Chapter 2 - Part 5
Feeling like putting some toast early. Who wants toast? You have toast. And you have toast. EVERYONE GETS TOAST!
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Primus Julian Tiepolo was a very busy man. As the leader of ComStar, the organization publicly dedicated to running humanity's only means of interstellar communications other than the Pony Express but secretly the sixth wheel on the disastrous train of the Succession Wars which wrought untold pain and suffering throughout the Inner Sphere, he suffered from the most dreaded of all afflictions.
Paperwork. Reams of paperwork. And meetings, briefings and all sorts of ings that took time, energy and mental acumen not to make a total dog's breakfast of.
"Primus."
"Have a seat, Precentor."
Tojo Jarlath, Precentor ROM after Vesar Kristofur's debacle with the Wolf Dragoons, took his seat before Tiepolo.
"I am not sure I recall the last time you gave me good news, Tojo. How's the outlook this week?"
"I'm afraid it doesn't get better. If anything, it's just gliding down the same slope."
"I was hoping otherwise. Go ahead," said Tiepolo with resignation.
Tojo nodded and began, "Efforts to suppress the Helm data core proliferation are proceeding, but our analysts are coming to the conclusion that it is a pointless exercise. It is spreading like a virus and for every copy we catch at least three more slip through our fingers. Every House has multiple copies stashed away by now - we know of some locations but not all - and we're aware of some super proliferators who are, or were, sending out cores around as fast as they could make copies and have them shipped."
Tiepolo nodded.
"We may as well throw the towel on that effort and redirect our efforts into ensuring the critical industries we don't want the Houses to repair and upgrade with the data core information remain so, unrepaired and unupgraded. This will be more difficult and riskier, but is actually feasible."
"How so?"
"The reluctance of the Great Houses to strike at each other's industrial assets will have to be overcome. Barring direct action of our own, the only way we can affect in a major way the adoption of Helm core technology is to entice and trick them into attacking each other's infrastructure. Sabotage at the scale we need, in the timeframe we need done, is infeasible."
"Direct action is not possible at the moment," Tiepolo stated. "While the more radical elements within ComStar favor this option, the ComGuards are not ready for the conflict that would inevitably arise from that. Am I wrong in this assessment?"
"No, you are not, Primus. Our readiness is improving and the new units should be combat ready in two to three years, but in a slugging match against the experienced troops of the Great Houses? Even with more advanced technology, I know where I would place my bets."
"And standing up warships isn't even in the cards," Tiepolo finished from memory. "The training program isn't scaled up enough for that. So we have an army that we can't use and expect to win and a navy we can't get out of the dockyards."
"But we're the only ones with any Warships at all, Primus. That alone is far more than any of our foes have."
"True," he admitted. "But our safety's still primarily assured by the threat of interdiction, nothing else. And that's being undermined by the Rothschilds and their ilk."
Tojo grimaced and silently cursed Vesar for his carelessness and the mess he left behind. Thanks to him, Terran companies and banking institutions breached the insulating bubble ComStar had placed the entire Terran star system in, and they were not only providing banking services around the Inner Sphere - undermining the C-Bill's role - but if some of his agents were to be believed, alternative HPG networks were being placed. That information he was yet to confirm, though, and he'd elected to spare the Primus the heart attack inducing reaction to even the possibility that were true.
He would rather make sure of the veracity of the information before telling Tiepolo that, with a medical team on stand-by. Not that the Primus wasn't right in his assessment, even undermining the C-Bill by itself was already a major issue as it could serve as an alternative conduit for financial transactions across national borders - conduits not under ComStar's control. And what galled him the most was that they didn't have a legitimate excuse to demand of anyone the shutting down of the banks. The Communications Act technically gave them the legitimacy to ask any other HPG networks to be shut down or handed to ComStar's possession, but he couldn't believe anyone would admit to their existence, backing or even knowing of them. And, in the back of his head, he knew just how much dead letter that agreement really was due to Blake's own actions and of some of his successors.
"They'll be dealt with, Primus, once we can devote the resources to do so."
He nodded. "The militant wing needs to be starved of arguments. I'm barely keeping the hotheads in check as it is, we need successes."
