August-December, 1502

Eastern Aegean

Bayezid II was tired. So tired. These stupid, stupid Christians just couldn't keep well enough alone. First, the Venetians tried to insist that they still maintained relevance and power on the Balkan mainland. He made quick work of that, and moved to finally make a reasonable peace with their old Italian enemy. Then, for reasons unknown to the Kayser-i Rûm, the Germans decided to march seventy thousand men into the Balkans in some strange show of martyrdom to their heretical religion. They, too, would pay with their lives.. And now the French have sailed a navy – the size of which has not been seen for centuries – all the way to the Anatolian coast to protect... an island of pirates? The routing of their fleet at sea (with the exception of some crazy Italian man) and the burning of almost all the ships that escaped would hopefully, finally, show Christendom that this continued resistance was futile, and that their best option was to simply beg him for mercy and leniency. He might even let them live.

So why the fuck do they keep fighting?

The so-called "Knights of Rhodes", a deceptive name for a glorified group of pirates and heretics, has somehow managed to hold the might of the Sultan at bay for decades. They raid innocent traders, seize innocent islands,, and generally make a giant mess of the Aegean. So the Sublime Porte has asked, very nicely, for them to just leave and go literally anywhere else. And still they refuse.

No matter. It is only a question of time before their island fortress is starved into compliance, their scattered atolls and archipelagos bombarded from sea, and the rightful islands of the Kayser-i Rûm are returned to the fold. And so it was that following the inferno that claimed the remnants of the Crusaders of St. Denis, the Ottoman navy headed back to Anatolia, ditching the ships that could not be salvaged, and using the rest to begin ferrying men and weapons to Lesbos in an attempt to restore order. They initially show up and are greeted by a couple of merchant ships that catch fire and explode (perhaps an homage to what happened in Heraklion?) but other than that strange showing, the landing itself is uneventful. There is a bit of moderate resistance from an island that the "Knights" have attempted to radicalize into being racist towards Turks, but the island eventually surrenders with minimal casualties. An offer is made to ferry anyone who wishes to return to Rodos, but virtually no one takes up the offer. Oh well, at least they tried.

With the island secured by the end of September, the troops are returned to the mainland, where they prepare for a much more difficult mission - an attempt to march on Bodrum, and take the famed Castle of St. Peter that the "Knights" have built there. They intend to march there with a naval detachment, but so many have been ruined by that damn Italian (and the French I guess) that only a single squadron of twelve ships can be detached from the continued blockade of Rodos to assist. This makes things... difficult to say the least. The Castle of St. Peter was reinforced less than five years ago, using stones from the famed Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and defensive ideas imported from the equally-impressive fort on Rodos, and attacking the castle through the mountains separating Bodrum from the rest of Anatolia was virtually impossible. Yahya Pasha initially marches a small force to the castle, and confidently demands their complete surrender in exchange for free passage to Rodos. He is literally laughed away, and is told to, roughly translated, "try it, bitch." Understanding his situation, Pasha elects to instead use his force to put the city under siege, and have the naval detachment start a second blockade - this one preventing reinforcements from reaching the Petronium.

By the end of the year, this situation essentially does not change. The naval blockades of Bodrum and Rodos continue unimpeded, but both areas seem, at the moment, to be well situated with food and supplies for the foreseeable future. The siege camp established outside the Petronium is fully entrenched, and routinely lobs some cannon-fire and insults at the defenders, but they too are content to wait out yet another Ottoman siege. Lesbos is back under Ottoman control, but there is sporadic resistance by locals to Ottoman rule. These attacks are put down harshly in an attempt to keep order, but they don't seem to learn their lesson. At least not yet. The continued siege of Bodrum and the concurrent naval blockades have sapped the ability of a depleted Ottoman navy to march on any of the other islands owned by the Christian pirates at this point, but they will fall eventually.

It, like everything else, is only a matter of time.

SITUATION CHANGES

Knights:

• Minimal troop loss

• Loss of occupation of Lesbos

Ottomans:

• Minimal troop loss

• Retaking of Lesbos

• Ongoing siege of Bodrum and the Castle of St. Peter