Aidan's Avengers; Falcon cage.
By, Kurt A. Hewitt
Acerbie; July 20th 3068… VEST industries compound, foothills…
The Avengers were taking it easy for the time being. With the universe under assault by Word of Blake, it was a good guess that at some point they would be pulling in to orbit. The merc unit had no real space assets. Three dropships, and 15 aerospace fighters. The Merc unit was basically a regiment if you count all the back support.
In their three and a half years with VEST as their primary equiper, The unit had seen a good amount of action, 13 completed contracts. Their loses were light but remembered, and they had established themselves as an unknown entity on the battlefield. With multiple wins against the WoB and clan Jade Falcon's they had to be thankful to be as far out of the way as they were. VEST needed almost nothing off planet to produce the advanced units that were Avengers trademark. A battalion and a company of mech's. A battalion of Armor and the airwing was not the most, but certainly something to be concerned about if it came your way…
They'd arrived three days ago after taking out a clan Fire Mandrill occupation force from the former DCMS world of Franklin Notch. With VEST taking the battlefield remains of the enemy for conversion to Lighttech, the Avengers had just added another star to their formations. A 60 ton Matador, 50 ton Nobori-nin, a 45 ton clan Shadowhawk, a 30 ton Uller and a clan spec Commando. Was quite a mixed defense formation. VEST claimed they would have them converted for use in a week.
He was more looking forward to receiving his brand new assault mech. A fresh collaboration between VEST and the Avenger's. It was 90 tons of lighttech creation.. Starting with the frame, 6 tons, TSM added to the L270, which came in at 11.75 tons, gave the mech a top speed of 62.6 KPH. The light gyro was 2 tons, it mounted a light cockpit also two tons. The heaviest non-weapon expense was VEST armor, 14.25 tons. Being designed to lead, it contained massed electronics. Centered around VEST's own C3 network, The command version was 3 tons. An Active probe, ECM, and LAMS completed a serious electronics suite.
This left 48 tons for weapons. With Aidan's use of cannons, VEST had a number of research projects in the works. It's most difficult was the Gauss rifle. Refining it, reducing weight while improving operation, from reloading to recharge and targeting, they had spent the last three years with examples from both tech bases.
They achieved something quite special. The gauss rifle had a range of 1100 meters, was compact and came with 27 rounds per ton. It weigh just 10 tons. The process yielded a great number of benefits for weapons construction. This was good for the Avengers and VEST in general.
VEST created a complete line of light hyper ac's. The ac 2 was 3.5 tons and had 300 rounds per ton. With a range of 950 meters and near immediate reload, it was a small wonder. Aidan considered it his main guns. He got four in the right arm. Coming in at 14 tons, he added two tons of shared ammo. With twin gauss rifles in the left arm with two tons of ammo, this left 10 tons for support weapons.
VEST had it'd own X pulse laser production, so Aidan asked for four of them in turrets on the right and left shoulders. The remaining tons went to three triple heat sinks. He would get the chance to fire on a real target soon enough.
Things were greatfully quiet at the moment, the unit would expand and rest up for now. His contacts out there were saying the Jihad was about over, the Blakists power structure coming apart and the "Republic of the Sphere" rumors getting more frequent. Aidan found he was only partial to the idea, a central government thus far had proven bad for mankind, but at the same time it would be the leading edge for regrowth out of the Jihad. His responsibility to the Avengers was his only real concern, so following the politics of the universe was vital.
Acer came barging in at a full run, followed not so hurriedly by her mother. Mags smiled at Aidan as their daughter crashed into his legs, giggling like a lost soul found. The three year old was Aidan's hidden motivation, Mags was stuck with her most times, Aidan left the planet. His wife had shortened her hair and retouched the swath of Avenger red she'd put in her hair years ago. Still a mechwarrior, Mags was itching to get into a fight again. She would get the chance sooner than she'd think.
Acerbie, VEST HPG station, July 29th 3068.
The message was verified three ways, including a perfect transmission source log. The contents were very strange and unexpected. The executive communications officer choose to contact both his bosses and the leader of the Avengers. It was a first transmission of it's kind, a universal Batchall. The point of origin was what seemed the most alarming.
The execs at VEST knew Aidan's history well enough to know this was a big thing. As Aidan, flanked by his uncle, Mags, and Stag stood listening and watching the tri-vid, emotion reflected from Aidan's body.
Chelster was barely 4 years in the past. A different lifetime now, it was bringing itself back in, at the forceful hand of clan Jade Falcon. The Star Colonel was unfamiliar to Aidan, that didn't seem to matter as he spoke. "I will grant you passage to Chelster for this trial if you wish, I have space assets that would willingly atomize you otherwise." One of the pieces of the unit puzzle had been the lack of space assets, a warship, with jumpdrive would be ideal, but they had not been able to obtain even a good working KF drive. So a lot of pirate points and slogging in his customized dropships were the norm.
"Why now?" was is uncles question, a good one to. It was a good bet the Falcons wanted to trap the Avengers, they'd lost four engagements to Aidan's unit in three years. The most of the clans, equal to the Blakists units. Aidan sat than focusing on the words while sifting through memories. "The signal is omni-directional, they don't know where you are." The exec stated. "I want to personally see your face as my techs extract you from your crushed mech, dead or alive." The star colonel was saying. His name was Jorm Thastis. One of the blood named, Aidan had defeated a kin, Aisa Thastis, who even now was a leader of his clan special ops section. Something wasn't right, clans didn't go this big in public….
