paulobrito
Well-known member
Duh, fixed.@paulobrito:
I think it should be "details at your discretion" rather then "description". Otherwise very good as always.
Battletech An SI in the Concordat - GhostRider's Revenants (Battletech CYOA)Rev.2
- Thread starter paulobrito
- Start date
Chapter 54
paulobrito
Well-known member
"This is a nightmare, it can't be true," thought Force Leader Mo Ling. A month ago Chancellor Romano Liao had ordered the Death Commandos and House Imarra to give a harsh lesson to those Aurigan Reach barbarians who had once again dared to invade the sacred kingdom of the Capellan Confederation.
Commandeering the use of various civilian JumpShips, they had arrived at the capital of Aurigan Reach much earlier than was possible for the mercenaries who were at this time still in the middle of the Confederation.
And then everything started to go wrong. An until now unknown orbital station that was in geostationary position over Cordia City, the capital and target of this raid, had destroyed the two Overlords that transported not only the main bulk of the forces but also the command structure of both units, before the escort Fighters could destroy it.
The Death Commandos had continued with their original plan and dropped over the enemy palace. That was hours ago and after initial warnings of heavy turrets and enemy ’Mechs, no more transmissions came from then.
Now, Mo Ling was leading what was left of House Imarra forces, in the middle of the inferno that was Cordia City.
It was evident that the opposing force did not play in the same league as the Death Commandos or the Imarra warriors, but they did not lack courage. Countless times SRM Carriers or even infantry had poured Infernos salvos on Liao force, while more distant LRM Carriers kept harassing them, and while they caused tremendous casualties to the defenders, as they advanced towards the palace which was the main objective, they also suffered serious losses. Mo Ling already thought at that time that no one would survive to return to Sian.
Jasmine’s Withworth had been lost to an enemy SRM Carrier, Patrick’s Phoenix Hawk had been destroyed by a Kintaro, that Ling executed too late, and countless others had fallen in this trice damned city. The infantry had not survived as not only the enemy had more infantry to oppose then, but they had also several IFVs and APCs and even some strange armored units, too big to be infantry, too small to be ’Mechs, that had managed to kill many of is compatriots with almost impunity. Li had hit one but for his amazement, the strange unit had survived his small laser fire and ran away before Li could change to more heavy weapons.
Now, finally arriving at an avenue that led to the front of the fortress, Ling faced the last two defenders, a huge ’Mech that looked like a Marauder on steroids and that his computer claimed to be a Nightstar and a Warhammer similar to his own, among several wrecked ’Mechs in the Death Commandos colors, and many more in the Royal Guard ones. A bit afar, the destroyed parts of several turrets could be seen on the walls of the palace. As soon as Mo Ling’s survivors resumed the advance and long before they were in range, the enemy ’Mechs fired. Like the ’Mechs of the mercenaries who were deep in the Confederacy, these two had long-range weapons and firing at the same time as Ling’s unit, the enemy Warhammer had destroyed one of his teammates, by placing two ER PPC shots in the Vindicator, one destroying the left torso and the other penetrating the center of Zhang Kang's ’Mech and finishing it off with this single salvo. Ling had a chill in the spine, it's true the Vindicator had suffered damage in battle, but the Warhammer shouldn't have been able to do such damage with a single salvo. The returning fire from the Vindicator had destroyed the SRM-6 launcher of the enemy Warhammer and Ling fired at almost the same time, hitting the center torso and right leg of the Nightstar, but the armor of the ‘Mech was not penetrated, which could cause problems later on (if there was a later) as it was obviously not left behind in terms of letality and although obviously struck several times, with several marks on its thick armor, the left arm ripped off and a pronounced limp, it had lost several of his weapons, the ‘MechWarrior who piloted him was a superior warrior, no doubt like the one driving the Warhammer, they have survived against the Death Commandos after all. If the Mask was right, Mo Ling would have laughed at that good joke if he had the time to do it, they were the regents of this savage Periphery nation, and the principal targets of this cursed operation. With a salvo of a Gauss Rifle and an ERPPC, the Nightstar destroyed the other survivor of Mo Ling's lance, a Raven, leaving only Mo Ling to face both opponents with his Warhammer 6L. Accelerating his ‘Mech to full speed, Ling managed to get within range of all of his weapons before his opponents could fire again, placing two ER PPC shots on the enemy Nightstar, time destroying its left leg and sending the big brute to the ground with a crashing sound that could be heard even inside is cockpit. At almost the same time his ’Mech shook violently, as the Nightstar returned shots, destroying the right side of his Warhammer. Shifting focus to the enemy Warhammer, in the colors of the Arano Royal Guard, Li moved just in time to evade the fire of his adversary, and fired all his surviving weapons, but the ER PPC missed. Another pilot could panic after being hit by flamers, but not this one. The enemy Warhammer rotated calmly to stay centered on Mo Ling’s ‘Mech and let go with all its weapons, totally unaffected by the heat.
And this is when Mo Ling found himself in the air, the self-ejection having saved him from the destruction of his ’Mech.
Soon after, the Liao DropShips took off, except one Triumph that had been damaged by artillery and , scuttled by its crew before they were captured. With no forces to oppose then in space, the DropShips re-united with the JumpShips and some time later departed the system.
