Z
Zack
ON> Queen's Slave, CIC
The main room of the Queen's slave had been cleared out and converted in a make-shift meeting hall, chairs all around the central table where a large volumetric display, and a normal-size Uso were stationed.
"Good Morning, both to the I'ee and Ragnarocks in the crowd." Uso said, taking a look around at the people assembled before her. She was dressed in tight fitting blank pants, and a bright pink tank top. It looked like a runner's outfit with the way she had her hair pulled back bangs and all, not a thing out of place or hanging loose. For Uso, this was about as business as she got.
"As part of our agreement with the I'ee, we will be assisting them with developing a plan to defend their people against nations like Yamatai and Nepleslia. In order to do that we need to establish some common knowledge to build on." Uso would pause for a moment to put some emphasis on what she'd say next.
"Here, you will learn to fight and win a real war."
Uso would bring up an image of the local star map on the table in the center of the room.
"The first thing we must understand is how the I'ee would need to protect themselves against a war of extermination. They have fewer ships, a lower technological base, and limited experience in fighting a war of this scale. It is safe to say that they would lose if Yamatai came looking to destroy their people.
Luckily, wars are fought and won long before star ships are actually involved. Yamatai has not attacked the I'ee because right now they have no reason to. Location, resources, and competition will give them a reason to attack. For the I'ee to win, they have to head off Yamatai before the attack starts. For every reason Yamatai has to attack, the I'ee need to provide a reason not to. At the end of the day, your rivals need to be able to weigh the pros and cons of an attack then determine it is not in their best interest to do so.
Trade and culture is one solution for this. Interacting with your rivals, and providing financial incentives not to strike will help stay their hand. After all if you kill the person you are working with, you can no longer work with them.
Another option is the threat of Mutually assured destruction. Starships have an enormous amount of destructive capability at their disposal, and if they launch a war of extermination against you, you must be able to use that capacity against them. It only takes a few shots getting through to render a planet uninhabitable. The risk outweighing the reward is an important thing to consider.
International opinion is also a strong influence. Being able to damage the relationships your rival has with their rivals may be an intangible effect, but it certainly will have an impact on their decision making process."
Uso would pause again for a moment.
"I know this is all a bit insubstantial right now, but it is vital that we understand that being able to defend the I'ee and being able to defend Ragna-World is a collaborative effort on many different fronts. Starships and weapons are only a small fraction of that."
Uso would press a few buttons on the datapad in front of her, highlighting the Elysian worlds on the map.
"So lets talk about a few real-world examples.
It wasn't too long ago the Elysians and Yamatai were at war. The Elysians had a disadvantage in ships, but they had the advantage of Yamatai not knowing where the Elysian homeworld was. The Elysian Gambit was that they would be able to knock out Yamatai's capabilities by keeping them on the defensive. The spacers thought the same way, and frankly it is a shit-plan, but it is important that you understand why the Elysan Gambit had its merits. Since Yamatai did not know where Elysia was, it could not strike at Elysia. Since Elysia knew where Yamatai was, they could strike at Yamatai at any time. This meant that the Yamatain fleet could not force a confrontation. If their fleet left Yamatai, the Elysians could show up and land ground forces on the planet, so Yamatai is forced to keep a large amount of their forces parked in Yamatai's orbit while the Elysian fleet was free to roam about to strike targets of opportunity.
This was a shit-plan. After all we know where all the stars in the local area are, and if one was clever about it they could just send one ship to each star and have a look around. This is basically the same reason the Spacer's got their asses handed to them. Everyone knows where planets are, don't expect them to stay hidden."
Uso would press a few more buttons, highlighting the Nepleslian Territories.
"The Nepleslian Defense banked heavily on the cost vs reward viewpoint we are discussing. At the time of their independence movement, Yamatai was heavily involved in a war with the NMX. The neppies had some equipment, but their fledgling ship industry and hand-me-down starships from the NDI were no match for Yamatai. Instead of focusing on winning a war with Yamatai, they deployed their ships and technology around a sandbagging approach. If Yamatai attacked, their ships would be slowed by overlapping interdiction fields. The idea was to make a war with Nepleslia so costly, it would cause Yamatai to lose the war with the NMX even if Nepleslia did fall."
Uso would then shift the focus of the map to Spacer territory.
"The Spacer Provocation. This is fairly straight forward math. Yamatai didn't give a shit about the spacers until the spacers started attacking Yamatai. Keep in mind these fringe groups are the ONLY interaction Yamatai has with the spacers. From their perspective, the spacers are nothing but trouble makers so it made sense to send the fleet to deal with the threat. This is exactly what the I'ee want to avoid."
The map would then focus in on the planet Ether.
"And our last example is the Nermian Configuration. There is a reason why all modern militaries pattern themselves after the NDI. The NDI were professional, well equipped, and constantly preparing for war. When they said they were going to do something, they did it. Professionalism and Follow through are powerful deterrents. When the NDI say they are going to invade, they invade. When they say they are going to help, they help. They had their fair share of secrets but there is a difference between keeping secrets and being seen as someone who is untrustworthy.
The take away here is that your rivals MUST know you are capable of following through on your threats."
Uso looked around the room and flashed a smile,
"This is all a lot, and I promise we will bring everything together with some direct suggestions next, but for right now does anyone have any questions?"
Around ten I'ee had shown up to the meeting: Gut-Stripe, as expected, Sammy, a pair of quiet females with what looked like medical equipment on their utility belts, three of the Ithee engineers and three of Gut-Stripe's pilots from the Thi-Thi family. Sammy was quiet throughout most of the meeting, finding himself too busy translating to the other I'ee; Gut-Stripe included, as the fast pace of the lecture was hard for her to keep up with. Thus, throughout the lecture there was a quiet back-drop of chattering and squeaking between the I'ee, who all seemed interested in the topic.
When Uso finally asked for questions, Sammy let out a little sigh of relief and spun about, already raising an arm to ask a question. Gut-Stripe beat him to it, however: "I... feel as if most of this information is... 'going over my head', Uso.", she stated reluctantly, sounding almost ashamed. "It would help knowing more about each of these different civilizations."
Sammy, who was hopping from one foot to the other impatiently, finally got his chance to speak up. "Who are the Elysians?", he asked eagerly, to which Gut-Stripe let out an audible grumble. "What are Spacers? What's the NDI? Is that a map?" The I'ee ambassador was hopping jovially up and down, pointing a claw at the map being displayed like an excited child.
"I am a 'Spacer; short for Freespacer, a usually nomadic race, who were scattered after the conflict Uso mentioned ended when Yamatai inflicted multiple acts of planetary scale genocide against us." Arccos had sat quietly through the entire lecture so far, set aside while working on multiple screens from multiple devices; her own datapad, and her X-type quantum computing node; her attention seemed split between multiple lines of code, and at least one holo-display which showed she had been taking notes.
Despite claims that she was taking a day off: Arccos was present. Seems that she had just liked the notion of learning something, perhaps even recrationally. But for now she had only piped up to answer a question quickly so they wouldn't be bogged down in specifics. That and there was a good chance there was some sort of pride involved in not letting a nekovalkyrja of any denomination define what a Freespacer was. At the very least she tried to keep on topic.
There was a loud crash as two hundred pounds of Nepleslian fell out of his chair in his sleep when Arccos started talking. Corgan jumped up and stood at attention. He had been practicing military discipline with some of the Ragnarok grunts recently. When he noticed where he was and what was going on he took a seat sheepishly. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed.
Sammy seemed immensely interested by Arccos and her story, drooping his antennae and whining softly at the mention of genocide. "Why did they do genocide against your people?", the slender-limbed male squeaked, having toddled over to the 'spacer in order to examine her more closely. Gut-Stripe, mildly interested herself, snorted before commenting: "It sounds like an immense waste of resources to attempt annihilation of an entire nation."
A few of the Ithee engineers jumped when Corgan fell to the ground with a thud, glancing between themselves before chattering quietly to one another like suspicious cockatoos. The two Ioth sisters, having kept quiet and secluded, seemed concerned by the fall and were visibly torn between examining Corgan for any injuries and remaining hidden. Eventually, the two seemed to decide upon the latter and embraced one another quietly, their antennae twitching as they glanced warily around the room.
