Turn 28 -
Holy Diver
Isoroku is sent off with rather comprehensive instructions from the crown to the requested meeting with Tai-Sa Gustavson. The Eldest sends along a rather young tiger who’s evidently interested in diplomacy, so the native Cats are represented as well.
You watch rather nervously as the shuttle is met by one of the
Leopard-CVs of the DCMS, as agreed. Everything is on full alert, with
Sarah scanning every square inch of space that she can.
The meeting takes several hours, as expected, before the shuttle undocks and returns to the planet.
“It went about as expected, Your Majesty.” Isoroku reports, lightly scritching between the ears of the relatively small tiger who’d accompanied him. “He didn’t give away much at all, but he has agreed to a ceasefire to facilitate further talks.” he takes a sip of his tea. “On the whole he gives the impression that he is negotiating in good faith, although how long that lasts and whether or not his superiors approve is a different matter entirely.”
He looks down at the cat “We decided not to break out the translation board, in order to keep up the illusion that the cats are simply pets of some sort. Fumio?” He addresses the young tiger, who stretches slightly then pads over to one of the laid out translation boards.
“Several of the guards were grumbling about the Tai-Sa shutting down the brothels, the two complaining wore low-ranking officers' insignia. Apparently Gustavson has a reputation of refusing to allow his troops to ‘indulge in simple relaxation’ like that and has a further rep as a strict disciplinarian who won’t allow his troops to ‘relieve their tensions’ on the civilian populace. The ones complaining seemed quite displeased at this.” The cat uses the board to communicate.
That Tai-sa was sounding more and more like one of those Dracs that were dangerous… the somewhat decent human beings who still wore their uniform. On the other hand, he sounded like somebody you could at least tolerate without instantly shooting them in the head. So there’s that at least.
From the documentation that Isoroku brings back, what the DCMS commander is demanding is a formal long-term armistice in which you formally state that Griffin’s Roost will not interfere with Operation Bakkustabbu. There are numerous other provisions, related to disarming and such, that appear to be in there as throwaway negotiating items since there is zero chance you’d ever approve any of them and anybody as demonstrably savvy as Gustavson would know that coming in.
The next meeting is tentatively scheduled in a few months time. There has been a request to have the meeting on Griffin’s Roost itself. There are several options for venue, ranging from a formal reception at the Palace itself to something more subtle, like perhaps holding the talks at the Hachiman shrine that had been destroyed by the previous landing and rebuilt.
[] Approve
-[] Hold meeting at the Palace, maximum formality
-[] Hold meeting at the Hachiman shrine
-[] Write-in
[] Disapprove
-[] Hold meeting on moon
-[] Hold meeting in Orbit
-[] Write-In
No matter where the meeting is held you will still not be attending it, Isoroku is taking the lead on the actual negotiations and will continue to be the ‘face’ you present to the Combine for these talks.
Word comes from the 331st bunker that all of the salvageable material has been either salvaged or repaired. They are wondering if you’d like to move the
Confederate to one of the regular Drop Ports or leave it in place. Engineering crews have surveyed it thoroughly enough that, in combination with the full technical manuals and specifications, they would be able to duplicate the design at will.
[] Leave it at the 331st bunker
[] Move it to a different drop port and put it into regular service
The Luxury Airship line that you’ve long chartered has brought a new airship into service that is their largest and most luxurious yet. The
Royal Phoenix is a flying five-star resort that is nearly twice the size of the next largest airship while hosting only as many passengers in supreme luxury and comfort. You and Willis spend your anniversary on board for the maiden voyage between Griffsport and Hue Moi and have a truly wonderful time.
Jeremy’s class is working on a rather fascinating project, although you aren’t certain how militarily viable it would be. An ultra-light 10 ton battlemech armed with a medium laser and machine gun intended for use in urban terrain as a low-cost infantry support system. An entire lance of these little things would cost less than a single
Ambush and wouldn’t require a dedicated factory like a ‘true’ battlemech, but on the other hand they are not nearly as dangerous as a single
Ambush either, and are rather fragile in comparison to ‘true’ mechs.
Jeremy notes in his letter to you that while the little things do use endosteel for their internal frames, they are so small and have such light frames that they effectively use trivial amounts of the material and thus wouldn’t strain the endosteel foundry at all if the calculations are correct.
You pass the letter on to General Potter, who promises to look into the situation and report back to you.
The twins are involved in a bit of controversy in their very first race in their new division. Fortunately as the victims rather than the perpetrators. Near the end of the race a lapped hovercraft driven by one of the most controversial people in the series with a reputation for a hot temper and no impulse control deliberately wrecked both of them while they were racing for the lead, and then gave a smirking interview in which he claimed they’d ‘been too reckless’ and refused to take responsibility for it. The fact that his interference allowed one of his teammates to win the race has drawn the attention of the Powers That Be in the league, but there is no actual evidence of team orders or deliberate collusion between the two drivers who, it should be noted, loathe each other.
Willis had to restrain you from siccing Sekhmet on Smirky McSmirkyface.