For the records the Aurigans tried, they really tried, but without powerful enough tugs, and very short time, the best they could do was to redirect the free falling Overlords to almost uninhabited areas of the planet: one crashed in one of the oceans and the other in a rural area, causing a few unfortunate deaths.
The victory cost dearly to the Reach. When the shots ended, the Royal Guard had been gutted with only the ’Mechs of Jean-Luc and Kamea were still operational, and to say so of the Nightstar was feeling . And the infantry units were also almost completely destroyed as well as whole areas of Cordia City.
It was a very close call. Jean-Luc and Kamea only survived because many of the Royal Guards interposed their ‘Mechs between the rulers and the Death Commandos. The Jacks proved to by lethal against even elite infantry, but also demonstrated they were not yet ready to go against ’Mechs. Of the twelve Jean-Luc had in Cordia City, only three survived.
Commandeering the use of various civilian JumpShips, they had arrived at the capital of Aurigan Reach much earlier than was possible for the mercenaries who were at this time still in the middle of the Confederation.
And then everything started to go wrong. An until now unknown orbital station that was in geostationary position over Cordia City, the capital and target of this raid, had destroyed the two Overlords that transported not only the main bulk of the forces but also the command structure of both units, before the escort Fighters could destroy it.
The Death Commandos had continued with their original plan and dropped over the enemy palace. That was hours ago and after initial warnings of heavy turrets and enemy ’Mechs, no more transmissions came from then.
Now, Mo Ling was leading what was left of House Imarra forces, in the middle of the inferno that was Cordia City.
It was evident that the opposing force did not play in the same league as the Death Commandos or the Imarra warriors, but they did not lack courage. Countless times SRM Carriers or even infantry had poured Infernos salvos on Liao force, while more distant LRM Carriers kept harassing them, and while they caused tremendous casualties to the defenders, as they advanced towards the palace which was the main objective, they also suffered serious losses. Mo Ling already thought at that time that no one would survive to return to Sian.
Jasmine’s Withworth had been lost to an enemy SRM Carrier, Patrick’s Phoenix Hawk had been destroyed by a Kintaro, that Ling executed too late, and countless others had fallen in this trice damned city. The infantry had not survived as not only the enemy had more infantry to oppose then, but they had also several IFVs and APCs and even some strange armored units, too big to be infantry, too small to be ’Mechs, that had managed to kill many of is compatriots with almost impunity. Li had hit one but for his amazement, the strange unit had survived his small laser fire and ran away before Li could change to more heavy weapons.
Now, finally arriving at an avenue that led to the front of the fortress, Ling faced the last two defenders, a huge ’Mech that looked like a Marauder on steroids and that his computer claimed to be a Nightstar and a Warhammer similar to his own, among several wrecked ’Mechs in the Death Commandos colors, and many more in the Royal Guard ones. A bit afar, the destroyed parts of several turrets could be seen on the walls of the palace. As soon as Mo Ling’s survivors resumed the advance and long before they were in range, the enemy ’Mechs fired. Like the ’Mechs of the mercenaries who were deep in the Confederacy, these two had long-range weapons and firing at the same time as Ling’s unit, the enemy Warhammer had destroyed one of his teammates, by placing two ER PPC shots in the Vindicator, one destroying the left torso and the other penetrating the center of Zhang Kang's ’Mech and finishing it off with this single salvo. Ling had a chill in the spine, it's true the Vindicator had suffered damage in battle, but the Warhammer shouldn't have been able to do such damage with a single salvo. The returning fire from the Vindicator had destroyed the SRM-6 launcher of the enemy Warhammer and Ling fired at almost the same time, hitting the center torso and right leg of the Nightstar, but the armor of the ‘Mech was not penetrated, which could cause problems later on (if there was a later) as it was obviously not left behind in terms of letality and although obviously struck several times, with several marks on its thick armor, the left arm ripped off and a pronounced limp, it had lost several of his weapons, the ‘MechWarrior who piloted him was a superior warrior, no doubt like the one driving the Warhammer, they have survived against the Death Commandos after all. If the Mask was right, Mo Ling would have laughed at that good joke if he had the time to do it, they were the regents of this savage Periphery nation, and the principal targets of this cursed operation. With a salvo of a Gauss Rifle and an ERPPC, the Nightstar destroyed the other survivor of Mo Ling's lance, a Raven, leaving only Mo Ling to face both opponents with his Warhammer 6L. Accelerating his ‘Mech to full speed, Ling managed to get within range of all of his weapons before his opponents could fire again, placing two ER PPC shots on the enemy Nightstar, time destroying its left leg and sending the big brute to the ground with a crashing sound that could be heard even inside is cockpit. At almost the same time his ’Mech shook violently, as the Nightstar returned shots, destroying the right side of his Warhammer. Shifting focus to the enemy Warhammer, in the colors of the Arano Royal Guard, Li moved just in time to evade the fire of his adversary, and fired all his surviving weapons, but the ER PPC missed. Another pilot could panic after being hit by flamers, but not this one. The enemy Warhammer rotated calmly to stay centered on Mo Ling’s ‘Mech and let go with all its weapons, totally unaffected by the heat.