"Criminal factions of our nation; The Free State, had started to raid Yamataian ships. That was the Spacer Provocation. Yamatai decided that because some parts of a great and diverse nation were against them, then the entire nation must be supporting such actions. They killed everyone on Halna because it was a pirate port, and then they turned Freehold to glass because it was a major industrial center, and it would prevent us from fighting back effectively." Arccos tapped away at the holo-input on her datapads, only slowing slightly for engaging in conversation. Just mentioning these things she sounded terse, but not overly sad. It did distract her from paying attention to Corgan's collapse.
"It may sound like an immense waste of resources, but on a large enough scale resources are effectively infinite. Yamatai has an army of immortal slave soldiers, and more industry than everyone else combined, so they could spare enough bombs to turn a few planets to ash and glass. The investment outweighed the benefit. This is why Uso is stressing that if you're going to defend yourself, then you always do what you say, and you don't anger anyone. People won't take you seriously if you're flighty, and there is no rule of law out here stopping them from killing you and everyone you have ever met."
"Gold Star for Arccos." Uso said, "Yamatai has a big hammer, and they tend to view everything as a nail.... which... means nothing to you people...." She would need to pause a bit before continuing, deciding to lay it out as explicitly as possible, "Yamatai has a large fleet of well equipped ships. When it comes to problem solving, they naturally think of using their fleet first. Do not expect morality to save you, if the most expedient method of dealing with a situation is blowing things up then you can expect some explosions. The important thing to learn from this is that full scale genocide can and will happen without proper precautions. You also must self-police or your rivals will look at you as a threat that needs to be delt with."
Uso would then press a few more buttons to bring up an image of an Elysian,
"Elysians are humanoid, have wings, and used to have a decent technological edge. Their civilization largely collapsed because they are basically all idiots..." Uso would look around for a moment before adding, "But some of them we like.... Anyways, there isn't much to talk about there... they are still around but have largely been subjugated by Yamatai. Their former government is either dead or in hiding. They no longer have a technological or industrial base of note. Their war with Yamatai didn't end well for them. So don't lose a war and you'll be fine."
Uso would then bring up an image of a human,
"NDI are a different animal. The NDI are made up of a number of different races, but humans are at the head of their organization. They have moved on from this area of space but they were your classic high-functioning humans... super-fucking-deadly. They actually had enough firepower to stand toe to toe with Yamatai which means Yamatai wasn't fighting them directly, they got involved with their internal politics." Uso would pause again, trying to figure out how to dump a bunch of information without sounding like ranting. "The NDI put a lot of forethought into everything they did. They were clever, they were constantly preparing for their next fight, and they were always evaluating how they could improve. I don't think you'll see them around here ever again but they are very interesting from a historical standpoint. A LOT of yamatain technology and tactics comes from the NDI... Which is also a good thing to remember: Yamatai will appropriate anything they feel is useful."
Uso would then bring up a picture of several types of spacers.
"Arccos laid out who and what the spacers are fairly effectively. Mostly some combination of fleshy-people and robot-people. Nomatic. Generally the only thing you can say for certain about all of the spacers is that there is no single thing they all agree on. You'll see some of them here and there but they resist forming a large, cohesive, government."
Uso would then move the display back to the map,
"And this is a map of the Kyoto sector, stars, some basic data... I uh... don't really know how to transfer it over to your systems quite yet. Though I can certainly provide you with a map annotated with what I know off the top of my head. Generally the governments in the area tend to view space as a 2d plane and will make some questionable decisions based on that. There is a lot of empty space between planets and trying to control that is basically impossible."
"Got anything on Lor, Nepleslia, or the Misshuvurthyar for these ladies and gentlebugs?" Arccos piped, one hand raised loosely to just below her own shoulder level.
"Lor and Nepleslia are fairly similar now days, collapsing governments that love posturing. Lor is a weird grouping of humanoid species, and they mostly keep to themselves aside from the occasional foray into international politics. Nepleslia is made up of actual-humans. They received a lot of help from the NDI but these aren't exactly your clever-super-deadly humans.... its more of your run of the mill basic humans. There are a LOT of them and they love killing each other. Both are Quasi-dictatorships much like everyone else on the board." Uso waved her hand over the map being displayed to make her point before continuing, "Though we can delve into the meat of the political situation at a later time. I mean, they all have senates and legislators and whatnot, but the power is concentrated in the hands of a few... usually one person... you are better off dealing with THAT person directly. For Yamatai its Yui. For Nepleslia its their Sky Marshal. For the Lor... its .... well I don't really know. Spacers are the only real ones out there without someone leading them.
To be a bit more on topic: The Nepleslians are still poking about the universe, they haven't quite collapsed like the Elysians have yet... so I do expect that you'll end up dealing with them one way or another. They like to feel important, and place a high value on looking the part of warriors. Generally they are the most moral of the bunch... but that is just because they prefer to kill eachother than carry out genocide on anyone else.
THAT then brings us to the Mishhu.... space squids.... Much like Yamatai their population is mostly artificial, fleshy warrior-clones that float and have numerous tendrils. They are big on expansion and don't play nicely with others though their leadership kinda crapped out too... you don't see much of an organized front from them anymore, it usually is small raiding groups. These guys are a threat because they have a large number of ships and high end weaponry but they aren't very clever. Negotiating with them can be done, but that kind of thing is a case by case basis. Some of the squids love to talk, some of them just want to shoot stuff."
Uso tapped the display again, and quickly searched for a mishhu image to bring up,
"Oh, and they do have some Nekos among them as well... largely because they have the same initial manufacturers... That aside, this is all very broad strokes overview stuff. If there is anything you would like me to elaborate on please ask. Understanding a serious strategic plan requires a lot of shared common knowledge about who you are up against and what their capabilities are."
Sammy let out a mournful, confused whine as he listened to Arccos describing the Provocation, shifting from one foot to the other. "But... I don't understand.", he whined petulantly. "Why would they want to hurt so many? Why would Yamatai do that?" Almost impulsively, as if he needed to hug the closest object, he gave Arccos a quick, awkward hug, before hopping away in an almost spring-loaded motion and squeaking timidly.
For her part, Arccos gave a slight concerned look to Sammy. Whatever her own feelings on the Provocation and subsequent actions of Yamatai, they were apparently overridden by concern that she'd somehow insulted Sammy. She didn't even notice the hug until she tried to reach for another section of holo-display and found Sammy hugging her. She just raised a hand and gave a little smile as if to say it's fine, I like hugs.
Meanwhile, Gut-Stripe listened with as much rapt attention as she could muster to Uso's lecture, but she seemed ill at ease, finding it hard to keep up with the rapid outflow of information. The warrior was fidgeting to herself, twitching her antennae and scratching her claws across her mandibles, which ground against one another with a soft, grating noise.
In addition, the image of the Mishhuvarthyar provoked a rather explosive reaction from the I'ee engineers gathered, who all let out loud, aggressive hisses whilst crouching down low; buzzing their wings and baring their jaws in a threat display. Sammy and the two Ioth sisters seemed confused by the display, obviously not as familiar with the Mishhu as the others were.
Gut-Stripe, though she managed to maintain her composure, had parted her mandibles ever so slightly herself; her rapier slightly withdrawn from its sheath. "We...", she began, sounding distracted and standing stiff. "We know these. They are our enemy. They are why I am here."
Having noticed Gut-Stripe's posture and the half-drawn blade, Sammy squeaked and scuttled over, gently easing the blade back into its sheath and chattering softly to the Thi-Thi. He even gave her a little hug before speaking to the rest of the I'ee gathered, who were still in a tense stand-off with the image of the Mishhu. After a pause, almost seeming as if she hadn't even noticed Sammy's presence, Gut-Stripe took a deep breath and relaxed again.
"I... suppose I should be glad that we are not the only enemies of the... I do not recall the name you used.", she muttered, waving an arm dismissively at the projection. "It is their incursions coupled with the Ee'ith's.... eagerness to speak with aliens like you that has brought me here."
"Well I suppose that makes things a bit simpler. The NMX are fairly straight forward: They want to take down Yamatai, Yamatai wants to take them down. If you find NMX, Yamatai would likely be interested in knowing about it, and would likely send ships to help. My advise is to let the two of them fight it out as much as possible and do your best not to get involved directly... But there are complications."
Uso hummed a bit as she thought about where to start,
"The NMX and the Yamatains all come from the same place: Clever-kill-everyone-type humans. And I do not mean that in a broad strokes sense... In a very literal meaning the same group of humans responsible for the plague that wiped out most of the life on Yamatai, and the Nekos that followed AND the NMX, are all basically the same small group of individuals that ran a company called PNUgen back in the day. As much as I would like to speculate on how much the NMX and Yamatai are working together... we have to work with what we know first hand and that is that publicly Yamatai and the NMX are working against one another.
