Aurigan Sentinels (Battle CYOA)

[Oshha]

Zenith Jump Point, Fable System
Capellan March, Federated Suns
1st April 3020

After three months of exhausting travel, we finally arrived at the Fable system. I'll have two months to work with as Dad paid the Cardenia Claremont's captain close to a million C-Bills to stick around until the start of June. Hopefully, that will be long enough to find the secret SLDF asteroid base in the system and uncover whatever secrets it holds.

If it isn't, well, I don't want to think about that.

To my surprise, the habitable planet of the system is still just that. Records on Fable's past indicate that the place was temporarily colonised during the First Succession War and for the entirety of the Second Succession War before dropping off the map sometime during the Third Succession War.

Atmospheric pressure is within standard deviations and the air is still breathable. The planet has plenty of water with water covering almost sixty percent of the surface. Totally colonisable by any reasonable measures. Maybe the wildlife is too nasty or there are some regular natural disasters that make local living a pain? In any case, it doesn't matter. The expedition is here for the asteroid belt, not the former colony or the world it was on.

The Starclaimed Spinner ends up spending two weeks and a quarter of our time combing the asteroid field for anything out of place. While it takes many close calls, we do eventually find the right asteroid, a massive one with a remarkably stable rotation. Yet it is the singular manmade structure on the surface that marks it out as the right one, a half-buried fusion reactor with a control room on the surface of the asteroid.

There isn't anywhere nearby for the Buccaneer-class DropShip to set down, but thankfully the Starclaimed Spinner isn't the standard variant of the class. In addition to being modified to carry a mixture of passengers and cargo, they also have a small craft hangar bay that contains a shuttle. Dad clearly thought ahead when planning this whole affair. He was always smart like that.

The shuttle can only carry eight people in its passenger bay, which means I can only take seven others with me. Four of Dad's-no, four of my best spacers plus Captain Arkos and a couple of her Vixens. Spacers for technical stuff while the Vixens can provide security and heavy lifting. While the Starclaimed Spinner remains in orbit, the shuttle sets down nearby the pair of structures and my team of eight ventures out.

Having nothing, but a space suit to protect me is nerve wracking. It is the only way to reach the control room, but having just a single layer to protect me from the harsh elements of space, well, it is a new experience that I am not at all eager to repeat.

"Definitely SLDF," says Captain Arkos as she points to the structure, "See that? That's the Star League star."

I follow the Canopian woman's hand, spotting the big Cameron star. It has faded with age and exposure, but nobody with a proper education could fail to recognise it for what it is. If I didn't know I have the right place already, this certainly confirms it.

"I'll take point," says Captain Arkos, her tone brooking no argument, "There might be booby traps or security systems and me and my girls will have the best chance of spotting them."

Thankfully, there is nothing of the sort despite Captain Arkos' worries and while the control room's doors lack power, one of the spacers is able to get us inside with some engineering tools and a bit of jury-rigging. It ends up taking more than a few minutes of waiting on my part, but we finally got access to the control room for the reactor.

Speaking of which, it isn't completely offline as a trickle of power is still being supplied to the control room, which is full of equipment and consoles related to fusion engineering. Part of me wants to go looking through everything, but that would take hours beyond what my suit can give. Instead, I look around for something to…ah-hah! Found it!

Spotting the slot for a memory chip, I have found what I am looking for. I may not have a memory chip of my own to use, but Dad's did have a valid SLDF ID code of some high-ranking senior officer. Hopefully, that should work.

I bring up the log-in screen before entering the code into the keypad. The blue light blinks blearily for a few seconds before switching to green for a split second. Then rumbling begins, startling all of us, surprising a yelp out of me while Captain Arkos and her Vixens bring up their guns in the case of there being trouble.

But nothing happens apart from the loud rumbling and the ground vibrating.

"Back to the shuttle!" orders Captain Arkos and I hesitate.

I don't want to argue with the highly experienced veteran, but I also don't want to cut and run. Thankfully, I am saved by a call from Starclaimed Spinner's captain.

"Uh, boss," calls the man, "You're not gonna believe this…"

"What is it?" I reply into the radio.

"Whatever you did down there, all of a sudden a part of one face just…cracked open," replies the man, sounding eager of all things as far as I can tell, "Fortunately a lot of the smaller rocks appear to just be compacted debris from a couple centuries of impacts. The door actually worked just fine, it just had to brush off the dust first. With that said, it's almost a kilometre wide. I don't know how the hell the SLDF managed to build the damn thing, but it's holding steady and doesn't look like it'll collapse on us. Are we going in?"

"As soon as we get back aboard the Spinner," I tell him, now sharing his eagerness, "I don't want to miss this anymore than you do."

***​

As the Starclaimed Spinner slowly flies in, it is hard to see anything, even from the bridge. Thankfully that changes when the captain orders all of the DropShip's exterior lights active, revealing just what I have found. An internal spacedock, built into the interior walls of the asteroid in a massive feat of engineering that only the Star League could feasibly pull off.

While some of the bays are empty, three of them contain JumpShips. I recognise two of them as Invader-class JumpShips like the Cardenia Claremont that brought me here, but the third one is different and noticeably bigger compared to the two Invaders.

"That's a Star Lord," mutters one of the shocked bridge crew, "An honest to Blake Star Lord-class JumpShip."

"You don't see those everyday," says the captain before glancing at me, "Six collars on that one, boss, and they are rare. Not as rare as a Monolith, but you don't see a Star Lord outside of military service in this age."

I nod my acknowledgement as we come up upon the DropShips next, where there are ten different vessels to be found. The first group is the smallest of the DropShips, half a dozen of the same design. They're spheroids and look to be the right shape to be a Union or Danais, but they are too big to be one of those designs. They can't be Seekers because those were only invented after the Succession Wars had started. Could they be…?

