Battletech An SI in the Concordat - GhostRider's Revenants (Battletech CYOA)Rev.2

[paulobrito]

Later that night at the party in the Beaudouin’s mansion in the New Vandenberg capital.

God, I really hate this kind of social events. I never liked them in my past life and I still don’t in the new one.

Years of experience, mostly in my past life gave me enough abilities to be able to fake sufficiently and not make a faux-pas. Circulating around and doing my damned best to escape the usual social butterflies that are attracted to this kind of events. I even had a glass of Glengarry Reserve in the hand while doing so and if I may so, this is really a good whiskey.

Josselin Beaudouin, barely 1.60m with high heels, with raven hair, large but not fat, her bone structure didn’t give her any gifts and anyone would hardly call her a beautiful young woman. However the determined look in her face said that she was soon going to be an asset for her family.




After exchanging the usual platitudes with her, I was free to pursue my own agenda and start looking for Edward Calderon, to speak to him and convince him to support me and my agenda.

It took me some time to find him, as he was also trying to dodge the socialites and the kiss-ass people, attracted to people like him. This time, thank God, I wasn’t the top dog in this competition.

‘Lord Calderon? Funny, I never thought I would see such a high personage play the hide-and-seek game to escape the socialites. I’m Jean-Luc Bassot, at your service.’

‘Please to meet you Mr. Bassot. ’ He replied with a harm smile.

‘Would you mind us looking for a quiet place outside of this circus?’

Having been here several times, I was now familiar with the mansion and I easily found my way to a quieter room.




Upon entering the room, Edward Calderon placed a white noise generator on the small table between the chairs and turned it on, signaling that this conversation was going to be ‘off the record’.




‘So, Jean-Luc’ started Edward Calderon, after sitting down in a comfortable chair, ‘would you care to explain to me the enigma of your actions?’




‘What enigma?’

‘On the one hand, you provided the Concordat with WarShips, Royal ‘Mechs and top-of the line equipment that benefit our nation greatly on the military side’, started Edward Calderon with a very serious look on his face ‘but on the other hand, all you created on your own was in the civilian side. Do you care to explain?’

‘There is no enigma at all. I provided the Concordat with the items that I found but what I really want is to improve our economy. If you enlarge the military first, you cripple the economy, but if you do it the other way around, you can easily enlarge the military at a later time while first making the civilians richer.’

‘And you think that we have time to do it that way?’ asked Edward with an interested look on is face.

‘Sure. It is a simple multiplayer game. House Davion principal enemy is Kurita, followed by Liao. The principal enemy of House Liao is Davion and the secondary is Marik. House Marik is preoccupied with Steiner first and Liao second and House Kurita with Davion and Steiner. House Davion, because of his nascent alliance with Steiner also has to deal with Marik. In other words, all the House Lords of the Inner Sphere are too much preoccupied with each other to look towards the Periphery.

It is no coincidence that in the past hundred years nothing bigger than small raids and counter-raids has been done here.’ I said with a reasonable voice.

‘And the worlds that Davion took from us?’ asked Edward Calderon looking at me intensely.

‘After two hundred years? Let us be real. With so much time of Davion indoctrination and with much migration from other Davion worlds these are now Davion worlds, not ours under occupation. No revolts, no manifestations, no heavy troops presence. Should I go on? I don’t like it, you don’t like it and I'm sure your father hates it, but is the cold reality. Even if was the other way around, even if we could triplicate the power of the TDF, we still wouldn’t have enough forces to take them back. House Liao, the weakest of the Inner Sphere realms is still way more powerful than us, so I’m afraid that we don’ stand a chance in that area.’

‘In some circles, that could be considered traitorous...’ said Edward Calderon.

‘If said circles don’t like reality, it is their problem not mine.’ I coldly answer. ‘But if you want to improve our military with a small investment, just open some aerospace academies. The TDF is weak in that arm, even if VMI and Pinard produce ASFs.’

‘And where would we find the instructors for said academies?’ asked Edward Calderon.

‘In the same place I found most of my pilots, just contract them in the Outworlds Alliance. They are not hostile to us and have a very good aerospace force.’ I said.

And the look in Edward face showed me that they hadn’t thought about it.

‘On another topic, what are your plans for the future Jean-Luc? I don’t believe you are happy with what you already got.’ said Edward Calderon, conceding the point, more or less.

‘Glad that you asked that. You see I have this idea...’

Several hours later heading home, I was reasonably convinced that Edward Calderon could be now counted as an ally, and maybe, with a bit of luck, he could convince his father to finance / support my space program.

 

[paulobrito]

Some months later, Lise’s team came back to New Vandenberg.

The official version was that they had found two Mackies 6S that were so obsolete that they could only be donated to museums, the first one being the New Vandenberg War Museum and the other one a BattleMech Museum on Taurus.

The real important price was that the data core was now safely multi-copied and in my hands.

While it contained lots of full blueprints for military hardware, including several Royal grade equipment; the real treasure were the blueprints for many different kinds of factories, shipyards and vehicles. Unlike the military hardware, these were mostly of the non-Hegemony sort, meaning very few if any were state-of-the-art automated ones, but even so they were so much better than what the Concordat had right now.

To be honest, the hundreds of advanced hardware blueprints were utterly useless right now as the Concordat like most of the Inner Sphere and the Periphery could barely produce ‘standard’ hardware. Much more interesting were the blueprints of the ‘black boxes’ in use in the automated systems of today factories. With that, I could greatly contribute to the improvement of almost all the industrial park of the Concordat and that gave me a lot of leverage.

One thing that couldn’t be built right now were the factories that produced advanced items. That meant no Endo Steel, no Ultra or LB-X guns, no Extended Range energy weapons, etc. While I had the plans for several of these factories, several critical components were beyond our capability to produce. And without the science behind to understand them, it would remain so for the near future. I needed the Helm or the Niops cores, the ones with the data on the principles and science behind these technologies.

I had also checked to see if I had any blueprints for the Nighthawks. But no, top-of-the-line hardware of the Hegemony were not included. Bugger. Oh! Well, we would try to get these from Niops in the future, if everything went right, after all.

By the way, several designs of ‘obsolete’ WarShips, JumpShips and DropShips, all obsolete by SLDF standards were also included. Many of these I had never seen in my original universe. One of the gems I found were the full data specs of the Leviathan JumpShip and thanks to it, we would be able to make a full refit of the JumpShip that Dr. Murad’s team was trying to repair in the Badlands system.

Some civilian items came to my attention, one was the Super Caravan transport cargo plane; an improved version of the Antonov An-225 from back home. With 6 hydrogen powered engines, it could carry up to 200 tons of cargo and loaded, it had a range exceeding 15,000 km. Few were produced because by this time, the cheaper to operate fusion powered alternatives started to appear. But in a universe where fusion power engines were not so cheap (like right now), maybe they could have a future. The other interesting civilian items was a mix between a cargo shuttle and a short range DropShip. It could carry up to 2,000 tons of cargo to orbit or to a moon while having articulated, powered arms much like the space shuttle of my universe. It was the perfect design to support and expand an orbital industry. It too fell in disgrace with the massive DropShips entering full production.

These industrial blueprints provided me with several options to create production lines in VMI for almost everything from DropShips to ‘Mech for civilian or military use. That is, if I could secure the necessary funds.

Before I could make any decisions on how to best use this new data, I was ‘invited’ to go to Taurus to ‘consultations’ with the Lord Protector. Joy.

Before I departed, I left instructions to my team to present the VMI board with options for possible upgrades and I took with me the latest plans of the future Snowden Lite prototype. Unlike the other times and because of a fortunate alignment of JumpShips, I managed to do the voyage in just about two weeks.




The reunion with Thomas Calderon, his son Edward and Grover Shraplen turned very differently from what I expected. Thomas, while very suspicious of House Davion, wasn’t totally paranoid about them but Grover has a profound hate against the FedRats as he kept saying. On the other side, Edward wanted to reduce the tension between both realms and perhaps to start with some commercial openings, a position I was more than inclined to support. After several hours of discussions and negotiations, it was decided that the Concordat was going to try to open commercial relations with the Federated Suns but only of civilian products and if VMI wanted to participate, the earnings would have to be invested in new military lines whose production would be sold to the TDF at a reduced cost. While I couldn’t decide for VMI, I was only one of several shareholders after all, I was asked to convince them to follow the plans made by this small council.

I also learned that the Far Lookers were going to be directed to the ex pirate location that I had recently cleaned. The two systems were viable and already had a small infrastructure after all. But this time, they would have to do it with only private financing, no funds would be diverted from the government.

Returning to VMI on New Vandenberg, I got involved in several meetings with the board of directors. In the end, the decision was taken to go along the will of the Protector. The new lines that would be created would be for modernized Toro and Talos BattleMechs. These tried and venerable Taurian ‘Mechs would probably create a morale boost in the ranks of the TDF while the research part had already been done at V4RU, allowing V4RU to earn a percentage of the sales and also cutting the price down.

Unfortunately, all this forced me to delay the shift to the air and space assets I wanted to produce.

After all was taking care of, now it was time to start doing some marketing research on the Federated Suns. Not really an easy or a small task.

 

[paulobrito]

Having inside intel, I decided not to wait for any treaty and began looking for opportunities in the Federated Suns.

As I suspected, the market for our Industrial ‘Mechs existed and was indeed huge, even if most of it was in the core worlds, the ones near the Concordat being too poor only ordered a few. Some months later, I received information from Taurus, that a limited commercial treaty had been signed between the Concordat and the Federated Suns, allowing only the trade of civilian goods in both directions with inspection from both side naturally. While that could seem fast, it just showed that the Suns didn’t care about the Concordat and anything that improved the peace in the area and better commerce was considered good enough for New Avalon, so they didn’t delay such limited treaty.

Before the end of the year, V4RU presented a refit of the Talos, replacing the AC/10 and its ammo with 1 PPC, 2 Medium Laser (in the left arm), 1 extra ton of ammo for the LRMs and 4 heat sinks. This version fixed the problem of an ammo dependent ’Mech and became a hit in the TDF, with orders being placed for 50% of the operating Talos to be refitted to this model by V4RU. Considering that this refit was paid at full price (by the Ministry of Defense) but received a full factory support, it was a very good sale for V4RU (much like the AMG / Mercedes relation I knew from back home).

With all of this happening, the arrival at V4RU of the gyro for the Rifleman captured to the pirates was almost unnoticed, even if that result in another Heavy ’Mech for the Revenants.

The sales of Industrial ’Mechs to the Suns largely surpassed even my wildest dreams, most of them being sent to the richest core worlds. Basically they wanted every single one we could sell them as there was no production in the Federated Suns, the factories having been long ago converted to the production of war material.

There was such a demand (as orders also came from the Concordat, the Magistracy and the FWL), that new lines were planned. To fulfill their part in the increased orders, O-P Electronics not only expanded their production in Brisbane, but started a new factory on New Vandenberg. This was only possible because all other nations, including the the Concordat before I financed the new production lines, had focused long ago on other productions like the example of the Federated Suns had shown us.

Thanks to the New Dallas data core I also had access to several formerly lost designs of several other civilian ’Mechs, some too advanced for VMI to produce, some too old, but several just with the right tech level and capabilities to be added to the company growing portfolio. As a bonus almost all the unknown models were from companies that had long ago disappeared, so no problems with the royalties.

By mid 3025 business was booming, the repaired Leviathan had returned to New Vandenberg. Thanks to the profits made, my position inside the VMI board had improved.

So far, I had successfully maintained the Hegemony core a secret, but I knew that sooner or later someone was going to report it or leak its data to the TMI or to another organism of the Concordat government. Until then, I had used several of the blueprints to upgrade as much as possible the production lines of VMI while selling a bit later the same upgrades to other companies inside the Concordat.

I wanted to share the knowledge I had with the Taurian Concordat while making a profit out of it. After all, I wasn’t much of an idealist. Being on the board of VMI, running my own treasure hunting company and having connections among the government was all I needed to be able to speak to several boards or directors about a deal. In exchange for money, shares, production licenses, I gave them access to these “new” upgrades. At the end of the ‘tour’, I gifted one copy of the core to Edward Calderon, thus cementing my relation with the ruling house. While I had no doubt that the Calderons were going to put the core to good use, increasing the competition for VMI, I knew it was impossible to hide the use of said core forever once it started to be used so it was better to make the best out of it.

I used a big chunk of the money obtained that way to buy VMI shares from several sources and with my alliance with the Beaudouins, I got effective control over VMI.