The last NMX war was fairly straight forward, the NMX fleet approaches from the galactic south. They have an abysmally low sortie rate... the rate at which they can launch new attacks. So they go after Yamatain worlds, make some progress on the less well defended ones, and quickly find their push inward grinding to a halt when their starship capatains who can barely run their ship run up against the moderately competent starship captains of Yamatai. To make matters worse as the war bogs down their leaders move to expand the war to new areas, further spreading out their fleet. They also have a hard time cleaning their plate, and will often commit to offensives they can't sustain or complete. Then they get fed up with the slow progress and dump most of their ships into a big fight at Yamatai. This is the same dumb move the Elysians made, and basically just serves to get them overwhelmed and destroyed. Yamatai wants a big stand-up fight at a location where they are already on the defensive. This allows them to bring all of their ships to bare and removes the HUGE advantage the NMX had of not having any real targets to defend that Yamatai could easily get to. When the battle turned against them they failed to disengage... again due to poor leadership being unable to comprehend the situation they were in, and end up with most of their fleet destroyed.
Of course what is left of the NMX pull back, and Yamatai is unable to clear its plate... so the NMX could limp off somewhere, rebuild, blah blah blah.... We don't really know much about the current structure of the NMX but they don't seem to have changed much. You can expect large numbers of ships with high tech but ultimately fairly standard weapons comparable to those you see in use at Yamatai. Their captains are kinda meh... they can fly around, and they can shoot things, but they aren't real creative and they can't really muster a cohesive strategy.
Of course it also may sound like I'm just saying the NMX are dumb idiots who get beaten all the time... but being able to put together even a crappy fleet and keep it operational is no small task. They are well equipped, numerous, and dangerous. Like any fight you need to take it seriously."
Uso would look at the I'ee for a little while... The way they moved was absolutely adorable. It really helped make up for the absolute terror they instilled from being giant insect things... She had to wonder for a moment if they were even really insects, her mind questioning why they even had the inverse square law in the first place.
"The NMX want resources, production capacity, and generally easy looting... or at least it seems that way. They don't seem to act with a cohesive, overall, plan these days so it is hard to predict exactly where they will turn up next."
Uso then looked over at Sammy,
"While you may view people you don't know as friends you haven't met yet. Yamatai views its surroundings in the context of enemies and allies. They are on a perpetual war footing, and if you don't fall into the category of Ally, then they generally assume that you're going to fall into the category of Enemy. Yamatai loves destroying their enemies."
"A significant portion of Yamatai and Nepleslia's industrial structure is based around the military. Huge amounts of money and effort go in to their armies, which by rights takes away resources that could be spent on just about anything else." Arccos started to explain, "As such Yamatai and Nepleslia need to have enemies to justify this sort of spending. Yamatai maintains this through being in a constant state of warfare with one group or another; some among the Free State think that Yamatai let the Misshuvurthyar run so rampant simply so they could maintain power. Nepleslia achieves the same thing by posturing as warriors, without always picking fights..."
Arccos looked sidelong at the bugs, frowning a little.
"There is something to be said about having Yamatai as an ally, but they will try and leverage that protection in to making your own people subservient to them. They'll force you to fight every battle they start from that day forth: Even recently they tried to force Lor and Nepleslia in to participating in ongoing war efforts against the Freespacers, who have already mostly either been subjugated by Nepleslia in exchange for 'protection', or driven from known space. And they tried to do that by exaggerating the threat of the Misshuvurthyar to coerce an alliance... Alliance would bring you protection, and allies against one group attacking you for their own gain: But won't bring you peace in the long run."
"So... who is meant to be our enemy?", Gut-stripe asked, letting out a low, high-pitched sigh and slumping forward slightly; sounding tired and overwhelmed. "If the... NMX, as you call them, have the same origins as Yamatai, who do I kill? Someone has to die so long as my family is being threatened." The I'ee was gripping the hilt of her rapier again, which disturbed Sammy to no end. "I do not believe we can destroy either, but if they threaten my family, then I will kill them no matter what."
Sammy, who was chattering and hopping about petulantly, buzzed his wings as if to request everyone's attention. "Gut-Stripe, you must relax!", he whined, to which several of the I'ee engineers; now lounging about and cuddling in a loose pile on the floor thanks to the Ee'ith neglecting to translate for them, began chortling to themselves.
The two Ioth sisters, meanwhile, had snuck closer to Arccos and were peering at her curiously, examining her artificial body and squeaking softly to one another.
"We do not need to fight wars, Gut-stripe!", Sammy continued, giving the stern Thi-Thi another little hug. "We need only prepare ourselves for defence, and make friends that will assist us when the time comes!" Gut-Stripe did not seem eased by Sammy's words, waiting silently to hear more from Uso and the others.
The Ioth sisters were beginning to chatter to each other, standing just behind where Arccos was sitting: Apparently debating whether or not the imposingly tall spacer was machine or organic in nature. Any attention from Arccos would make the two shy away with a nervous tittering sound, withdrawing to observe from a safer distance.
"If you can successfully ex--" Arccos stalled, turning slightly to look over her shoulder towards the encroaching Ioth sisters. Not so much worried about them examining her, more worried about them reading over her shoulder, "Uh... if you can wipe out as much of the NMX remnants as possible, then you'll be set up as someone very well respected by most of known space. They're literally a biological weapon; one engineered to prey on others in the most despicable ways... As in: Someone consciously designed them so that they can only really reproduce by raping other races, or laying eggs in their corpses."
Seeing the two Ioth sisters withdraw, Arccos just let out a 'huh'.
"But I got the impression that Uso was trying to give you the tools needed to make decisions like this in an informed manner. No one would shed a tear if the NMX were wiped from existence, right down to the last speck of DNA incinerated. But that's nearly impossible; they're too far spread, and too easily able to replenish their numbers through hurting more people... The Art of Never Again says that Terminus will defend with Terra by his side, and attack with Karma at his back... Which basically means you should wage war to protect yourself with things you can predict, but lead the assault when you have stacked the odds in your favor. You aren't going to have the odds in your favor without a more powerful war machine, or without knowing something about your enemy that they don't want you knowing... So for now defense and alliance is your best option, in my opinion."
Finishing up her little 'spacer parable, Arccos then typed up the words Am I making your people uncomfortable? on a holo-display hovering in front of her, and swiveled it so that Sammy could read it... Passing notes in class with a glowing display that hovered in mid air.
"Everyone is your enemy, but that doesn't mean you can't also be friends. If you want to stay locked into 'destroy everything' or 'absolute friends' as your only options then you're going to find yourself locked out of a bunch of tools you could be using to influence the situation." Uso was trying to remember what she had planned next, but this lecture had already moved onto a new line of thought.
"So perhaps we should now focus in on developing a defense for the I'ee against the NMX? We can stick with broad strokes here, and then work on the minute details later. The easiest way to defend yourself will be to make yourself a less attractive target. Dispersing population centers a bit, having secure places where your people can hide during an attack, you may even consider blowing up your own planets just to keep the NMX from moving in. After all, once they realize that any gains they make will be erased through your own self-destruction they shouldn't see a need to attack.
Of the less explosive options, you may want to consider inviting Yamatai to setup an embassy on one of your worlds most at risk. The NMX aren't very selective in their attacks, and it would put them in a position of having to involve their more capable enemies' fleet when considering their offensive actions.
You may also want to open up communications with the NMX when they attack next. That will at least give you an option to negotiate a bit and stall future attacks.
And your diplomatic families seem to have the right idea in regards to making new friends. Right now all of us are in a very trustworthy position, since we both stand to gain a lot from working together. That does not necessarily extend to the other nations. Naturally everyone will want to get their way, and you will need to start playing those concerns off one another while you build up your fleet and your capability to be independent.
WHICH brings us to the fleet itself. I don't really know what you're working with yet but there are a few key capabilities that a fleet will need. Being able to operate independent of a planetary base is absolutely vital. If you're not staying around a planet all the time they can't really find your fleet to attack it or assess its strength. You will also actually need the ability to go toe to toe with the NMX at some point and I think the fastest way to go about that would be to take off the shelf weapons and shields to augment what you already have on your ships. I hope I can work with your engineers regarding getting that put together.