And this is when Mo Ling found himself in the air, the self-ejection having saved him from the destruction of his ’Mech.
Soon after, the Liao DropShips took off, except one Triumph that had been damaged by artillery and , scuttled by its crew before they were captured. With no forces to oppose then in space, the DropShips re-united with the JumpShips and some time later departed the system.
For the records the Aurigans tried, they really tried, but without powerful enough tugs, and very short time, the best they could do was to redirect the free falling Overlords to almost uninhabited areas of the planet: one crashed in one of the oceans and the other in a rural area, causing a few unfortunate deaths.
The victory cost dearly to the Reach. When the shots ended, the Royal Guard had been gutted with only the ’Mechs of Jean-Luc and Kamea were still operational, and to say so of the Nightstar was feeling . And the infantry units were also almost completely destroyed as well as whole areas of Cordia City.
It was a very close call. Jean-Luc and Kamea only survived because many of the Royal Guards interposed their ‘Mechs between the rulers and the Death Commandos. The Jacks proved to by lethal against even elite infantry, but also demonstrated they were not yet ready to go against ’Mechs. Of the twelve Jean-Luc had in Cordia City, only three survived.
Last edited:
paulobrito
Well-known member
Duh, fixed.
Chapter 55
paulobrito
Well-known member
Three weeks later, a military convoy arrived at Coromodir. It was carrying the 5th Taurian Guard Regiment, an extra ASF squadron and was escorted by the TCS New Vandenberg, a Vincent class warship.
Comptroller Jacob Ponce at the reception with the ruling family not only handed over his orders, which were to help defend the system until Kamea's forces are reorganized, but also a personal missive from Thomas to Kamea and Jean-Luc, of which he knew nothing (according to him)
'Kamea, Jean-Luc, I'm very disappointed with both of you. What were you thinking, when you decided to accept Hanse Davion's contract? Did you ever think about the consequences of provoking someone like Romano Liao? Or did you just look at the money, unable to see anything else? I do hope it will be a lesson For you. Hanse, without losing a single soldier, destroyed two elite Capellan units, had the CCAF occupied for months, and you paid the bill, even worse, your people paid it. Frankly, I expected more from both of you. Start thinking about the implications of your actions if you want to survive in these dangerous times.’
After reading the message, Kamea took a deep breath and turned to Jean-Luc. 'Thomas is right, your decision to accept the contract was stupid and I did not act better by agreeing with you. You'll spend a few nights on the couch to learn and I want to see you and your companies very visible helping the reconstruction of Cordia City.’
I still thought about asking why only I would be punished, but a look on Kamea's face silenced me just in time. I was glad the couch was comfortable…
What was hard to swallow was that both Thomas and Kamea were right. I had not thought beyond the contract, I had never realized that Romano could react as she did, although I knew she was vindictive to say the least. And the consequences of my mistake had been paid for by the people of Cordia City.
By December, the full-scale conflict had ended, leaving only a few systems challenged. The result had been somewhat better for the Federated Commonwealth that I remembered as they had won 11 systems and only lost 2. The incursions of the CCAF and of the FWLM had not succeeded in capturing any system, being neutralized by the use of mercenaries by the AFFC.
With the return of the Revenants and their staying for now in Coromodir and a replacement BattleSat also arriving, that needed to be moved from its defensive location, because no ‘free’ one is available at the moment in the Concordat, the 5th Taurian Guard and the New Vandenberg returned to the Concordat, leaving only the ASF squadron to provide support. Several Industrial ’Mechs had arrived from New Vandenberg, greatly helping with the efforts in Cordia City and as requested they bore my marks/colours.
The Revenants had suffered very few losses, mostly because the worlds they hit with few exceptions only had Home Guard units and even those with more units had no more than a company of ’Mechs, none of them upgraded or modernized. After all, the objective was to distract CCAF forces, not to engage front-line units. In that, it was a success. They had good intel on the targets, courtesy of the combined efforts of the MIIO, DMI, TMI, and MIM, and so the planets had been hit hard and fast with them quickly moving to their next target and never staying more than the minimal necessary time on each system.
The wreckage of the different units that had fought on Coromodir had allowed a company of ‘Mechs to be rebuilt. Meanwhile 6 Dragonfly M2 had been 'offered' by Thomas as well as a company of ‘Mechs, leftovers that had been replaced by Royal level ones, to help rebuild the defenses. From the Reach factories in Mechdur and Detroit enough Mechs arrive to help rebuild the Royal Guards to they former strength.
Repairing Kamea’s ‘Mech had been easy as it was a model under production on New Vandenberg, which meant easy access to plenty of parts. Mine, on the other hand, was an unique one, with the parts needed to be custom made. Because of that only in February of 3040 was it fully operational again. I took the opportunity of that repair to upgrade the ER PPC to the enhanced version we had developed.
By the end of December 3039, the modernization of the production lines in New Vandenberg had been completed, including the Marauder II line. Not only did they produce Royal class ‘Mechs, but the quantity produced was equal to Star League best. The VMI facilities in New Vandenberg were probably the most modern of the Inner Sphere and Periphery - except that is for some on Earth.
