Part 2: Days 1-2: Too Much Narrative-Exposition.

DAYS 1 AND 2

I'm certain a lot of other galaxy-impacting decisions were determined by eenie meenie miney moe. I can't think of any off-hand, except of course for the one I just made. After hitting the red button that looked like a pterodactyl, the ship I was in sprung into life, hurtling away from the nearby planet. The ship's computer lit up, saying "Engaging Hyperdrive..."

Distant stars appeared to freeze , and then flashed into lines passing by at ludicrous speeds. My stomach dropped as though I was in the diving on a roller coaster, except this ride had no end in sight. Just as I was about to paint the cockpit a horrid shade of green and brown, things stabilized. I stood up, walking around the cramped cockpit, and watched more stars go by. After five minutes I got bored, and started reading the encyclopedia stored in the cockpit. Shortly thereafter, I was deep asleep.

The autopilot on this ship knew what it was doing. It was already docking with a gigantic space station that resembled a jellyfish. The heads-up display called it Rebellion Headquarters, a converted Tibanna Gas refinery and mining platform. Self-sufficient, the size of a large city, and capable of interstellar travel at a moment's notice, this headquarters was a demographic unto itself. Mine to command.

After a brief stroll, my escort paused at a door, tapping on their earpieces. I hoped they were signalling that I was ready to meet the Rebellion's foremost figurehead, Mon Mothma. The door opened, and I was staring at a screen thirty feet tall, displaying the galaxy in two dimensions, unrealistically flat even for a pinwheel galaxy.

Two goofy looking robots stood at its base. Mon Mothma was nowhere to be found. I sorta wish I had smuggled my Glock, because in my rage I felt like shooting something at this lack of respect, this failure to meet me face to face. Then the tall golden droid spoke.

: Good evening Master Sully, we had been awaiting your arrival. Master Skywalker had informed us you would be coming to take command of the Rebellion forces throughout the galaxy. I am your advisor, C-3P0. This is my counterpart, R2-D2. Mon Mothma has sent us to assist you as you acclimate to this new environ.

: Call me Meteor. So...robots are British? I always thought they'd speak some Asian language.

: I beg your pardon Master Sully? I am C-3P0, human-cyborg relations.

: *twooo*

: Fine, shut up and give me the latest intel before I delve into my-foot-up-your-ass relations. Your utility will be the only thing keeping me from finding out exactly how space robots are disassembled.


: Oh my. As you can see here:



: Masters Luke, Han, Leia, Dodonna, Chewbacca, and Antilles are all stationed at Yavin IV, on the red dot on the far right edge of the screen. We have repositioned the headquarters to the northeast, in the Mayagil system. We have control of the systems you see in red. The enemy controls the ones in green. Coruscant is the green system in the core sector furtherest most to the upper left.

: Right now Mon Mothma is busy recruiting others to our cause in this system.



: We are fairly well defended, and should not necessarily worry about Imperial intervention for a while.

: Furthermore, this system has a construction yard. These are the building blocks for our side, they create every other building we'll need. I recommend you build more construction yards with it. This system could be the cradle that spurs growth throughout the rest of sector, which could spearhead the very attack that will defeat the Empire!

: ...settle down, C-3. Christ, a universe of cylons, mecha, terminators, and Universal Remonsters and I get stuck with an effeminate butler. What's going down there, that southeast sector? Looks like we got numbers on them.

: Yes Master Meteor, we do. They have one system, which as you can see, is unguarded.



: Meanwhile our forces in the sector include three transports full of our troops.



: Alright. Simple enough. We take the undefended planet.

: Sir, if you do that, there is a good chance the people will revolt. Not only in that system, but in other systems in that sector. People do not like military take-overs, and you currently lack the diplomats in the sector to quell the public.

: Fucking flower children. Can you scrounge up some propaganda showing burnt corpses of mothers and babies? A good smear campaign could keep us as the good guys.

: Oh my, Master Meteor, no. Mon Mothma has given strict instructions that we must not lie or deceive the public. She believes that we will be strongest if we earn their trust.

: Well ain't she the sweet little thing. Damn. Alright, fine, I'll put my arm behind my back and play it your way. I did limit the civvie kill count to under two dozen for the two month campaign on my last job. I can win, even when playing by some stupid rules. What else is going on in the galaxy?

