. Something I have, quite obviously, failed to do. You have offered me great rewards but most of them I appear to have earned through my own actions. Why?"

Her answer is immediate. "Civil war will happen. You have proven that you would be a dangerous enemy or an invaluable ally. My family will ensure that you prosper despite your enemies in Fleet Command and rise to the level your talent merits. You will rise, then when the moment comes you will support my father's bid for the Throne. The Empress ails and it was her squabbling heirs and grasping families' ambitions that brought the empire to this precipice."

How do you respond?

[] Write In.

Also do you allow Commander Ranca to take a shuttle over to try to stab the Viscountess on her bridge?

[] Yes, Authorise A Shuttle Launch
[] Yes, Send Ranca With A Marine Company (Keep in mind that the Fafnir has over 400 experienced marines aboard).
[] No, We Are Still In Active Combat

Sorry for the wait on that one! I tried to use the points as directly as possible given that the Viscountess had her own things to say.

 

[Packrat]

Since it has come up before, a clarification on Imperial naval ranks, at least for officers:

Midshipman/woman: Nobles start here aged sixteen or so right out of home, unless they go to the Fleet Academy, then they hold this rank during their education. Commoners only enlist at eighteen then have to go through two years of training and six months of augmentation so will be at minimum be almost 21. Lowest officer rank and mostly given authority for training purposes rather than really being important to the running of anything.
Lieutenant: Full watch officers, nobles (partially share holders) can command patrol cutters at this rank, but typically lieutenants make up the bulk of the officer numbers on full warships or at the second in command of a cutter.
Lt Commander: The typical rank of a patrol cutter commander, the second in command of a corvette or captain of a significant fleet auxillary. You generally have 2-4 people at this rank on a cruiser and more on a capital ship.
Commander: Captain of a corvette or a major auxiliary such as a planetary assault lander, second in command of a cruiser, 3rd and 4th officers of a capital ship. Also typical for many staff officers positions.
Captain (or Fleet Captain): A really broad rank that can be anything from the captain of a light cruiser to the captain of a battle cruiser, or the second in command of a battleship. The Imperial Navy does not use a strict seniority from commissioning system so this typically depends on experience, nepotism and bribery, though 'demoting' a captain within the theoretical purview of their rank is frowned upon unless somebody has done something to merit it. Most officers never progress beyond being a captain even if they hold multiple Shares, but it is also seen as a very respectable rank to have achieved.
Commodore: A Commodore will typically command a six capital ship squadron or a significant fleet base, alternatively a dozen cruiser strong flotilla. The other, much rarer posting is a very small sector fleet, if it has been stripped down to a scratch patrol force only.
Rear Admiral: The typical rank for a small detached fleet commander or a flank of a larger fleet. Coreward Fleet Command would be typical, with a half dozen battleships, a dozen cruisers and twenty or more supporting vessels.
Vice Admiral: The typical rank for a frontier sector with full deployment or a significant expeditionary force. A dozen battleships, twenty cruisers and numerous supporting vessels might be the expected kind of fleet.
Admiral: A full admiral commands a significant portion of the Imperial Fleet. Rimward Fleet Command for example has almost thirty capital ships, roughly a fifth of the strength of the navy or an approximate match for one of the more powerful ducal fleets.
Grand Admiral: There are only three, the Empress is one, one of her ancient daughters is another, the third is a cousin who commands the hundred capital vessels of the Home Fleet and also lost most of the navy during the NASP war.

 

[Packrat]

The Viscountess has put her offer on the table, she has sketched out in rather imperious terms her plan and what she wants from you. But why go with her initial offer and why let her dictate terms, especially when she has implied she needs your strategic mind over anything else.

"Imhotep is bleeding the sector, or was. If Chuang Mu is destroyed then it will serve as a rallying cry and flag that is conveniently dead. Instead? We stick to my original plan and break their infrastructure. We turn this key part of their economy into a bleeding wound that will require untold fortunes to staunch. How will their alliance hold as, rather than being pushed toward war, they are instead begged for aid, money, ships and treasure. That is much less palatable than a righteous war of vengeance."