Finally, I think we also need to discuss just what the NMX have done to your people so far so we can get a better understanding of what they are after and how to counter it."
With some reluctance, Gut-Stripe nodded her head, accepting Uso and Arccos' words. She visibly bristled with contained fury when prompted to speak of her people's encounters with the NMX, a low hiss sounding as she spoke. "At first, we thought we were facing a full-scale invasion.", she began. "It was the first hostile contact we had come across for almost a century, and we lost many of our ships. What was most horrifying to us was that what we had thought to be an invasion was merely probing; their scouting parties had been annihilating our fleets. What few casualties we inflicted were leapt upon by our engineers" Gut-Stripe gestured to the reclining engineers behind her, most of whom now seemed to be napping in a lazy, cuddle pile. "to be dismantled and studied. We have developed new craft and weapons in an effort to more effectively battle our foe, but the truth remains that we are only preparing to make war against scouts."
"The largest of our engagements were ironically the most even, as these NMX often deigned to initiate boarding actions upon our craft.", Gut-Stripe paused, fondling the hilt of her blade and grinding her mandibles together. "They took a great number of my sisters back to their vessels. We couldn't push our way past them to find a way on board before they would disconnect and leave us, damaged and with our siblings stolen from us."
It seemed to take a moment for Sammy to notice Arccos' message, and even when he did, the ambassador did not seem to realise that it was from her. He poked and prodded at the holographic display curiously, soon joined by a couple of the more restless Ithee engineers, who seemed fascinated by the technology. "What does this say?", Sammy finally asked Arccos, pointing to the display with a claw. "There are letters that I can see, but the light makes it hard for me to focus on them."
Gut-Stripe, meanwhile, was still addressing Uso. "As for our fleets, I can only speak for my family, Thi-Thi. We have approximately sixty large vessels at our disposal at this time.... maybe one hundred escort vessels. The Ithee have been eager to create more of our new strike craft... I've honestly lost count of all the ones we've been receiving. There are four in our fleet.", pausing, Gut-Stripe turned and let out a harsh, grating bark at the lounging crowd of engineers, two of whom scrambled to their feet and ran to join Gut-Stripe.
A lengthy conversation followed between the three, lasting almost a minute, before Gut-Stripe waved them back to their peers. "I have just inquired my engineers, and they report that the Ithee family has eighty large vessels, two hundred escort-sized ships and almost three hundred strike craft.", she stated. "The Ithit possess only twenty large vessels. That is all. They rely upon my family and Ithee for defense."
As Uso and Gut-Stripe chattered on, Arccos pressed a palm to her face and erased the message she'd left for Sammy. Apparently she didn't account for differences in eye composition... Also apparently these guys and gals didn't know what a holographic display was... Which was... Interesting.
Rather than just calling others over, or interrupting, Arccos just lowered her voice and leaned closer to Sammy; getting closer to their... Antennae? Did these things even have ears? Whatever they use it's probably on their head, either way. The spacer leaned closer to Sammy's head. "Some of your lot are buzzing around me and acting weird when I look at 'em. Am I making them uncomfortable or something? Being rude?"
Noticing the crowd around Arccos, Corgan walked over to them and sat next to the Freespacer. "What's going on over here? Passing love letters?" He asked as he looked at her screens curiously. "Or trying to keep the spider robots from turning us all into soup I guess. Glad you were here. Hopefully I managed to convince the people to stay away. I'm going to be pissed if I ran around shouting for hours for nothing." After a moment he realized maybe the I'ee weren't aware of the death robots. "Uh.. Yeah that spider robot invaders game is very realistic isn't it Arccos?" He said, awkwardly trying to recover.
Looking sidelong to Corgan, Arccos gave a smile at his attempt at subtlety. The I'ee were in orbit, and in all likelihood had surveying equipment. And no matter how primitive their tech was, they could likely detect the radiation spike. Still, she attempted to not interrupt the class proper. "Well had you not run around, everyone around that thing would be in danger from the radiation leaks. You're saving a lot of people from getting sick, but we'll need to lock down the wreck if another sandstorm kicks up. Irradiated dust will get everywhere..."
Uso was lost in thought for a moment. The optimal strategy would be to have the I'ee pull back, disengage the mishhu as much as possible... but Arccos' idea was burrowing into her head... they COULD fight the mishhu. Uso wouldn't just be some self-anointed space-empress, space-savior might not even be out of reach. It was certainly risky... a failure here could wipe out the I'ee. But sucsess... the reward would be far greater than anything one planet could provide.
"Hey, Ragna-people. What do you think about taking on the NMX? As in; to win?"
At that moment Cyrus and Raphael walked into the room. Cyrus stepped up to the table and smiled. "Fighting NMX? Shit, that sounds like fun." Cyrus said looking over his shoulder to the Ragnarock members in the room. "Currently, Ragnarock is sitting on 4 companies of soldiers. 20 men in a company. So we have 80 men in total. Plus our squad of the founding members. I think we could take it to the mishu." He turned and looked to his founding members. "Do I have any objections from my elite unit?" He asked with a grin. Raphael moved and took up a corner of the room, studying the star map.
As Arccos leaned in close, Sammy did the same, turning his head slightly to one side as if to listen more closely to the 'spacer's words. "Hm, they are?", he huffed. "I'll ask them." Turning away, the ambassador set about solving the problem in the least subtle manner possible: Chattering to each individual I'ee one at a time, apparently asking them for their opinions on Arccos. After a couple of minutes, Sammy returned with the two Ioth sisters in tow.
"No, miss. None of us find you upsetting. Our two Ioth doctors, however, find you very curious.", he gestured to the two sisters, the tallest of whom gave Arccos a timid wave while the other cuddled up against her like a nervous child. "They say they cannot tell if you are mechanical or organic."
"I'm about one part organic to every fifty parts mechanical." Arccos offered quite freely, "Only my central nervous system is organic. If they want more information we can talk at a different time..."
"Why are you suggesting to take on the NMX with eighty men?", Gut-Stripe asked, tilting her head to one side. "You said that the NMX are too vast and thinly spread to effectively exterminate. Though I admit, were you to provide an effective plan to do just that, I would certainly be eager to assist you." The Thi-Thi chortled softly, her abdomen pulsing in time with her laughter.
Corgan looked at Uso like she had lost her mind, and then he heard Cyrus agree with her. He moved his gaze to Cyrus. "Sir, with all due respect.. What the hell? We haven't even gotten paid yet for this mission, now we're going to go fight Squids? We haven't even secured this world yet. I mean a big ass ship crashed practically right on top of the city and we didn't even see it coming. That said, if you say kill Squids, I'll kill Squids. But I would rather get paid for this job and get better gear before we go fighting Mishu." He said, managing to stay respectful despite his annoyance.
Cyrus smiled over to Corgan. "Your first payment has been direct deposited into your accounts yesterday. I sold off a ton of gold coins and other consumables as well. I am also working on a new set of Ragnarock armor. Lighter and stronger than the crappy impulses we are using." He nodded to the huge man. "Dont worry big guy. I am not going to send you into the mouth of hell without some good toys. Plus I be on the front lines as well. Not passing up a chance to fight the old enemy." He said hoping to reassure the man.
The big Nepleslian did relax, the news of getting paid helping more than anything. He did want to help the I'ee and kill some Mishu, but only if they might actually succeed. "Well then, all I need is one of those brain spiders in case it doesn't go as planned. Hopefully we get this planet secured and defended a little more first." He replied. "After that, point me at those bastards and I'll kill as many as I can."
"I share your concern Corgi, We're WAAAY outclassed by the NMX right now. We'd need a fleet, weapons, logistics... on the other hand we're going to need to get all that stuff for this planet eventually right? We save the I'ee from the NMX, build a fleet in the process, and turn this Ragna-rock into a high class outpost in the process.
You Ragna-guys have little reason to trust me so far... that big paycheck is still hasn't come yet... but, this is how we get it. I mean, we can just provide our technical assistance to the I'ee and get rich off them helping us build up this planet. Or we can save the I'ee from the NMX and become obscenely wealthy in the process.
I will take into account whatever you guys have to say of course.... but personally? Go big or go home. I know we can do this, I just need to hire a few more people... " Uso couldn't help but grin, like she had already won a huge bet on the inside track,
"Imma get the band back together."
She would then turn her attention to Thi-Thi,
"80 men, 1 NH-7, a Free spacer, An Elysian, 2 Nepleslians, and the I'ee? We've got this."