"Those are Fortresses," says one of the bridge crew, "Allah, I never thought I would see so many at once."

Fortress-class DropShips. A nice assault ship capable of carrying a combined arms battalion and has its own inbuilt artillery. One would be a boon and a good centrepiece for any assault force. Six of them is enough for two combined arms regiments, each with a 'Mech battalion, an armoured battalion and an infantry battalion.

Next up is a pair of Mules as I have witnessed enough of its type coming and going from Cordia City's spaceport to recognise them. While not as rare as the Fortresses and arguably not as valuable, Mules are useful for carrying out supplies and would be useful for both military and civilian shipping.

I'm not as familiar with the second to last design, but I do recognise the Mammoth-class as its design is too distinctive to miss. A single one of those can carry more than four Mules put together though if I remember, it has a lot more upkeep and maintenance requirements.

It is the last DropShip that confuses me because what on Earth is the Argo of all ships doing here? It should still be crash-landed on Axylus, in disrepair and overrun with pirates. Why is it here in the Fable system at this secret SLDF asteroid base? A mystery to ponder at another time. If the Argo is here for the taking, I won't say no to claiming that wondrous piece of LosTech for myself.

I'm about to suggest that we find a suitable docking spot when the captain suddenly chokes up and goes wide-eyed. I follow his gaze and try to figure out what has them so spooked when the captain gestures with a shaking hand.

"Sweet Christmas," whispers the captain in a mixture of shock and awe, "That is a goddamn WarShip."

I follow his hand, pointing further back into the spacedock and then I gulp and go wide-eyed myself. What I had thought to be part of the dock's structure due to its sheer size is actually a goddamn WarShip at the very end of the docks. The SLS Tomb-Maker going by the white letters emblazoned on the side of the ship. Thank God that it is currently offline, but holy cow, that is a WarShip. An honest-to-God WarShip. I want to say that it isn't a small one either, but I honestly don't know enough about WarShips to say that with any authority.

Nobody except ComStar and the Clans have WarShips these days and the former keep theirs secret while the latter are secret themselves. No, the Taurians have the CS New Vandenberg or whatever that white elephant is actually called.

If this WarShip is still functional, it is the greatest treasure here whilst also putting a massive target on my back from ComStar and whoever else wants to destroy or steal it. And there will be a lot of others beyond ComStar who will want this WarShip.

God.

The next few hours are exhausting and mildly harrowing as the Starclaimed Spinner sets down in one of the empty docking cradles and both my team and much of the Starclaimed Spinner's crew get to work. The crew of the Buccaneer-class DropShip might have only been hired for this expedition, but they don't want to miss out on this find of the century. Not to mention their captain is mentioning the possibility of signing up with me on a more permanent basis as is Captain Arkos.

Despite the lack of atmosphere and two and half centuries of disuse, the depot is in remarkably good shape as expected of Star League engineering. The machinery and computers all appear to be functional and it isn't long before some of my techs find the main reactor and bring it to life. I have my own spot of fortune as the group I am with stumbles across the main control room.

With the power restored and the ID code being sufficient to login, it is just a matter of looking through the unfamiliar layout and files to find the data I am looking for. Thankfully, I have enough smarts and computer skills in the old noggin to make my way through the computer systems. With help from a few techs, it only takes a few minutes to bring up both the map of the facility and an inventory of its contents.

Of course, we'll need to confirm everything manually to make sure that the physical contents of the facility match up with the electronic records, but at least I'll have an idea of what we are looking at.

Six Fortress-class DropShips, two Mule-class DropShips, one Mammoth-class DropShip and finally, huh, there is an Argo-class DropShip, but this one is the Myrmidon not the Argo. That rings a few bells. I remember reading about how that one wasn't finished and got disassembled for parts during the First Succession War. I'm not complaining that it is here, but it is an example of my meta-knowledge not lining up with reality and that is concerning.

Okay, two Invader-class JumpShips, one Star Lord-class JumpShip and, oh, one McKenna-class Battleship called the SLS Tomb-Maker. A McKenna. Neither of my lifetimes are familiar with the WarShips of the SLDF, but I'm fairly certain that the McKenna is one of the big WarShips. At the very least it is a worthy peer to the Texas-class if not better.

And I have one. If I can get it working, it will put the Aurigan Coalition on the map. I just need to stop it from suffering the same fate as the SLS Tripitz and make sure it is a deterrent for attacks, not bait for them. Still, an honest-to-God WarShip and a battleship to the boot.

Okay, what else is here. Three squadrons of Sparrowhawks, all of them being the standard variant. A squadron of Lightnings, a squadron of Hellcats and a squadron of Stingrays, all of them also standard variants. Finally, a squadron of Stukas and they are, wait, they are not the standard Stuka. The half a dozen heavy ASFs here are all the Royal STU-K5b. Which if I remember things correctly, they will be a real boon, especially if I stick some aces in them.

Combat vehicles are up next. Two companies of Chevalier Light Tanks and I have never heard of those before. A company of Lightnings, which are different to the ASF of the same name as these tanks are hovercraft. Two companies of VTOLs, one consisting of Cyrano Gunships and the other Nightshades. Next is the company of Padilla Heavy Artillery Tanks and if I recall things correctly, they have Arrow IVs.

What else? Two companies of Manticore Heavy Tanks and a company of Merkava Heavy Tanks, all Mk VIIIs. Merkavas. Those are Terran Hegemony tanks from the Age of War and early models of them were being built in other me's time, back in the 21st Century. Lastly, a company of Alacorn Heavy Tanks and all of them are Mk VIs. That's the primary variant of them, equipped with three gauss rifles. Nice.

