4. One of the PCs is Boon'sheh, and this happens to be the home he turned his back on....

I call it "O Humma, Where Art Thou...."

and, definitely:

(Sergeant Schlock sometimes wishes he were Humma....)

The inbound ships are not answering comms, and the Highest One is unwilling to call in outside assistance to help him fight his battles, as that would engender a severe loss of face on his part, and bring his ability to lead his people into question.

However, neither the CFM's own militia, nor the Flight wing in the Capella system will allow the fighting in system to last too long without intervening to remove a danger to intra-system traffic, regardless of the Ifshnit and the Flight's reluctance to involve themselves in Humma internal politics.

Krokrik(Adjudicator-class DD), set up anywhere on the western edge of the hexmap, speed 20.

Longknife, Tail Claw, Slashing Spear, Neck Breaker(Springblade-class patrol combatants), set up one hex row(but no more than one hex apart) in front of Krokrik, speed 20.  

Six Leap Smash heavy fighters, set up two hex rows(but no more than a hex apart)in front of Krokrik, speed 20.

Six Springblade-class PCs, set up anywhere along east side of the map, speed 20.

Ten White Blaze fighters, set up anywhere along east side of the map, speed 20.

The Lineage Eruditi forces must destroy the Krokrik and at least two of the Springblades within five turns(50 minutes) of initiating combat, no matter the cost to themselves.

The Highest One's forces are under similiar constraints, save they must destroy or cripple at least nine of the sixteen attacking ships within five turns, without either losing the Krokrik, or the Krokrik suffering more than 50% loss to its starting HP. 

During the start of turn six, a task force of three Flight and three CFM destroyers, escorted by two squadrons of patrol combatants(again, one each CFM and Flight)will enter from the northern edge of the map on an intercept vector at speed 25, chasing off any surviving Lineage Eruditi ships and escorting the survivors of the Highest One's forces to Faire.

Decisive Victory: Krokrik undamaged, no more than 50% of other ships lost, all lineage Eruditi forces crippled or destroyed(crippled Eruditi ships will self destruct).

Major Victory: Krokrik undamaged, no more than 80% of other ships lost, 75% of lineage Eruditi forces crippled or destroyed.

Minor Victory: Krokrik suffers less than 50% hull damage, at least nine lineage Eruditi ships crippled or destroyed.

Draw: Krokrik suffers 50% or greater hull damage, at least nine lineage Eruditi ships crippled or destroyed.

Minor Defeat: Krokrik suffers 50% or greater hull damage, less than nine lineage Eruditi ships crippled or destroyed.

Major Defeat: Krokrik suffers 50% or greater hull damage, no lineage Eruditi ships crippled or destroyed; Highest One loses face and must fight for his lineage's continued right to lead.

Crippling Defeat: Krokrik destroyed. Lineage Eruditi influences election of next Highest One.  

Decisive Victory: Krokrik destroyed without loss. Lineage Eruditi greatly influences election of next Highest One.

Significant Victory: Krokrik destroyed, less than nine lineage Eruditi ships crippled or destroyed. Lineage Eruditi influences election for next Highest One.

Major Victory: Krokrik reduced to 50% of its originial hull points, at least one lineage Eruditi survives combat. Lineage Eruditi forces leadership challenge.

Minor Victory: Krokrik reduced to 50% of its originial hull points, no lineage Eruditi ships survive battle. Lineage Eruditi forces leadership challenge.

Draw: Krokrik suffers 50% or greater hull damage, at least nine lineage Eruditi ships crippled or destroyed. Hum of lineage Eruditi and Highest One both lose face.

Major Defeat: Krokrik undamaged, no more than 80% of other ships lost, 75% of lineage Eruditi forces crippled or destroyed. Hum and other lineage Eruditi leaders replaced by Highest One's supporters within the lineage.

NOTE: If combat lasts longer than five turns, the CFM and the Flight will intervene as above. In this case, the result is treated as a draw, and both sides lose face.

EDIT: Changed turn length. More edits coming.

I'll edit after I have a couple more run throughs.

Lineage Eruditi decided to set up as a single stack 24 hexes from the Krokrik and its escorts, unfortunate, as the Highest One's player got first move and first fire, and, boy, howdy did they get up close and personal. The six Springblades(running at speed 24) turned their guns on the fighters, while launching torps at four of the enemy HS 4 hulls.