For the gift of the core to the government (technically speaking to Edward, but it was just another name for the government) , I got the title of Baron but because we were in the Concordat, it didn’t mean much in terms of money while carrying some other interesting advantages.

One thing that I was aware of was that the New Dallas data core didn’t provide any help on the theory, on the math or science side, just some blueprints. With that, me and the people I provided said blueprints to could copy several things, but not deviate from the ones in the core or innovate without a massive investment in R&D, something that House Davion could do with the NAIS but that was nearly impossible in the Concordat. For that I needed the Helm data core or the one from Niops. Better even, both.

The lostech front was also a waiting game for now as I wanted the most valuable of all items, Double Heat Sinks. I had the full blueprints for several models, including the latest Star League and even one not so advanced from Davion as well as the schematics for their production lines. What I was still lacking was the capacity to produce out of laboratories, the complex crystalline matrix that was at the heart of all the models.

One interesting bit in the Hegemony core was that it contained all file formats, data structure, file compression standards known at the time, even if very exotic, rare or obsolete. It could be useful for me later.




At this time, I began hearing rumors about a terrorist organization operating inside the Aurigan Directorate under the name of the Aurigan Restoration and commanded by Kamea Arano that seemed after all to be alive.

VMI finally started to build the production lines for the Super Caravan and for the Star-Lifter (the big cargo shuttle). Estimates put the first design to be operational by early 3026 and the second one by mid 3027.

I still didn’t have a clue of how to deal with Helm, so I decided to take a different direction.

 

[paulobrito]

Remembering that the Perdition Massacre should be around this time, I contacted ‘Mr. Smith’ from TMI. Obviously, I couldn't give him too much detail but I informed him that one of my contacts had heard about a terrorist cell planning an attack on Perdition. When asked about details, I answered vaguely about business contacts of one of the companies I was dealing with.
Unfortunately a month later Victoria succeeded and not only did she successfully executed the chemical attack, she also managed to escape without a trace.
To make matters worse, the ‘evidence’ that Santiago Espinosa presented against the Federated Suns was quite convincing but that had to be expected as the special effects / movie tricks team used was very competent.
And that brought a lot of problems to me and VMI. The trade agreement with the Federated Suns was broken by the Taurians, which caused us to lose our largest foreign market and a huge setback in the detente policy that Edward sponsored. Because the Magistracy supported Kamea, something that the TMI had quickly discovered, it created a tense situation between the two nations when Thomas decided to openly support Santiago.
However, by not accepting a contract offered by Espinosa for mercenaries to support his forces, I was able to prevent my Revenants from getting involved.
With great efforts, I was able to very discreetly contact Anne-Marie Centrella, saying her that Kamea should pay special attention to the 'Madeira files'.Having done all I could, I could only hope that she would find the evidence that would clear the Federated Suns while implicating Santiago at the same time.
This whole situation caused a great deal of economic damage to the actual and future plans I had made for VMI and took much of my time, forcing me to postpone for a long time any expedition to Niops, which was my next objective. I couldn’t get away for so long at this point and this was the kind of mission I couldn’t delegate.




This whole situation was problematic inside the unit too. One day, Vasseur came into my office clearly annoyed.
‘Boss, why did you turn down the contract by House Espinosa against the terrorists on the Aurigan Protectorate?’
‘Vasseur, do you think Hanse Davion is stupid or incompetent?’
'I never heard anyone accusing him of that,' replied Vasseur with a surprised look on his face.
‘So think a bit, this deal with the Concordat is clearly good for him. It lowers the tension on one of his borders and creates a new source of trade and money.'
‘So far I'm following you, Boss. But what does this have to do with the Protectorate? '
‘If it is good for him, why would Hanse, who in your words is not incompetent, kill it shortly after it was signed?’ I asked quietly.
'If you put it that way I see no reason,' replied Vasseur, who had obviously not yet reached the conclusion I wanted him to reach.
'On top of that, chemical weapons are not Davion style, they use assassinations or military raids.' I explained 'On the other hand, Santiago Espinosa came to power through a rather bloody coup and clearly needs our support to stay in place.'
‘Are you suggesting that Perdition was a false flag operation performed by House Espinosa?’ asked Vasseur with a startled air.
‘Cui Bono. Of the two, Hanse does not benefit at all from the attack, while Santiago needs our help. It is very convenient for him that House Davion decides to perform this type of operation when it is most needed, don't you think? And the only 'evidence' there is was provided by Santiago.’

‘Maybe, but about some Davion patriots operating independently?’ asked Vasseur.

‘’Possible,’ I answered calmly ‘but usually they act against Kurita first, Liao second, and the last raid against us was how long ago? Not in the last century if I remember correctly.’
Vasseur was silent for a few minutes, analyzing the implications. ‘Do you have any proof?’
‘If I had, I would already have submitted it to the Lord Protector. But this smells a lot like shit, and I don't want to get involved.’ I answered.
Visibly calmer ‘You're right, Boss. It was really better not to accept this contract.’

Not helping at all, Hanse Davion launched Operation Galahad a few weeks later, greatly increasing the tension in the border, even if it only moved troops to the Capellan and Draconis borders. But Grover Shraplen was quick to use the fear of a possible invasion … not the best time I had in this universe.

 

[paulobrito]

While the actions of House Espinosa had caused a lot of damage to my plans, in a strange way, Galahad was good for me and my business.
Betting that it would be equal (or at least quite similar) to the operation I knew from the fiction in my universe, ie that Davion forces would not invade the Concordat, I took advantage of the fact that a Concordat noble was expected to be ready to defend the Concordat and its people and preemptively made the Revenants available free of charge for the defense of the borders. Of course, it was quite a popular gesture in patriotic circles, making it impossible for the TDF to turn my offer down. The result was that a company of ’Mechs with tanks, ASFs, and infantry support was sent to MacLeod's Land under Vasseur’s command, while another unit, similar in strength, went to Pinard under my direct command. This forced me to leave several instructions on both V4RU and VMI to be followed during my absence, but the advantages far outweighed the drawbacks.

For me, provided that Hanse did the same that he had done in my novels, it was a pure public relations operation that would make things better with Thomas Calderon, who liked this kind of patriotic attitude. However for my men, it was a very serious affair, after all they were almost all Taurians and patriots. That was made obvious by the serious looks and small talks I observed during the movement to the border areas.

Another side of Galahad that benefited me was that due to the perceived risk, the Concordat government increased the budget for military expenditures and ordered several new ’Mechs from VMI and some refits from V4RU. Due to the escalating international tensions, several mercenary companies also placed orders with both companies, making good use of the modernization of production lines that we had just finished at great cost.
Another advantage I had not realized was that unlike in the HBS game, the expeditionary force operating in the Aurigan Directorate and commanded by Commodore Samuel Ostergaard was called back. For several reasons, most of which I had caused (like the disappearance of the Argo and its databases before he would go for it), Ostergaard had no personal vendetta against Kamea Arano, nor did he ever find her, and he returned home smoothly.

Three months later, with the end of Operation Galahad and the returning home of most of the Davion forces, the situation in the frontier cooled down a bit.

VMI sales department in Galatea following my instructions had tried for several months to sell equipment to the famous Wolf’s Dragoons, but to no avail. I wanted a contact with the Dragoons for the future. But by the end of 3026, they finally managed to make a sale, even if it was a small one.




The Leviathan was currently operating on the busiest commerce lines within the Concordat. Old or not, it was the JumpShip with the biggest cargo and DropShips capacity in all the Concordat and this by a wide margin. The next ones were two Star Lords, with almost all the rest of the fleet being of the Invader or Merchant classes. To protect the ship against any pirate having bad ideas, one of the collars was taken by a Leopard loaded with two ASFs and marines (instead of ’Mechs).

Later on, two old Tigress that were being used in patrol duty in the New Vandenberg system were refitted and placed in two of the four small craft bays of the JumpShip. Part of the refit was to equip them with several rocket pods and armor piercing warheads, guaranteeing a very bad day for any pirate DropShips they would engage. The marines were quartered in the passenger area, freeing the much needed collar for another cargo DropShip.

During my time on Pinard, I also negotiated several deals with Pinard Protectorates Limited, Pinard-Dicolais Electronics and Wingman Enterprises Limited, ranging from partnership to exchange of licenses. For example, VMI received the rights (and blueprints) of the Sabre light ASF from PPL in exchange for those for the Toro light Battlemech.

Interestingly, PPL take on the Toro was different as they replaced both LRM-5 by one SRM-4 and torso mounted jump-jets, creating a ’Mech similar in capabilities to the popular Combine Panther.

No company started producing new units as at this time as all were busy with current orders or involved in the shipyard or Snowden / Snowden Lite long term projects. Their recent upgrades had cost them a lot of resources and they needed some return on investment before doing anything else.

 

[paulobrito]

Just before the return of the expeditionary force to the Aurigan Directorate under Ostergaard’s command, some news arrived that completely changed the scenario.

Fred of having to deal with Concordat forces, Kamea got her hands on the Madeira files and obtained the proof that the Perdition Massacre had been planned by Santiago Espinosa and executed by his daughter Victoria. Unfortunately, I heard that Alexander Madeira hadn’t survived the extraction mission.

Saying that Thomas Calderon took these new badly was the king of understatements. He went ballistic and sent the already ready force under Ostergaard to the Aurigan territory, but this time to defeat and capture the Espinosas. To support the Guards, he wanted to recruit a mercenary force and I accepted the job, securing the Revenants participation, which not only help me improve my relations with the Calderon family but also allowed me to play my part in the end of the Espinosa regime, AKA the Aurigan Directorate.




At the same time, Edward Calderon was tasked with fixing the relations with the Federated Suns, a difficult job, but if anyone could do that it was him.

Coordinating our actions with Kamea, through the good offices of Anne-Marie Centrella, we managed to make all the forces converge towards Coromodir for the final showdown.




Coromodir, February 23, 3027

This time the Taurian forces were much bigger than the early expedition (that one only included the Iberia), with one Fortress, the Iberia, two Unions, two Leopards and one Triumph transporting a full ’Mech battalion of the Taurian Guards and support forces.

The few Directorate ASFs, four in total, were quickly swept away by the combined Guards and Revenants escorts, opening the way for the capital of the Arano Directorate. Kamea’s forces, wanting to be the first to land, pushed their DropShips to 2g moving ahead of us and messing with the approved plan for the sake of ‘honor’ or pride..,

Four days later, near the planet capital.

Like the Revenants, the Taurian Guards were firm believers in combined arms operations. Thanks to superior training and better coordination, the resistance of the Directorate forces against us had been so far rather weak. To be honest, they were also busy with the more numerous but poorly equipped Restoration units that had arrived earlier.

Advancing with my Command Lance, with my Nightstar, Georgina’s Merlin, Ruben’s Thunderbolt (that was earlier Vasseur’s own) and Pauline’s Marauder, against a detected enemy presence ahead of us, I suddenly saw Kamea and Victoria fighting.

‘That Catapult K2 is mine, engage the rest!’ I ordered on the mic, advancing against Victoria’s ’Mech that had just destroyed the left leg of Kamea’s Kintaro and was getting ready to deliver the final blow.

An interesting consequence of me mixing with everything was that both had their original ’Mechs. Kamea had never received the Atlas II from Nautilus and Victoria never lost the Catapult nor received the King Crab. I had always thought that Periphery small lords getting her hands on such a ’Mech outside of a SLDF cache was impossible, but game mechanics… Reality was different.

Taking advantage of Victoria’s focus on Kamea, I carefully aligned my shots and let loose with all the weapons available at that range, both Gauss Riffles and the ER PPC.

I got lucky as all the shots hit, the ER PPC and one of the Gauss hitting on the right side, destroying one of the K2 main weapons while the other Gauss round hit in the center, causing damage to the gyro and putting Victoria in serious trouble.

Showing just what a good Mechwarrior she was, she turned my way and fired all of her weapons, while I tried to move sideways and out of the line of fire.

Her PPC barely missed but both Medium Lasers hit my ’Mech in the center, making two deep scars in my pristine armor, but not penetrating. This baby was made to take and survive much heavier damage.

From a semi upward position, Kamea fired all of her surviving weapons at the back of Victoria’s ‘Mech and at least eight of the SRMs hit sending the Catapult to the ground.

Not giving her time to recover, I carefully targeted her legs and put one Gauss round and a laser beam on each, destroying both and ending her struggle.

Looking around I realized that my teammates and the only survivor of Kamea’s unit had finished dispatching Victoria’s unit and that in this area, the war had ended.

‘Are you okay, Lady Arano?’ I asked with concern in my voice.

‘Just a bit bruised, but I will survive. Let's end this.’ Is the answer.