Talks with the Magistracy led to the Dragonfly M2 to be also produced in Mechdur and Detroit, in exchange for a discount price for the MAF, basically selling them at production cost plus transport. This last move finally provided the Reach with an in-house source of ASFs. The production lines were to be operational by mid 3042 at earliest.
The fact that both Kamea and I took part in the defense of Cordia City and that I was later quite visible in the reconstruction of the city as well as elements of my companies made us quite popular, cementing our rule.
With about half of Royal Guard pilots dead and most of the rest gravely wounded, it was difficult to rebuild the unit. On the one hand, as soon as the “veterans” came back from the hospital, we gave them a ‘Mech (one of the only luxury of having more BattleMechs than ‘MechWarriors). On the other hand, the recruitment of new elements was time-consuming, with the amount of security checks and the necessary indoctrination that an unit of this type required. It was not before mid 3040 that the unit was at full strength again.
All the embassies present in Cordia City had all reported back the use of the BattleSat, and so, they all started crash programs to replicate the design, the militaries being quick to understand the value of such a cheap unit.
The Concordat was keeping ahead with a more capable version having been studied, the BattleSat II, which was bigger at 3.500 tons with better armor and with 6 Arrow IV AAM/SAM and 12 AMS. The ‘problem’ was its cost, the triple of the original model, and so, only a few are ordered.
A modernized version of the Tigress started production in 3038 in the Concordat. With advanced weapons, the big advantage was that because of its bigger platform, it could carry up to 6 Arrow IV AAM or 3 Alamos, turning it into a very nasty surprise for anyone trying to invade a system defended by some of them.
After losing two elite units in the Reach and not obtaining any results in the raids against the Federated Commonwealth, the Capellan Confederation took the only road available with an ambitious plan of upgrading and expanding the CCAF, at the cost of almost everything else.
Comptroller Jacob Ponce at the reception with the ruling family not only handed over his orders, which were to help defend the system until Kamea's forces are reorganized, but also a personal missive from Thomas to Kamea and Jean-Luc, of which he knew nothing (according to him)
'Kamea, Jean-Luc, I'm very disappointed with both of you. What were you thinking, when you decided to accept Hanse Davion's contract? Did you ever think about the consequences of provoking someone like Romano Liao? Or did you just look at the money, unable to see anything else? I do hope it will be a lesson For you. Hanse, without losing a single soldier, destroyed two elite Capellan units, had the CCAF occupied for months, and you paid the bill, even worse, your people paid it. Frankly, I expected more from both of you. Start thinking about the implications of your actions if you want to survive in these dangerous times.’
After reading the message, Kamea took a deep breath and turned to Jean-Luc. 'Thomas is right, your decision to accept the contract was stupid and I did not act better by agreeing with you. You'll spend a few nights on the couch to learn and I want to see you and your companies very visible helping the reconstruction of Cordia City.’
I still thought about asking why only I would be punished, but a look on Kamea's face silenced me just in time. I was glad the couch was comfortable…
What was hard to swallow was that both Thomas and Kamea were right. I had not thought beyond the contract, I had never realized that Romano could react as she did, although I knew she was vindictive to say the least. And the consequences of my mistake had been paid for by the people of Cordia City.
By December, the full-scale conflict had ended, leaving only a few systems challenged. The result had been somewhat better for the Federated Commonwealth that I remembered as they had won 11 systems and only lost 2. The incursions of the CCAF and of the FWLM had not succeeded in capturing any system, being neutralized by the use of mercenaries by the AFFC.
With the return of the Revenants and their staying for now in Coromodir and a replacement BattleSat also arriving, that needed to be moved from its defensive location, because no ‘free’ one is available at the moment in the Concordat, the 5th Taurian Guard and the New Vandenberg returned to the Concordat, leaving only the ASF squadron to provide support. Several Industrial ’Mechs had arrived from New Vandenberg, greatly helping with the efforts in Cordia City and as requested they bore my marks/colours.
The Revenants had suffered very few losses, mostly because the worlds they hit with few exceptions only had Home Guard units and even those with more units had no more than a company of ’Mechs, none of them upgraded or modernized. After all, the objective was to distract CCAF forces, not to engage front-line units. In that, it was a success. They had good intel on the targets, courtesy of the combined efforts of the MIIO, DMI, TMI, and MIM, and so the planets had been hit hard and fast with them quickly moving to their next target and never staying more than the minimal necessary time on each system.
The wreckage of the different units that had fought on Coromodir had allowed a company of ‘Mechs to be rebuilt. Meanwhile 6 Dragonfly M2 had been 'offered' by Thomas as well as a company of ‘Mechs, leftovers that had been replaced by Royal level ones, to help rebuild the defenses. From the Reach factories in Mechdur and Detroit enough Mechs arrive to help rebuild the Royal Guards to they former strength.
Repairing Kamea’s ‘Mech had been easy as it was a model under production on New Vandenberg, which meant easy access to plenty of parts. Mine, on the other hand, was an unique one, with the parts needed to be custom made. Because of that only in February of 3040 was it fully operational again. I took the opportunity of that repair to upgrade the ER PPC to the enhanced version we had developed.