She does not respond immediately, the Endeavour narrowly intercepts a flight of torpedoes erupting from the surface before they can impact the Perun's shields, a hammer of a railgun turret above you as the Sword of Democracies' dorsal main battery returns fire. You are aware a fraction of a second later that the PTS missile submarine responsible was not directly hit and might have survived, having crash dived immediately after firing.

"A sound strategy." She opens with that. "But will it provoke them into war before they are ready? What do you think, exactly, of facing a fleet of battleships with upgraded engines, as fast as a light cruiser? Operating under a single strategic command, screened by strike cruisers. That is what they are building toward. A few years and they will be scrapping Heritage Class battleships like those coming to reinforce the planet below as obsolete. At that point? The Empire might lose."

Whilst you do not have access to the same kind of top level intelligence that she perhaps does, that does make a certain degree of sense, though she is perhaps exaggerating. If the core members of the NASP alliance immediately started on mass construction of new tech capital ships after the war then they would be starting to work up to combat effectiveness and present in ever increasing numbers, from starting about a year ago. It would be ruinously expensive though as demonstrated by the Imperial House' current straits.

You reply. "Yet your plan leaves me as a convenient potential scape goat, painted as responsible for the deaths of billions at worst, your attack dog at best."

[] Demand A Lot More. Agree to her proposal only if she will make you a baron immediately, with another five shares to follow and a guarantee that you will be given strategic command when you openly move to her families' side in the future. Given people will know where the shares come from, this is going to make it obvious that you are a client of House Arslan, but also a terrifyingly valued one. You would be asking for the value of a planet or nearly two squadrons of capital ships, enough to build up House Arslan's navy by at least a fifth and probably a quarter instead.
[] Demand More. Agree to her proposal in return for five shares, sufficient to make you a baron, along with assurance of strategic command when you openly move to the side of her family in future. This will make it obvious that you are a client of House Arslan, people take note of that level of share transfer. You would be asking for the value of a pair of battlecruisers with screening fast ships or a flotilla of light cruisers, a significant investment even for a rich ducal house.
[] Accept Her Proposal. Agree with her proposal, you are being healthily bribed and a single share from somebody as influential and rich as her could be construed as her being genuinely grateful for your assistance and skill in battle, a noble gesture from a mentee to a mentor and attempt to influence you rather than outright patronage from her house.
[] Refuse. You will have no part of what is, ultimately, treason and genocide.
[] Arrest Her. She is attempting conspiracy to treason, broadcast to all ships that she is a traitor then board the Fafnir and take her captive.

If you do accept her offer, for whatever level of bribery is involved, do you try to add conditions?

[] No. You let her go along with her original plan of genocide and refusing surrender to create an atrocity, be it her plan or her fathers.
[] Accept Surrender. You will take the monitor's surrender, the cadets aboard and their captain fought honourably and should be treated appropriately.
[] Infrastructure & Surrender. You will limit bombardment of Chuang Mu to infrastructure and take the monitor's surrender. You will seek to provoke the war another way.

So participation has definitely been limited by repeated write ins, I am breaking the choices down as per the above. The exact responses and wether or not your proposal will be accepted come down to Diplomacy rolls and also just how much she is willing to 'pay' for your allegiance.

Outright refusal will probably put you on a 'shit, he knows too much' list but taking this to the Governor General and going for outright Imperial patronage is certainly an option, especially given that his nephew is on your flagship.

Added: To put in some perspective numbers (You do not know the exact ones in character) House Arslan as a whole is thought to hold around six hundred shares, with the duke possessing at least two hundred. The gross total quarterly income of every member of the house is likely in the region of 1500-2000 Wealth (or 15-20 Shares) but that is split across numerous cousins, cadet houses, etc, not to mention considerable expenses.

Ten Shares is about what the duke could buy quarterly with his entire share dividend, assuming he spent it on nothing else.

 

[Packrat]

[X] Arrest Her. She is attempting conspiracy to treason, broadcast to all ships that she is a traitor then board the Fafnir and take her captive.

Even combined, this option had more votes than the various accept offers put together.