Before resuming our advance in direction of the capital, I sent instructions for our infantry to capture Victoria. Soon after a pair of Maultiers arrived and two platoons of heavily armed and armored infantry quickly disembarked. They took care of Victoria, that until then, under the sights of my ’Mech weapons, had in her cockpit. After their arrival, my lance could advance again.

Three days later in the Coromodir palace.

‘Milady Kamea, my orders are very explicit. I have to return to Taurus with both Santiago and Victoria Espinosa cuffed or in coffins.’ said Ostergaard to Kamea while I stayed a little away. I was only a mercenary and even if socially I was superior to the good Commodore, he was in charge of the Taurian forces.

‘As a proof of the good relations that should be from now on between our nations I give you both of them, Commodore’ answered High Lady Kamea Arano.

A few hours later, when the official ceremonies were over, I received an invitation for a private meeting with the High Lady.

Arriving at the small office, I was surprised that Anne-Marie Centrella was also there. I would need to play my game the best I could.

The following afternoon (and dinner) was very agreeable. In company of two beautiful, sophisticated woman we discussed the present and future of the region and what that meant for the Aurigan Restoration. They were in a weaker position than before, with the economy in pieces, the industry seriously damaged and several ex-directorate forces turned pirates. The relations of the Concordat with their respective nations were also discussed. I had the felling that I was in the middle of an interrogation by at least one expert (Anne-Marie) and I was afraid that I might have revealed way more than I wanted while getting very little in return.

At least I successfully deflected the questions about how I knew about the Madeira Files, making a tale of how with the Madeiras being very able at politics and very close to the ruling clan at the time I had considered very likely that they had tapped in the surveillance cameras in the castle and even added some new ones, to get leverage on others. If Kamea and Anne-Marie believed a single word of what I said, I didn’t know, but apparently they accepted the story.

Anne-Marie was way too well-informed about the Concordat in general and my business in particular for my liking. I put a good bet that she had dropped the MIM on me long ago.

All in all, I returned to my DropShip satisfied but with too much to think about.

 

[paulobrito]

Before I got back to the Concordat, I didn't miss an opportunity to perform one more coup. After the conflict ended, the mercenary force known as the Markham Marauders was in a much worse position than in the video game. Without access to Argo or SLDF ’Mechs and with the number of Assault ‘Mechs in the Periphery not being inflated as in the game, they had suffered severe casualties.
In fact, at this point, they only had one injured MechWarrior (Jessica Chernovskaya, call-name Glitch) and their only surviving ’Mech (a Griffin GRF-1N) was more junk than ’Mech. What they had, and what I was interested in, was a good team of technicians, an excellent DropShip pilot, and a Leopard.
It wasn't hard for me to convince them to sign for the Revenants, a superbly equipped force, by Periphery standards and with much more means.
Even Darius had his usefulness, after all, he had good contacts in mercenary circles and in some less legal areas. You never know when these contacts would be useful.

As I suspected and as the Marauders files confirmed, they had found in Panzyr the hulks of about a hundred Griffins GRF-1N. The Directorate had used the available parts to repair about a company, but they didn’t have the expertise and industrial resources for the rest, as far as I knew, nor the Restoration or the Magistracy. Only a few companies in the Concordat, including mine, could do that. The others that were capable of that were all in the Inner Sphere.

Just as we entered Concordat territory I had one message waiting for me: Proceed to Taurus at full speed. The Lord Protector wants to talk with you, ASAP.
While I went to Taurus, the Revenants returned to New Vandenberg for a well-deserved R&R. The return trip went smoothly, but Taurus was clearly on high alert when we arrived, something had happened during my absence.




Calderon Palace

Thomas and Edward immediately received me, another sign that something serious had happened.
‘Welcome back, Jean-Luc. I regret to inform you that Concordat is in a much worse situation than when you left.' Thomas began by going straight to the point 'when Edward was charged with fixing our relations with the Davions, Grover had a fit of rage. Using forces that he managed to trick, he tried to take over the two Warships to use them to attack the Federated Suns. In the ensuing conflict, we managed to stop him, but both the ships and the dockyard were seriously damaged. We lost several of our special forces that day. The first estimates for the repair of the ships and the dock is a decade and that is the best scenario we have.'
Edward leaned towards me 'If you have any more miracles or hidden bases to visit, now is the best time to inform us. The Concordat needs a backup immediately. Right now we don’t have any way to stop any of the Great Houses if they want to invade us, outside of massive use of nuclear weapons'.

‘It is the exact situation as before the WarShips turned operational, isn’t it?’I asked, not seeing the big problem. Then I remembered that the existence of the operational WarShips played a big part in reducing Thomas’ fears and paranoia regarding a Davion invasion.

‘Well, yes, but right now we strongly suspect that at least one if not more of the IS Houses know that we have ships and that they are no longer operational. It is only a question of time until one or more of them try to grab them. We even suspect that Liao has already done that.’

‘Why do you suspect Liao's hand in the Grover case?’ I asked puzzled.

‘Well, we don’t have any proof, mind you’ said Edward, after looking at his father and Thomas silently nodded ‘but TMI found some advanced electronic codebreakers, of very recent Liao manufacture, on the bodies of some of his men. Codebreakers that were used to gain access to the WarShips’ computers. Also several of these people couldn't be identified and the reports talk about a high number of very capable fanatics.’

‘In other words, Death Commandos or ROM Rho’, said a small part of my brain that I tried to keep quiet with effort. Crap. Liao or ROM, both use the ships to start a war between us and Davion. Any of them would love that. ‘I can only recommend increasing the defenses there.’ I said softly, was my answer.

Damn, that was not good at all. I took a quick decision.
‘In fact, I know some places we haven't visited yet, but they're all distant or complicated.' I replied as I began to see the scale of the disaster.
‘Whatever is needed and that the Concordat can provide is yours.' was Thomas' answer.

‘Ok, let’s play cards on the table then. I know the location of a weapons test place of the SLDF Navy.’ At that mention, both Calderon looked to me with hope in their eyes. ‘There is no guarantee that any WarShip will still be there to be looted but it is possible that we find something useful.’ I said in a calm voice.

‘And the catch is?’ asked Thomas, ‘because if it was easy, you would have already taken action.’

‘For starters, it is further away than the place where we found the dockyard’. I said and I saw the look between both Calderon's good news is that I also have four possible cache locations that could be ‘visited’ during that voyage.’ With that being said, I was sure to get what I wanted.

‘It is a long voyage, but we can provide you with the same force used in the previous mission’ said Thomas, while Edward nodded in agreement ‘let’s hope that they will find useful things there then. We won’t forget your help on this, Jean-Luc. Are your forces also available for this mission?’

‘Not this time, my Lord.’ I said ‘I want them for some missions including trying to obtain more Star League files. They are also vital, after all.’ I explained.

‘Changing subjects, about the Arano case, if we leave the area alone, the Magistracy will not take control. They already have immense influence over Kamea, I think it is better to try to counter it.’

‘Mmmm’ Thomas looks at me pensively ‘and what do you propose?’

‘While I’m not trying to dictate our diplomacy in the area’ I started (yeah, right, I thought very quietly), ‘I think that providing some support is going to do us a lot of good. Like helping Kamea with the nascent pirate problem or help her rebuild these Griffins the Directorate found on Panzyr.’

‘You are funny, I give you that’ Thomas laughs, ‘in the first case your mercenaries are the best option and in the second one, your company is tailor-made for the job.’

‘I never said I didn’t want to gain something from the area’ I said lightly, looking at Thomas in the eyes. ‘But the truth is that both options will help us immensely with the Aranos and help us to reduce the Magistracy influence so close to our borders. By the way, before I forget, before you execute the Espinosas, can TMI obtain their Combine contacts? That can be useful in the future.’

‘Sure, I already said I like your style,’ said Thomas in a good mood.’ But it is up to you to secure both contracts from High Lady Kamea. If you want it, you will have to work for it.’

‘In that case, I need two things’ I asked Thomas. ‘One is a comprehensive team of ex-TMI people, which covers security, infiltration, code-breaking and interrogation. Because of the needs of chain-of-command and deniability, I can’t take any current unit, but because I’m going to operate in another nation and with a third one operating in the area, I want these capabilities available to me’. I know full well that they are going to report back to TMI / Thomas but that is a price that I’m comfortable to pay.

After a few moments Thomas answered ‘No problem, I can arrange that for you. And the second one?’

‘I also need to know your intentions about the Aranos and Centrellas – while in theory, I’m going as a mercenary/ industrialist, we both know that I’m also a Concordat noble with close ties to you. So, I need to know what you want or plan for that area to not put myself in a delicate or contrary to your intentions position.’

‘That reasonable. Well what I want his...’

 

[paulobrito]

One of my pet projects as soon as I took control of V4RU was the Omni vehicle.

Thanks to the great experience of the V4RU technicians in retrofitting systems and the fact that the Revenants had several Merkavas, I decided to make this experiment based on that chassis, which thanks to the age of the design was a bug-free and very sturdy one.

The Merkava design had several advantages that made it possible to convert it to an Omni vehicle.

The chassis is already using a Vlar 300 fusion engine, and the engine compartment is big enough to accept an ICE or fuel cell type instead, no doubt because the older variants used ICE ones and even a primitive fusion – thank god they don’t changed much the dimensions. Even so, the V4RU technicians need several years of tinkering and testing to arrive at a solution that lets change more easily between all types. While swapping ICE with fuel cell engines and vice-versa is a no brainer, changing to a fusion one takes a lot more time and need to also replace several electronic boards in the crew compartment. But is possible for a decently trained tech team even on field conditions provided they have the necessary tools – and time.

Then, apart from the front mounted MG, all weapons and ammo were mounted on the turret. Thanks to this, with a simple change of the turret – and replacing some electronic boards in the crew compartment - you could get a completely different weapons load-out. The complicated part was the interface, electronics in the crew compartment that needed to be upgraded to accept the more-or-less plug-in boards.

The crew compartment is like the one in my timeline the T-14 Armata – full inside the frontal area of the chassis, with an extra layer of armor.

After this “small” works, the tank could be swapped between different configurations. The basic one was like the Merkava Mk.VIII but with Concordat produced weapons and electronics, the next one used a Thumper, the third a Sniper cannon in the turret for SPG role, followed by another that used three AC/5 and dedicated anti-aircraft sensors and electronics, like a smaller (but still very capable) version of the Partisan. Yet another replaced the AC/5 of the Merkava by one PPC, but this one could only be used with a fusion engine limiting the design because of its cost. And, finally, one used the Arrow IV launcher system. This last one could only be designed after we got our hands on the Hegemony data core of New Dallas. I always thought that it was strange that everybody forgot how to produce the Arrow IV missile. The guidance packages and advanced warheads, sure, but the missiles per se were not that complex nor was the launch system. Both could be produced with the current Concordat tech level without any problem.

For this first production run, the missiles were unguided as we couldn’t produce the guided system but several warheads were provided, HE, FRAG, incendiary and smoke being available from the beginning of the project. Later, HE-FRAG and thermobaric followed in the mid-thirties by sub-munitions and scatterable small mines were also produced. Guided, SAM and AAM (this one for ASFs) variants of the Arrow IV missile were being studied, but again the problem was the advanced warheads needed, something that the Taurian Concordat military-industrial complex was not yet capable to produce outside of labs even with the upgrades that I had given it.

When I presented the results to the VMI board of directors, they first thought that I was crazy, but after showing them the prototypes working at V4RU, the possibilities were understood by most of them.

So, in late 3027, the Leclerc, the first Omni vehicle started production at VMI. The Arrow IV variant was only produced by late 3029 and at first only for the Revenants or the Taurian Guards. So, the first batch offered two MBT (AC/5 or PPC), two arty and one flak variants that could be changed from one to another, even with the small mechanic support unit that the poorer militia or mercenary unit normally had. For them, it meant doing it in the rear areas but capable units could do the swap on the field. Only the PPC variant was less accepted than the others and that was because of the increase in price that put it outside of the pocket of most customers, but even that one got several orders.

Nothing high tech was needed to create this very successful tank, just clever design and the ingenuity of the V4RU technicians, which meant that the attention from all around the Inner Sphere and the proposals for license production offered by firms all around the Inner Sphere meant more money for V4RU. Unsurprisingly, Wolf’s Dragoons were very interested in the design and ordered a lot of them, for a merc unit that is.