By the end of December 3039, the modernization of the production lines in New Vandenberg had been completed, including the Marauder II line. Not only did they produce Royal class ‘Mechs, but the quantity produced was equal to Star League best. The VMI facilities in New Vandenberg were probably the most modern of the Inner Sphere and Periphery - except that is for some on Earth.
Talks with the Magistracy led to the Dragonfly M2 to be also produced in Mechdur and Detroit, in exchange for a discount price for the MAF, basically selling them at production cost plus transport. This last move finally provided the Reach with an in-house source of ASFs. The production lines were to be operational by mid 3042 at earliest.
The fact that both Kamea and I took part in the defense of Cordia City and that I was later quite visible in the reconstruction of the city as well as elements of my companies made us quite popular, cementing our rule.
With about half of Royal Guard pilots dead and most of the rest gravely wounded, it was difficult to rebuild the unit. On the one hand, as soon as the “veterans” came back from the hospital, we gave them a ‘Mech (one of the only luxury of having more BattleMechs than ‘MechWarriors). On the other hand, the recruitment of new elements was time-consuming, with the amount of security checks and the necessary indoctrination that an unit of this type required. It was not before mid 3040 that the unit was at full strength again.
All the embassies present in Cordia City had all reported back the use of the BattleSat, and so, they all started crash programs to replicate the design, the militaries being quick to understand the value of such a cheap unit.
The Concordat was keeping ahead with a more capable version having been studied, the BattleSat II, which was bigger at 3.500 tons with better armor and with 6 Arrow IV AAM/SAM and 12 AMS. The ‘problem’ was its cost, the triple of the original model, and so, only a few are ordered.
A modernized version of the Tigress started production in 3038 in the Concordat. With advanced weapons, the big advantage was that because of its bigger platform, it could carry up to 6 Arrow IV AAM or 3 Alamos, turning it into a very nasty surprise for anyone trying to invade a system defended by some of them.
After losing two elite units in the Reach and not obtaining any results in the raids against the Federated Commonwealth, the Capellan Confederation took the only road available with an ambitious plan of upgrading and expanding the CCAF, at the cost of almost everything else.
Tryglaw
Well-known member
I wonder what the Inner Sphere reaction will be at Taurians openly fielding a WarShip... Small one but a WarShip still. ComStar will shit a brick, as will other powers and their intelligence agencies, along the lines of "how the f*uck did we miss the Bulls having a WarShip?!”
paulobrito
Well-known member
See the next chapter ...
Tryglaw
Well-known member
Please hurry up then... 😁
paulobrito
Well-known member
Already in the hands of the poor suffering souls of my masochist beta-readers, no fear.
RoyalTwinFangs
New member
What does the IS sthink of the new mechs being fielded? Also if and when the MC get his own costume Bull Shark?
paulobrito
Well-known member
The new mechs fielded by the concordat are mostly produced by the company of the SI, so he thinks they are good enough - they are with a very few exceptions, royals, advanced models that are already proved they value in the battlefield. The Bull Shark for now is bot going to be produced - too expensive, and the SI has a custom Nightstar, not a bad one.
RoyalTwinFangs
New member
So waiting for better stuff to put them in later?
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
I am really looking forward to reading where this story is going. Honestly this ranks up with some of the better SI BT Fics that I have read like. When Men make plans the gods laugh for one example of a good one. Another is the Comstar adept turned Merc story, The name of which I do not remember right now.
gral
Well-known member
False Prophets, IIRC.
Chapter 56
paulobrito
Well-known member
In March 3041 I was called to Taurus for a meeting. It had to be for urgent reasons, as a Command Circuit was provided.
Among the presents with Thomas and Edward were also several ministers, including the head of the Exchequer and the ones responsible for the TMI and TDF. This meant serious business.
‘A week ago, the Federated Commonwealth announced the existence of a network of HPGs connecting not only New Avalon to Tarkad, but also to all the March and District capitals. At the same time they presented several WarShips more precisely one Davion Block II Destroyer and two Mako Corvettes'. Started Jennifer Lalande, a middle age brunette, Minister of Interior and head of the TMI.
Looking at the data provided, I gave my own conclusions without being requested to but since I was the local expert, I knew it didn’t matter ‘Probably, old ships recovered, not new production. In terms of firepower, we still have an advantage. Do we know the reasons for such announcement?’
‘Officially, no' replied Edward 'but it seems that ComStar found out about the existence of the network and its size and called all the main Precentors to Hilton Head for consultations just before it was made.’
'In response ,the Combine stated that the DCA had reactivated several Narukami class Destroyers, numbers unknown. So we have an imminent communications crisis and several states introducing WarShips' concluded Thomas.
‘I wouldn't put much trust in the news from the Combine, the information that I have is that it would be almost impossible to make the Narukamis operational’ was my response after digesting the news. 'On the other hand, I don't think ComStar reaction to the public announcement of a competing HPG network is going to be pleasant.’
‘Ummmm, I don't know, in the case of our Vincent, a lot of people also thought it wouldn't be possible to make it operational and there it is' countered Edward 'It remains to be seen how many more WarShips thought to be irrecoverable are out there and in which hands. I think it's only a matter of time before we see new constructions, don't you think Jean-Luc?'.