Krokrik chose to fire her LC×2 at one of the remaining enemy Springblade, and all four of her torps and her electron battery at the last one, while the Leap Smash fighters each took on a enemy Springblade.

In the ensuing melee, six of the enemy fighters were vaporized instantly(with 20, 14, 9, 12, 8, and 11 points of damage respectively from linked pod lasers), while the laser batteries combined to cripple the remaining four White Blazes(at 3,3, 4 and 3 points respectively).

Meanwhile, ten torpedos, six assault rockets, two laser cannon, and an electron battery combined to remove four of the Eruditi Springblades from the Highest One's sky(with 84, 63, 61, and 50 points of damage respectively), while the remaining two were crippled(with 10 and 8 points of damage respectively).

The Highest One didn't have everything his way, as defensive fire from the White Blazes eliminated five of the six Leap Smash fighters(with 15, 12, 10, 8, and 10 points of damage respectively) and a Springblade(a direct hit of 15 points damage from two fighters, taking the masking screen into account) while damaging a second Springblade(2 points, after accounting for the masking screen),

Defensive fire from the Eruditi Springblades damaged the Krokrik(8 points, after accounting for her masking screen), further damaged the Springblade damaged by fighters(an additional 8 points, after accounting for the masking screen), crippling it, while another Springblade was completly destroyed by an Eruditi Springblade firing pod lasers and his laser battery(15 points damage exactly after taking the masking screen into account.)

So, at the end of turn 1, the Highest One was left with the Krokrik(32HP remaining), two Springblades(one with 5HP remaining) and one Leap Smash heavy fighter, while Lineage Eruditi was left with two crippled Springblades(with 5 and 7 HP remaining), and four crippled White Blaze fighters(with 2,2,1 and 2 HP remaining).

Even though he'd already lost in the first turn, the Lineage Eruditi player still wanted to fight, so I suspended the condition that crippled Eruditi ships self-destructed, and let him go at it.

There was no movement(fortunate for the Eruditi player), and he succeeded in eliminating one of final two of the Highest One's Springblades with one of his Springblades' PLs and LB(7 points of damage total on the damaged Springblade) while damaging the Krokrik with a torpedo(six additional points damage, leaving the Highest One's flagship with 26 HP), while the four crippled White Blazes only winged the surviving Leap Smash fighter(3 points of damage), and scarred the paint off the other of the Highest One's Springblades(5 points of damage).

The Highest One's defensive fire finished the whole thing, with Krokrik's LCs vaporizing one Eruditi Springblade(24 points of damage against the ship with 7 HP remaining), and her EB wiping out a White Blaze(8 points of damage), while the Highest One's remaining Springblade destroyed the last Eruditi Springblade with its pod lasers(12 points of damage against the one with 5HP remaining), while its LB destroyed another White Blaze(6 points of damage), and the last of the Highest One's heavy fighters dispatched one of the last two remaining Eruditi fighters with its pod lasers(8 points of damage).

With one barely functioning fighter left, the Eruditi player chose the better part of valor and limped away.

In short, the combat lasted two turns. That being said, I think I will change the scenario to make it between Krokrik, a reduced escort force, and Eruditi fighters.

Why?

1) I realized that Eruditi probably wouldn't have any HS 4 ships in its arsenal

and, most importantly

2) Bookkeeping was a nightmare, even using the Basic Game rules, and probably would've been a great deal worse if John(my Eruditi player) hadn't put all his ships into a single stack and positioned them to where Steve(who played the Highest One)could get to him in a single move.

I'll edit the scenario post presently.

Thanks to my good neighbor Steven Fulmek and his World of Warcraft buddy John(whose last name I never got)for giving up a Sunday night of night elf mohawking to help me out. UPF counters were used to run the Highest One's ships, while Sathar counters were used to run the Lineage Eruditi forces, with a tattered, dog-eared, chicken-greased and coffee stained Tactical Operations Manual and an equally tattered hexmap(collected from my last trip to Georgia)to guide things. 

I probably made other mistakes as well, as I've said, bookeeping was a nightmare and a half.