Your expression turns grim, you hesitate for a moment, then speak, your tone grim, volume pitched so that you are clearly audible across the bridge. "Captain Dame Juley Wisanch. Record for the log that Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan has attempted to recruit me into a treasonous conspiracy against the throne. As the ranking Imperial Navy officer on scene I thus revoke her command authority and place her under arrest. Also accept the surrender of the Yuzhao."

With this said you open a channel to the Fafnir, directed to all officers. "Commander Amueth Enkis. I am ordering you to relieve Captain Arslan and place her in the brig under accusation of high treason, you are to assume command of the Fafnir." Then, directed to every captain. "The monitor Yuzhao has surrendered to the Sword of Democracy and all Imperial ships are to cease fire against orbital assets, continue suppression of Yuang Mu's ground based weaponry as per the original attack p-"

You are cut off by a very, very angry sounding Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan. "You have NO authority over me or my ships, peasant, or any grounds to accuse me of anything!"

Political Capital gain:
1 Monitor Captured - 28
1 Corvette Captured - 6
1 Corvette Destroyed - 4
2 Heavy Orbital Platforms Captured – 15
+53 Political Capital, 75 new total. +3 Loyalty for all noble officers, +3 effective Diplomacy


All officers aboard the Sword of Democracy pass Loyalty checks
All officers aboard the Endeavour pass Loyalty checks.
XO of the Huitzilopochtli, Commander Kathra Ared Scolly, fails Loyalty check
XO of the Perun, Lord Commander Andos Lezal Rownett, fails Loyalty check.

Diplomacy Check:
5 + 2 + 1 + Effective Diplomacy 10 = 18, Minor Failure.

You do not receive any acknowledgement from Commander Amueth about your order and the Fafnir swings her nose to face your cruiser, the Falkor flanking her as the Smaug lags behind. The Endeavour positions herself off your starboard whilst the two injured strike cruisers fall behind. The crews of both the smaller ships seem to be distinctly unhappy and there are arguements on the bridges, both executive officers reportedly voicing their very serious concerns about you. The fire from the surface continues, but is largely irrelevant to your squadron in high orbit now that there is nothing to support in space. The surrendered Chuang Mu ships broadcast messages of confusion.

"Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan. You are ordered to step down as captain of the Fafnir and rescind command to your executive officer. You have conspired to break the Treaty of Ilam and force the Empire into war, you have attempted to suborn a flag officer of the Imperial Fleet and acted in a manner unbecoming of an officer in refusing the surrender of an honourable foe."

You are somehow not surprised at her response. Her voice is venomous.

"Reinhard Strauss." She omits your rank. "I challenge you to a duel, you honourless curr."

[] Duel Her. Probably not very wise, her record states she is pretty dangerous with a blade. If you win then you can probably take her into custody without any issues and have retroactively justified your accusations, losing however would be very bad even if she does not kill you.
[] Send Ranca. Ranca already wanted to duel the Viscountess, you can argue that she has precedence there and have her duel in your stead. She will probably win but if she loses? Again, that would make your accusations against the Viscountess be generally viewed in society as false and anything she does in retaliation 'putting you in your place'. In comparison to personally duelling this would mute the advantages of winning as well as being a lot more likely to succeed.
[] Arrest Her. She has no right to challenge a senior officer to a duel during active combat, it is arguably illegal. Hard dock the Sword of Democracy with her cruiser and arrest her. You have a faster ship and a vastly larger marine complement, they would be suicidal to resist. This could get messy if her other ships intervene but things are still overwhelmingly in your favour.

I have updated the front page with the current Readiness of all ships, note that both of your strike cruisers are pretty mangled, though the Falkor is not particularly healthy either. Also the strike cruisers might well suffer mutinies if you try to make them fight other Imperial ships.

 

[Packrat]

[] Send Ranca. Ranca already wanted to duel the Viscountess, you can argue that she has precedence there and have her duel in your stead. She will probably win but if she loses? Again, that would make your accusations against the Viscountess be generally viewed in society as false and anything she does in retaliation 'putting you in your place'. In comparison to personally duelling this would mute the advantages of winning as well as being a lot more likely to succeed.

"I accept your challenge." You answer across the open channel. "Baroness Ranca, I believe you already stated your wish to face the Viscountess and so have precedence, would you fight in my stead?"