'Well, you and your father here have access to more information than I do, but from what I know of Bolthole, it's harder than it looks to build a new WarShip, and repairing one depends on the state of the ship and the available resources' was my answer. ‘By the way, if I may ask, how's our naval program doing?’
This time it was Richard Muller, the head of TDF, who replied 'The design of the new upgraded Concordat class is finished, but not all the needed production units are operational. The best estimates put the start of the construction of the first one around 3045, if more delays don’t appear. It has been a bottomless pit in our budget, but as we have seen, with other nations suddenly showing WarShips again, the project is more than justified and since we only retrofitted and improved an existing design it is still cheaper than building everything from the ground up.'
'Just out of curiosity, and to help our budget, do we plan to sell HPG technology to the Combine? I bet they would pay well for that,' asked Lorie Fournier, the Minister of the Exchequer, with a calculating look.
'No. Although we could undoubtedly extract a good sum of it, the risks are too great for both ComStar and the Federated Commonwealth being very upset' replied Thomas with some regret in his voice. ‘And we have another potential problem: the CCAF has been rebuilding much faster than expected. We need to move more forces to their border.’
‘Let me guess, they suddenly have several regiments of ‘Mechs, models that they never built before and all SLDF related, right?’ I asked in a calm voice.
‘How would you know that?’ asked a stunned Jennifer Lalande, ‘we only had this intel a few days ago.’
‘Just look at all the new ’Mechs ,the DCMS also showed during they recent war with the Federated Commonwealth. The information shared by the Fedcom intelligence shows that the ones they captured were produced during the Star League times and were not newly produced. Care to guess who also uses these ’Mechs and has also a force mostly composed of ex-SLDF hardware?’ I asked her back in a bored tone.
‘The ComGuards… of ComStar.’ she said after a stunned silence.’Are you saying that ComStar is providing both the Combine and the Capellans with several regiments of ‘Mechs? And for what reason?’
‘To maintain the equilibrium of forces, of course. Just out of curiosity, how big you think the ComGuards are?’ I replied.
‘Difficult to say, they deploy forces in small groups all over the Inner Sphere and Periphery, protecting their HPGs. Starting with the forces they deployed both in the Concordat and the Reach, and with the information shared by the MIM and MIIO, and extrapolating for the other nations, I can give you a number between 25 and 50 ‘Mech regiments supplemented by several hundred of infantry and mechanized ones.’
‘So, a force stronger than the TDF by a wide margin. And about their fleet? I know about they Explorer Corps and they also have several transport JumpShips and DropShips.’
‘Again no official number. They move the ComGuards using their ships, and because the unis are moved over short periods of time, I can only assume it‘s huge, but no hard numbers. They have also bought several regiment sized orders of vehicles from the Magistracy to supplement their forces, helping greatly the economy of that nation, and showing that they have a big military budget.’ concluded Jennifer.
‘So, they are rich, have a strong ‘civilian’ navy and an army bigger than all the Periphery nations combined. The only missing info on their strength is how many WarShips they could have. From what I could gather in the different databases I looked at, they have at least the shipyard on Sol, I think it was called Titan Yards and was perhaps of military grade at least during the Star League. We need to know that. It is hard to believe they wouldn’t have any.’ was Thomas conclusion.‘With the very tense situation between the Federated Commonwealth and Comstar, I think it would be useful for us to know the respective strengths of these potential opponents, just in case. We already have a roughly understanding of the might of the AFFC, we need to know how powerful the ComGuards are. On paper at least.’
After a few seconds, Thomas looked at Edward, and after that, ordered Jennifer to do just that. And returning to Muller ’What are our preparations in case of ComStar forcing a Global Interdiction or only on us?’
‘We have already constructed the local infrastructures for the planned HPG first priority network, we only need to assemble said HPGs. All of them are also marked to receive a ground based Naval Laser fort to help defend them, but for now any further progression is awaiting more funds and the order will only be sent if the situation further deteriorates.’ said Muller.
‘Funds approved, I don’t like the actual situation’, said Thomas, while Fournier wincing visibly. ‘Also make plans to take control of the Comstar installations and capture their personnel, if they take action against us, just in case. With the end of their monopoly in HPGs nobody knows how they are going to react, and the actual Primus is not known for taking extreme measures.’
Having ended with the Comstar contingencies, Thomas continued ‘How are the new ‘Mechs models doing? The light and medium ones you promised us to replace the not upgraded Toro and Taurus?’
‘Well, several companies have send us prototypes for evaluation, including yours Jean-Luc,’ answered Muller, ‘care to fill the details?’
‘The new Toro II is basically an improved Wolfhound, with Jump Jets. The Talos II is also an energy only ‘Mech with good protection. Both are ready for production, they just need the evaluation of the TDF and your go-ahead. With these models, all our light and medium lines are modernized and also important, the need for ammo is much reduced.’
‘And the new military DropShips?’ asked Richard Muller again.
‘Well, VMI has already started the production of both the Union CV and PW. The prototype of the Assault variant, that uses a reinforced frame, double armor and fuel and the SLDF Pentagon weapons suit is to do its maiden flight in two months. What TTI is producing or developing you need to ask them, not me.’