"We've been having some, Primus, but as you know, it's like trying to keep the tide away with sand castles. It's not working. And there's another bit of bad news. In fact, three bits of bad news wrapped in one package."
The Primus sighed. "Do tell, Tojo."
"The fleet base in Telos, which we believed to be owned by Giacomo Raventhir, is now in the possession of a woman called Yuriko Hasegawa. According to our most recent intelligence on her, she's Japanese by birth and moved with her parents to the Combine. I'm going to skip the long story of her life so far in order to focus on the bad news. The first is she's actively working to restore that shipyard to life."
Tiepolo frowned.
"The second is… she's also working with the locals to restore the Weather Inhibitor system, apparently from the original blueprints."
The Primus blinked in surprise. "Bad? I suppose it is, from a lot of perspectives, but it's not a technology that negatively affects us. I can't say I particularly care about sabotaging that initiative."
"You see, Primus… it's bad, because we don't have those blueprints."
"We have a copy of Helm ourselves. Multiple copies. If she has them, then so should we."
"No. You see. We checked the data core. The blueprints for that system aren't there. At all. And that's the third bad news."
Tiepolo stiffened.
"Hasegawa has her hands on something other than Helm's. And since, from traffic analysis we know she used command chains on two occasions in 3016 to go from the edge of the back end of Combine space to Luthien, then from Luthien to Telos, it is a reasonable assumption that she found some sort of cache somewhere, which she likely handed over to the Dragon."
"Tojo… the scenario you present is possibly more dangerous than the proliferation of Helm's data core. Find out all you can about this Hasegawa and her operations. Find out what she was up to, what if anything she gave to the Dragon. Burn her shipyard. Not directly, mind… only under my authority will I even consider acting directly. But if you can find patsies to do the job for us? You have my permission."
Tojo nodded. "Thank you, Primus, for your trust. As a matter of fact, I've already begun attempts to infiltrate her operations."
"Good, good. You're doing well in these trying times. Blake help us, but nothing seems to go our way lately. That accursed Hughes twisting the arms of multiple Precentors to authorize the rebuilding of a League battlemech facility? The Feddies building a new battlemech facility themselves in the boonies without us even catching wind of it until it was already mostly built? And here, at home? Those squabbling nations can't just sit down and have a civil talk with each other without raising tensions. One day somebody is going to do something stupid and start another war we'll be caught in the crossfire of."
"To be fair, Primus, rebuilding that facility in the League actually benefits the balance of power overall. The Free Worlds is already behind on military forces, if it also permanently loses that factory it will never have a chance of recovery… and that means the Lyrans have a freer hand. Not good for us."
"I know, I know, and I looked the other way for that reason. I can still complain about it because nobody asked what I thought of it before all the approvals were made. And I know and will remember the names of those who went behind my back to do it."
Tojo nodded. Woe be to the Precentor who went behind the Primus' back. There were plenty of HPG stations in the boonies who could use an additional warm body to lead it… or just as a 'spiritual retreat' for 'meditation'.
"Any other news?"
"Not right now, Primus."
"Good. I don't think I could've taken much more of that. Before you go… I have a proposal from Precentor Luna Lovegood here. She's suggesting we use one of our second tier hidden worlds for an additional purpose."
Tojo looked on with interest. "Which world, and what is she proposing?"
"Artoo, and she's proposing an industrial upgrade and establishing battlemech and aerospace lines in it."
"Interesting… it's actually a well populated and reasonably well developed world, but not one where the locals buy into our beliefs. It wouldn't be too difficult to upgrade some of their existing industrial base and build more on top to support modern weapon manufacturing. I don't know if we won't be borrowing trouble in the process, but it's certainly workable."
"I can scrounge up the budget for it - I'll just impose a small rate increase to pay for it - but I need you to take a deeper look at Artoo and make sure we aren't creating a problem. We have other worlds we can use for manufacturing and large stockpiles here on Terra that are going unused."
"That is true, Primus, but Artoo has an additional advantage none of the Five have. It's not a world that has ever appeared on the navigation charts, much less that it was ever owned by any of the Great Houses. If there ever was a list of safe places to stash some industrial base at, Artoo would be at the top of the list."
"That is a very valid point, Tojo. Bring me an analysis next week of Artoo's suitability for Luna's proposal. I'll make a decision then."