Then we have the last of the warmachines in the depot, the BattleMechs. A single company of Light 'Mechs, all OTT-7J Ostcouts and they make for a solid scout. Like a Spider except they have nice electronics and an ejection seat whilst trading a Medium Laser for an extra ton of armour. Next is a company of GRF-1N Griffin, which are solid skirmishers, but nothing truly special. Bad luck that there are no Royal variants or LosTech in their designs.

Ooh, three companies of heavy 'Mechs. One company each of ON1-K Orions, WHM-6R Warhammers and CPLT-C1 Catapults. No Royals or LosTech amongst them unfortunately. Last, but certainly not least, two companies of Assault 'Mechs. First up is the dozen HGN-732 Highlanders and while this version doesn't have any Double-Heat Sinks, it does have a gauss rifle as its primary weapon unlike the downgraded variants of the Succession Wars. The second company is made up of the AS7-D Atlas. A shame that it isn't the Royal Atlas, but I know a certain world in the Reach that has some tucked away.

***​

We finally reach the depot and all of its LosTech goodies. Ten DropShips, three JumpShips and a WarShip along with seven squadrons of ASFs, ten companies of tanks and seven companies of BattleMechs. There is some other stuff including spare parts, ammo and other assorted minor stuff that isn't spelled out in the CYOA, but I'll be including here in the story such as infantry kits, some exoskeletons and a few IndustrialMechs. Not to mention that the memory core in the facility hasn't been brought up yet.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.

 

[Hellteddy]

Thank you for the chappy!

Holy mo'ly that's a lot of loot and with the other Argo class dropship, hopefully the MC can repair the crashed one and you'll have both ever built. As they say 'gotta catch em all!'

 

[Orangeduke38]

Light 'Mechs, all OTT-7J Oscouts and they make for

Click to shrink...

Shouldn't it be Ostscout rather than Oscouts?

Depending on what the facility is it might be more valuable than much of the stuff in it.

 

[Legionman]

You bring up the log-in screen before entering the code into the keypad.

Click to shrink...

you tell him, now sharing his eagerness,

Click to shrink...

revealing just what you have found.

Click to shrink...

You recognise two of them as Invader-class JumpShips like the Cardenia Claremont that brought you here,

Click to shrink...

says the captain before glancing at you,

Click to shrink...

both your team

Click to shrink...

signing up with you

Click to shrink...

some of your techs

Click to shrink...

All of these use second person narration instead of first person

 

[Oshha]

Shouldn't it be Ostscout rather than Oscouts?

Click to shrink...

Fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.

All of these use second person narration instead of first person

Click to shrink...

Fixed. Thanks for catching those.

 

[Oshha]

Star League Defence Force Outpost MC-P0J-117, Fable System
Capellan March, Federated Suns
21st April 3020

As impressive as all of the ships and warmachines are, they aren't the only treasures to be found within the facility and its depot. There are plenty of infantry kits ranging from standard gear to more specialised loadouts like marines or jump infantry. Not to mention cooling suits and SLDF-grade neurohelmets for MechWarriors alongside SLDF kits for tank crews and ASF pilots.

Then there are the support vehicles and other hardware. Over one hundred regular trucks for carrying cargo, coming in five ton and ten ton variants. No MASH trucks or Mobile HQs or recovery vehicles, but while it would have been nice to get the superior SLDF versions, lesser versions of each are still produced and available for purchase back home. As for the rest, there are over two hundred exoskeletons though all of them are civilian in nature with not a single Nighthawk to be found. Unfortunate, but also not unexpected given the rarity and purpose of the Nighthawk power armour.

Following the exoskeletons are the IndustrialMechs. While not quite as numerous as their more popular and militarised cousins, there are almost as many of them in the facility as there BattleMechs. Seventy-two IndustrialMechs to eighty-four BattleMechs is a difference of only a dozen. Best of all is that half of the IndustrialMechs are LosTech, so to say as the Succession Wars have seen the loss of their factories and means to replicate some of their high-end hardware.

Next up is the towed artillery with the facility having two dozen Long Tom field artillery pieces in storage along with twice as many Thumper field artillery pieces. Which isn't as impressive as it sounds because you can't just throw them onto a vehicle without making some serious modifications to both the gun and the vehicle. Not to mention that it takes a mechanised platoon of infantry to lug around either one Long Tom or two Thumpers. On top of it all, there are logistical concerns for ammo as the infantry can only carry so much at once and you need to have ready access to a stockpile of artillery shells.

So yeah, artillery is cool and all, but the practicalities of using it makes it less desirable.

The facility also has a whole load of sim pods in its storage bays. There are sim pods for 'Mechs, ASFs, tanks, DropShips, JumpShips and even infantry though it escapes me how those last ones could be useful compared to actual physical training. It isn't like you need to worry about damaging expensive and possibly irreplaceable hardware when training raw infantry recruits. Still, they are a boon especially since they are SLDF-grade simulation pods and not the downgraded crap that gets made in the 31st Century.

There is also a whole load of spare parts and ammo in the facility's cargo bays for its warmachines, including some LosTech weapons and ammo for them. While still quite limited, it is nice to know that we have some options for upgrading regular variants or replacing LosTech that gets destroyed in battle or otherwise damaged. The extra count is still going, but the inventory says that we are looking at around twenty-five thousand tons of assorted spare parts and ammo.

Last of all, there are two treasures in the facility that rival the Tomb-Maker in value. This facility isn't just a SLDF military base, but it is also an engineering research site. It isn't Helm by a long shot, but the facility's memory core has extensive knowledge of the various industrial and automation techniques of the Star League. Thankfully, engineering is my field and looking through just some of the data is enough for me to realise just how valuable this memory core is.

With the knowledge contained within, the memory core could be used to rebuild late Star League technology from the first principles. Not only would it allow for the reconstruction or restoration of existing factories, but it would serve as the basis for allowing the construction of brand new factories that are worthy of the Star League.