‘And how is the shipyard on the Reach developing?’ asked Edward.
‘We just started building the Germanium processing unit. If everything keeps on track, we can start building Invaders by 3046.’ was my conclusion.
‘Thank God the economy is progressing well’ said Lorie Fournier, ‘or we wouldn’t be able pay so many and so expensive military toys’.
‘Growing by leaps and bounds’ was my tought, but I refrained to say something aloud, the distaste of the Minister of the Exchequer for any defense expenditures was long known.
Looking to his datapad Muller said ‘To reduce costs and simplify the program of a new WarShip, the TDF had taken advantage of the design of the old Concordat class Frigate, retrofitting it by modernizing the secondary armament and heat sinks and exchanging 4 small crafts for Fighters. 20 of the 60 marines were supposed to use Jack battle-armor, increasing the boarding capabilities considerably.
The new Toro II is basically an improved Wolfhound, with 1 ER LL and 3 ML, Endo Steel and Ferrous Fibrous. These changes let VMI add enough Jump Jets for it to jump up to 180 meters, giving it an amazing agility. Unfortunately VMI wasn’t able to replicate the full head ejection system that TharHes Industries used, so the Toro II had to use a more traditional one. The Talos II is also an energy only ‘Mech, with 2 ER LL and 4 ML without forgetting good protection. I’m comfortable with that.’
Among the presents with Thomas and Edward were also several ministers, including the head of the Exchequer and the ones responsible for the TMI and TDF. This meant serious business.
‘A week ago, the Federated Commonwealth announced the existence of a network of HPGs connecting not only New Avalon to Tarkad, but also to all the March and District capitals. At the same time they presented several WarShips more precisely one Davion Block II Destroyer and two Mako Corvettes'. Started Jennifer Lalande, a middle age brunette, Minister of Interior and head of the TMI.
Looking at the data provided, I gave my own conclusions without being requested to but since I was the local expert, I knew it didn’t matter ‘Probably, old ships recovered, not new production. In terms of firepower, we still have an advantage. Do we know the reasons for such announcement?’
‘Officially, no' replied Edward 'but it seems that ComStar found out about the existence of the network and its size and called all the main Precentors to Hilton Head for consultations just before it was made.’
'In response ,the Combine stated that the DCA had reactivated several Narukami class Destroyers, numbers unknown. So we have an imminent communications crisis and several states introducing WarShips' concluded Thomas.
‘I wouldn't put much trust in the news from the Combine, the information that I have is that it would be almost impossible to make the Narukamis operational’ was my response after digesting the news. 'On the other hand, I don't think ComStar reaction to the public announcement of a competing HPG network is going to be pleasant.’
‘Ummmm, I don't know, in the case of our Vincent, a lot of people also thought it wouldn't be possible to make it operational and there it is' countered Edward 'It remains to be seen how many more WarShips thought to be irrecoverable are out there and in which hands. I think it's only a matter of time before we see new constructions, don't you think Jean-Luc?'.
'Well, you and your father here have access to more information than I do, but from what I know of Bolthole, it's harder than it looks to build a new WarShip, and repairing one depends on the state of the ship and the available resources' was my answer. ‘By the way, if I may ask, how's our naval program doing?’
This time it was Richard Muller, the head of TDF, who replied 'The design of the new upgraded Concordat class is finished, but not all the needed production units are operational. The best estimates put the start of the construction of the first one around 3045, if more delays don’t appear. It has been a bottomless pit in our budget, but as we have seen, with other nations suddenly showing WarShips again, the project is more than justified and since we only retrofitted and improved an existing design it is still cheaper than building everything from the ground up.'
'Just out of curiosity, and to help our budget, do we plan to sell HPG technology to the Combine? I bet they would pay well for that,' asked Lorie Fournier, the Minister of the Exchequer, with a calculating look.
'No. Although we could undoubtedly extract a good sum of it, the risks are too great for both ComStar and the Federated Commonwealth being very upset' replied Thomas with some regret in his voice. ‘And we have another potential problem: the CCAF has been rebuilding much faster than expected. We need to move more forces to their border.’
‘Let me guess, they suddenly have several regiments of ‘Mechs, models that they never built before and all SLDF related, right?’ I asked in a calm voice.
‘How would you know that?’ asked a stunned Jennifer Lalande, ‘we only had this intel a few days ago.’
‘Just look at all the new ’Mechs ,the DCMS also showed during they recent war with the Federated Commonwealth. The information shared by the Fedcom intelligence shows that the ones they captured were produced during the Star League times and were not newly produced. Care to guess who also uses these ’Mechs and has also a force mostly composed of ex-SLDF hardware?’ I asked her back in a bored tone.
‘The ComGuards… of ComStar.’ she said after a stunned silence.’Are you saying that ComStar is providing both the Combine and the Capellans with several regiments of ‘Mechs? And for what reason?’
‘To maintain the equilibrium of forces, of course. Just out of curiosity, how big you think the ComGuards are?’ I replied.
‘Difficult to say, they deploy forces in small groups all over the Inner Sphere and Periphery, protecting their HPGs. Starting with the forces they deployed both in the Concordat and the Reach, and with the information shared by the MIM and MIIO, and extrapolating for the other nations, I can give you a number between 25 and 50 ‘Mech regiments supplemented by several hundred of infantry and mechanized ones.’