There is no hesitation, not that you expected any. "It would be a pleasure. Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan! Face me in shuttle bay one of the Sword of Democracy." Ranca virtually purrs her reply, her voice dripping with murderous anticipation.

As the specifics are arranged you pull your ships back away from Chuang Mu and the continual fire of her surface defences, withdrawing into high orbit along with the captured monitor and corvette, sending shuttles with prize crews to secure both vessels then ordering the surrendered orbital forts to evacuate and scuttle. There is a third, around the far side of the planet, but her long ranged torpedo fire is unable to break through the concentrated point defence of six cruisers and a capital ship. Even if some of those cruisers are pointing main batteries at each other.

It takes about an hour before things can be arranged and you take an elevator down from the bridge to shuttle bay one, the huge space largely cleared, pressurised, almost all of your officers gathering as Ranca strides out in her blue and gold armour. Given you opted for a champion, the Viscountess has her cousin, Commander Lord Jose Morgan Arslan, representing her, though she is present and glaring at you quite malevolently through her open face plate.

Ranca skips most of the formalities and gives a perfunctory salute with her blade before then lunging for Lord Jose, who looked shocked.

Ranca
6 + 5 +2 + 17 Prowess = 30
Jose
3 + 6 + 4 + 14 Prowess = 27

Jose Durability 7/10

He responds with literally inhuman speed though as he snaps his own blowing blade on line, catching Ranca's blade near the hilt of his own, a flare of sparks as he attempts a riposte in single time. She counters and the bay rings with the impact of energy blades as they conduct a dozen passes in four heartbeats.

Then Jose is falling back, his expression intent, not acknowledging or feeling any pain despite the melted gouge in the armour at the side of his torso. A slight shudder then as his suit administers combat drugs then Ranca is upon him once more.

Ranca
4+ 5 + 6 + 17 Prowess = 32
Jose
2 + 6 + 3 + 14 Prowess = 25

Jose Durability 0/10, -1 Crippled

This time she opens with a wide, over committed swing, leaving herself open for Jose' answering lunge. A grind of armour boots across the deck as she drops under it then stabs clear through her opponent's thigh, burning right through centimeters of armour then ripping the blade out. The lord staggers even as his profuse bleeding is cut off by his augmentations, crying out briefly in pain, staggering. He looks appealingly to the Viscountess, she gives a curt shake of her head and her faces Ranca back again, this time heavily favouring his leg that has not been half amputated.

Ranca
1 + 4 + 6 + 17 Prowess = 28
Jose
4 + 4 + 4 + 14 Prowess, -1 = 25

Jose Durability -3/10, -3 Crippled

Ranca circles now, blood hissing on her blade before she flicks it expansively to the side, strutting, toying with her wounded prey. Another blurred exchange of blades leads to Lord Jose breaking off minus a finger, he swaps hands, hugging his ruined gauntlet to his injured side, slower.

He does however make no further attempt to yield and Ranca certainly does not encourage him.

Ranca
3 + 3 + 4 + 17 Prowess = 27
Jose
5 + 2 + 4 + 14 Prowess, -3 = 22

Jose Durability -8/10, -8 Crippled

His best efforts do not avail him though and, apparently growing bored as her foe slows, lazily parries his attacks, steps forward, then slices off his arm above the elbow, a downwards flick also hacking into his uninjured leg and almost amputating it after shearing through the armour. Lord Jose screams and falls to the deck with a thud before slowly bleeding, Ranca turns to the Viscountess then smiles so very widely, a casual stretch in her armour, then she deactivates her blade before using its point to scoop up Jose's weapon by the hand guard. She flicks the thing into her hand then offers it to the armoured Captain Athryn. "Your cousin dropped something. Traitor."

Medics are rushing to retrieve the mangled Commander Jose, along with his amputated body parts, they might be salvagable, you intervene before this can go further.

"Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan. Your champion was defeated, I am placing you under arrest and relieving you of command over the heavy cruiser Fafnir. I advise you n-"

Athryn is glaring murderously first at Ranca, then at you, then she draws and ignites her sabre. "I do not accept this you Arril bitch. Your puppet will not detain me."

Ranca grins even more widely then without waiting for anyone to make their own intentions known, steps forwards and attempts to push her sabre through Athryn's face.