Unfortunately, it doesn't carry any blueprints for any late Star League technology or blueprints at all. I or anyone else using it will need to acquire existing technical specifications or invent our own and while the latter of such is certainly viable with the memory core, it will take time, expertise and C-Bills to do so.

The other invaluable treasure is a small automated tool factory and while it doesn't produce a vast quantity of stuff, what it does make is of the highest quality. Despite being called a tool factory, the truth is that it is effectively an oversized and over engineered machine shop with its official name being indicative of its intended purpose rather than its limitations. It is meant to produce prototype designs for testing so just like the data core, it is limited by its need for blueprints and the site's lack of them.

Oh, and there is a hundred thousand tons of assorted raw materials. Apparently, they were around for testing. Nothing truly valuable amongst them like gold, diamonds or endo-steel, but raw materials are raw materials. It doesn't cost me anything to bring them home and I should have sufficient transportation for them so it is basically free resources to use or sell as I wish.

***​

"Alright," I say as the senior leadership of my impromptu group sits around a relatively private table aboard the Starclaimed Spinner, "How much of the paperwork lines up with reality after a closer inspection?"

"The WarShip is functional and fuelled up," says Commodore Leona Geary, the ex-AFFS leader of Dad's-of my naval contingent, "There are enough basic similarities that we could do a decent job of running it. We don't have nearly enough people to fully crew it, but we should be able to get it moving and capable of jumping."

"I didn't think things would be that simple," says the captain of the Starclaimed Spinner, one Captain Danilo Teodoro.

"It isn't, but there is more overlap than you might expect," answers Commodore Geary, "The only difference between a Compact K-F Drive and a regular one is mass and price. Our JumpShip crew can get it working and jumping as well as they can with the Star Lord and the Invaders. As for the rest of it, it uses the same technology as a DropShip so there is enough similarity to figure things out. We just don't have another crew to fill it out."

"What about the other ships?" I inquire.

"All of them are known designs except for that Argo-class, ma'am," answers Commodore Geary, "Apart from the Myrmidon, we got enough veterans amongst our ranks that we can find at least few people who have experience with every other DropShip or JumpShip. Unfortunately, we don't have enough crew for every vessel even discounting the McKenna. We are about a hundred fifty people shy of crewing all of the DropShips and JumpShips. Adding in the Tomb-Maker just increases our deficit of spacers to over seven hundred."

"Will that be a problem?" asks Captain Arkos before clarifying her question, "I mean, how much of a problem will that be?"

"We have sufficient JumpShip crews and docking collars to bring everything with us," answers the Feddie woman, "We will need to rotate crews though, even those of the DropShips to get them docked up to the collars, but we can bring everything with us. I do recommend filling up the cargo bays with everything we want to bring with us before going through the hassle of docking everything up for heading back home."

"Speaking of heading home, how viable is it to get back to the Reach via dead systems?" I inquire, "I would rather not have anyone find out about this until we reach the relative safety of Coalition space."

"I'll have someone look into it," replies Commodore Geary, "Fortunately, we have old SLDF maps at hand. Nothing special, but they do contain some old systems that nobody bothers to put on any modern maps."

"Good," I say before looking around the table, "I assume that means we have space for everything?"

"On paper, we do," answers Captain Teodoro, "We have enough bays to stick most of the war machines in them and even without that, the big tickets can fit in between the Mammoth and that Argo beast. The Mules and Fortresses have room between them for everything else. I haven't run the exact numbers, but in my expert opinion, we can take everything with us so long as we can stick all of those raw materials in the battleship. The WarShip is the only ship with the cargo capacity to take it all home with us."

"Speaking of going home, what are your long-term plans?" asks Captain Sonya Zola, the mother of Vance and Vanessa, as the dark-skinned woman gives me a long look.

"Mercenary unit," I answer promptly, "The Aurigan Coalition is my home and House Arano has done right by my family so I don't want to abandon it to sign up with a Successor Lord, but legal and political reasons mean I can't just directly sign up with the ACM. Meanwhile, financial concerns mean that whatever unit I form will need to be mercenaries to ensure enough income to sustain itself."

"I will be willing to sign on with you," says Commodore Geary before giving a sheepish grin, "The chance to command a warship is too good to pass up."

"I'll need an Admiral for this many ships and you are the most experienced and senior naval officer here," I say, "I would be happy to have you aboard. How many others are likely to stay with us after this expedition is over?"

"The majority," answers Captain Zola, "We all knew that a new mercenary unit would be the most likely outcome of a successful trip and with a few exceptions, we intended to join up. Besides, I'm not going to turn down the chance to have a new ride."

"I've been speaking with my crew and the general consensus is that we would like to sign up with you on a longer term basis," says Captain Teodoro as he leans forward, "You're a smart enough girl and between that and this haul of the century, you'll be going places."

"I'll need to discuss the details with you, but I am open to extending this job from a single contract to something permanent," says Captain Arkos as she leans back, giving me an eyeful of her bosom that I make an effort not to stare at, "As Danilo says, you'll be going to places and I don't mind being on that train. I will need to speak with my girls to make sure that they are all aboard."

"Of course," I reply, "I don't expect any decisions right now. We do need to get everything aboard the DropShips and the DropShips to their JumpShips. Not to mention we need to figure out what route we'll take back home."

"We also need to figure out what to do about the Cardenia Claremont," points out Captain Arkos, "They'll stick around with us and should accompany us back to the Aurigan Coalition, but they might change their minds.

"Especially if we attempt to sneak back via dead systems," adds Commodore Geary, "Most JumpShips avoid using them for a reason."

"I'll speak with their captain," says Captain Teodoro, "Veronika and I go back. I might be able to talk some reason into her."

***​

This is going to be the end of the expedition and the first arc. I don't feel like covering the trip home in detail so I'll be starting the next chapter and arc with the return to the Aurigan Coalition and summarising things that happened on the way back where needed.