In late 3029 two extra configurations are offered – one use 3x Doombud LRM-20 in the turret essentially re-creating an LRM carrier – even if a costly one, and another – that need the fusion engine, also turning it costly and unpopular – with a turret with a pair or Sunglow Type 2 Large Lasers and two Magna Mk.I Small Lasers (for anti-infantry support) and the electronic, radar and tracking systems of the 3x AC/5 / Flak variant. Neither is popular nor generate big sales, but they added an extra layer of versatility and both the Revenants and Taurian forces – both Guards and militia – bought several.

 

[paulobrito]

Still in Taurus, I exchanged a long - and expensive - series of messages with my companies and mercenaries in New Vandenberg.
Like almost all the royal houses in power, the Calderon's had shares in the main military industries of their nations. In a support demonstration, Thomas gave me (temporarily, duh) the right to use his in VMI, increasing my control over the company. With this support, I launched two new lines - not full production lines, but different variants/assemblies. One was the factory production of the Talos modification that the V4RU was already doing, making this model cheaper - and with higher production - and freeing the V4RU specialists for other jobs. Of course, Smith (the V4RU manager) was not happy about this, but he had to settle for the small license that VMI started to pay the V4RU for the use of the model.
The other was the modification that PPL had released for the Toro - again paying for a small license - after all, both the Toro and the Talos were VMI drawings. Because both were 'only' variants, the creation of these new lines was much more economical - and faster - than a completely new and total 'Mech' line.
Having dealt with this, I set off again for Coromodir and sent instructions to the Revenants to go there as well. Another of the messages informed Vasseur of the new recruits that he should wait.
Even before he left, Edward informed me that the Federated Suns ambassador had not only announced the Galahad 3027 exercises but also invited observers from Concordat to attend - clearly so that these exercises would not create tensions between the two nations.
The trip took place without history, arriving in the capital of Aurigan Restauration in the middle of August 3027.
I was immediately greeted by Kamea - good news, I didn't have to suffer the usual - waiting for power games - who welcomed me alone in a small office in the palace instead of the usual social reception in the noble hall. Clearly Kamea wanted to treat something with me urgently and without much apparatus - good, that went against my plans.
Moments before I was received in the palace, I received a call from the new Taurian ambassador, informing me of the latest local news. The main one for me was that Anne-Marie had returned to Canopus, having been replaced as ambassador by a new and in the opinion of the ambassador, less capable and not so highly placed member of the royal family.
On the one hand, I was sorry, Anne-Marie was an interesting woman and a more than capable adversary, but if Canopus decided to make it easier for me who was I to protest.
My proposals for Kamea covered three areas:
V4RU proposed to repair all the Griffins that had been found in Panzyr. When Kamea countered that her nation couldn't afford it, my counter-proposal - the payment could be a Griffin company, leaving Restoration with two full battalions - took her by surprise as she clearly didn't expect it.
V4RU and VMI would participate in the repair and upgrading of the military-industrial complex in Mechdur, the payment is made in shares and not in C-Bills which I knew the nation of Kamea was greatly lacking.
And finally, the Revenants would perform various anti-piracy missions - basically eliminating the various surviving Directorate groups. Not surprisingly, Kamea again admitted that she could not afford my mercenary force, but this time she asked what my proposal was because obviously I already knew that.
My proposal was simple - if the pirates surrendered without resistance, Kamea would take possession of their equipment, but if they showed resistance, all the equipment of the said pirates would belong to the Revenants, that being the payment. Elements of liaison with Kamea could accompany my forces to confirm operations - and report places suspected of pirate activity.
'Why are you doing this Jean-Luc?' asked Kamea looking inwardly at me. 'First, you provide the information that prevented our nations from going to war, then you saved my life on the battlefield and now you propose to help my nation in this way? And don't think I don't know that the fact that Thomas suddenly decided to forego any compensation for Perdition is to do with you.'
"I think you're giving me too much credit, Kamea," I replied softly. 'Thomas knows perfectly well that your nation cannot afford to pay any compensation at this time, so he decided it was no use increasing the tension between the two nations.' Kamea's gaze showed that she did not believe much in it, but she did not respond. 'Second, I gain something from all my proposals, I do not do this for your beautiful eyes or for the welfare of your nation, even though peace at the borders of Concordat is beneficial to me.’
I don't think that's all,' replied Kamea with a strange gleam in her eye.

And suddenly she leaned over to me and kissed me directly on the lips.

What the hell did I get myself into was my last rational thought before I got too busy. Note to self - Kamea kisses very well.

 

[paulobrito]

The next week was 'interesting'.
During the day both I and Kamea, both workaholics, had a lot to do. She ruled her kingdom, I handled the multiple details of our arrangement. From planning with Mechdur managers to the imminent arrival of both VMI and V4RU technicians and specialists for the planned upgrades and repairs to arranging for Griffins to be sent to New Vandenberg for repairs by V4RU. Luckily, VMI produced the model and I was sure that if some extra parts were needed, access to them wouldn’t be a problem. Not forgetting the long sessions with Kamea's military consultants to get information about the possible locations the former troop of the Directorate or should I say the pirates?
Being both fitness fanatics, a common feature of many ’Mechwarriors we ended up training together several times. Thanks to the fact that I hired some of the best coaches money could get me in the Concordat and to the good natural basis this body had, I was in an enviable shape but Kamea was not behind me.
The nights ... I never thought Kamea would be such a demanding and experienced mistress with a little kinky taste. Who knew the High Lady had that wild side? Thank God for this new, athletic body, with plenty of stamina, or I could never have kept up with her.
With the arrival of my staff, I moved from the organization phase to action, taking, as usual, the command of one of the Revenants combined-arms battalions.
The first system we visited was a flop as to the Aurigan advisor's great embarrassment, the location was deserted.
The second one put my forces against a group that had some infantry, more or less motorized and 4 'Mechs but nothing too big (1 Locust, 2 Wasps and 1 Phoenix Hawk). At first, they tried to escape, but after putting a Gauss round on the back of the Locust, the rest of the group surrendered quickly. Because they didn’t surrender immediately and I needed to fire on a ‘Mech, they were considered as having resisted and the Restoration didn’t get access to the captured hardware.
In the third system, we found once again an abandoned base. Same story in the fourth one.
In the fifth system, the former Directorate troops surrendered as soon as they saw our forces and I must say, it was to the Aurigan liaison great relief because they could finally take care of some and much needed military hardware. Not that it was much, but when you need anything, 2 Wasps and several APCs and trucks were better than nothing.
At the last place on the list (Vasseur had another list and was 'visiting' other possible pirate activity locations in other systems), we found something different. For starters, this group, unlike the others, had a JumpShip, an old Merchant, which we captured without much difficulty. Intrepids loaded with marines were really useful for this kind of operation. While heading down towards the pirate base, we located at high altitude that they had 2 DropShips, an Union and a Jumbo. With us having captured their JumpShip, there was no fear that they would escape far away, but just in case, I put the ASFs on standby to prevent any escape with the DropShips.
The approach to the pirate base was running smoothly until we got close to a hill. Lieutenant Joshua Pride, who was driving one of the two Royal Black Knights the Revenants had and who due to the specifics of this hunting mission I had traded with Vasseur (both Black Knights being in his battalion) for Antony Rubens and his Thunderbolt. because of the very useful Beagle Active Probe capacity, the Royal ’Mech had reported that a couple of ’Mechs were hidden just over the hill. Suddenly, a pair of Griffins rose in the air and fired their PPC... At a distance greater than the maximum range... and they both hit the unfortunate recon Toro that was in front, One of their shots beheading the ’Mech and killing Sergeant Raul Lagarde.
A quick glimpse at my sensors confirmed what I already knew, - we were facing ‘Mechs with advanced weapons. Oh, shit.
‘General alert! We have Star League ’Mechs ahead. Proceed with extreme caution.’
Changing the channel (so you want to play rough? I'll give you the rough game) I called our artillery giving them the coordinates where the Griffins had landed again, behind the hill. Changing channels again, I called our ASFs who were on patrol and ordered a strafing pass with rocket pods, which I knew they had loaded, in the same area as soon as the artillery finished their mission.
Fortunately for me, the ASFs on patrol were the two Vulcan that the Revenants had, both types being ASFs particularly good on support missions as they were able to carry a large number of rockets and had a pair of AC/10 that gave an extra 'punch'. As soon as the ASFs started strafing, my ’Mechs advanced at full speed with Georgina being the first to climb the hill, making excellent use of her Merlin jump-jets. When I finally reached the top of the hill thanks to my Nightstar's cursed slug speed, it was all over here, the two Griffins were destroyed, having been hit several times by all kinds of weapons.
Fortunately, the rest of the enemy forces had no more advanced weapons, making their defeat easier thanks to the use of our extra long-range weapons adding to our account, 1 destroyed Thunderbolt, 1 captured Cicada, 2 Withworths (one captured and one destroyed) and 2 destroyed Locusts. Luckily, I didn't lose anyone else in this battle, even though several ’Mechs were damaged and two ’MechWariors were wounded. As anti-climax, both DropShips surrendered without any further troubles, realizing that against my ASFs, artillery and with the capture of their JumpShip, it was useless to try to escape.
After the battle, I took some time to check the only ER PPC still intact but I couldn’t link it to any model that was in my database, which had every version from the first-ever made by the Hegemony to the beginning of Amaris’ Crisis. Where the hell did this gun come from? Unfortunately, both ’MechWarriors were dead and couldn't enlighten me.
The report from the intelligence team that was with me, which included an in-depth analysis of the DropShips and JumpShip computers as well as 'robust' interrogation of the surviving pirates only reported that they had recently had contact and equipment exchanges with a notorious black market group controlled by a Notker Baumann. Was this the supplier of advanced equipment of unknown manufacture? I had to find out now that the last pirate group that Kamea military had indicated to me was eliminated.

 

[paulobrito]

Returning victorious to Coromodir in January 3028, I had a 'mixed' reception. On the one hand, Kamea was pleased that a danger (pirates and ex-Directorate forces) to her weakened nation was eliminated and pleased with the addition to her forces (9 ’Mechs in total (2 Shadow Hawk, 2 Griffin, 2 Wasp, 2 Locust and 1 Panther) plus a varied group of vehicles) but on the other hand, the fact that the JumpShips and DropShips so needed by her nation were only for me, did obviously not please her.



Vasseur had also done a good work, eliminating all the encountered threats (more than I did) without losing any ‘Mechs, (even if the “destroyed” Toro was salvageable since VMI produced enough spare parts to supply me with a new head) something I had expected as his unit was packing 75% of our Royal ‘Mechs and had better ‘MechWarriors (and he was better trained in warfare than I was). Apart from 18 ‘Mechs and several tanks and support units, he had also captured 1 Tramp, 1 Invader, 1 Union, 1 Mule and 2 Leopards.

Thanks to everything we got our hands on, the Revenants would be able (after the much needed repairs for the captured hardware) to field a third combined-arms battalion and after the payment in Griffins, perhaps a fourth one.



The problem at this stage for me was going to be hiring enough ’MechWarriors. Despite our good relations with the TDF and the Taurian militias, a large part of the Taurians who wanted to become mercenaries would still prefer to go to the Inner Sphere, reducing the number of Taurians available. Similarly, even some of the Dispossessed in Galatea and other recruiting places twisted their noses at the idea of working for a force that only operated in Periphery. And most of those that accepted, didn't pass the scrutiny of my security forces. I needed to talk with Kamea about the possibility of hiring people from her realm.



After 'tough' negotiations with Kamea (who would have thought that she was a fan of 'pillow negotiations'? I thought the Canopians were the masters of that technique), we came to an agreement: I would create a transport company that would operate in Aurigan Restoration space with 2 JumpShips and 2 DropShips and I would also lend one of the Leopards to the Royal Guard. In return, I would receive significant tax advantages and exemptions, including for companies I owned or was a shareholder in and a noble title. Given Thomas' instructions to increase Concordat's influence in the region and my personal interest in Kamea, I thought it was a good deal.

Meanwhile and much to Kamea’s delight, the arrival of two repaired Griffins companies meant her ‘Mech forces were given a major boost. That was the good ones, the bad one was that these were the easiest to repair, meaning the other four companies would take substantially longer to deliver.




Among the messages I received while in Coromodir were several interesting ones. The first Snowden L (lite) had just been built and started activity in one of New Vandenberg asteroid belts in the middle of January. The first major orbital station had also been completed thanks to the good services of the Star-Lifters. It was partly a base for ASFs, partly a training center for space operators but also and in the greatest secrecy I could; the first Endo Steel factory built in Concordat since… . Even using the simplest model to produce from the New Dallas database, about half the components for the production units were custom-built. But the final results was that it would be able to produce small amounts of Endo Steel for the Royal ‘Mechs used by the Taurian Guards and the Revenants and also if enough were in stocks, it would allow me to produce new ‘Mechs Since business was going well and looking at the sheet of available funds, I gave the order to begin the construction of the SB-27 Sabre ASF line.