Ranca
2 + 3 + 6 + 17 Prowess = 28
Athryn
3 + 1 + 3 + 13 Prowess = 20

Athryn Durability 2/10

This does not quite succeed but the Viscountess cries out as she barely parries, Ranca's blade slicing through her helmet and across her cheek, removing half of an ear before they lock blades and shove at each other in their armour. The result is the Arslan heir slamming back into one of her lieutenants as armoured officers hurriedly back away, almost losing her footing, coming back with fast, flurrying slashes as she attempts to land a blow on Ranca.

Ranca
5 +3 + 6 + 17 Prowess = 31
Athryn
2 + 1 + 2 + 13 Prowess = 18

Athryn Durability -11/10 – Dead

So that is when Ranca falls back, waits for a heartbeat until she spots an opening, then steps in to neatly decapitate the heiress to House Arslan, her mangled head falls to the floor. Everyone is silent.

[] Arrest Ranca. She has just committed a crime in killing an Imperial Shareholder, even if it was in a fair duel. She needs to be held in the brig until she can be put on trial upon the return to Ilam.
[] Parole Ranca. Whilst she has technically committed a crime, Ranca is a serving officer and you need her. Have her on parole and 'confined to the ship', not that this will be an issue.
[] Threaten The Arslans. Ranca has just literally cut off the head of their leadership, pointedly accept this then inform the senior officers of the heavy cruisers that they are now under your command whilst she stands looking worryingly pleased with herself at your side.

Regardless of choice I expect you will take cruisers under command, the question is mostly how you deal with Ranca, or do not, letting everyone know that you approve.

Note that the moment Athryn ignited her blade and called Ranca a bitch that was considered a completely legitimate duel, one reflecting poorly on the Viscountess even given that she did not give Ranca time to recover from the previous confrontation. Intervening was very much not an option. Actually killing a ducal heiress though? Ranca is going to be in real trouble.

 

[Packrat]

Captain Viscountess Athryn Mithy Arslan was trying to start a war, triggering it with an atrocity, she tried to gain your collaboration and waited until you were in the middle of combat with little time to formulate a response, a choice between accepting her lavish promises or refusing.

Now her head spills out of her shattered helmet on the deck of your battlecruiser, her expression one of utter shock. Ranca looms over, blood sizzling on the blade of her saber as she grins toward the delegation of senior Arslan officers in a manner suggestive of something utterly predatory and not a mark on her own gleaming battle armour, in the background the mutilated Lord Jose Arslan is being pepped by medics, his severed extremities efficiently bagged.

Killing a noble even in a duel is a crime but there is another way to frame this. You step forward alongside Ranca, dwarfed by her even in your own armour, one hand resting on the grip of your sabre. You might not be able to match the prowess of either of the foes she just despatched but you do have a reputation after taking the battlecruiser you are now commanding at the point of your own blade, best to remind people of it.

"Lords and ladies. The Viscountess was a traitor and died in her treachery rather than submit to arrest, the fact she was allowed to fall with sword in hand in personal combat was more than she deserved." You send a quick ping to Ranca, she really does not mind playing the part there and gives a casual flourish with her blade as she steps out from your side then, entirely casually, starts to prowl toward them Commander Adald Imperial and your XO, Captain Juley Wisanch, are less immediately eager but do move their hands to the hilts of their own blades as they back you.

"I think we can all agree that the plan to perform atrocities here, in defiance of the honour of the Imperial Navy, to attempt to suborn an Imperial flag officer, was entirely that of the dead Viscountess and that the rest of your esteemed family must have been ignorant. That does not make you unaccountable."

The only Arslan here and senior enough to matter is Captain Lord Atrin Arslan, the captain of the Falkor, but notably his heavy cruiser is the one that has taken the most damage in both the breaching of the orbital defences and when facing the now surrendered Chuang Mu monitor. You are also fairly certain that you could beat him in a duel if necessary and he has quite a competent XO, he is expendable.

Intimidate Roll
2 + 4 + 1 + Effective 10 Diplomacy = 17, +7 for difference between Atrin and Ranca's Prowess. 24. Success.