Anyway, the expedition has been successful, but there are still logistics that need to be sorted out such as sorting out if they can bring everything back and if so, how to do so. Not to mention crewing the ships with their limited numbers and how to safely get that battleship back to the Reach.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.

 

[Orangeduke38]

Were all the droppers and jumpships cargo and other bays empty? Did they have full magazines?

 

[paulobrito]

so, the Mckenna doesn't have any dropship connected to it?
No Pentagon, or heavy CV ones?
Pity.

 

[Hellteddy]

Thank you for the chapter!

Better transfer yourself, Captain Arkos and a couple of her Vixens to the Mckenna, got to keep that baby safe from theft.

 

[Oshha]

Were all the droppers and jumpships cargo and other bays empty? Did they have full magazines?

Click to shrink...

I'm going to say that they were fully loaded on regular stuff, but their cargo holds were empty or only had non-interesting stuff like fuel or rations.

so, the Mckenna doesn't have any dropship connected to it?
No Pentagon, or heavy CV ones?
Pity.

Click to shrink...

It did not.

 

[Dekuton]

Hell. Take everything not nailed down but keep the location a secret still. Then slowly work on refurbishing it so it can be used as a proper base again. Always nice to have a secret base to lick your wounds in if need be. Considering it probably wasnt easy to find in the first place? I doubt itll be easy to find for other people. The warship tho awesome will also be a problem. If it were me? And i knew what i do about comstar? Id strip it. Up armor the jump and drop ships. Use the naval weapons for base defense weapons or toss em on other ships if they can. Also I highly doubt military ships wont have user manuals for systems and such so nab em and integrate those systems into a base or other ships that wont draw comstar like a fat kid to a cupcake. Cause that warship is only gonna end in tears once it gets out that it exists. Still tho. I hope those that DONT sign on keep their mouths shut. Anyways. Good entry. Looking forward to more

 

[Valles]

A fresh merc unit isn't going to have the resources to see to Tomb-Maker's care and feeding, certainly, but I don't think that stripping her is a good call. She's a force-concentration asset that has no peer short of the Clan Homeworlds; Comstar's mothballed ship stacks (probably) have a Farragut and a Texas, and certainly have a selection of battlecruisers... But none of those classes are a straight match for a McKenna. ComStar might or might not have a Cameron class in ready reserve - Invisible Truth - and almost certainly has three Dante-class frigates as well as the yardships that support the Explorer Corps.

But all three Dantes together mass less than Tomb-Maker, and while they're frankly overgunned for their size, their guns have shorter effective ranges and they don't have the toughness to take it while they close. Aside from those three warships, stopping a McKenna in the 3020s is going to involve concentrating massive, blatant fractions of the aerospace arms of entire Successor States. Like, a third or a quarter. Best guess is that the CapCon in this era has about five thousand to fifty-three hundred battlemechs, given my sources' listing them at forty regiments. Projecting from the Davion RCT's aerospace element on the grounds that the FedSuns would send more birds if they had them and the CapCon will be about as deprived, that gives about six hundred and fifty ASFs in CapCon service. (And about thirteen hundred in the AFFS.)

How effective massed ASFs are versus warships varies a lot depending on lore, the age and version of the mechanics used, and so forth, but even with the most generous-to-the-fighters interpretation, I'd want to bring three regiments - 180+ aerospace fighters - if I was hunting McKennas. And I wouldn't expect to get many of them back, afterwards, a condition that gets much worse if she has, say, a sixpack of Achilles assault dropships docked to her collars.

Tomb-Maker is the ultimate hole card, and the big question is whether she's more safely concealed until Absolutely Necessary at the secret base where she was found, or somewhere in the Coalition. Revealing her will draw incredible amounts of attention, because militarily, nobody can really stop her. She needs secrecy because the Aurigan Coalition doesn't have the yards to repair or maintain her in operation, either, and because having her out in the open will also tell ROM and the Maskirovka where to send the single spy with a strategic nuke in their luggage.

 

[Oshha]

Nadir Jump Point, Coromodir
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
18th August 3020

By the time we reach Coalition territory, it is already August and once we have finally jumped into the Coromodir system, half of the month has already gone by. We ended up spending the rest of April and almost all of May in the Fable system, taking stock and getting ready to return home with our loot.

Captain Teodore ended up convincing Captain Veronika Abraham of the Cardenia Claremont to stick around. Apparently, the recommendation of the Starclaimed Spinner's captain combined with just how much of a haul I had found was enough for her and her crew to sign up, adding a third Invader-class JumpShip to my burgeoning mercenary unit. While the rest of the expedition continued to sort out the finds at the facility and load things into the DropShips, the Cardenia Claremont jumped to a neighbouring system with the Starclaimed Spinner so that the latter could stock up on fresh supplies for our return trip.

Barring the twin issues of money and manpower, everything has gone rather well. The loot from the expedition has been exceptional and beyond my wildest dreams, enough to found a couple combined arms regiments and then some. Not to mention that between the Myrmidon, Tomb-Maker and the Mammoth-class, we have enough cargo space for everything. We were even able to bring the tooling factory with us despite the difficulties of packing it up without breaking or damaging anything.

It was a nightmare to load it up into the Myrmidon, but I have no doubts that it will be worth it. We could have left in early May if we were willing to ditch the factory, but the ability to manufacture precise Star League-grade tooling is worth the extra hassle. I just need to find a company willing to sell or licence the schematics or go to the effort of designing my own. The latter of which isn't impossible between the memory core and the fact that the Myrmidon, just like her sistership, carries a small database of BattleMech technical specifications.

It isn't anything too major, just schematics on the 'Mechs in service of the SLDF. Not that it really counts as a proper limitation, but it is no New Dallas memory core, just something that every major power should already have access to.

