One point that came up quickly was the location of the Clans Homeworlds. At first, when Jaime admitted that they no longer had that information, due to it having been purged from their navigational computers in the last contact in 3019, this news was met with astonishment and a general drop in mood, until, shortly afterwards, Emma Centrella informed that the Magistracy and the Concordat had not only the location of said worlds, but also the route used.
This announcement was met with astonishment by all the presents and an almost growling 'Wolverines' from the side where Natasha was standing.
The fact that the distance was about 1,000 light years, and that in spite of this the Clans had mounted an invasion, caused general astonishment, quickly followed by variants of 'how do they plan to maintain a supply train of that length?' from various sides.
Immediately, both the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine started talking about the possibility of raids along that long supply line. Reality quickly kicked in, however, and the fact that the number of available WarShips was minuscule put a damper on those plans. It was a good idea, but not for the next few years. Until that, raids would be conducted using advanced JumpShips with LF batteries and Assault and CV DropShips.
For the moment, and since the vast majority of the WarShips used by the Clans were of SLDF origin with weak defenses against ASFs, (if not retrofitted) what was needed was large numbers of Heavy Fighters and Alamos to bring them down. Everybody knew that without eliminating this threat first, any attempt to liberate occupied worlds or defeat an invasion that included one or more WarShips was doomed to fail.
Because of this, among the hardware produced, the first to be ordered in large numbers, were like in most factories the much needed Aerospace Fighters. For the Concordat, it was Thunderbirds and Hell Ducks Heavy ASFs. Questions as to whether the Concordat or Earth were opened to selling WarShips were answered with a quick 'at the moment no' from both nations.
During breaks in negotiations and planning, the Dragoons several Clan OmniMechs that they were capable of producing although in small numbers. Since most of those present were or had been 'MechWarriors, the interest was evident, and everyone wanted to try out the advanced war machines the Clans were using.
Other events that draw a lot of attentions were the mock battle sessions between those present. With so many elite 'MechWarriors present, the level of battles was amazing, and even though I expected it, I quickly discovered that I was among the weakest present. Okay, I was better than Victor, Hohiro and Ragnar, but all the rest were better than me. And in the case of those I beat, I had the suspicion that it was more due to the fact that I had much more experience, than talent. Particularly hard to swallow was the string of defeats against Natasha - the damn woman was by now 82 years old, ffs. How someone of that age could still be so lethal in a 'Mech was almost incomprehensible. And she did that while still driving her Warhammer, an upgraded one, but still, not using a Dire Wolf.
Initially I thought Hanse couldn't pilot a 'Mech due to his poor health, but apparently he had recently received a heart transplant, something that had been successfully kept secret until now, and was active enough again that the doctors allowed him pilot his BattleMaster from time to time.
In another class of simulations, the Toro II that Sara was using was of particular interest to Daniel Allard and Phelan Kell, both excellent pilots of Wolfhounds. The Toro II was, after all, basically an advanced Wolfhound with Jump Jets, thanks to a lighter chassis, which used Endo-Steel. This ended with the Kell Hounds placing an order for several.
Another series of divergences from the universe I knew was that Justin Allard still drove Yen-Lo-Wang, even if it was the modernized version, with Gauss Rifle, pulse lasers and experimental triple-strength myomer. Kai, while a very good 'MechWarrior, was not at the same level of Natasha, and piloted a Pillager 3Z.
In this reality, the Dragoons offered no OmniMechs, and Victor and Hohiro, kpet on using their Victor (9D) and Grand Dragon (5K).
Theodore, still used the Command version of the BattleMaster that he had started using during the War of 3039.
In the following meetings the industrial capacity of the Clans was analyzed, as well as the size of their fleets, both WarShips and transports. Much depended on the number of Clans participating in the invasion. Too many, and it would be almost impossible to contain or defeat them. On the other hand, their transport capacity was likely to be the hard limit of what they could do, and even though the Dragoons' information was more than 30 years out of date, it was a good starting point, and everything indicated that it would be impossible for more than 10 Clans to invade at the same time. And that number would put a big strain on their supply lines. If political differences and natural distrust were added to this, it was estimated that no more than 7 Clans would participate in a renovated full-scale invasion. We would soon find out if these predictions were right and by how much.
It quickly became apparent that both the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine were receiving information from multiple occupied systems. As this could only be possible via Black Boxes, after a short exchange of opinions with Edward, I put on the table the 'request' for this technology to be shared with the other nations present. Something, which evidently, Joan Stark immediately supported.
Both nations didn’t agree to that and this topic was put under the table.
Business was quite profitable. Even if quantity discounts were negotiated, by my estimates, both VMI and CHI would make a lot of money, and so would Kamea and I, indirectly. For example, any 'Mech that had Extended Range weapons and even upgrade kits were ordered in large numbers, with the payment/credit mechanisms being decided between the nations' leaders. As for battle-armor, orders exceeded by far the production capacity, and for the next few years, the Concordat and Magistracy military factories would be operating at full capacity to keep up with the demand.
Without surprise, the St. Ives Compact declared that it would support the Federated Commonwealth with equipment and troops within its means. Edward and Emma, while not providing troops, agreed to provide equipment to all invaded nations. In return, in addition to orders that would keep their factories busy for years and bring immense wealth to both nations,they would receive sample or even transfer of Clan tech, not only from the Wolf’s Dragoons but also from the nations with whom they established contracts, including production rights of current designs they wanted to be produced in the Periphery to expand the number of designs available for production.