Atrin sets his jaw, right hand clenching, starts to lean forward... Then glances to Ranca. He pales, swallows. "I think we can all agree Commodore, that you will be in command for the rest of this operation. We must show unity in the face of these savaged despite... Unpleasant accidents."

You still order your two patrol cutters to shadow the Mizrak, the attack skiff brought along as a courier, even if this does limit you to effectively two small ships to jump back and forth and patrol the approaches.

Then you get to reducing Chuang Mu's surface based defences and shattering the world's infrastructure. First of all is the elimination of major military bases and fixed strongpoints using the heavy railguns of the Sword of Democracy's main batteries. You bring the massive warship in close, point defence fire shrugging off torpedoes and railgun fire whilst the ultra velocity guns of a capital ship leave too little time for any defensive measures.

Chuang Mu have not neglected their defences and this takes time, even with the Sword's massive firepower breaking apart mountains to defeat the heaviest emplacements takes multiple shots, while in the meantime they pour thousands of missiles into orbit to interdict your lighter ships and prevent you from properly securing the orbital infrastructure such as the shipyard.

Bombardment of Chuang Mu
3 + 3 + 6 + 22 Strategy = 34

Planetary Defense Network:
4 + 4 + 3 + 12 Strategy = 24
Overwhelming Success

Huitzilopochtli reduced to 35% Readiness
Smaug Reduced to 90% Readiness

You break the defences in record time, reducing the defenders to mobile weaponry and a heavily depleted supply of submarines with heavier guns, they can no longer really contest orbit and are reduced to point defence that would make a landing costly. This does nothing to stop you from eliminating military bases, transport hubs, power generation and major military factories. All the while you have Captain Sones transmit your demands for surrender and tribute down to the surface.

In orbit you have no need to demand surrender, you send marine assault shuttles to seize any civilian shipping that failed to escape as well as the local fleet headquarters and training facilities, their stockpiles of munitions, their shipyards. You are able to claim dozens of vessels though it seems they sent out every real warship to fight you regardless of condition.

Everything apart from the battleship.

Ranca leads your marines in seizing the main shipyard and cuts down a diehard group of service personnel and marines who attempt to trigger fusion warheads around the unnamed vessel. She is not finished, still unarmed, only half of her engines online, but you managed to seize her before much sabotage could be performed and with some work she could be launched.

Tribute Extraction Rolls:
3 + 4 + 2 + 14 (Sones Diplomacy) = 23
4 + 2 + 5 + 15 (Sones Subterfuge) = 26

As you focus on securing orbit and reducing the defences, you have the Endeavour hold in high orbit so that Captain Sones can concentrate on extorting the locals and coordinating the effort of getting them to send up ships and cargos.

As expected, they refuse, it takes days of bombardment, leaving billions without basic utilities in dead cities, before they cave in mass and start to surrender. Then they of course try to send as little as possible, ships loaded with ballast, even two suicide freighters loaded with torpedoes that try to ram the Sword of Democracy whilst spitting munitions. Fortunately Sones has been keeping a close eye on surface movements, scanner readings of ships being launched and similar, you are warned well in advance and retributive bombardments limit attempts to swindle you of your hard looted wealth.

This does all take time though and if Chuang Mu's battleships are willing to damage their drives, they could be here in days.

320 Wealth Looted – Your share will be 92 when returned. This is in addition the the damaged corvette and the monitor you have captured.

But you can continue looting, even if the battleships are due within days.

[] Keep Looting. Get more wealth, risk being caught as the enemy fleet jumps in, though most likely your scouts will warn you and you will be able to prepare.
[] Leave Now, Salt the Earth. You have enough loot. Smash the starports they are using to send up ships, blow their orbital infrastructure then leave.

Also what do you do about the almost completed battleship?

[] Scuttle Her. You cannot take the time to launch the ship, so destroy her in her moorings.
[] Emergency Launch. Send a senior officer aboard along with a good engineering crew then launch her to launch immediately to return with you. She may be lost in hyperspace. (Specify officer, must be one of yours and their ability with influence success chance).
[] Prep and Launch. Properly prep the captured battleship then launch her to take home as a prize. If Chuang Mu's battleships are pushing their drives, they will return before you are done.