And speaking of the Myrmidon, it has the SLDF-grade machine shop like the Argo and unlike the tooling factory, I have been able to put it to work on the trip home. By feeding it some of the raw materials we found, I've had the Myrmidon producing spare parts for the 'Mechs that we found. I'm not producing true LosTech, but for some of the 'Mechs that are no longer in production, their parts might as well be LosTech.

Unfortunately, the Myrmidon's machine shop isn't nearly as impressive as the tooling factory. Where the latter can build both components and the machinery needed to make said components, the machine shop can only do the former and its smaller size limits just what it can make in terms of scale. The tooling factory is capable of producing ship-scale parts if provided with the necessary schematics, but the Myrmidon will be doing no such thing.

Which opens up options for me in the future. Not only will it make salvaging damaged 'Mechs easier in any successful jobs, but we can produce fresh factory-grade parts in exchange for C-Bills, favours or just goodwill. Helping restore a noble family's 'Mech to a fully functional condition is nothing to scoff at given the power of the aristocracy in the neo-feudal system and just how undesirable being Dispossessed is. I don't buy into the idea that it is a fate worse than death like some, but that take isn't exactly an unpopular opinion in the days of the Third Succession War.

Speaking of which, it should be winding down now between the Federated Commonwealth Accords in a couple of years and the Concord of Kapteyn another couple of years after that. The raids won't stop, but I have found myself thrown into this mess as the end of an era is about to roll around the corner. If things go according to plan, the Succession Wars will be over by the start of the next decade and the status quo of the last century and a half will be no more. Of course, nobody, but me knows about that.

Unfortunately, it isn't all sunshine and roses as I have more immediate problems than what may or may not be happening in the upcoming years. I have literal megatons of hardware, but my manpower and finances to run them are severely lacking. Between the supplies we found, our limited payroll and the fact that almost everything is still in mothball, my current expenses are fairly low, but that won't last if I start putting my hardware into service.

I inherited five million C-Bills from Dad, but that small fortune isn't close to what I need. It might be enough to let me expand my fledgling mercenary unit into its true potential, but I'll be tapped out by then and without C-Bills, my hard work will be undone almost instantly. I've spoken with Commodore Geary, Captain Zola, Captain Arkos and Captain Teodore and between their words and what I can read up, I'll be needing double-digit millions on a monthly basis.

A good contract will make up for that, but I will need to get one of those first. Not to mention that I'll need a war chest for any surprise expenses that pop up unexpectedly or to make up for a poor contract. Hopefully, I can secure a decent contract within the Aurigan Coalition and I have options to build myself a war chest in a hurry. I can secure loans by using some of my hardware as collateral and LosTech, of which I currently have plenty, always fetches a premium in this era.

Whatever I do, I will have to move quickly because I'll be on a time limit too as the powers that be won't just let me build up in peace. ComStar will want to destroy what I've found, the Successor States will want to claim my loot for themselves and even the Canopians and Taurians will be wanting a piece of my pie.

I hope the NAIS will be interested in purchasing some genuine LosTech to reverse engineer.

***​

"I can't believe you actually have a battleship," says Moana in her recorded message as the Myrmidon burns towards Coromodir, "I know your message said you had one and everyone was questioning me about you over it, but It wasn't exactly believable. Sorry for not replying sooner, but my bosses didn't want me messaging you until you were in the system.

"I'm glad to see you survived your trip. When you vanished for a few months after your last message said you were jumping for an abandoned system, we just sort of assumed you had died or something. Speaking of which, you might have some legal issues to sort out and we really need to talk about those notes you left me in case you died. Because I looked at them thinking you had gotten yourself killed."

Oh. That might be a problem. In the event that I got myself killed or otherwise died, I left some notes for Moana that contained some of my meta-knowledge in them. Just the important stuff so someone could carry on in my stead. If Moana thought I had died and decided to read those notes.

Well, I certainly have some explaining to do. Hopefully, Moana is smart enough to be discreet about this. I don't need people thinking I'm insane or to overplay my hand too early when it comes to my otherworldly knowledge.

"Liz, as I'm sure you've guessed, we need to have a face to face talk," continues Moana in the recording, "We can talk about other stuff then. In the meantime, I still need time to process the flaming mess that you dropped on everyone's heads and see how things play out. See you soon."

Great, Moana is keeping me at bay. It grates, but I can't blame her given the circumstances. My sister needs to worry about the whole family now that Dad is gone and if that means letting me deal with everything on my own, then she'll make that hard choice. Especially since from her perspective, I might have gone insane whilst upending the local balance of power hard enough that the support of a single baronetess won't make a difference to my fate.

Speaking of which, High Lord Tamati Arano has already reached out to me to no one's surprise considering that my return hasn't been discreet since we jumped back into Coalition space. No doubt that the local head honcho wishes to speak with me. Not to mention that I have dozens of other important figures in the Reach attempting to contact me for one reason or another, but none of them are as important to me as Moana or High Lord Arano.

Back to the matter at hand, High Lord Arano has requested a meeting with me once I've arrived back at Coromodir VI. We've had some limited correspondence, but after ascertaining my loyalty and good intentions, High Lord Arano has elected to wait until we can have a face to face meeting before discussing things further. Like Moana.

"Um, boss," says Vance, distracting me from my thoughts as he pokes his head around the corner.

"Just call me Elizabeth," I reply as I look over at him, "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing, just wanting to see how you are holding up now that we've reached your home system," replies Vance as he walks into my quarters aboard the Myrmidon, "Things going according to the plan?"

"They're going about as well as they can right now," I answer, "Still a lot of variables up in the air, but things look hopeful. I might have a family issue or two to deal with, but that's personal stuff not anything the unit needs to worry about. That should go fine though nothing has been promised yet."

"Still going for the two combined arms regiments?" inquires Vance.