The news that caused me the most shock was linked to an old flag I had put on the MRB news. The Gray Death Legion having accepted a contract with the FWL, had just captured Sirius V.
Damn, my time was running out if I wanted to do something about Helm and THAT data-core.

With a quick farewell to Kamea, I hadn’t given her too many explanations, something she clearly did not like, I set off with my forces for Helm on the fastest possible route.

Before leaving, I called Pascal Allais, the leader of my intelligence team and sent him and his forces on the hunt for Notker Baumann. Their mission was to get as much information as possible about advanced hardware and to confiscate as much as he could. Vasseur and the first battalion were to be available to help him should he need some back-up.

 

[paulobrito]

Even before the first jump, the cruel reality of numbers hit me like a sledgehammer: considering what I knew of the Gray Death Legion story, I would never make it to Helm in time before they left for Galatea. The only chance to get a copy of the database was to intercept them in Galatea and convince Carlyle to give or sell me a copy of the data core. As for the hardware, it was better to forget about it, that ship was already gone and out of reach.





May 20th, 3028
Galatea VI, Galatea City



One of the advantages of having to wait for GDL to arrive in Galatea was that I finally had time to take care of business.
Several companies from all States had shown interest in obtaining production licenses for the Leclerc line. They clearly had a good idea of the value of a line of Omni combat vehicles as the proposals were all (or almost all) interesting.
Due to the current political situation, it was impossible to negotiate with anyone from the Federated Suns or after the 'warships incident' with anyone from the Capelan Confederation as for the Calderons House Liao was behind said incident.
The Earthwerks Incorporated representative of the FWL was the first to make a proposal with several production license agreements rang in from full Mechs to components and/or a considerable amount of money. We agreed on a mix of both and although no specific design was selected (they didn’t interest me at all), the license to produce several components and a considerable amount of money sealed the deal.
On behalf of Draconis Combine, Luthien Armor Works representative, an old negotiator, sealed an agreement in exchange for the production license for the Jenner BattleMech and for the excellent Lord’s Light PPC.
The first offer from the Lyran Commonwealth came from Defiance Industries new representative, obviously a problematic but influential young man who had been dispatched to Galatea not to cause problems elsewhere. God, rarely had I met someone so arrogant and ill-prepared. Only rigid self-control prevented me from sending him out, but clearly we didn't do business, nor did I intend to even though we left with 'after I study your proposal, I'll get in touch'.
Strangely enough, a few hours later, the representative of Coventry Metal Works presented herself to negotiate the same subject. Although CMW did not have a line of vehicles, they seemed interested in entering this area of business and found nothing better than my Leclerc Omnis. Unfortunately they produced nothing of particular interest to me, so we came to an agreement in which I gave them the rights in exchange for a massive amount of kroners.
I was not expecting anything from a common proposal from Aldis Aerospace and Krupp Armament Works. If at first I had no interest in selling Omnis to ComStar, a second thought told me that sooner or later they would get all the necessary information and that it would be better to get something from them.
From this unexpected deal, I obtained the production rights for the Kamov VTOL and Schrek PPC, various types of weapons and equipment as well as some money.


Two other companies contacted me to acquire the rights for the Leclerc: MMM of Canopus and Blackwell Heavy Industries of New Valencia. MMM had nothing that interested me nor did they have the money to buy the licenses, so initially their offer was very weak. Until I proposed that if the Magestracy wanted my licenses so badly, it could pay in Arano Restoration bonds, to the great perplexity of the MMM representative. After exchanging messages with Canopus, my proposal was accepted and I received a private message from Anne-Marie 'Well played, Jean-Luc, well played. And congratulations on your relationship, she's well worth it.’

BHI was a different case - although technically located in Federated Suns territory and as such covered by the sales ban, their exclusivity with the Wolf’s Dragoons made them legitimate for the Concordat.
My initial proposal was an exchange of Leclerc licenses for Badger or Bandit, but this was not accepted. In their counter offer, they gave me the Marauder II (3012 model). Even though I did not have access to Omni tech based on ideas by technicians from the Clans, which was my real goal, I decided to accept the proposal.


Having finished the series of negotiations (and quite pleased with the results), I noticed that a young woman in a spent uniform of Chu-i had just left the Toro-2C simulator (the Panther-like model). With a certain curiosity, I asked the person in charge of the simulators who she was and what her results and impressions were.
Apparently ex-Chu-i Kaneda Arisa came every day to use this simulator, taking advantage of being one of the very few with free access in Galatea, a practice of the manufacturers when they were eager to promote a new model, like VMI Toro-2C. As for her impressions and results, she considered Panther slightly superior (not surprisingly) and had by a comfortable margin, the best results in the simulator. Asking more about her, I found out that she was the last survivor of a force that had attacked a Steiner world during one of the various 3rd SW raids and that she had been reported dead. After being released by the LCAF, she had come to Galatea in search of a contract. But without a ’Mech, she hadn't succeeded until now.
Considering her grades in the simulator, it was not difficult to make her an offer the next day when she showed up for another session, offer that she accepted after asking for a few clarifications.



June 4th, 3028

After several days of waiting, the Gray Death Legion finally arrived. So far so good I thought, at least I was going to be able to talk to them and hopefully, as in the original story, they had copied the data core or it would have been a long and expensive trip for nothing.

And suddenly, there he was, tall, thin and blond, well muscled, the perfect image of a 'MechWarrior, the legend himself, Grayson Carlyle. Accompanied by a tall beauty with long blond hair - Lori Kalmar

'Colonel Carlyle? Lieutenant Kalmar ? My name is Jean-Luc Bassot, I'm from the Taurian Concordat. May we speak in private?' I said, directing them to a luxury limousine. ‘I believe I have a proposal that might be of interest to you.’
‘For sure, Mister Bassot, do you have somewhere in mind?’
‘Yes, you see I have access to the installations of VMI in this city, one of the biggest military manufacturers in the Concordat. I believe we can talk calmly there. I promise you, I am not going to waster your time’.



Some time later in a comfortable room at the VMI facility in the city.

While at first I didn’t tell them about my position, the people at the reception desk at VMI had addressed me by my title, meaning they both knew I was one of VMI bosses.



'Colonel, Lieutenant, I'll get straight to the point. I know about the data core you got in Helm and I have a reasonable idea of its contents. I also know that Duke Ricol of the Draconis Combine has a copy and that you have been distributing it through the Inner Sphere, not trusting ComStar for obvious reasons. My goal is to get a copy to take to the Concordat. We need the data inside, that kind of information is vital to revitalize our nation. So, name your price and I'll do my best to satisfy it.’
'For someone from the Periphery, who has never met us, you are very well informed, Mister Bassot.' was Carlyle's response after a short pause and an exchange of glances between the two of them. 'We've just come from Helm, and you are already here, coming from much further away, and knowing everything?’
‘Well, to be precise, I arrived here two weeks ago on a routine visit when I was informed about the Helm Crisis. As you might have guessed, someone in my position has access to above average means of information for a price. Knowing that you were coming here, I delayed my departure, so I could receive you and make you an offer on behalf of the Concordat. Nothing extraordinary on my part, unlike your adventure.' I said with my best innocent face.
Apparently they accepted my explanation.
Carlyle was going to start talking but Lori put her hand on his arm, and he let her talk. 'This information doesn't come cheap, Baron. After all, it cost us many lives to get it. How much is the Concordat willing to pay?’ she asked with a calculating look on her beautiful face.
Oh, man, and I was expecting to play on Grayson's idealism, but I had no luck. Well, since I couldn't go back now and really wanted the data core,while being pretty sure I could pass the bill on to Thomas, I decided to play the game 'ten million in C-Bills or the 'Mechs that are available at this facility for sale, 2 Talos one 2B and one 2C (the standard model but upgraded to current tech and the modified version) and 2 Toros one B-2 and one C-2 (again the standard model but upgraded to current tech and the modified version), all factory new.
LOL, it was nice to see the two of them shaking, looking at each other and smiling. This time; it was Grayson who answered. 'On behalf of the Gray Death Legion, I accept your proposal, Baron. Ah, we will go for the 'Mechs.'
‘It was a pleasure doing business with you, Colonel, Lieutenant.’ with that part done, now came the second one ‘Tell me, would you be interested in a contract in the Concordat? It would be mostly a guarding and training one, with options for some anti-piracy missions. You would benefit from the support of VMI and V4RU, for new ‘Mechs and repair/refit operations. I think you would greatly appreciate the level of support they can provide to your forces.’

Carlyle and Kalmar again looked at each other but this time it was Carlyle that took the initiative. ‘To be frank, we need time to rest and refit before taking any contract, Baron. And I’m a bit more inclined for a contract with one of the big Houses of the Inner Sphere. I have nothing against the Concordat, mind you but it is a bit far away. But, for the sake of argument, what kind of payment and contract are we talking about?’

Ok, let’s talk about numbers, I really want these guys on my side. ‘The contract would be for one year, starting as soon as you arrive, with options for renewal. The transport costs would be included, your DropShips can take a ride on my JumpShips and I’m scheduled to depart next week, as well as the services of V4RU and with the possibility to buy from VMI at preferred client prices, that’s about 20% discount. All that with a line of credit and any activity not included in the guard and training contract, like raids against pirates would be negotiated as a secondary contract. For the rest, I would offer standard options.’

After a few moments, Carlyle look me in the eyes and asked a question ‘Why us, Baron? You already have your military unit and there’s no lack of other units here, many with good reputation. I can understand the data core business, but why this contract?’

‘For starters, you are one of the few units specialized in combined-arms operations, with an well deserved reputation in that area. My unit is also one of that kind, so you have the experience to train it. I’m prepared to pay you a bit above standard fares (well, in truth, more than a bit) because I understand few units want to go to the Periphery or to pass so much time in transit. I think my conditions are good enough? At the end of said contract, your unit would be fully refitted, that must count for something, Colonel.’

‘Oh, the conditions are good, no doubt. But before I accept, I need to talk to my people, if you don’t mind Baron.’

‘No problem at all, Colonel, lieutenant. When you achieve a decision, be it in my favor or not, please call me back. You know where you can find me, after all.’

With that they both departed.

 

[paulobrito]

The next day while I was studying what I should produce from the obtained licenses as I didn't have the money for everything, they announced the arrival of Grayson, Lori together with a small train of vehicles.
I gave the order to bring them to my office while I closed for now the spreadsheets with the unsolved production problems.
From the looks of whoever came in besides Grayson and Lori, (if I was right, Davis McCall and Hassan Ali Khaled), the meeting would go well or they were all excellent actors.
My doubts were quickly set aside as the GDL was interested in the contract I had proposed them and after we cleared up some doubts and details on both sides, the contract to guard VMI and V4RU and train the Revenants was signed. The reason the four came was quite simple, it took four ’MechWarriors to take the 'Mechs that were the payment for the delivery of Helm datacore, which they brought with them on a truck. The only extra point they requested was to leave only a week later, in order to give Grayson and his troops some time to rest and the opportunity to do some recruitment. From what I heard and knew, Grayson was much better at recruiting new staff than I was, which was not a real surprise, lol. The other option was that he was less concerned with security measures than I was. Personally, I think his charisma and growing reputation were far superior to my money, but I'd better not worry too much about that.


The first time I connected to my copy of Helm datacore was a shock as even though it included about 250 exabytes of data, the information was all mixed up with no file list or index, a maze of the worst kind. WTF? was my first reaction. Then I remembered the theory proposed by Chris O'Farrell in my universe and supported by many BT fanatics that the problem was due to the fact that the system used an unknown file structure in these times.
Thanks to the fact that I was a computer technician in my previous life, not to say a 'geek', I took my notebook, on which I had downloaded all the file structures / databases formats that existed in the New Dallas datacore and praying quietly, I connected it to the Helm datacore. After a “long” waiting time– during which the phrase 'analyzing structure 'please wait' passed in small letters at the top of the notebook, suddenly everything changed to ‘loading SLDF-EC 2740.R3C format’ and access was finally obtained… in all its glory, in an easily accessible format, with a huge list of themes, with all the data well organized and structured. I couldn't contain myself, and in the silence of my office, at the top of VMI facilities in Galatea, I laughed profusely.

