Turn 19 - Fluff
The year starts out with… a bang.
You hate yourself for the mental pun.
But bright and early on January 1st you are awakened with news of a serious VTOL accident on Capricorn with several CH-1’s crashing into the jungle following severe system failures. Luckily it had been a repositioning flight rather than an operational flight so no infantry were on board but still you have lost 6 pilots.
Within a day an order is given grounding all CH-1s, and by the end of the week it becomes glaringly obvious that the elderly helicopters are in no shape to continue operations. The production line for them had last produced anything in your grandfather’s time, and the ones you’d had in service had been resurrected from boneyards following the initial Drac attack.
Fortunately there already was a replacement design ready to go and it only takes a few strokes of your pen to authorize the replacement of the ancient CH-1s with brand new CH-2s. The new birds are a significant upgrade to the older model, not only more reliable but also tougher and with better close-in armament to help clear LZs.
There is a proposal on the table to fold the Castor/Pollux Scout Team into the Mine Defense Force. It would somewhat simplify command and control, as the scout team no longer really has a purpose.
[] Yes
[] No
[] Write-In
There has also been several proposals submitted to replace the Type 1 APC. While a decent battle taxi, the Type 1 is functionally unarmed and serves purely as a means of getting infantry to the battlefield, not being able to support them once they arrive.
Due to the payouts from the Luxury Airship Service you’ll be able to afford to purchase a significant amount of mechanized infantry mounted in any of these designs. General Potter recommends assigning one regiment to 1st Armored and one to 1st Aerie Cadre to provide a training force both for vehicles and eventually to infantry.
[] | Name | Cost | HP | Attack Defense | Special | Total Cost 2 Regiments |
[] | Weasel IFV | 184 | 24 | 6/5 | APC 1 | 12,690 |
[] | Pyre IFV | 344 | 24 | 6/6 | APC 1 | 21,330 |
[] | It Has A Name | 236 | 20 | 5/5 | APC 1 | 15,498 |
[] | Combat Transport M3 | 280 | 24 | 7/6 | APC 1 | 17,874 |
[] | BMP-4 | 384 | 20 | 5/5 | APC 1 | 23,490 |
You have a total of 15,000 available immediately from Airship Service revenue for this purchase. Any amount over will be deducted from the military budget, any amount under will be added to the general fund.
QM NOTE - All of the designs have a record sheet available in the Design Bureau section of the Discord. Weasel and Combat Transport M3 each received a +1 base offense rating and +4 base health due to design luck rolls. Design will be designated the Weasel IFV regardless of who wins.
Assign forces as requested by General Potter?
[] Yes
[] No
-[] Write-In
You fully intend to put your foot down and make your husband give Jeremy The Talk™ but.. The day you intend to do just that you encounter a somewhat wild-eyed and still furiously blushing young man looking shell-shocked, and a husband who has THAT look.
Damn fighter pilot.
At the next HRL Junior League meet you can tell that Alita Stearns (the crush in question) has evidently been given the Talk as well by her parental unit, as Jeremy and Alita are adoringly skittish around each other. Puppy love, it’s so cute!
You do get to meet Alita’s mother, who appears to be a very down-to-earth woman who it turns out actually runs her own small construction firm specializing in commercial buildings.
And, of course, the two of you start sharing baby pictures, which prompts loud cries of dismay from both teenagers, which in turn simply inspires you both to smile at your respective offspring, deepening their distress.
Bastet seems to find this utterly hilarious, judging by how she immediately begins bestowing extra-slobbery Licks of Approval on both teens, while Sekhmet is chuffing in laughter at the shenanigans.
Happily it seems that whatever their relationship is is quite capable of surviving parental embarrassment and The Talk™. This might not be a simple crush after all, and it appears that Alita might well reciprocate your son’s feelings to some extent.
He’s a good boy, and Willis tells you he was very firm in stressing just how many people would seek to take advantage of Jeremy due to his rank.
[] It might be a good idea to bring Janet in discretely, let’s not take any risks.
[] They’re so cute together, let’s not risk spoiling it.
The twins move up to the Junior League, joining their older brother, albeit in a lower division, and suddenly they seem to be taking racing
far more seriously. And it becomes even more obvious that all of their messing around in the Pee Wee League had a purpose… it allowed them to become absolutely and totally familiar with the handling intricacies of hovercraft in nearly every control state. And they put that knowledge to excellent use right off the bat. They’ve entered two races, they came in 1-2 in each of them, with the twins splitting the victories.
Thanh is in contention for the championship this year, and is proving just as much a prodigy as Jeremy ever was, indeed she seems to be even more skilled than your eldest. Jeremy, predictably, seems completely happy with his sisters abilities and is always her loudest supporter at her races. And he keeps on bringing Alita along who also cheers Thanh on. Such good kids.
Sarah, to your everlasting relief, shows absolutely no signs of being interested in actually racing. She seems far happier helping decorate her big sisters racer, or Biggest Brothers racer, than interested in actually racing herself.
At least one of your kids takes after you and isn’t an adrenaline junkie. You pretend that you don’t own your own personal Chasseur that you race about in.