After nearly thirty minutes of silence, everyone waiting for Aidan, he took a breath. The VEST execs were for the most part unit personal and were awaiting direction to give to the board of directors.. "We're going back, but we need to set it up, I want a hard intel sweep, something big is under those words, it'll kill us if we don't see it first." He looked at the VEST execs, "That shipyard finished yet?" The execs seemed surprised at Aidan's knowledge, and seemed to pause. "Your not supposed to know about that yet." One of them said. "President/CEO Garagas told me 13 months ago." Aidan said plainly.
That's when even the Avengers looked at their Captain in surprise. "I have highest level do I not.." Aidan stated plainly. "I also know they were working on a new gen warship…." The execs stumbled on that,,, "We'll have to get back to you on that." One stammered. Aidan nodded. "I want another trinary by the end of the month, each month till November. That's when we Burn for Chelster…. We're liberating them for Christmas…"
Back at home Mags looked at him mildly perturbed. "Were you going to tell me at least?" Aidan didn't waver, "Big secrets kill people…" She had to admit that. She dropped in his lap than breasts pressing firmly against him. "So secret man care to open my message traffic…"
ACERBIE, Acerbie 5 orbit, 01 September 3068…..
Aidan sat in the jumpseat next to the captain of the shuttle. The Board at VEST had determined it was a good time to at least give their primary client a look at the future. It had been a quick trip out on the 7G shuttle, just under two days at full burn. He'd had the HPG message traffic closely monitored as well. The Batchall had cycled through every three days, still omni-directional, He had yet to reply. He was actively recruiting the dispossessed and quietly bringing them in. He wanted to be at least at true regiment strength before leaving.
VEST had stepped up big, introducing 5 new mechs and five new aerofighters. Aidan had been pleasently surprised at the fighters, not really a secret, their deployment had remained 'undetermined.' They ranged from a 35 ton to a huge 160 ton 'pocket warship/orbital defender.'
Now was the pinnacle of it all. Dubbed the 'Haven class' It was VEST and Avengers first real warship. 770 meters, 32 decks, 700,000 tons. It wasn't the biggest, but promised to be the most advanced in known space. One of the greatest inventions, on pair with the KF drive, was artificial gravity.
VEST single most secret program from the last 20 years of research. The system did as suggested and created a feel of up and down aboard a ship. Still not able to build it small scale, it was a main feature of the Haven class. This changed everything, with null gravity it took studied skill to maneuver and do your job. VEST had spent the last 6 years attempting to destroy the system, just to see how much it took.
The secret shipyard was in the dark side hollow of the fifth planet. The massive structure worked in blacklight exclusively, so as to be more invisible. As they approached they killed all external lights and cut the maindrive, using maneuvering bursts instead. Enhanced nightvision cameras provided guidance. Mechs and fighters were visible this way and that hidden ready to strike. The ride in ended as a group of workbees pulled the shuttle into the massive bay of Haven One. As was explained to him, the field was only 70% in the massive ship bay of Haven One. It was a dramatic change, he felt sick for the first time in years of space flight. It passed as his body recognized gravity, even though in his mind he knew it was faked, his body adapted nearly immediately. He walked off the shuttle for the first time in history.
He was in CIC and could barely contain himself. Clusters of fire control, armor monitoring, point defense, flight control and battlespace managers table was almost to much. The Captain of the ship was one Franklin Nesbitt, a veteran of the clan wars and a life long spacer. He was quiet and thoughtful. Not blown away as everyone else seemed to be. Aidan found a councilor in him, man who would always steer you right.
They sat in an alcove on the right of the dropship bay. It was easily 300 meters by 300 meters and 13 decks. Positioned dead center of the hull, just forward of the engineering section. Lostech shielding, from Solaris VII had been remanufactured and provided a flexible barrier to the outside universe.
The ship was worth more than a good handful of planets out there. It was technically Aidan's as it was property of the Avengers. "I assure you Captain Haven One will launch on schedule on October 19th for a short trial period before the offensive on the Jade Falcons." He said after
Going through the basic ship fit out. Aidan seemed to believe him. "What do you think about the Blakist connection?" it had been recently uncovered that a splintered Blakist cell, in a bid to stay alive had offered themselves to the Falcons, in exchange they would help annihilate a short list of inner sphere units. The Avengers being at the top of it.
He shrugged at first…"We have little to go on at the moment. This group isn't a primary force, most of it's parent force are likely dead, I expect they will ambush as is their way, I would take nothing at face value unless your gut tells you otherwise."
Aidan took this in as sage advice. "So we'll be bringing the entire unit, all five dropships and at least a regiment in mechs and three battalions of assorted support troops." Nesbitt nodded, "no problem their, we'll be able to reach faster than light and maintain it with up to a billion extra tons aboard."
They spent the rest of the afternoon in briefing mode, Aidan getting an education in new gen ship life.
ACERBIE V Orbit. 1rst November 3068
Aidan had disembarked from Haven the dropship onto Haven One the Avenger warship. The unit had filled out monstrously, now at 450 mechs, 350 assorted ground warfare units, five trinaries of helos and 1000 other supporting staff and gear. Only a skeleton crew was planet side, mostly VEST continuing their work. It was projected to be a three-week trip to Chelster. In that time they would make their presence known by answering the Batchall. One of the things that Haven One had was a full HPG of it's own, making it near impossible to track or at least unbelievably hard.
Also it gave them time to tweak the intel and get something working against the Falcon's. He formally named it operation Falcon Cage. With one of the largest remaining forces of Falcon's in the inner sphere, it made sense to go all out. Take out this force and the Rasalhague Republic had a chance to reemerge as a power in the universe again.
So now The Avenger's stronger than ever, blasted off for what some would say was history in the making….
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