"It works with what we have, sticking a combined arms battalion on each Fortress," I reply, "I can promise you command of a 'Mech Company. Anything beyond that will depend on what sort of recruits we get. I wouldn't mind giving you a combined arms battalion to command, but I don't want to promise it in case we get too many people better suited for it."

"Don't worry, I get it," replies Vance as he gives me a grateful look, "Seriously, I would be happy with just having command of a lance. Heck, even just having a new ride is a big step up from being Dispossessed, you know."

"Not really, I never had a 'Mech of my own before," I tell him, "I might have had MechWarrior training, but I am last in line for the family 'Mechs on both sides of the family. Being a MechWarrior has always been my dream, but the realistic goal I worked towards was being a 'Mech Tech."

"Having a WarShip is a big way up from that," says Vance.

"It is, but I was never going to settle for mediocrity," I reply, "I have a position working on the family 'Mech reserved for me and I had offers from both the Espinosa Refit Yards and the NAIS."

"The NAIS?" repeats Vance as he stares at me and I am reminded that he and his family are Feddies even if they are mercenaries, "For real?"

"Yep," I confirm, "Wanted me for some top secret project that I wouldn't be told about until I entered the Suns. I considered it, but honestly? I'm not sure I would have gone for it if it meant leaving my home behind. It might not be the best trait for a mercenary, but I'm something of a patriot. The Reach is my home and the Aurigan people are my people."

"I've noticed," says Vance, "Think that is going to work out for us?"

"We'll be glorified house regulars, but it will work out," I answer after a moment, "The poor state of the ACM is due to politics and lack of domestic production. We are disproportionately rich for our size even if we don't compare up to any of the big powers so we don't need to worry about the Coalition running out of C-Bills. The biggest concerns will be political rather than financial and even then, I doubt we will have much to worry about once a new status quo has settled."

"I'll trust your judgement as the local," replies Vance, "Thanks for the chat, boss. You don't mind if I spread this around?"

"Not at all."

***​

This chapter is mostly summarising stuff before getting into the local politics. The way I currently have things planned out, this arc will cover Elizabeth getting her local backing and beginning to put together her mercenary unit in truth. The next arc will be the first mission, but that's still a little while off.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.

 

[Dmol8]

Hey @Oshha? How much of an RTS player are you?

 

[TheOmnimercurial]

Wow.

Not even bothering trying to be discreet.

Good to get the AC moving in the direction you want, given you can set up Factories and possibly restore the local Jumpship yard.

But you will have ALL the Intelligence Agencies gunning for you.

Plus you have minimal personnel, with any recruitment now likely to be full of Agents trying to get near that Tech and your Character.

I do find the money issues confusing though, as just operating those Jumpships doing trade and passenger routes would be free money practically.

Main reason why revealing the Battleship seems so baffling.

Money should be easy to get with Jumpships and far less risky than running a Merc Outfit on the Ground.

 

[Tyrell]

Wow.

Not even bothering trying to be discreet.

Good to get the AC moving in the direction you want, given you can set up Factories and possibly restore the local Jumpship yard.

But you will have ALL the Intelligence Agencies gunning for you.

Plus you have minimal personnel, with any recruitment now likely to be full of Agents trying to get near that Tech and your Character.

I do find the money issues confusing though, as just operating those Jumpships doing trade and passenger routes would be free money practically.

Main reason why revealing the Battleship seems so baffling.

Money should be easy to get with Jumpships and far less risky than running a Merc Outfit on the Ground.

Click to shrink...

On the jumpships - considering how few there are now I'd bet that many of them operate as cartels with ties to pirates to keep their monopoly on trunk lines secured from others.

Adding more supply to a trunk line might in their eyes force them to lower prices which they don't want and thus they're going to come gunning for you if you try to just break into the commercial business without a strong space arm

 

[Oshha]

Hey @Oshha? How much of an RTS player are you?

Click to shrink...

I only play it single-player and only if there is a pause button because I like to do things like being able to stop for lunch or answer the doorbell or go to the toilet.

Not even bothering trying to be discreet.

Main reason why revealing the Battleship seems so baffling.

Click to shrink...

Hiding the battleship was something of a non-starter if Elizabeth was going to bring it back to Aurigan space since even the uninhabited systems there have traders passing though. If she could, Elizabeth would have kept it hidden, but as things are, it wasn't a possibility upon returning to Aurigan space so Elizabeth didn't bother. Leaving it at Fable is something which Elizabeth has dismissed out of hand because it would mean abandoning her battleship several jumps into foreign territory Now she could have left it in an abandon system nearer to the border, but it still has the same issue of being abandoned in foreign space if to a lesser degree.

People have talked about keeping the battleship secret and while I agree with that would be the best option, the only plausible option I've seen is leaving it at the Fable base to retrieve later, which Elizabeth considers to be unacceptable for the above reasons.

I do find the money issues confusing though, as just operating those Jumpships doing trade and passenger routes would be free money practically.

Money should be easy to get with Jumpships and far less risky than running a Merc Outfit on the Ground.

Click to shrink...

On the jumpships - considering how few there are now I'd bet that many of them operate as cartels with ties to pirates to keep their monopoly on trunk lines secured from others.

Adding more supply to a trunk line might in their eyes force them to lower prices which they don't want and thus they're going to come gunning for you if you try to just break into the commercial business without a strong space arm

Click to shrink...

Elizabeth's end goal isn't making money, it is strengthening the Reach and she currently intends to do that making use of her looted SLDF hardware in a way that strengthens her own power and authority. However, making use of that military hardware is as expensive as you need to pay for maintenance, pay checks and other assorted costs, which means that Elizabeth needs money to avoid going bankrupt. Renting out the JumpShip collars helps, but income won't be enough to cover costs, especially if Elizabeth want to make use of the JumpShips for own purposes. For her military unit to be affordable, it needs to be able to pay for itself, which means going mercenary.