The main room of the Queen's slave had been cleared out and converted in a make-shift meeting hall, chairs all around the central table where a large volumetric display, and a normal-size Uso were stationed.
"Good Morning, both to the I'ee and Ragnarocks in the crowd." Uso said, taking a look around at the people assembled before her. She was dressed in tight fitting blank pants, and a bright pink tank top. It looked like a runner's outfit with the way she had her hair pulled back bangs and all, not a thing out of place or hanging loose. For Uso, this was about as business as she got.
"As part of our agreement with the I'ee, we will be assisting them with developing a plan to defend their people against nations like Yamatai and Nepleslia. In order to do that we need to establish some common knowledge to build on." Uso would pause for a moment to put some emphasis on what she'd say next.
"Here, you will learn to fight and win a real war."
Uso would bring up an image of the local star map on the table in the center of the room.
"The first thing we must understand is how the I'ee would need to protect themselves against a war of extermination. They have fewer ships, a lower technological base, and limited experience in fighting a war of this scale. It is safe to say that they would lose if Yamatai came looking to destroy their people.
Luckily, wars are fought and won long before star ships are actually involved. Yamatai has not attacked the I'ee because right now they have no reason to. Location, resources, and competition will give them a reason to attack. For the I'ee to win, they have to head off Yamatai before the attack starts. For every reason Yamatai has to attack, the I'ee need to provide a reason not to. At the end of the day, your rivals need to be able to weigh the pros and cons of an attack then determine it is not in their best interest to do so.
Trade and culture is one solution for this. Interacting with your rivals, and providing financial incentives not to strike will help stay their hand. After all if you kill the person you are working with, you can no longer work with them.
Another option is the threat of Mutually assured destruction. Starships have an enormous amount of destructive capability at their disposal, and if they launch a war of extermination against you, you must be able to use that capacity against them. It only takes a few shots getting through to render a planet uninhabitable. The risk outweighing the reward is an important thing to consider.
International opinion is also a strong influence. Being able to damage the relationships your rival has with their rivals may be an intangible effect, but it certainly will have an impact on their decision making process."
Uso would pause again for a moment.
"I know this is all a bit insubstantial right now, but it is vital that we understand that being able to defend the I'ee and being able to defend Ragna-World is a collaborative effort on many different fronts. Starships and weapons are only a small fraction of that."
Uso would press a few buttons on the datapad in front of her, highlighting the Elysian worlds on the map.
"So lets talk about a few real-world examples.
It wasn't too long ago the Elysians and Yamatai were at war. The Elysians had a disadvantage in ships, but they had the advantage of Yamatai not knowing where the Elysian homeworld was. The Elysian Gambit was that they would be able to knock out Yamatai's capabilities by keeping them on the defensive. The spacers thought the same way, and frankly it is a shit-plan, but it is important that you understand why the Elysan Gambit had its merits. Since Yamatai did not know where Elysia was, it could not strike at Elysia. Since Elysia knew where Yamatai was, they could strike at Yamatai at any time. This meant that the Yamatain fleet could not force a confrontation. If their fleet left Yamatai, the Elysians could show up and land ground forces on the planet, so Yamatai is forced to keep a large amount of their forces parked in Yamatai's orbit while the Elysian fleet was free to roam about to strike targets of opportunity.
This was a shit-plan. After all we know where all the stars in the local area are, and if one was clever about it they could just send one ship to each star and have a look around. This is basically the same reason the Spacer's got their asses handed to them. Everyone knows where planets are, don't expect them to stay hidden."
Uso would press a few more buttons, highlighting the Nepleslian Territories.
"The Nepleslian Defense banked heavily on the cost vs reward viewpoint we are discussing. At the time of their independence movement, Yamatai was heavily involved in a war with the NMX. The neppies had some equipment, but their fledgling ship industry and hand-me-down starships from the NDI were no match for Yamatai. Instead of focusing on winning a war with Yamatai, they deployed their ships and technology around a sandbagging approach. If Yamatai attacked, their ships would be slowed by overlapping interdiction fields. The idea was to make a war with Nepleslia so costly, it would cause Yamatai to lose the war with the NMX even if Nepleslia did fall."
Uso would then shift the focus of the map to Spacer territory.
"The Spacer Provocation. This is fairly straight forward math. Yamatai didn't give a shit about the spacers until the spacers started attacking Yamatai. Keep in mind these fringe groups are the ONLY interaction Yamatai has with the spacers. From their perspective, the spacers are nothing but trouble makers so it made sense to send the fleet to deal with the threat. This is exactly what the I'ee want to avoid."
The map would then focus in on the planet Ether.
"And our last example is the Nermian Configuration. There is a reason why all modern militaries pattern themselves after the NDI. The NDI were professional, well equipped, and constantly preparing for war. When they said they were going to do something, they did it. Professionalism and Follow through are powerful deterrents. When the NDI say they are going to invade, they invade. When they say they are going to help, they help. They had their fair share of secrets but there is a difference between keeping secrets and being seen as someone who is untrustworthy.
The take away here is that your rivals MUST know you are capable of following through on your threats."
Uso looked around the room and flashed a smile,
"This is all a lot, and I promise we will bring everything together with some direct suggestions next, but for right now does anyone have any questions?"
Around ten I'ee had shown up to the meeting: Gut-Stripe, as expected, Sammy, a pair of quiet females with what looked like medical equipment on their utility belts, three of the Ithee engineers and three of Gut-Stripe's pilots from the Thi-Thi family. Sammy was quiet throughout most of the meeting, finding himself too busy translating to the other I'ee; Gut-Stripe included, as the fast pace of the lecture was hard for her to keep up with. Thus, throughout the lecture there was a quiet back-drop of chattering and squeaking between the I'ee, who all seemed interested in the topic.
When Uso finally asked for questions, Sammy let out a little sigh of relief and spun about, already raising an arm to ask a question. Gut-Stripe beat him to it, however: "I... feel as if most of this information is... 'going over my head', Uso.", she stated reluctantly, sounding almost ashamed. "It would help knowing more about each of these different civilizations."
Sammy, who was hopping from one foot to the other impatiently, finally got his chance to speak up. "Who are the Elysians?", he asked eagerly, to which Gut-Stripe let out an audible grumble. "What are Spacers? What's the NDI? Is that a map?" The I'ee ambassador was hopping jovially up and down, pointing a claw at the map being displayed like an excited child.
"I am a 'Spacer; short for Freespacer, a usually nomadic race, who were scattered after the conflict Uso mentioned ended when Yamatai inflicted multiple acts of planetary scale genocide against us." Arccos had sat quietly through the entire lecture so far, set aside while working on multiple screens from multiple devices; her own datapad, and her X-type quantum computing node; her attention seemed split between multiple lines of code, and at least one holo-display which showed she had been taking notes.
Despite claims that she was taking a day off: Arccos was present. Seems that she had just liked the notion of learning something, perhaps even recrationally. But for now she had only piped up to answer a question quickly so they wouldn't be bogged down in specifics. That and there was a good chance there was some sort of pride involved in not letting a nekovalkyrja of any denomination define what a Freespacer was. At the very least she tried to keep on topic.
There was a loud crash as two hundred pounds of Nepleslian fell out of his chair in his sleep when Arccos started talking. Corgan jumped up and stood at attention. He had been practicing military discipline with some of the Ragnarok grunts recently. When he noticed where he was and what was going on he took a seat sheepishly. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed.
Sammy seemed immensely interested by Arccos and her story, drooping his antennae and whining softly at the mention of genocide. "Why did they do genocide against your people?", the slender-limbed male squeaked, having toddled over to the 'spacer in order to examine her more closely. Gut-Stripe, mildly interested herself, snorted before commenting: "It sounds like an immense waste of resources to attempt annihilation of an entire nation."
A few of the Ithee engineers jumped when Corgan fell to the ground with a thud, glancing between themselves before chattering quietly to one another like suspicious cockatoos. The two Ioth sisters, having kept quiet and secluded, seemed concerned by the fall and were visibly torn between examining Corgan for any injuries and remaining hidden. Eventually, the two seemed to decide upon the latter and embraced one another quietly, their antennae twitching as they glanced warily around the room.