The day before we returned to the Concordat I saw on the news that Edward was going to be at the wedding of Hanse and Melissa, representing his father (and the Concordat). Apparently, the relations of the Concordat with the Federated Suns were improving.
Before embarking on the long journey back - about 5 months, brrr, I sent my instructions regarding what it was to produce.
Karnov VTOL, Lords Light PPC, Vlar 300 fusion engine and Vulcan heavy ASF, obviously modified to use equipment produced by VMI / Concordat.
There was no way to build a production line for the Marauder II, they were too expensive and the production numbers would be too low when compared to the rest of the hardware that was going to be put into service, even though the 'fame' of producing the first Assault 'Mech on the periphery was an idea I toyed with for a time.
Considering what I knew, I planned our route to avoid the conflict zones as much as possible, conflict that would escalate in the 4th Succession War in no time. Due to having planned the route correctly, even if it meant being underway for a little longer, we avoided being caught in the first waves of the invasion of the Capellan Confederation by the Suns in August, arriving in early November to New Vandenberg.


The report by Vasseur and Allais was interesting but in the bad sense of the word.

Allais’ group had found one of Baumann's bases but before they intervened, a force of 'Mechs belonging to the notorious Bounty Hunter had appeared. Fortunately Vasseur who was waiting for the call had a superior force and managed to defeat the group of mercenaries and to take control of the base. The hardware they found in it was intriguing to say the least, several weapons as advanced or more than the most modern of the Royal regiments, which included several ER Medium Lasers, weapons I knew never existed at that time and an unknown model of Assault 'Mech with a symbol that caused me shivers, a wolverine head with claw marks making a cross… The mark of the Wolverine Clan, the famous No-Named Clan. Oh, shit.

Having taken over Baumann's base and with him having ran away and taken a very low profile and with the Bounty Hunter gone to other areas, I was left with the hardware in my hands and a lot of unresolved issues…

Having taken advantage of the trip back to study a lot of information that was in the data core obtained by the GDL in Helm, I left some instructions in New Vandenberg, before going to meet with the Calderon family. Among the information I left were detailed instructions on how to build with absolute priority a production line for DHS, which included the information for the so far elusive crystalline matrix with the absolute maximum of confidentiality and security and fuck the price, I was sure that I would negotiate this with the Calderon before I got back. Having the control over most of the auctions had some advantages, mainly that it would be some time before the opposition took action and if I could get the Calderon to go along with me, I could say bye bye opposition and hello extra funds.

 

[paulobrito]

A few days later, in the Calderon’s palace.


'So unless you have access to the file structure I found in New Dallas data core, it will take years to extract the information in a usable way, while we have it fully available and perfectly organized.' My report on Helm datacore concluded this way, before the incredulous eyes of Edward and Thomas Calderon.

'I still can't believe the amount of information this finding has...' Edward said in a dreamy tone 'it will enable us to raise our nation technologically almost to the level of the Terran Hegemony at their best.'

'It's not that easy as unfortunately we don't have the necessary funds to build everything' replied Thomas.

'How is the investigation on the HPG we discovered in 3021 going?' I asked.

After a look between the two Calderon, Edward replied, 'We have managed to replicate it, having now two more operational. The cost is astronomic, as the most complex parts have to be handmade by highly skilled technicians and the failure rate is really high, but I think that with the information this new database has it will be easier from now on. This is extremely secret, of course'.

‘Hmmmm, I bet that next year, if the invasion of 'our' neighbors continues at this rate, Comstar will find some excuse to interdict Davion.' Before the astonished eye of both Calderon, I explained 'The First Circuit likes the situation to remain as it has been until now, with all the Inner Sphere nations carefully balanced, something that a final victory of Davion over Liao would spoil. A ban would be a way to not only interrupt the conquest, but to cause tremendous damage to Davion economy'. Hanse and Katrina would be particularly sensitive to a proposal that would give them the means to circumvent future Tiepolo’s interventions. And they would pay almost any price we ask, giving us not only the means for a major Concordat reform, but also focusing all of Comstar attention on them and the source of their new HPG research, which would give us some time to build safely our projects.’

‘Interesting in theory, but your entire plan is based on Tiepolo’s interdicting Hanse in the coming year.’ Thomas countered ‘for the moment this is just a theory.’

'Hey, plans for the future are based on possible events most of the time. I'm no fortune-teller, but I think it's a good probability.' And I've only read about a zillion books and fan fictions about this universe, duh 'After all, we won't have to do anything if there isn't an interdiction. Anyway, as long as hostilities last, it's best to stay alert and to not create waves.’

'By the way, I want you to start production of the Marauder II at VMI. The TDF would greatly benefit from having a local supply of Assault 'Mechs.' said Thomas.

'I'm sorry Thomas, but the company has no funds available for that, as you well know. With the new productions we just started, we stretched our funds to the limit, if not beyond them. But, if you want that, I can propose a way. The government gives VMI a loan, one with a low interest and long term payment, enough to pay for that production line and about half the cost of the DHS one. Let’s say that then the TDF puts an order for the first two years of production from both lines, apart from a dozen DHS a month for my Revenants. This way, VMI shall be able to produce your monster toys with a bonus, that is upgrading the Marauder II Heat Sinks and giving it an extra pair of Medium Lasers’ I counter-offered.




Edward trembled, but Thomas nodded. 'If it's the only way, I'll have to open the purse strings.' he said grudgingly.

'What about the production of systems for purifying the atmosphere and producing potable water?' Edward asked 'Are the models and techniques described in this database technically and economically feasible for us?’

'I think so, but they're not in my area of expertise.’ was my answer 'You will have to consult both technicians and financiers, people that might keep it secret.’

‘Well, now that these business are done, only missing the ceremony of your investiture as a Count and you're receiving the control of the system of New Vandenberg.’ said Thomas calmly.

‘Wait, what ?’ was my only answer, looking perplexed to both.

‘Politics, I’m afraid’ Edward clarified ‘ You are already well-connected in the military-industrial complex, you are also a strong voice supporting the detente with the Davions and were instrumental in the re-alignment of the Aurigans with us. Not counting what you have provided the Concordat, WarShips, datacores, HPGs. You are also the noble with the most powerful independent military force. After the Shraplen case, we need a proof of support for the detente and you are already know to support this position of mine. The last governor of New Vandenberg was a close ally of Shraplen, so the position is now open and you are one of our best choices.’

‘So, you are rewarding me to provide you with better allies?’ I said after a few moments, and after seeing both looking at me ‘i can do that.’




Now, if only I had some free time to visit Coromodir and Kamea… but unfortunately my very busy schedule didn’t allow that for a few months. I hoped Kamea wasn’t going to be unhappy and that she would understand.

Predictable, for me that is, the first training mission that put the GDL against the first Revenants battalion ended with a defeat to Vasseur.

While his unit was made of former Taurian Guards veterans and half his ’Mechs were Royals, they were neither prepared for the tactical brilliance of Grayson, nor for the clearly unorthodox use of anti-’Mech infantry tactics that he had unleashed on the unaware first battalion.

I just hoped that they could learn fast and that there would no bad feelings from their defeats while they were learning.

 

[paulobrito]

Thomas gave me a team of civilian servants to help me take control of New Vandenberg. The catch was that they were loyal to Thomas and not to me personally, but those were the rules of the game. After taking control of the system, the ex-ruler and his loyalists had already departed, not even waiting for the formal ceremony, and gaining some knowledge of the ongoing activities, which took about a month (thank God the team Thomas provided me with was made of people with former experience in system government), it was time to have a talk with Dr. Murad. One of the interesting differences in government from what I knew was that in reality the noble that received the control of a system didn’t need to do much as most of the time, they had a team that did all the work, some nobles went as far as no even providing general guidelines, enjoying a life of relative privilege (as long as they paid the bills and were able to more or less defend their holdings).

Running her usual magic, she had managed to make the operations on the shipyard in orbit of Lompoc (New Vandenberg IX) move ahead of schedule and at a lower cost than projected. According to her estimate, it would be fully operational in the middle of 3030, starting to build one Invader per year and in 3035, it would be able to produce 2 Invaders per year as more and more parts of the old shipyard would be restored. No stranger to this ambitious goal was the discovery of a big asteroid extremely rich in Germanium coupled to the almost finished unit that would process that ore and produce K-F cores. As far as I understood, that was the real bottleneck for the production of new JumpShips and before the people in charge of that area gained enough experience (and expanded the hardware) the number of cores per year was going to be small.

The construction of Snowden L was also running at full speed, at this time two were in activity and two others in an advanced stage of construction, which improved the availability of resources. Rebuilding the old shipyard had taken a lot of time, the central part was very complicated to restore and running. Now that that area and one of the slips were finally operational, rebuilding other slips was relatively easy and fast, but without the industrial infrastructure to feed them, everything was useless. And building that industrial infrastructure would take time as was of the needed training of the staff needed to operate the various elements. While everything was not ready, the slips could be used to provide maintenance to the aging commercial fleet operating inside the Concordat.

Part of our conversation had to do with the only structure in Arano Restoration capable of performing maintenance on JumpShips, which was in orbit around Mechdur. At the moment, according to the data I had and that Farah was reading, they were only able to perform their operations on one JumpShip at a time, with an efficiency of about 60%. After reviewing the data, Farad said that with our support and with what she and her team had learned in Lompoc, it would be possible to update the dockyard for greater efficiency but that it should also be possible to expand it to work on up to 2 JumpShips simultaneously. Of course, this would only be possible with great support from Concordat, and only after Lompoc was finished, which meant probably around 3035, although preliminary work could start as soon as Lompoc was up and running, i.e. after 3030. But for that, I needed Thomas to accept to provide the necessary support. Maybe, he would be inclined to do so because it would also give the Concordat an extra capability maintaining/repairing its JumpShips.

Saying goodbye to Dr. Murad, I took a look at the reports on the Revenants and Grey Death. After a somewhat troubled beginning, they had created a good relationship and everything indicated that the efficiency of my forces had increased considerably. Because I was now the ruler of the system I opened to both units all the training areas that the local militia and TDF forces had access to since until now they only had access to about half of them with the most remote and most diversified biomes being unavailable for them. It was not difficult to extend the contract with GDL to training the militias and the regular TDF forces in the system as for them it only meant being paid for the same job. For me, I was using the planetary defense funds to improve the capacity of the local forces, a move supported by both the TDF and the local militia commanders.

The analysis report for the BSK-MAZ Bull Shark Assault ‘Mech had proved that its technology was actually superior to the latest Royal 'Mech to which I had access, which it had probably been created by the Clans and possibly by Clan Wolverine, because of the markings on the ’Mech. What the hell was this technology doing on this side of the Periphery? As far as I knew the Clans were on the other side of IS…

On the positive side, my technicians were confident that with the technology provided by both data cores and the ER Medium Lasers models found on that 'Mech, they could recreate those advanced weapons as long as enough money was available. Which, of course, wasn't in the years to come.

What was really interesting was written in a confidential memo saying that Argo could reproduce all the advanced laser types we had obtained in the operation against Baumann: ER Large, Medium and Small and also Pulse Large and Medium. We only had blueprints of ER Large and all the pulse ones, but extensive analysis of the ER Medium and Small allowed my experts to learn how to scale down the advanced lenses used in the ER Large to create the same effect in the Medium and small models. Obviously in limited quantities and at a high cost but still. At the moment they were not able to reproduce other types of weapons, but ongoing investigations were taking place. One of the first ’Mechs to receive these upgrades was the Highlander 732b of Vasseur, with the switch of its three Medium Lasers for extended range versions. The decision was taken to upgrade the ‘Mechs of the Revenant's but with maximum secrecy.

Meetings with leaders of various companies in all branches, universities, and hospitals led to the distribution of selected parts of both data cores in accordance with the Calderon’s directives to disseminate the technology, advising everyone to invest in security so as not to avoid taking unnecessary risks. I took the opportunity to inform those present that similar initiatives were taking place on other planets, the impact of such initiatives being depend on the money others companies were investing. One of the companies that would gain substantially from this was Pinard-Dicolais Electronics, which in addition to building a subsidiary in New Vandenberg, was producing to the maximum of its capacity advanced security and surveillance systems, models I had provided them with previously. Without forgetting that during my visit to Pinard, during the alarm caused by the Galahad 3026 exercises, I had obtained a stake in the company. Another pleasant news from P-DE was that they were planning to start limited (and expensive) production of Artemis IV warheads in mid 3030 followed by the guidance systems by late 3030 or early 3031.

The reunion with the Board of Directors of VMI went rather well. After all, since I had begun to lead it, the company had grown a lot, adding several new lines to its production capacities, ranging from vehicles to ‘Mechs and ASFs and was right now the biggest military company in the Periphery and not bad when compared to those of the Inner Sphere. The latest report from the VMI R&D team was also interesting. After years of work on the samples of Ferro-Fibrous, Streak launchers and ammo provided by the Celano operation and with the help of the data cores, they were finally confident that they could start the production of these advanced items. Once more if the budget was there. Unfortunately, there was for now no available budget to start these projects.