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Next, it's back to New Avalon...
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Primus Julian Tiepolo was a very busy man. As the leader of ComStar, the organization publicly dedicated to running humanity's only means of interstellar communications other than the Pony Express but secretly the sixth wheel on the disastrous train of the Succession Wars which wrought untold pain and suffering throughout the Inner Sphere, he suffered from the most dreaded of all afflictions.
Paperwork. Reams of paperwork. And meetings, briefings and all sorts of ings that took time, energy and mental acumen not to make a total dog's breakfast of.
"Primus."
"Have a seat, Precentor."
Tojo Jarlath, Precentor ROM after Vesar Kristofur's debacle with the Wolf Dragoons, took his seat before Tiepolo.
"I am not sure I recall the last time you gave me good news, Tojo. How's the outlook this week?"
"I'm afraid it doesn't get better. If anything, it's just gliding down the same slope."
"I was hoping otherwise. Go ahead," said Tiepolo with resignation.
Tojo nodded and began, "Efforts to suppress the Helm data core proliferation are proceeding, but our analysts are coming to the conclusion that it is a pointless exercise. It is spreading like a virus and for every copy we catch at least three more slip through our fingers. Every House has multiple copies stashed away by now - we know of some locations but not all - and we're aware of some super proliferators who are, or were, sending out cores around as fast as they could make copies and have them shipped."
Tiepolo nodded.
"We may as well throw the towel on that effort and redirect our efforts into ensuring the critical industries we don't want the Houses to repair and upgrade with the data core information remain so, unrepaired and unupgraded. This will be more difficult and riskier, but is actually feasible."
"How so?"
"The reluctance of the Great Houses to strike at each other's industrial assets will have to be overcome. Barring direct action of our own, the only way we can affect in a major way the adoption of Helm core technology is to entice and trick them into attacking each other's infrastructure. Sabotage at the scale we need, in the timeframe we need done, is infeasible."
"Direct action is not possible at the moment," Tiepolo stated. "While the more radical elements within ComStar favor this option, the ComGuards are not ready for the conflict that would inevitably arise from that. Am I wrong in this assessment?"
"No, you are not, Primus. Our readiness is improving and the new units should be combat ready in two to three years, but in a slugging match against the experienced troops of the Great Houses? Even with more advanced technology, I know where I would place my bets."
"And standing up warships isn't even in the cards," Tiepolo finished from memory. "The training program isn't scaled up enough for that. So we have an army that we can't use and expect to win and a navy we can't get out of the dockyards."
"But we're the only ones with any Warships at all, Primus. That alone is far more than any of our foes have."
"True," he admitted. "But our safety's still primarily assured by the threat of interdiction, nothing else. And that's being undermined by the Rothschilds and their ilk."
Tojo grimaced and silently cursed Vesar for his carelessness and the mess he left behind. Thanks to him, Terran companies and banking institutions breached the insulating bubble ComStar had placed the entire Terran star system in, and they were not only providing banking services around the Inner Sphere - undermining the C-Bill's role - but if some of his agents were to be believed, alternative HPG networks were being placed. That information he was yet to confirm, though, and he'd elected to spare the Primus the heart attack inducing reaction to even the possibility that were true.
He would rather make sure of the veracity of the information before telling Tiepolo that, with a medical team on stand-by. Not that the Primus wasn't right in his assessment, even undermining the C-Bill by itself was already a major issue as it could serve as an alternative conduit for financial transactions across national borders - conduits not under ComStar's control. And what galled him the most was that they didn't have a legitimate excuse to demand of anyone the shutting down of the banks. The Communications Act technically gave them the legitimacy to ask any other HPG networks to be shut down or handed to ComStar's possession, but he couldn't believe anyone would admit to their existence, backing or even knowing of them. And, in the back of his head, he knew just how much dead letter that agreement really was due to Blake's own actions and of some of his successors.
"They'll be dealt with, Primus, once we can devote the resources to do so."
He nodded. "The militant wing needs to be starved of arguments. I'm barely keeping the hotheads in check as it is, we need successes."
"We've been having some, Primus, but as you know, it's like trying to keep the tide away with sand castles. It's not working. And there's another bit of bad news. In fact, three bits of bad news wrapped in one package."