"Criminal factions of our nation; The Free State, had started to raid Yamataian ships. That was the Spacer Provocation. Yamatai decided that because some parts of a great and diverse nation were against them, then the entire nation must be supporting such actions. They killed everyone on Halna because it was a pirate port, and then they turned Freehold to glass because it was a major industrial center, and it would prevent us from fighting back effectively." Arccos tapped away at the holo-input on her datapads, only slowing slightly for engaging in conversation. Just mentioning these things she sounded terse, but not overly sad. It did distract her from paying attention to Corgan's collapse.
"It may sound like an immense waste of resources, but on a large enough scale resources are effectively infinite. Yamatai has an army of immortal slave soldiers, and more industry than everyone else combined, so they could spare enough bombs to turn a few planets to ash and glass. The investment outweighed the benefit. This is why Uso is stressing that if you're going to defend yourself, then you always do what you say, and you don't anger anyone. People won't take you seriously if you're flighty, and there is no rule of law out here stopping them from killing you and everyone you have ever met."
"Gold Star for Arccos." Uso said, "Yamatai has a big hammer, and they tend to view everything as a nail.... which... means nothing to you people...." She would need to pause a bit before continuing, deciding to lay it out as explicitly as possible, "Yamatai has a large fleet of well equipped ships. When it comes to problem solving, they naturally think of using their fleet first. Do not expect morality to save you, if the most expedient method of dealing with a situation is blowing things up then you can expect some explosions. The important thing to learn from this is that full scale genocide can and will happen without proper precautions. You also must self-police or your rivals will look at you as a threat that needs to be delt with."
Uso would then press a few more buttons to bring up an image of an Elysian,
"Elysians are humanoid, have wings, and used to have a decent technological edge. Their civilization largely collapsed because they are basically all idiots..." Uso would look around for a moment before adding, "But some of them we like.... Anyways, there isn't much to talk about there... they are still around but have largely been subjugated by Yamatai. Their former government is either dead or in hiding. They no longer have a technological or industrial base of note. Their war with Yamatai didn't end well for them. So don't lose a war and you'll be fine."
Uso would then bring up an image of a human,
"NDI are a different animal. The NDI are made up of a number of different races, but humans are at the head of their organization. They have moved on from this area of space but they were your classic high-functioning humans... super-fucking-deadly. They actually had enough firepower to stand toe to toe with Yamatai which means Yamatai wasn't fighting them directly, they got involved with their internal politics." Uso would pause again, trying to figure out how to dump a bunch of information without sounding like ranting. "The NDI put a lot of forethought into everything they did. They were clever, they were constantly preparing for their next fight, and they were always evaluating how they could improve. I don't think you'll see them around here ever again but they are very interesting from a historical standpoint. A LOT of yamatain technology and tactics comes from the NDI... Which is also a good thing to remember: Yamatai will appropriate anything they feel is useful."
Uso would then bring up a picture of several types of spacers.
"Arccos laid out who and what the spacers are fairly effectively. Mostly some combination of fleshy-people and robot-people. Nomatic. Generally the only thing you can say for certain about all of the spacers is that there is no single thing they all agree on. You'll see some of them here and there but they resist forming a large, cohesive, government."
Uso would then move the display back to the map,
"And this is a map of the Kyoto sector, stars, some basic data... I uh... don't really know how to transfer it over to your systems quite yet. Though I can certainly provide you with a map annotated with what I know off the top of my head. Generally the governments in the area tend to view space as a 2d plane and will make some questionable decisions based on that. There is a lot of empty space between planets and trying to control that is basically impossible."
"Got anything on Lor, Nepleslia, or the Misshuvurthyar for these ladies and gentlebugs?" Arccos piped, one hand raised loosely to just below her own shoulder level.
"Lor and Nepleslia are fairly similar now days, collapsing governments that love posturing. Lor is a weird grouping of humanoid species, and they mostly keep to themselves aside from the occasional foray into international politics. Nepleslia is made up of actual-humans. They received a lot of help from the NDI but these aren't exactly your clever-super-deadly humans.... its more of your run of the mill basic humans. There are a LOT of them and they love killing each other. Both are Quasi-dictatorships much like everyone else on the board." Uso waved her hand over the map being displayed to make her point before continuing, "Though we can delve into the meat of the political situation at a later time. I mean, they all have senates and legislators and whatnot, but the power is concentrated in the hands of a few... usually one person... you are better off dealing with THAT person directly. For Yamatai its Yui. For Nepleslia its their Sky Marshal. For the Lor... its .... well I don't really know. Spacers are the only real ones out there without someone leading them.
To be a bit more on topic: The Nepleslians are still poking about the universe, they haven't quite collapsed like the Elysians have yet... so I do expect that you'll end up dealing with them one way or another. They like to feel important, and place a high value on looking the part of warriors. Generally they are the most moral of the bunch... but that is just because they prefer to kill eachother than carry out genocide on anyone else.
THAT then brings us to the Mishhu.... space squids.... Much like Yamatai their population is mostly artificial, fleshy warrior-clones that float and have numerous tendrils. They are big on expansion and don't play nicely with others though their leadership kinda crapped out too... you don't see much of an organized front from them anymore, it usually is small raiding groups. These guys are a threat because they have a large number of ships and high end weaponry but they aren't very clever. Negotiating with them can be done, but that kind of thing is a case by case basis. Some of the squids love to talk, some of them just want to shoot stuff."
Uso tapped the display again, and quickly searched for a mishhu image to bring up,
"Oh, and they do have some Nekos among them as well... largely because they have the same initial manufacturers... That aside, this is all very broad strokes overview stuff. If there is anything you would like me to elaborate on please ask. Understanding a serious strategic plan requires a lot of shared common knowledge about who you are up against and what their capabilities are."
Sammy let out a mournful, confused whine as he listened to Arccos describing the Provocation, shifting from one foot to the other. "But... I don't understand.", he whined petulantly. "Why would they want to hurt so many? Why would Yamatai do that?" Almost impulsively, as if he needed to hug the closest object, he gave Arccos a quick, awkward hug, before hopping away in an almost spring-loaded motion and squeaking timidly.
For her part, Arccos gave a slight concerned look to Sammy. Whatever her own feelings on the Provocation and subsequent actions of Yamatai, they were apparently overridden by concern that she'd somehow insulted Sammy. She didn't even notice the hug until she tried to reach for another section of holo-display and found Sammy hugging her. She just raised a hand and gave a little smile as if to say it's fine, I like hugs.
Meanwhile, Gut-Stripe listened with as much rapt attention as she could muster to Uso's lecture, but she seemed ill at ease, finding it hard to keep up with the rapid outflow of information. The warrior was fidgeting to herself, twitching her antennae and scratching her claws across her mandibles, which ground against one another with a soft, grating noise.
In addition, the image of the Mishhuvarthyar provoked a rather explosive reaction from the I'ee engineers gathered, who all let out loud, aggressive hisses whilst crouching down low; buzzing their wings and baring their jaws in a threat display. Sammy and the two Ioth sisters seemed confused by the display, obviously not as familiar with the Mishhu as the others were.
Gut-Stripe, though she managed to maintain her composure, had parted her mandibles ever so slightly herself; her rapier slightly withdrawn from its sheath. "We...", she began, sounding distracted and standing stiff. "We know these. They are our enemy. They are why I am here."
Having noticed Gut-Stripe's posture and the half-drawn blade, Sammy squeaked and scuttled over, gently easing the blade back into its sheath and chattering softly to the Thi-Thi. He even gave her a little hug before speaking to the rest of the I'ee gathered, who were still in a tense stand-off with the image of the Mishhu. After a pause, almost seeming as if she hadn't even noticed Sammy's presence, Gut-Stripe took a deep breath and relaxed again.
"I... suppose I should be glad that we are not the only enemies of the... I do not recall the name you used.", she muttered, waving an arm dismissively at the projection. "It is their incursions coupled with the Ee'ith's.... eagerness to speak with aliens like you that has brought me here."
"Well I suppose that makes things a bit simpler. The NMX are fairly straight forward: They want to take down Yamatai, Yamatai wants to take them down. If you find NMX, Yamatai would likely be interested in knowing about it, and would likely send ships to help. My advise is to let the two of them fight it out as much as possible and do your best not to get involved directly... But there are complications."
Uso hummed a bit as she thought about where to start,
"The NMX and the Yamatains all come from the same place: Clever-kill-everyone-type humans. And I do not mean that in a broad strokes sense... In a very literal meaning the same group of humans responsible for the plague that wiped out most of the life on Yamatai, and the Nekos that followed AND the NMX, are all basically the same small group of individuals that ran a company called PNUgen back in the day. As much as I would like to speculate on how much the NMX and Yamatai are working together... we have to work with what we know first hand and that is that publicly Yamatai and the NMX are working against one another.
