Copeland Supply, Salvage, and Resale

by cliff.west

This is a spinoff story. It takes place after "But a somehow a most melancholy" and" Hunted Tribes". Please read those before this bit of work. I will not be recovering those stories, but re-reading them will help you fallow this story. This fiction also will be slow on the combat action.

12. Chapter 12 14 Dec 3046

Chapter 12

By Cliff

Beta and Clean up By

Reviewed by Hotpoint.

14 Dec 3046

The Dunianshire system.

Breakfast was served on the dropship right at 730 and would be finished no later, then 830 local time. This was to make sure everyone had some hot food in them, before their duty shift or in some cases after their shift had just ended. Jess and Robert picked up their meal in the dining hall but retreated to the conference room a few decks up, to eat and read in private. "Open Space" was not something that a dropship was known to have in any abundance.

The pair could not afford to only do one thing at a time, not today. The meeting started right at 0900. It could have started a little earlier, because the Captain of the White Rabbit had been the last to arrive to this first of its kind meeting at 0850. Even Lora, was there well before the planned 0900 start time. Everyone was eager to see how yesterday had turned out, and what today would bring. Some were wanting to compare it with past reports from years ago, and one was excited to be doing something that her family had been doing for a few generations without anyone knowing. This was new to her, and it was exciting.

Robert sat at the head of the table and was facing the only door to the room. When the ship's clock read 0900 on the dot, Robert tapped the table with the end of a metal pen. "Let's get started. First, I was in contact with the Styx this morning. They report that they have two fighters on CAP. This is the maximum strength they can have in operation under this systems rules. They were happy to report that they have had no issues, yet. The crew of the Scout jumpship will be returning to them, in two days. That is, if the money makes it to the bank. All ships have been rotating crews to the Recharge station, so they can have some R and R. They report that they started getting odd questions. This would have seemed to have started late yesterday. The Styx has raised the internal alert level, just in case. They are keeping the higher alert level quiet, and they are not doing anything that would be obvious, to anyone outside of their hull. Next to report will be the dropship captains." Robert looked over to the White Rabbit's commander and gave a nod so that he could start his update.

"Sir! We have nothing new to report on my ship's operation. We have had zero incidents to report. Current cargo load consists of twenty-five Class 5 ultra-class auto cannons. We have five of the old Armstrong j11's and fifty of the computers systems, all in there shipping crates. We hope to release a few of the crew to see the sights and maybe do some personal shopping by noon today. If we wait too long, it will draw some unwanted attention."

The Captain for the Lisbon Maru was next. "Sir, I will not cover the communications with outside sources, Miss Noone will be taking care of that. We had one unauthorized person, which tried to enter the ship last night. Other than that? We have no personnel issues to report. The male intruder was detained and turned over to the local law enforcement, with only a few bumps to show anyone for his troubles. We have moved all the cargo to Bay One or the top bay. We also have the Mech tied down in Bay One, but we can move it back over to the White Rabbit if you want. That should only take thirty to forty-five minutes or so, after you give the word that you want her moved. The Cargo Master reports that our current cargo load is made up of the last twenty Ultra Class 5 auto cannons and forty of the computer systems. Three of the computer systems are ready to off load and are stored by the main personnel entry point. He can have more ready to come down with only an hour notice."

Jess was going to be the next one to brief. She was not sure about including Miss Noone in on this material. Then again, she was a "Family Member" and that deserved some consideration. Who knows what they have been through and what it must be like living behind enemy lines for over a hundred years? So, Jess took a deep breath, and looked back at her notes. When she was ready, she just started talking

"The tech slide, that had been going on since about midway through the First Succession War, seems to have stopped. In some cases? It has already reach back up to the early Star League tech base level in some areas. Not surprising, it is focused on warfighting tech. I think that it should start spreading into other areas, as that tech base is allowed to take deeper root. From what we have been able to find out. It is that Ultra, and LB-X auto cannons started into production between 3035-3040 by the Federated Commonwealth. Please see the notes on the current governments, it is on the ship's servers. We also have information that the Free World's League started up limited production of the Gauss Rifle sometime in the 3040's. The Combine also might have Extended Ranged Large Lasers, and ER PPC's and some Pulse laser tech. Some of that data is a little less clear."