 

[paulobrito]

As soon as the series of meetings with the various companies was over and after having given the final instructions to ”my” government, I started preparing myself to leave for Coromodir. The day before my planned departure, I received a message from Thomas requesting that I went to Taurus ASAP. Showing what ASAP meant, he had arranged for a ‘Pony Express’ chain of JumpShips to accelerate my arrival.

What now I wondered. I had “just” left and many things could also be discussed via HPG.


The trip was happily without surprises and two weeks later, I was on a DropShip approaching the capital of Taurian Concordat.
The first news I received while still in flight was that ComStar had Interdicted the Federated Suns due to an attack on the HPG in Sarna. I smiled and muttered 'We happily continue to follow the script, I see. Hopefully ComStar will remain busy with the Inner Sphere for a long time.' I saw the stunned look of the captain of the DropShip, who restrained himself and did not comment, while I swore for saying that out loud.



As soon as I landed, I was brought to Thomas’ private cabinet, and the reason behind the emergency became crystal clear. Anne-Maria Centrella was there with both Calderons.



It turned out that Magestrix Kyalla Centrella had decided to fix her relations with the Concordat and had sent Anne-Marie to work out the details.

The proposal that the Magestrix was making me was that my companies would upgrade Magesty Metals and Manufacturing (MMM) to the same level that VMI had been, help rebuild the Dragonfly line and sell as much of VMI production as possible (obviously the one not already sold by firm contracts in the next two years) to the Magistracy. Thanks to the new construction lines (not only of ‘Mechs and ASF but also vehicles and components), the upgrades of older lines and the capacity to order parts from companies inside the Concordat that had also been upgraded, VMI now had a lot of untapped production capability, which would for the first time be pushed to its limits. The Magistracy wanted to buy everything at real market price, not even asking for a discount for such big order, with the only condition being that the operation should be kept secret as long as possible. Clearly, Thomas was okay with that, otherwise he wouldn’t have called me here. Apart from that confidentiality clause and the size of the order, it was a normal contract and one that provided VMI with the necessary funds for some expansions / research I had in mind, so I had no problem signing it (furthermore with the blessing of the Protector).

I was also informed but with no details that the Magistracy and the Concordat had signed a treaty of non-aggression and several commercial accords. Ah, and that the last part of the Aurigan debt still in Magistracy hands had been transferred to the Concordat...

My inner thoughts told me that Kyalla Centrella had understood how fragile House Liao was and was already planning her future offensive against it. No doubt that she had already talked with Catherine Humphreys. But, for going as far as launching this offensive, she needed the Concordat help to beef up her military forces and to give her quiet borders, so it was obvious that she would want to be in good terms with the Concordat or turn them into allies. In order to do that she was ready to let split her last piece of influence / interest in the Reach.





With the political questions already addressed by Thomas and the technical side also dealt with, my principal question was if the Concordat would be going into that total mess that was the Andurien Crisis as I knew it.

When I asked Thomas in private (I didn’t want Anne-Marie to know that I might have a clue about their plans) about that (putting the case as hypothetical as I couldn’t say how much I knew about this universe), he answered that, for now, the Concordat was going to stay away, but that depending on the performance of both sides, maybe it would try a quick land grab. Hypothetically, of course. While I was not informed on the guarantees or reasons Anne-Marie gave the Calderons that the Concordat would not be the target, both of them seemed to consider them good enough.



Even before Anne-Marie departed for Canopus, the issue of the new relations between the Concordat and the Aurigan Restoration was addressed. A message was sent to Kamea ‘inviting’ her to come to Taurus to negotiations, with a possible clearing of the Aurigan debt that is now in Concordat hands to attract her and providing her with the same ‘Pony Express’ fast travel I had received. Kamea arrived at Taurus after Anne-Marie had departed, conveniently removing the Magistracy from these negotiations.

To the surprise of the Aurigan leader, she was received with all honors and treated like an important chief-of-state and not like the leader of a small nation being called by the local super-power.

Instead of demands, she received a proposal for a formal alliance with her as the junior partner, but with offers of financial support and access to technology and production that her nation so desperately needed. The Concordat gained access to the for now, poor Aurigan market, and one of the secret clauses was that should there be a war between the Concordat and the Capellan Confederation, Concordat troops would be able move freely through the Aurigan territory.

The offer included a selection of the data in the data cores focusing on agriculture, civil industry and medicine as well as the repair and expansion of the dockyard in orbit of Mechdur, the expansion of the military-industrial complex on the same planet with the creation of lines for production for conventional fighting vehicles and fighters and some low tech parts to sell to the Concordat and Magistracy military forces. That Concordat companies (including VMI) gained partnership with the Aurigan companies – and in some cases like in Mechdur control over them - that received support was one added condition.

Until now Kamea had made good use of her time, consolidating the power in her hands (among other actions she had ordered that all belongings of the now extinct House Espinosa would be given as repayment to House Arano) and rebuilding what she could of her nation. But it had been badly damaged during the civil war and the ongoing Fourth Succession War did not help at all in the development of trade, the Aurigan so desperately needed. So, the proposal from the Concordat was the solution to her problems, even if it turned the control of substantial parts of her economy to Concordat hands.

To Kamea’s surprise, (the issue had already been talked with me before with Thomas securing my agreement) Thomas also wanted us to marry, sealing the alliance of both nations. He didn’t offer the hand of his son, because the Aurigan Restoration was a minor nation compared to the Concordat but going through me was still a way to link both nations.

The last part of the deal was the clearing of all the Aurigan debt, Thomas had already secured the part that I and VMI controlled. One of the benefits for the Concordat was that it secured that part of the border, gained a junior partner and many low tech industries in the Concordat had access to a whole new market.



Without revealing anything, Kamea asked for some time to think, which obviously was granted and left for the Aurigan Embassy.
Without much surprise, the next day I received an invitation requesting me to visit her.
As soon as I arrived at the embassy, I was immediately directed to her room. She received me as the perfect High Lady, nothing in her attitude, pose or tone of voice would make me think that we had been lovers.
I was subjected to a long questioning about the proposed deal, whether it had been my idea, what my plans were, what I thought of the situation and how I saw the future of Aurigan Restoration in case the proposal was accepted, what Thomas planned to do in the future, etc.
I answered as best I could, without revealing secrets and trying my best to maintain an equivalent tone and pose to the Kamea’s one.
Finally, and without revealing anything about what she planned to do, Kamea dismissed me.
'This is not going very well Jean-Luc' was my thought when I left the embassy.


Two days later I was called back by Thomas.
Thomas, Edward and Kamea were already there when I arrived.
Fortunately and contrary to what I had feared, Kamea had accepted the proposal. And when she said so, she looked at me and winked and smiled (a warm smile).

‘One of these days that girl is going to be my death’ I murmured to myself.

‘Did you say anything ?’ Asked Edward with the air of someone who was having immense pleasure painted on is face.

I answered back with the best innocent face I could manage. ‘Nothing, my Lord, I’m just very happy with the decision of her Highness’.


The next day, me and Kamea departed for Coromodir and Edward to New Avalon, no doubt to make a very interesting proposal to Hanse Davion.

 

[paulobrito]

We got to Coromodir without any problems.
The wedding was in the oldest (and largest) cathedral of Cordia City, and as was to be expected for the wedding of the queen of the kingdom, very dignified and with the presence of all the nobles and representations of all nations that had contact with the Arano Restoration.
I looked back at what I had achieved, going from a nobody in my original world, to the governor of one of the richest planets of Concordat and being married to the monarch of a nation that had 23 systems, even if it was the smallest and poorest of the Periphery nations. Not bad in 15 years in this universe.

One of my wedding gifts to Kamea is the complete rebuild of her KTO-18 Kintaro ‘Mech – an KTO-18 Kintaro – that as had been severely damaged in the last battle in Coromodir. Part of the rebuild included the replacement of all Single Heat Sinks by Double ones, resolving many of the limitations the ’Mech had.



As I had expected, Kamea was not prepared to share her control over her nation, I was a prince consort, and she made it clear from the beginning.
Fortunately for our relationship, I wasn't in the least interested in having that burden or in dealing with it myself, as I told her in a very open conversation we had. For me, controlling one system, 2 companies and a mercenary company was more than enough for me as was living with a beautiful woman with a somewhat wild side. This last sentence made her smile but she made me pay for the joke later… Wild and vengeful no doubt. Well, my intimate moments of marriage were certainly not going to be boring...



During one of the relaxing times after such moment, a time when Kamea enjoyed discussing delicate situations had to do with my more than normal access to information about advanced technology and how much I could provide her kingdom without betraying my oaths to Thomas... Kamea was undoubtedly an intelligent woman and had already understood that I knew where to find very valuable information.
After giving it some thoughts, all the while she did her best to 'distract' me, I eventually told her that if her nation sent negotiators to Niops, a small, single system independent nation, on the other side of the Magistracy, they should be able to find something very interesting.
Kamea thanked me in more than one way but I will stop here...



A month later, we received information that not only had Andurien separated from the Free Worlds League but that he had allied himself with the Magistracy beginning an attack of the Capellan Confederation.
Kamea, always so perceptive, managed to notice that I was not really surprised to receive the news and discreetly asked me what would most benefit our realm.
My answer was simple. “Don't get us in this mess and provided we had enough strength, take advantage and 'absorb' independent, but self-sustained, planets like Detroit or Herotitus.” She immediately asked if my mercenaries were available for a contract. By this time the training with The Gray Death Legion was over, and despite my best efforts, they had gone back to the Inner Sphere in search of more 'prestigious' contracts, and since Thomas had not (yet) made any decision about intervening on the Capellan Confederation, and the Revenants don’t have any contract at the moment, I answered yes.
Kamea immediately offered me a contract that basically consisted of sending my forces acompanied by several of her infantry regiments to 'free' several systems between her realm and the Magistracy. After a quick and quiet calculation of probabilities, I accepted.

 

[paulobrito]

Because Mechdur didn’t have the capacity to produce any “advanced” technology, the equipment supplied to the units of Kamea’s army was limited. The tanks, APCs and IFVs only had ICE engines and missiles (SRM and LRM), cannons (AC/5) and machine guns (HMG) were the norm for their weapons and energy weapons (lasers and PPCs) the exception. Likewise, the infantry had decent ballistic weapons and rockets (LAW and SRM) and Flak armor with energy weapons or ablative armors being almost non-existent.


That said, with the support of my Revenants, I was confident that we could succeed and on the 25th of January 3031, 4 infantry regiments supported by the Revenants invaded Herotitus in order to claim the planet on behalf of the Aurigan Restoration.
Gabriel Fur' Seng-Gang, the Planetary Ruler, had little more than a small police force to maintain order, despite is best efforts to obtain a ‘Mech mercenary unit to beef-up the planetary defenses, and was not exactly stupid. As soon as he learned of the number of forces that had landed and of their goal, he declared his allegiance to Kamea and immediately accepted the integration of Herotitus into the Restoration, thus ensuring his position and a peaceful transition.
Although Herotitus was a Mercenary Star, even if on a much smaller scale than Galatea, there were almost no mercenaries present when the Revenants arrived, due in no small part to the war going on between the Magistracy allied to Andurien against the Capellan Confederation that had attracted almost all the mercenaries in the area. What was left was too badly equipped or had such a low reputation that no one wanted them, not even Seng-Gang. Interestingly, a good percentage of them left the system soon after we arrived and took control...
Herotitus was important to Kamea not only as a source of income but also because it exported food, something that unfortunately was still very much needed by the Aurigan Restoration, in spite of the improvements over the recent years.


As soon as the situation on Herotitus was stabilized, which thanks to the “cooperation” of the local authorities took only a few weeks, we departed for our next target: Detroit. On the 4th of March 3031, we arrived at Detroit. With one regiment staying on Herotitus, our forces were slightly smaller.
Unlike Herotitus, Detroit didn’t have a centralized government, but this doesn’t mean we had it easy to secure the planet as the opposition being several independent forces, it took us time to secure the planet, since we had to deal with all of them.
And one of these groups had advanced weaponry… that is for the era. Fortunately for us, they were few in numbers and little more than thugs leaving us the full advantage of superior numbers, training and material.
This time we didn't capture any 'advanced Mech', we ‘only’ found several 'Mechs, or more precisely what was left of them, with different pieces of very advanced equipment. The 'robust' interrogation of the survivors of that group, as well as the detailed analysis of their computers and records, revealed not only that, as I had been expecting, they had obtained the equipment from Notker Baumann but it also gave us the location of Baumann’s base, a group of coordinates in the Mantharaka system, 41.3 light-years away from Detroit.
The first prize of this conquest was that several groups, including the one with advanced equipment and another one formed by survivors of the forces from Espinosa had several JumpShips and DropShips in the system, allowing us to easily capture an Invader, a Tramp, two Unions, one Triumph, one Jumbo and one Leopard. However, unlike last time, Kamea had looked at the contract and made it so that any captured JumpShip or DropShip would be delivered to her, meaning I just got the salvage left by the ‘Mechs and vehicles.