The last NMX war was fairly straight forward, the NMX fleet approaches from the galactic south. They have an abysmally low sortie rate... the rate at which they can launch new attacks. So they go after Yamatain worlds, make some progress on the less well defended ones, and quickly find their push inward grinding to a halt when their starship capatains who can barely run their ship run up against the moderately competent starship captains of Yamatai. To make matters worse as the war bogs down their leaders move to expand the war to new areas, further spreading out their fleet. They also have a hard time cleaning their plate, and will often commit to offensives they can't sustain or complete. Then they get fed up with the slow progress and dump most of their ships into a big fight at Yamatai. This is the same dumb move the Elysians made, and basically just serves to get them overwhelmed and destroyed. Yamatai wants a big stand-up fight at a location where they are already on the defensive. This allows them to bring all of their ships to bare and removes the HUGE advantage the NMX had of not having any real targets to defend that Yamatai could easily get to. When the battle turned against them they failed to disengage... again due to poor leadership being unable to comprehend the situation they were in, and end up with most of their fleet destroyed.
Of course what is left of the NMX pull back, and Yamatai is unable to clear its plate... so the NMX could limp off somewhere, rebuild, blah blah blah.... We don't really know much about the current structure of the NMX but they don't seem to have changed much. You can expect large numbers of ships with high tech but ultimately fairly standard weapons comparable to those you see in use at Yamatai. Their captains are kinda meh... they can fly around, and they can shoot things, but they aren't real creative and they can't really muster a cohesive strategy.
Of course it also may sound like I'm just saying the NMX are dumb idiots who get beaten all the time... but being able to put together even a crappy fleet and keep it operational is no small task. They are well equipped, numerous, and dangerous. Like any fight you need to take it seriously."
Uso would look at the I'ee for a little while... The way they moved was absolutely adorable. It really helped make up for the absolute terror they instilled from being giant insect things... She had to wonder for a moment if they were even really insects, her mind questioning why they even had the inverse square law in the first place.
"The NMX want resources, production capacity, and generally easy looting... or at least it seems that way. They don't seem to act with a cohesive, overall, plan these days so it is hard to predict exactly where they will turn up next."
Uso then looked over at Sammy,
"While you may view people you don't know as friends you haven't met yet. Yamatai views its surroundings in the context of enemies and allies. They are on a perpetual war footing, and if you don't fall into the category of Ally, then they generally assume that you're going to fall into the category of Enemy. Yamatai loves destroying their enemies."
"A significant portion of Yamatai and Nepleslia's industrial structure is based around the military. Huge amounts of money and effort go in to their armies, which by rights takes away resources that could be spent on just about anything else." Arccos started to explain, "As such Yamatai and Nepleslia need to have enemies to justify this sort of spending. Yamatai maintains this through being in a constant state of warfare with one group or another; some among the Free State think that Yamatai let the Misshuvurthyar run so rampant simply so they could maintain power. Nepleslia achieves the same thing by posturing as warriors, without always picking fights..."
Arccos looked sidelong at the bugs, frowning a little.
"There is something to be said about having Yamatai as an ally, but they will try and leverage that protection in to making your own people subservient to them. They'll force you to fight every battle they start from that day forth: Even recently they tried to force Lor and Nepleslia in to participating in ongoing war efforts against the Freespacers, who have already mostly either been subjugated by Nepleslia in exchange for 'protection', or driven from known space. And they tried to do that by exaggerating the threat of the Misshuvurthyar to coerce an alliance... Alliance would bring you protection, and allies against one group attacking you for their own gain: But won't bring you peace in the long run."
"So... who is meant to be our enemy?", Gut-stripe asked, letting out a low, high-pitched sigh and slumping forward slightly; sounding tired and overwhelmed. "If the... NMX, as you call them, have the same origins as Yamatai, who do I kill? Someone has to die so long as my family is being threatened." The I'ee was gripping the hilt of her rapier again, which disturbed Sammy to no end. "I do not believe we can destroy either, but if they threaten my family, then I will kill them no matter what."
Sammy, who was chattering and hopping about petulantly, buzzed his wings as if to request everyone's attention. "Gut-Stripe, you must relax!", he whined, to which several of the I'ee engineers; now lounging about and cuddling in a loose pile on the floor thanks to the Ee'ith neglecting to translate for them, began chortling to themselves.
The two Ioth sisters, meanwhile, had snuck closer to Arccos and were peering at her curiously, examining her artificial body and squeaking softly to one another.
"We do not need to fight wars, Gut-stripe!", Sammy continued, giving the stern Thi-Thi another little hug. "We need only prepare ourselves for defence, and make friends that will assist us when the time comes!" Gut-Stripe did not seem eased by Sammy's words, waiting silently to hear more from Uso and the others.
The Ioth sisters were beginning to chatter to each other, standing just behind where Arccos was sitting: Apparently debating whether or not the imposingly tall spacer was machine or organic in nature. Any attention from Arccos would make the two shy away with a nervous tittering sound, withdrawing to observe from a safer distance.
"If you can successfully ex--" Arccos stalled, turning slightly to look over her shoulder towards the encroaching Ioth sisters. Not so much worried about them examining her, more worried about them reading over her shoulder, "Uh... if you can wipe out as much of the NMX remnants as possible, then you'll be set up as someone very well respected by most of known space. They're literally a biological weapon; one engineered to prey on others in the most despicable ways... As in: Someone consciously designed them so that they can only really reproduce by raping other races, or laying eggs in their corpses."
Seeing the two Ioth sisters withdraw, Arccos just let out a 'huh'.
"But I got the impression that Uso was trying to give you the tools needed to make decisions like this in an informed manner. No one would shed a tear if the NMX were wiped from existence, right down to the last speck of DNA incinerated. But that's nearly impossible; they're too far spread, and too easily able to replenish their numbers through hurting more people... The Art of Never Again says that Terminus will defend with Terra by his side, and attack with Karma at his back... Which basically means you should wage war to protect yourself with things you can predict, but lead the assault when you have stacked the odds in your favor. You aren't going to have the odds in your favor without a more powerful war machine, or without knowing something about your enemy that they don't want you knowing... So for now defense and alliance is your best option, in my opinion."
Finishing up her little 'spacer parable, Arccos then typed up the words Am I making your people uncomfortable? on a holo-display hovering in front of her, and swiveled it so that Sammy could read it... Passing notes in class with a glowing display that hovered in mid air.
"Everyone is your enemy, but that doesn't mean you can't also be friends. If you want to stay locked into 'destroy everything' or 'absolute friends' as your only options then you're going to find yourself locked out of a bunch of tools you could be using to influence the situation." Uso was trying to remember what she had planned next, but this lecture had already moved onto a new line of thought.
"So perhaps we should now focus in on developing a defense for the I'ee against the NMX? We can stick with broad strokes here, and then work on the minute details later. The easiest way to defend yourself will be to make yourself a less attractive target. Dispersing population centers a bit, having secure places where your people can hide during an attack, you may even consider blowing up your own planets just to keep the NMX from moving in. After all, once they realize that any gains they make will be erased through your own self-destruction they shouldn't see a need to attack.
Of the less explosive options, you may want to consider inviting Yamatai to setup an embassy on one of your worlds most at risk. The NMX aren't very selective in their attacks, and it would put them in a position of having to involve their more capable enemies' fleet when considering their offensive actions.
You may also want to open up communications with the NMX when they attack next. That will at least give you an option to negotiate a bit and stall future attacks.
And your diplomatic families seem to have the right idea in regards to making new friends. Right now all of us are in a very trustworthy position, since we both stand to gain a lot from working together. That does not necessarily extend to the other nations. Naturally everyone will want to get their way, and you will need to start playing those concerns off one another while you build up your fleet and your capability to be independent.
WHICH brings us to the fleet itself. I don't really know what you're working with yet but there are a few key capabilities that a fleet will need. Being able to operate independent of a planetary base is absolutely vital. If you're not staying around a planet all the time they can't really find your fleet to attack it or assess its strength. You will also actually need the ability to go toe to toe with the NMX at some point and I think the fastest way to go about that would be to take off the shelf weapons and shields to augment what you already have on your ships. I hope I can work with your engineers regarding getting that put together.