The Primus sighed. "Do tell, Tojo."
"The fleet base in Telos, which we believed to be owned by Giacomo Raventhir, is now in the possession of a woman called Yuriko Hasegawa. According to our most recent intelligence on her, she's Japanese by birth and moved with her parents to the Combine. I'm going to skip the long story of her life so far in order to focus on the bad news. The first is she's actively working to restore that shipyard to life."
Tiepolo frowned.
"The second is… she's also working with the locals to restore the Weather Inhibitor system, apparently from the original blueprints."
The Primus blinked in surprise. "Bad? I suppose it is, from a lot of perspectives, but it's not a technology that negatively affects us. I can't say I particularly care about sabotaging that initiative."
"You see, Primus… it's bad, because we don't have those blueprints."
"We have a copy of Helm ourselves. Multiple copies. If she has them, then so should we."
"No. You see. We checked the data core. The blueprints for that system aren't there. At all. And that's the third bad news."
Tiepolo stiffened.
"Hasegawa has her hands on something other than Helm's. And since, from traffic analysis we know she used command chains on two occasions in 3016 to go from the edge of the back end of Combine space to Luthien, then from Luthien to Telos, it is a reasonable assumption that she found some sort of cache somewhere, which she likely handed over to the Dragon."
"Tojo… the scenario you present is possibly more dangerous than the proliferation of Helm's data core. Find out all you can about this Hasegawa and her operations. Find out what she was up to, what if anything she gave to the Dragon. Burn her shipyard. Not directly, mind… only under my authority will I even consider acting directly. But if you can find patsies to do the job for us? You have my permission."
Tojo nodded. "Thank you, Primus, for your trust. As a matter of fact, I've already begun attempts to infiltrate her operations."
"Good, good. You're doing well in these trying times. Blake help us, but nothing seems to go our way lately. That accursed Hughes twisting the arms of multiple Precentors to authorize the rebuilding of a League battlemech facility? The Feddies building a new battlemech facility themselves in the boonies without us even catching wind of it until it was already mostly built? And here, at home? Those squabbling nations can't just sit down and have a civil talk with each other without raising tensions. One day somebody is going to do something stupid and start another war we'll be caught in the crossfire of."
"To be fair, Primus, rebuilding that facility in the League actually benefits the balance of power overall. The Free Worlds is already behind on military forces, if it also permanently loses that factory it will never have a chance of recovery… and that means the Lyrans have a freer hand. Not good for us."
"I know, I know, and I looked the other way for that reason. I can still complain about it because nobody asked what I thought of it before all the approvals were made. And I know and will remember the names of those who went behind my back to do it."
Tojo nodded. Woe be to the Precentor who went behind the Primus' back. There were plenty of HPG stations in the boonies who could use an additional warm body to lead it… or just as a 'spiritual retreat' for 'meditation'.
"Any other news?"
"Not right now, Primus."
"Good. I don't think I could've taken much more of that. Before you go… I have a proposal from Precentor Luna Lovegood here. She's suggesting we use one of our second tier hidden worlds for an additional purpose."
Tojo looked on with interest. "Which world, and what is she proposing?"
"Artoo, and she's proposing an industrial upgrade and establishing battlemech and aerospace lines in it."
"Interesting… it's actually a well populated and reasonably well developed world, but not one where the locals buy into our beliefs. It wouldn't be too difficult to upgrade some of their existing industrial base and build more on top to support modern weapon manufacturing. I don't know if we won't be borrowing trouble in the process, but it's certainly workable."
"I can scrounge up the budget for it - I'll just impose a small rate increase to pay for it - but I need you to take a deeper look at Artoo and make sure we aren't creating a problem. We have other worlds we can use for manufacturing and large stockpiles here on Terra that are going unused."
"That is true, Primus, but Artoo has an additional advantage none of the Five have. It's not a world that has ever appeared on the navigation charts, much less that it was ever owned by any of the Great Houses. If there ever was a list of safe places to stash some industrial base at, Artoo would be at the top of the list."
"That is a very valid point, Tojo. Bring me an analysis next week of Artoo's suitability for Luna's proposal. I'll make a decision then."
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Next, it's back to New Avalon...