‘So, a force stronger than the TDF by a wide margin. And about their fleet? I know about they Explorer Corps and they also have several transport JumpShips and DropShips.’
‘Again no official number. They move the ComGuards using their ships, and because the unis are moved over short periods of time, I can only assume it‘s huge, but no hard numbers. They have also bought several regiment sized orders of vehicles from the Magistracy to supplement their forces, helping greatly the economy of that nation, and showing that they have a big military budget.’ concluded Jennifer.
‘So, they are rich, have a strong ‘civilian’ navy and an army bigger than all the Periphery nations combined. The only missing info on their strength is how many WarShips they could have. From what I could gather in the different databases I looked at, they have at least the shipyard on Sol, I think it was called Titan Yards and was perhaps of military grade at least during the Star League. We need to know that. It is hard to believe they wouldn’t have any.’ was Thomas conclusion.‘With the very tense situation between the Federated Commonwealth and Comstar, I think it would be useful for us to know the respective strengths of these potential opponents, just in case. We already have a roughly understanding of the might of the AFFC, we need to know how powerful the ComGuards are. On paper at least.’
After a few seconds, Thomas looked at Edward, and after that, ordered Jennifer to do just that. And returning to Muller ’What are our preparations in case of ComStar forcing a Global Interdiction or only on us?’
‘We have already constructed the local infrastructures for the planned HPG first priority network, we only need to assemble said HPGs. All of them are also marked to receive a ground based Naval Laser fort to help defend them, but for now any further progression is awaiting more funds and the order will only be sent if the situation further deteriorates.’ said Muller.
‘Funds approved, I don’t like the actual situation’, said Thomas, while Fournier wincing visibly. ‘Also make plans to take control of the Comstar installations and capture their personnel, if they take action against us, just in case. With the end of their monopoly in HPGs nobody knows how they are going to react, and the actual Primus is not known for taking extreme measures.’
Having ended with the Comstar contingencies, Thomas continued ‘How are the new ‘Mechs models doing? The light and medium ones you promised us to replace the not upgraded Toro and Taurus?’
‘Well, several companies have send us prototypes for evaluation, including yours Jean-Luc,’ answered Muller, ‘care to fill the details?’
‘The new Toro II is basically an improved Wolfhound, with Jump Jets. The Talos II is also an energy only ‘Mech with good protection. Both are ready for production, they just need the evaluation of the TDF and your go-ahead. With these models, all our light and medium lines are modernized and also important, the need for ammo is much reduced.’
‘And the new military DropShips?’ asked Richard Muller again.
‘Well, VMI has already started the production of both the Union CV and PW. The prototype of the Assault variant, that uses a reinforced frame, double armor and fuel and the SLDF Pentagon weapons suit is to do its maiden flight in two months. What TTI is producing or developing you need to ask them, not me.’
‘And how is the shipyard on the Reach developing?’ asked Edward.
‘We just started building the Germanium processing unit. If everything keeps on track, we can start building Invaders by 3046.’ was my conclusion.
‘Thank God the economy is progressing well’ said Lorie Fournier, ‘or we wouldn’t be able pay so many and so expensive military toys’.
‘Growing by leaps and bounds’ was my tought, but I refrained to say something aloud, the distaste of the Minister of the Exchequer for any defense expenditures was long known.
Looking to his datapad Muller said ‘To reduce costs and simplify the program of a new WarShip, the TDF had taken advantage of the design of the old Concordat class Frigate, retrofitting it by modernizing the secondary armament and heat sinks and exchanging 4 small crafts for Fighters. 20 of the 60 marines were supposed to use Jack battle-armor, increasing the boarding capabilities considerably.
The new Toro II is basically an improved Wolfhound, with 1 ER LL and 3 ML, Endo Steel and Ferrous Fibrous. These changes let VMI add enough Jump Jets for it to jump up to 180 meters, giving it an amazing agility. Unfortunately VMI wasn’t able to replicate the full head ejection system that TharHes Industries used, so the Toro II had to use a more traditional one. The Talos II is also an energy only ‘Mech, with 2 ER LL and 4 ML without forgetting good protection. I’m comfortable with that.’
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
Sounds like Comstar is getting ready to Interdict the Fedcom. Too bad for them there is yet another source of HPG parts that they don't know about. When the time comes it is going to be glorious watching Comstar Flail around as the roof falls down on them and puts them out of business once and for all.
Hmmm...it's 3041, and weve got warships and big players pushing all of Comstar/WOB's buttons.
I'm imaging what it would look like if the Clans invade while the Jihad is taking place against the Houses.
I'm imaging what it would look like if the Clans invade while the Jihad is taking place against the Houses.
Billyking11
New member
things are getting heated up
paulobrito
Well-known member
Really? What makes you think of that? Maybe reading my notes?
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
If we could read your notes. It would take the fun out of it.
Do you read Bruce Quest? I was reading a certain Apocrypha Omake on BQ2 when i had a thought about your version of Thomas and Edward Calderon, Well it got me thinking and now i have a funny image of your version meeting either Canon or BQ version Thomas and Edward.