Finally, I think we also need to discuss just what the NMX have done to your people so far so we can get a better understanding of what they are after and how to counter it."
With some reluctance, Gut-Stripe nodded her head, accepting Uso and Arccos' words. She visibly bristled with contained fury when prompted to speak of her people's encounters with the NMX, a low hiss sounding as she spoke. "At first, we thought we were facing a full-scale invasion.", she began. "It was the first hostile contact we had come across for almost a century, and we lost many of our ships. What was most horrifying to us was that what we had thought to be an invasion was merely probing; their scouting parties had been annihilating our fleets. What few casualties we inflicted were leapt upon by our engineers" Gut-Stripe gestured to the reclining engineers behind her, most of whom now seemed to be napping in a lazy, cuddle pile. "to be dismantled and studied. We have developed new craft and weapons in an effort to more effectively battle our foe, but the truth remains that we are only preparing to make war against scouts."
"The largest of our engagements were ironically the most even, as these NMX often deigned to initiate boarding actions upon our craft.", Gut-Stripe paused, fondling the hilt of her blade and grinding her mandibles together. "They took a great number of my sisters back to their vessels. We couldn't push our way past them to find a way on board before they would disconnect and leave us, damaged and with our siblings stolen from us."
It seemed to take a moment for Sammy to notice Arccos' message, and even when he did, the ambassador did not seem to realise that it was from her. He poked and prodded at the holographic display curiously, soon joined by a couple of the more restless Ithee engineers, who seemed fascinated by the technology. "What does this say?", Sammy finally asked Arccos, pointing to the display with a claw. "There are letters that I can see, but the light makes it hard for me to focus on them."
Gut-Stripe, meanwhile, was still addressing Uso. "As for our fleets, I can only speak for my family, Thi-Thi. We have approximately sixty large vessels at our disposal at this time.... maybe one hundred escort vessels. The Ithee have been eager to create more of our new strike craft... I've honestly lost count of all the ones we've been receiving. There are four in our fleet.", pausing, Gut-Stripe turned and let out a harsh, grating bark at the lounging crowd of engineers, two of whom scrambled to their feet and ran to join Gut-Stripe.
A lengthy conversation followed between the three, lasting almost a minute, before Gut-Stripe waved them back to their peers. "I have just inquired my engineers, and they report that the Ithee family has eighty large vessels, two hundred escort-sized ships and almost three hundred strike craft.", she stated. "The Ithit possess only twenty large vessels. That is all. They rely upon my family and Ithee for defense."
As Uso and Gut-Stripe chattered on, Arccos pressed a palm to her face and erased the message she'd left for Sammy. Apparently she didn't account for differences in eye composition... Also apparently these guys and gals didn't know what a holographic display was... Which was... Interesting.
Rather than just calling others over, or interrupting, Arccos just lowered her voice and leaned closer to Sammy; getting closer to their... Antennae? Did these things even have ears? Whatever they use it's probably on their head, either way. The spacer leaned closer to Sammy's head. "Some of your lot are buzzing around me and acting weird when I look at 'em. Am I making them uncomfortable or something? Being rude?"
Noticing the crowd around Arccos, Corgan walked over to them and sat next to the Freespacer. "What's going on over here? Passing love letters?" He asked as he looked at her screens curiously. "Or trying to keep the spider robots from turning us all into soup I guess. Glad you were here. Hopefully I managed to convince the people to stay away. I'm going to be pissed if I ran around shouting for hours for nothing." After a moment he realized maybe the I'ee weren't aware of the death robots. "Uh.. Yeah that spider robot invaders game is very realistic isn't it Arccos?" He said, awkwardly trying to recover.
Looking sidelong to Corgan, Arccos gave a smile at his attempt at subtlety. The I'ee were in orbit, and in all likelihood had surveying equipment. And no matter how primitive their tech was, they could likely detect the radiation spike. Still, she attempted to not interrupt the class proper. "Well had you not run around, everyone around that thing would be in danger from the radiation leaks. You're saving a lot of people from getting sick, but we'll need to lock down the wreck if another sandstorm kicks up. Irradiated dust will get everywhere..."
Uso was lost in thought for a moment. The optimal strategy would be to have the I'ee pull back, disengage the mishhu as much as possible... but Arccos' idea was burrowing into her head... they COULD fight the mishhu. Uso wouldn't just be some self-anointed space-empress, space-savior might not even be out of reach. It was certainly risky... a failure here could wipe out the I'ee. But sucsess... the reward would be far greater than anything one planet could provide.
"Hey, Ragna-people. What do you think about taking on the NMX? As in; to win?"
At that moment Cyrus and Raphael walked into the room. Cyrus stepped up to the table and smiled. "Fighting NMX? Shit, that sounds like fun." Cyrus said looking over his shoulder to the Ragnarock members in the room. "Currently, Ragnarock is sitting on 4 companies of soldiers. 20 men in a company. So we have 80 men in total. Plus our squad of the founding members. I think we could take it to the mishu." He turned and looked to his founding members. "Do I have any objections from my elite unit?" He asked with a grin. Raphael moved and took up a corner of the room, studying the star map.
As Arccos leaned in close, Sammy did the same, turning his head slightly to one side as if to listen more closely to the 'spacer's words. "Hm, they are?", he huffed. "I'll ask them." Turning away, the ambassador set about solving the problem in the least subtle manner possible: Chattering to each individual I'ee one at a time, apparently asking them for their opinions on Arccos. After a couple of minutes, Sammy returned with the two Ioth sisters in tow.
"No, miss. None of us find you upsetting. Our two Ioth doctors, however, find you very curious.", he gestured to the two sisters, the tallest of whom gave Arccos a timid wave while the other cuddled up against her like a nervous child. "They say they cannot tell if you are mechanical or organic."
"I'm about one part organic to every fifty parts mechanical." Arccos offered quite freely, "Only my central nervous system is organic. If they want more information we can talk at a different time..."
"Why are you suggesting to take on the NMX with eighty men?", Gut-Stripe asked, tilting her head to one side. "You said that the NMX are too vast and thinly spread to effectively exterminate. Though I admit, were you to provide an effective plan to do just that, I would certainly be eager to assist you." The Thi-Thi chortled softly, her abdomen pulsing in time with her laughter.
Corgan looked at Uso like she had lost her mind, and then he heard Cyrus agree with her. He moved his gaze to Cyrus. "Sir, with all due respect.. What the hell? We haven't even gotten paid yet for this mission, now we're going to go fight Squids? We haven't even secured this world yet. I mean a big ass ship crashed practically right on top of the city and we didn't even see it coming. That said, if you say kill Squids, I'll kill Squids. But I would rather get paid for this job and get better gear before we go fighting Mishu." He said, managing to stay respectful despite his annoyance.
Cyrus smiled over to Corgan. "Your first payment has been direct deposited into your accounts yesterday. I sold off a ton of gold coins and other consumables as well. I am also working on a new set of Ragnarock armor. Lighter and stronger than the crappy impulses we are using." He nodded to the huge man. "Dont worry big guy. I am not going to send you into the mouth of hell without some good toys. Plus I be on the front lines as well. Not passing up a chance to fight the old enemy." He said hoping to reassure the man.
The big Nepleslian did relax, the news of getting paid helping more than anything. He did want to help the I'ee and kill some Mishu, but only if they might actually succeed. "Well then, all I need is one of those brain spiders in case it doesn't go as planned. Hopefully we get this planet secured and defended a little more first." He replied. "After that, point me at those bastards and I'll kill as many as I can."
"I share your concern Corgi, We're WAAAY outclassed by the NMX right now. We'd need a fleet, weapons, logistics... on the other hand we're going to need to get all that stuff for this planet eventually right? We save the I'ee from the NMX, build a fleet in the process, and turn this Ragna-rock into a high class outpost in the process.
You Ragna-guys have little reason to trust me so far... that big paycheck is still hasn't come yet... but, this is how we get it. I mean, we can just provide our technical assistance to the I'ee and get rich off them helping us build up this planet. Or we can save the I'ee from the NMX and become obscenely wealthy in the process.
I will take into account whatever you guys have to say of course.... but personally? Go big or go home. I know we can do this, I just need to hire a few more people... " Uso couldn't help but grin, like she had already won a huge bet on the inside track,
"Imma get the band back together."
She would then turn her attention to Thi-Thi,
"80 men, 1 NH-7, a Free spacer, An Elysian, 2 Nepleslians, and the I'ee? We've got this."