However, the real prize was the world itself. Detroit was by a wide margin, the most industrialized independent system in the area, almost as much as Mechdur and in some areas even better. On it were the repairable ruins of an Earthwerks Limited facility capable of producing light, medium and heavy units, ranging from tanks, to Mechs or even Aerospace Fighters. In the lore that I remembered from my universe, it was the basis for the Detroit Consolidated group of factories built in the 3060s. It would probably take time and money (a lot of both) but the Aurigan Restoration and perhaps I too would have something to play with.
As soon as the system was considered safe enough and after exchanging messages with Kamea, (It is strange how these independent systems all had HPGs, while many systems in the Aurigan Restoration didn’t), I left one of the Revenants battalions with Kamea’s regiments in Detroit and left with the others three for Mantharaka.

 

[paulobrito]

Two jumps later we arrived in the Mantharaka system, at its nadir jump-point. During our burning to the planet, the sensors detected three more JumpShips, two in the zenith jump-point and one in what could only be a pirate point.
In front of us, four DropShips were on an approach route, all ahead of us: two Unions accompanied by a Mule would land in two hours and an Overlord 6 hours later but still 4 hours before us. All these units, both the JumpShips and the DropShips, had their IFF / identification off, never a good sign.
Being this time in command as Vasseur had stayed in command of the forces in Detroit and considering the forces an Overlord and two Union could carry, I thought it best to land a little further away and to regroup my forces before moving towards Baumann’s base, the obvious destination of all forces.
Apparently, only one of the groups ahead of us had Aerospace Fighter support, with 6 Light Fighters, most likely for the unit that had landed with Overlord. My forces included a dozen Aerospace Fighters, a mixture of Heavies, Medium and Lights Aerospace Fighters. For the moment these were executing CAP on my forces during our advance. I didn’t want to engage any of my forces before knowing who and what was ahead of me.
As soon as we got close to the base location, we began to find wreckage of 'Mechs. Every single ‘Mech we met was lacking a distinctive unit insignia or a specific painting, something I expected from Baumann's forces, but unless they were the only ones to have lost 'Mechs, the force that had landed first seemed also eager to remain hidden. Meaning they were either a pirate force or someone that wanted to remain in the shadows.
When we reached the base location, we found out that the base had been destroyed and the noises of the combats were increasing, meaning some heavy action was going on.
The first 'Mech we saw was a jet black Shogun firing at a more distant bright green Archer. Oh shit, I thought, at least one of the forces was the Black Widow Battalion.
Although tremendously proud of my Revenants, I knew perfectly well that they were not playing in the same league as Natasha Kerensky's unit. Even with the support of our mechanized forces, artillery and infantry and twice as many Aerospace Fighters, I had no doubt who would win the fight if we had to fight them. This was not a video game after all.
‘Revenants, don't shoot at the ’Mechs painted in black, unless they shoot at us first. The others are fair game.'
Meanwhile, I jumped from one frequency to another, trying to get in touch.
‘Major Kerensky?’
Natasha Kerensky's unmistakable voice responded almost immediately.
'Isn’t this the prince consort of the tiny Aurigan Nation? What do you want, little prince? I'm busy, withdraw your forces from the battlefield if you don't want to be destroyed.'
Yep, Natasha Kerensky's charm and diplomacy remained the same as I remembered them...



'Major, I have nothing against your presence, my forces are there to eliminate the smuggler Baumann and his forces.'

'First, it's Colonel Kerensky, pup and second that problem has already been solved. I am in the middle of setting up a personal matter. Last warning, withdraw or I open fire on your toys.’

Fortunately I stopped right in time before answering what I would have wanted to say, which would have brought us in combat against one of the deadliest units of this time. Not that it was easy to stay mute. During this time, I had seen the Shogun decapitating the Archer, however I could also see a few more 'Mechs further away exchanging shots, most in black, the few others in green.

Bright green, fighting against the Black Widows, and Natasha said it was personal, why did it ring a bell in me?

…

Crap, the other force must have been the Bounty Hunter group. But Michi Noketsuna was right now the Bounty Hunter, wasn’t he ? Either something really wrong had happened or this was another divergence from the story as I knew it.

Not willing to take too much time in case there was no time left, I switched channels again.


‘Revenants, cease operations and regroup at Baumann's base coordinates. Let's wait there for these two groups of egomaniacs to settle their disputes.’

A series of nervous laughters was the only answer I got as my forces retreated towards the destroyed base. As my forces began establishing a defensive position, my technicians scoured the wreckage to find something worth scavenging.

While the CAP reported that Natasha's forces were wiping out the last 'Mechs of their opponents, we took control of the destroyed ‘Mechs around the base and found the body of Notker Baumann with a card left as a signature, a 7 of Spade...
Damn, I swore. Not only had I forgotten that Natasha had been promoted to Colonel when the Black Widow’s Company had been upgraded to a Battalion, but I had also forgotten that the 7th Kommando had been added to it! I quickly ordered our DropShips to execute a short flight and land near the ruins where we were located, adding their firepower to ours and reducing the risk of them being captured or sabotaged by the 7th Kommando, if Natasha decided to focus on us.
Shortly after, our air cover reported that the battle was over and that Natasha’s forces as expected had won. After dealing with her “private matter”, I was afraid that Natasha would come for us or at least finish destroying Baumann's base. My bet was that she would be eager to destroy everything linked to the Wolverines (she was a good Clanner after all) … that is if she knew what was present there.
To my great amazement and pleasant surprise, the reports I got were that Natasha's forces boarded and left shortly after the end of the battle, taking with them the captured DropShips, without even a word in our direction. Was it possible that she had only come here to settle her dispute with the Bounty Hunter, without knowing what was nearby? Not that I would complain, even if the way we'd been dismissed was humiliating.

Having remained alone in the area, we spent the next few days doing a thorough search of the base and the battle sites. For those, Natasha had taken everything of value, leaving us with not much to loot, with the exception of the 'Mechs destroyed near the base and a lonely green Marauder that had been stripped of anything useful and was left with its cockpit smashed, but we found no body in it. In the base and after several hours of search, we found a carefully hidden entrance to underground levels where we found several hundred tons of hardware, some very advanced, most of it 'normal', although not a single 'Mech. Interestingly enough, we found several data cores with advanced encryption, which we didn’t have the material to crack on site. At first, it looked like a variant of the latest versions of those used by the SLDF, meaning that they were either Royal or had to have been used by Clan Wolverine, wich meant they were likely to come from the same place where Baumann had found all his hardware.

Thank God I had talked with Kamea about the need to return for a while to New Vandenberg to manage some business, dispatch some of my responsibilities as I was after all the governor of the system and maybe even going to Taurus to talk with the Calderon, as the only place where I could hope to decrypt the data cores was New Vandenberg.

 

[paulobrito]

The return to New Vandenberg went without incident.
Almost two years had passed since the last time I had been in the system and some changes were evident. The shipyard was in operation, with the first JumpShip, called New Life a few days away from officially entering service, a ceremony was even planned.


By now six Snowdens were already in operation with two more almost ready. Although only one slip of the shipyard was used to build new JumpShips, two more were in operation, maintaining JumpShips. Curiously, one of them belonged to a Federated Suns company.
While the mainframe was decoding the data cores, I was upgraded to the latest news. The technicians from VMI and V4RUhad finally reached a final prototype for the Concordat version of the Marauder II and it was ready to enter production.
Using the latest available technologies, it packed an Extended-Range PPC and a Medium Laser in each arm, a Medium Pulse Laser in the center torso and an LRM10 with a ton of ammunition in each torso. 20 Double Heat Sinks cooled it with the rest being equal. The production of ER PPC had started three months ago although at a limited speed.


For the launch of the New Life, which was the first JumpShip built in the Concordat but also in the whole Periphery, in the last hundreds of years, Edward had come.
'Edward, tell me how did the negotiations with Hanse and Katrina go?' I asked him as soon as I had a chance to be alone with him, in a place protected from wiretapping.
‘It is true that you weren’t in the area in the last months. What I can tell you is that I arrived in New Avalon when the ban was already doing a lot of damage to the economy, so our proposal to provide a HPG class A SLDF with full blueprints, manuals and tech specs couldn't have come at a better time, as you had anticipated. The possibility of both kingdoms being free from Comstar control in the future led to very interesting concessions being extracted'.
'And can you specify them, or is it a secret I don't have access to?' I asked, because he hadn't gone into details, just put on an air of satisfaction.
‘Well, normally the details would be secret, but my father gave me the permission to let you know because of your involvement. We got a credit of one trillion kroner, available over the next 10 years, full access to NAIS, various business concepts and production licenses and access to markets. In both nations, or if you want in the new Federated Commonwealth. And finally a better relationship on the military side'.
'Not bad, not bad at all. And by the way, what's a Davion JumpShip doing in our brand-new shipyard?
'Oh that? Part of the deal included maintaining House Davion's JumpShips, they were put under a lot of pressure with his little war.'
'Very cute. And where are ours repaired? They need a lot of maintenance too, as you know.
"Jean-Luc, Jean-Luc, you're forgetting that our shipyard on Taurus is also operational, even though it won't be capable of built new JumpShips until the end of the year, for now it can only do maintenance. And we're investing in Mechdur in your wife's kingdom. I'm sure we can maintain some there too, which will help both nations businesses,' replied Edward with a calm and satisfied air.
'Since we are talking about the kingdom of Kamea, we found in Detroit an old Earthwerks factory, that is repairable, with very interesting capabilities. If someone brings the money, I can get the technicians to repair it. Do you happen to know anyone who might be looking for a good investment?' I quietly counter.
"Jean-Luc, you know perfectly well that this money is to improve Concordat not other nations..." replied Edward with an exasperated look.
"Come on Edward. We both know your father's idea is that in the next generation, if not before, we will merge both kingdoms as Davion and Steiner did. If I’m not wrong, we tried to sell that before to the Centrellas, but they didn’t buy it. I'm just looking after your interests for when you will be Lord Protector. ‘
After a quiet pause, Edward answered.
'Perhaps something can be arranged, but I must speak to my father first.' Edward replied with a thoughtful look and not denying my statement.

Since I had his attention, I asked one last question

‘And what about the long range expedition to the SLDF Navy test base? Have they returned?’

‘God, you are relentless!’ said Edward with a laugh. ‘Yes, they have returned, three months ago, to be precise. They returned with a modified Soyal Heavy Cruiser. The SLDF was apparently experimenting with sub-capital weapons and this cruiser had some installed. And we also found a partly disassembled advanced dockyard that we took with us and we decided to use it to repair the one in Bolthole. And before you ask, we found enough hardware to create at least two regiments of ‘Mechs, several regiments of armor, mechanized infantry and diverse support units from the various caches along the way.’

With a laugh he added

‘That is if you want to use hardware from the Time of War. We also got about a company of late Star League ‘Mechs and lots of spares for army and navy.’

After the ceremony was over and Edward had returned to Taurus, I was able to analyze the data cores obtained from Baumann's base and to do this alone
They were in pretty bad shape and much of the information was not recoverable, but they included part of the captain's logs of a JumpShip, the SLS Dobrev and parts of the route to a destination, which looked like the Pentagon worlds with a return route from there to this side of Periphery. Unfortunately the maps were all badly damaged and it was impossible to establish the exact location of the Clans worlds or the exact route to there. The logs included pieces of the history of the Wolverines, which were similar to what I knew from the Betrayal of Ideals novel and with talks about a destination beyond Periphery on this side. Unfortunately it contained no details and the maps were not usable or complete missing a lot of information.

For VMI the last two years had been very good. All the production had been sold, Andurien had been added to the list of clients, meaning probably that the Concordat government wanted to weaken the Capellans as much as possible as several other military industries in the Concordat were also selling their production to both the Magistracy and the Andurien military, providing both forces with more options than in the story I remembered and allowing them to be in much better shape while making the Concordat and my companies richer.