You have a lot of time during the journey, time you spend studying your sector, watching as a third of your fleet is transferred to other regions or recalled for refurbishment, your crews stripped of their experienced personnel. You also have time to go over the dockets of officers you know and have served with before, those whom you might be able to transfer from neighbouring sectors.
You can only pick one though, who do you have transferred?
[] Lord Captain Jeffry Monson – Your executive officer on the Righteous, since promoted and currently serving as a staff officer at the fleet base coreward of your command. He would welcome a chance at a combat role especially as you hear he is doing terribly in his current position. (Diplomacy 15, Strategy 6, Tactics 15, Prowess 14, Subterfuge 12, Loyalty 15)
[] Captain Dame Rynie Sarea Hompsand – Your XO in your previous command, she has just been promoted but not yet assigned. A member of a minor noble house, you mentored her extensively and she is, you feel, probably now one of the most effective ship commanders in the empire. (Diplomacy 11, Strategy 15, Tactics 16, Prowess 9, Subterfuge 13, Loyalty 16)
[] Baroness Commander Ranca Sandra Arril – A black sheep member of the ducal house, Ranca served under you as lieutenant some years back. She punctuates her periods of naval employment with interludes of debauchery and slaughter, one of the most skilled duellists in any given sector and a monster when it comes to spearheading boarding actions. You also had an affair with her after she left your command. (Diplomacy 10, Strategy 9, Tactics 9, Prowess 16, Subterfuge 13, Loyalty 17)
[] Commander Waltin Sones – A rarity in that he is a non noble senior officer, a highly skilled intelligence analyst and agent who you worked closely with during the war and can poach from his current rear line posting. (Diplomacy 14, Strategy 12, Tactics 8, Prowess 13, Subterfuge 15, Loyalty 16)
Arrival in the orbit of Ilam only serves to demonstrate the severity of your position, as your shuttle burns to decelerate on approach to the orbital citadel of Mirmir Sector Command you can see the empty births for capital ships, before the war this was a post for a vice admiral with a dozen battleships whilst now it is host to only six ships worthy of even having names and the size of the sector is more than doubled.
Right now almost all of the ships are in dock with the corvette Settler and light cruiser Hawk obviously undergoing maintenance work, something also true to a lesser extent when it comes to your flagship the heavy cruiser Endeavour.
You disembark to proper pomp and ceremony, the sound of the band, the salutes of hundreds of enlisted and officers, the calculating stares of your senior and titled captains and commanders. You bear it, you still cannot win through such formal occasions with flourish or style though you do keep careful track of mannerisms and find just the right degree of fault as you inspect your marine honour guard.
Soon enough you are in your quarters aboard the Endeavour and find that your predecessor quite literally gutted them leaving the walls torn messes where they were stripped of Terran redwood panelling, cabinets gaping holes in the walls and an utter absence of furniture, this makes the initial private conversation with your second in command somewhat awkward.
Baronet Commander Joyce Artis Rownett does at least have the grace to look embarrassed on your part as she faces you stiffly across the gouged and bare plasteel floor of your ready room, from your record you know her to be a capable if unexceptional officer who does show some promise when it comes to logistics and planning, valuable in an XO. She is a tall woman in her late twenties, engineered to striking perfection as is normal for the heiress to a baronial family who own their own moon. She is explaining.
"The previous captain did not mean any harm by it sir, he simply wanted to ensure you had a blank canvass to have your own design installed. The Endeavour is currently undergoing short cycle maintenance and we are in orbit of the sector capital, I am sure you can have a priority refurbishment from any of a number of superb firms. If you do not have your own people for such things that is."
You fail to not glare at her and take a short while to frame a suitable response. "In the meantime I need somewhere to hold staff meetings. Requisition a table and chairs from the base commissary so that I can brief you and your fellow senior officers." She looks horrified of course but that really does not mean you have 'won'.
How are you going to live? Your pay is 1 Wealth per quarter.
[] Spartan – You are going to furnish your cavernous accommodations with service issue furniture, entertain your officers with service issue food, not entertain and wear requisitioned uniforms. (-2 Political Capital a quarter, half all gains of Political Capital, -3 Loyalty all officers. Save 1 Wealth a quarter).
[] Frugally – You will live within your, extensive, means, but well below the level expected for a sector commander. You will have your quarters fitted with low key luxury, hire the minimum few servants and buy luxurious food and supplies of non exclusive brands so that you can entertain notables and your officers in a style below that which they expect from you. (-33% to all gains of Political Capital due to your skinflint nature, -1 Loyalty all officers, spend your salary).
[] Comfortably – You will borrow so that you can maintain the style expected of you as the senior imperial navy officer in the sector. You will go to one of those exclusive firms to have your quarters set up in appropriate style and comfort, you will bring in a dozen highly skilled servants and retainers, you will stock luxuries and exotics so that your guests and officers feel respected. (No modifiers, borrow 1 Wealth a quarter, which will need to be paid back later with interest).
Despite any conflict, it is less than three hours later that you have a table installed atop the bare metal floor, a holographic projector you did not need to request and plenty of chairs, along with all of your officers ranked lieutenant commander and above gathered and shocked if attentive.
But what is your strategic plan right now?
[] Focus On Training and Exercises - Pull back your patrols, ready every ship, then push your ships and crews to their limits. You have green crews and untried officers and you need to show them just how much they need to learn. (Spend entire budget for the next quarter on ship readiness and drills. This will leave the space lanes unprotected but may improve your officers and crew cohesion).
[] Interdict Smugglers - Throw a wide net, sending out your patrol cutters out individually to stop, detain and search suspicious merchant vessels whilst your two cruisers needing maintenance remain in reserve and corvettes lurk around the flashpoints of Obull and Imhotep with the support of the Peregine. (Keep the Endeavour and Hawk in reserve and repair, reducing expenditure by 8, deploy all other ships to leave 8 in the budget. May gain Wealth from prize money if smugglers are seized).
[] Suppress Pirates – Deploy your cruisers as a single squadron near Imhotep and the Rana Saliant whilst your corvettes escort high risk merchant convoys and your patrol cutters serve as couriers and scouts. Seek decisive battle with your heavier ships. (Spend entire budget on fielding your ships, ignore smuggling and tax evasion for now, try to destroy or capture the worst of the pirates).
[] Subjugate Imhotep - This planet is seething with revolt and strategically important, keep your cutters and corvettes on patrol as normal, but deploy your cruisers to orbit then support the planetary government in crushing the rebellion with strategic drops of marines and careful application of orbital fire support. (Deploy everything, try to break the rebels).
[] Other - Write in!
No block voting this time.
Also regarding officers, a captain can honourably either be in charge of a cruiser or be appointed as your head of staff and remain aboard the flagship to support and aid you. A commander can honourably be either the executive officer of a cruiser, the captain of a corvette, or be your head of staff and remain aboard the battleship to support and aid you. If you outright replace somebody with your pick of elite officer then you can kick them out completely without real issue but if you keep them they must be transferred to a 'suitable' post or else you will lose political capital or even face a duel depending upon rolls.
Also you rolled pretty damn well on some of those officers! I did not expect anyone with double 15s let alone a 15 and a 16.