So yes, the JumpShips make her money and could make her enough money to live in luxury, but money is just a means to end for Elizabeth and the JumpShips won't make enough money to be sufficient for what Elizabeth actually wants to do.

Also Elizabeth wants to be a MechWarrior and command her own military unit because she grew up in a MechWarrior family even if she was last in line to inherit the family 'Mech. She won't consciously admit to it, but as a character, she has her own subconscious biases about what to do in life. The idea of not being a MechWarrior in favour of safer ways of making a profit isn't something that would naturally occur to her.

 

[TheOmnimercurial]

To be fair I did not mean to not be a Merc at all.

I was more thinking that she would not need to use all of her Jumpships, as she has a lot. She can just use the huge one or two smaller Jumpships etc.

It means that the Ships she is not using, then make Profit doing routes as she does her Merc Work.

Hell even her personal Jumpships in use can rent spare Collars as you rightly pointed out.

I Just think that the Jumpers not in use directly would bring in a lot more money than you think, more than sufficient to fund her Merc stuff.

 

[Dmol8]

I only play it single-player and only if there is a pause button because I like to do things like being able to stop for lunch or answer the doorbell or go to the toilet.

Click to shrink...

OK then is Elizabeth going to remember that she is up against other players and build a second MCV?

Edit: That word doesn't belong there.

 

[Oshha]

To be fair I did not mean to not be a Merc at all.

I was more thinking that she would not need to use all of her Jumpships, as she has a lot. She can just use the huge one or two smaller Jumpships etc.

It means that the Ships she is not using, then make Profit doing routes as she does her Merc Work.

Hell even her personal Jumpships in use can rent spare Collars as you rightly pointed out.

I Just think that the Jumpers not in use directly would bring in a lot more money than you think, more than sufficient to fund her Merc stuff.

Click to shrink...

In 3025 era, JumpShip rent out their collars for 50,000 C-Bills for each collar per jump. Meanwhile the monthly upkeep of mercenary units, especially when they are multi-regiment and operating their own ships, can easily get into the millions or double digit millions. So while Elizabeth could make a small fortune on a monthly basis, it won't be enough to cover the upkeep costs of a newly formed multi-regiment mercenary unit that has to maintain expensive spaceships.

OK then is Elizabeth going to remember that she is up against other players and build a second MCV?

Edit: That word doesn't belong there.

Click to shrink...

What do you mean by MCV?

 

[Tyrell]

In 3025 era, JumpShip rent out their collars for 50,000 C-Bills for each collar per jump. Meanwhile the monthly upkeep of mercenary units, especially when they are multi-regiment and operating their own ships, can easily get into the millions or double digit millions.

Click to shrink...

It's stuff like this that makes no goddamn sense xD

The transportation must be far more profitable! We're talking the only method of transporting goods interstellar and it's in limited supply!!!

 

[paulobrito]

It's stuff like this that makes no goddamn sense xD

The transportation must be far more profitable! We're talking the only method of transporting goods interstellar and it's in limited supply!!!

Click to shrink...

Welcome to FASANomics. Don't think too much about it, you get a big headache or worst.

 

[Oshha]

It's stuff like this that makes no goddamn sense xD

The transportation must be far more profitable! We're talking the only method of transporting goods interstellar and it's in limited supply!!!

Click to shrink...

It's stuff like this that makes no goddamn sense xD

The transportation must be far more profitable! We're talking the only method of transporting goods interstellar and it's in limited supply!!!

Click to shrink...

Yup, FASAnomics doesn't make sense. That said, since we do have the numbers, I'm going to work with them as best as I can. At least on small scale stuff. My way of dealing with large-scale FASAnomics is to be vague without giving any specifics. So rather numbers, you have abundant C-Bills, a thriving economy, insufficient finances and whatnot.

 

[Dmol8]

What do you mean by MCV?

Click to shrink...

Mobile Construction Vehicle. The codifier of the concept of RTS Dune 2 used them as the starting building and main base that builds all the other buildings and Elizabeth:

We were even able to bring the tooling factory with us despite the difficulties of packing it up without breaking or damaging anything.

It was a nightmare to load it up into the Myrmidon, but I have no doubts that it will be worth it. We could have left in early May if we were willing to ditch the factory, but the ability to manufacture precise Star League-grade tooling is worth the extra hassle. I just need to find a company willing to sell or licence the schematics or go to the effort of designing my own. The latter of which isn't impossible between the memory core and the fact that the Myrmidon, just like her sistership, carries a small database of BattleMech technical specifications.

It isn't anything too major, just schematics on the 'Mechs in service of the SLDF. Not that it really counts as a proper limitation, but it is no New Dallas memory core, just something that every major power should already have access to.

Click to shrink...

has an MCV currently sitting in the Myrmidon. As she develops and redevelops tech she will at some point get the option of building a new tooling factory.

My question is how soon will she build a new tooling factory for herself so that no single act of sabotage can stop her from using Star League-grade tools?

 

[Lightwhispers]

Mobile Construction Vehicle. The codifier of the concept of RTS Dune 2 used them as the starting building and main base that builds all the other buildings and Elizabeth:



has an MCV currently sitting in the Myrmidon. As she develops and redevelops tech she will at some point get the option of building a new tooling factory.

My question is how soon will she build a new tooling factory for herself so that no single act of sabotage can stop her from using Star League-grade tools?

Click to shrink...

It's not an MCV. Not even close.
It's an overgrown machine shop. Granted, very very scaled up, but still a machine shop. And it was mentioned in 1.4 that the site's memory cores don't have blueprints, so it does not currently have the capability to reproduce itself. That would require, presumably, a lot of work from a lot of very skilled engineers to recreate the blueprints for the tooling of the factory itself.