: The Corellian sector, shown here...



: ...is in Imperial hands. The majority of residents of that sector are humans, benefactors of favorable social policies. It will be very difficult to change their minds. Even worse, they have control of two construction yards. They will likely focus on sending diplomats to peacefully bring the entire sector under Imperial control.

: They'll get an entire sector to play with, huh? Maybe I could change that. They don't have any planetary defenses. No shield generators, no turbolasers. If I send my fleets there, I could bomb those yards straightaway. Nothing would remain but ashes and silence.

: That's a brilliant stratagem, Master Meteor!

: I kill sycophants. Stick to the goddamn facts.

: *Dwoooooo. Dwoo dwoooo.*

: What about Coruscant? Looks like another bad situation there. I got one worthless system and a medium transport. Like you said earlier, if I use the transport to take over a system militarily, the system'd revolt and I'd never really get control anyway.

: That is correct, sir. It is a risky gamble. I would recommend redeploying that asset to an outer-rim system. You can use it to control a non-inhabited system, and send construction yards to that location.

: So play offensive and take a risk at losing the whole system for almost no gain, or go on the defensive and strike later after building infrastructure elsewhere. Latter sounds smart, I think.

: And one final thing to remember is what you can do with the heroes of the Rebel Alliance. Master Luke, Han, Chewie, and the others each can engage in missions of guerilla uprising, espionage, sabotage, diplomacy, and abduction. For instance, if you were to send our natural leaders to Duros, which is almost neutral, you may be able to incite an uprising, and bring the planet to our control if the Empire cannot contain them. You could also send General Dodonna with the Napalmanator to random Outer Rim systems. The troops aboard could colonize empty planets, and Dodonna could use his skills as a diplomat to win neutral planets he finds to our cause.

: Or I could send him to the core worlds, use his diplomatic skills to chip away at the Empire's power base. Hrm.

I'd feel more comfortable facing an underpaid thug with a knife at my throat right now. I have almost no forces. I have almost no industry. The enemy utterly controls an entire sector, and is poised to take over another. I have a handful of heroes and fleets, but almost no shot at a direct military engagement I can win. What I need to do is prioritize.

ASSETS
~20 Infantry Ground pounders. Not too offensive-minded, but they'll have to do.
7 X-wing squadrons Good all-around
6 Y-wing squadrons Good against cap ships, they get massacred by TIEs
12 Mines and Refineries I'll figure out the economic shit later
3 Corellian Corvettes Great against fighters. Also great at running away
6 Medium Transports Each can hold 2 infantry. These will be my key to victory
1 Construction Yard Builds buildings. I NEED MORE.
1 Training Facility Builds infantry

PERSONNEL
Luke Can recruit other personnel. Is a combat beast. Can become even better. Shouldn't let him get captured.
Han Good at espionage, combat, AND leadership. Anyone travelling with him goes 2x as fast through hyperspace. That'll be HUGE.
Dodonna Good diplomat and leader. Bad at everything else
Wedge Antilles Fair combat/espionnage/leadership, but more important can research new starships. That is huge.
Chewie Combat beast, obviously. No leadership or diplomacy. He's on sabotage and spy duty.
Leia Can recruit other personnel. Is a diplomatic beast. Can become even better.
Mon Mothma Can recruit other personnel. Is a diplomatic beast. Won't get much better, but doesn't need to. Gotta keep her safe.
Huoba Neva Sullustan female near Coruscant. Good at spy/combat/leadership. All alone though, so virtually worthless. She'd get captured if I sent her on lone missions right now probably.

Which Strategy?
Outer-Rim Buildup - Hide, build up, keep diplomats in the outer rime, make massive fleet.
Inner-Core Denial - Try to win back core worlds, shut down the Empire at the source.

The first plan is safer but more time consuming. The latter is much riskier, but comes with rewards. The empire can decide to send Star Destroyers my way, raze the planet, capture or kill my personnel, and end my little subversive warfare in the blink of an eye.

And do I send Luke to work recruiting, or have him get his hands dirty in combat? Also, how many pieces can I break Threepio into before he finally shuts up? I clearly needed some guidance from the force. And a sizable raise.