Jess was looking around the table. All of the eyes were wide, and jaws were open, to include Lora's. She was about to drop the next bombshell on them. "We got a lot of this information from one source on this planet, but it fits with what we learned from Duke Terry and her people. From this time forward, until we find out differently. We have to assume that when it comes to weapons? We will have to assume that they are up to early Star League tech devices. We do not know, it any of the House militaries will have Warships, or if they have even started building them. We now think that the number of jumpships in production has started to climb. But it is unknown at this time by how much and how the numbers are spread out over the whole Inner Sphere. I have a public sources report about how the increase in jumpships production is going to cause a marked increase in interstellar trade all across the Inner Sphere."

"Yep that went over well," she thought. She looked around the table, and she could tell that everyone was still processing the information she had found last night. She waited patiently for the attacks on her information to begin.

Robert had one of his fingers across his lips and he was in deep thought. He did not speak for a few seconds. "That was what I was afraid of when Terry, who lives out in the out of beyond, knew about ultra tech cannons. This will make it easier, but also make it harder in some ways, to sell our cargo. I want everyone to keep an ear out, but I agree with Jess and her assessment. Jess please make a copy of all your reports. I want you to put a copy in the main safes on the Styx and Hobgoblin, when we get back to the jump point. This information will be marked critical and it must get back home, even if all of the rest of us do not."

Robert looked around the table. The group could tell that he was not making a suggestion, but he had given an order. One that could have the deepest consequences, if it was not followed. Now it was his turn to bring up something for the whole meeting. Everything that was said or done in this meeting would be noted in the ship and mission logs. But it would not have the same level of markings as he had just ordered done to Jess's work

Captain Copeland did not want the mood to change, just yet. He wanted them focused on the mission. He opened a folder and passed to each person a set of color copies of the images that they had found while waiting to talk with Mr. Slick at the MMM office.

"In front of each of you is a set of images we found yesterday, in a scrapbook that Lora's family has been keeping. Can any of you, besides Jess, identify the mechs in this image?"

Robert was not that surprised, that none of the people in the room responded to his question. He let them look at the images for a few more seconds, for the confused looks to take a good hold. "I reviewed copies of the reports, from the previous resupply runs a few times. What you're looking at is a cover story about a battle, that happened back in 3028. It was between the mercenary group called the Wolf's Dragoon's and the Combine. The mercenaries went up against a larger Combine force. We have had reports about this group, since they showed up in the Inner Sphere back around 3005. High Command back home was of the thinking that. They were just a larger than normal mercenary unit and they had a few odd names associated with them. It was assessed that there was nothing worth looking into, any deeper, than what could be found in a few major news outlets. I think we have maintained blinders about them after those first reports. There only mercenary scum, why worry about them? It was not like we would hire them. Whoever of our people that took those first images of them did not have the hobby, I do. Or maybe we did not have images of all of their machines, and we did not go looking for them. I only remember reading a few text reports on them. They were mostly about the major battles they were in, and how well maintained their equipment was. They did point out the few odd names like Natasha Kerensky and a small unit called the Black Widows. Now it would seem that we can connect a few more dots."

Robert could tell that they were not tracking with what he was trying to say. "You see? My hobby is taking images of old war machines. Those three battle mechs are an 85ton Shogun, a 100ton Annihilator and the last is a 100ton Imp class battlemech. Judging from the blank looks, that I'm still getting from you all. It is that those names do not mean much to any of you, either. If a unit had an old Shogun or Annihilator in their order of battle? I would not be having a heart attack, which I am having right now."

Robert waited for the chuckling to stop. "What had kicked me…. in the knees, was the Imp. The Imp was never built in the Inner Sphere. It is a Clan machine, born and bred. All three of those machines were in operation with the Exodus ground forces, when our people left them, or we would be murdered."

Now it was sinking into them. The Clans were back. No, they had been back for 40 years. Only no one back home knew it. It was an intelligence failure on an epic scale. Robert was looking at the top of heads as the rest of the members looked down at the images. "From the name of the unit, I have to assume that they are from Clan Wolf. I cannot see the Ghost Bears, or the Jade Falcons going by any name that is any way connected to the word Wolf or Widow Makers. We need to find out as much as we can about them, without letting any information about us getting out to them. Clan Wolf and Clan Wolverine did not get along that well, before we picked up stakes and tried to leave. I would bet that their reaction to us has not gotten any calmer. We need to find out if they left the clan, or has their clan moved into the Inner Sphere like we did. Are has something else happened back in Clan space? Or could they be on some kind of long-term scouting mission sent by the ilKhan."

Robert gave a half laugh. "We don't even know what questions to ask yet. I would like to remedy that, before we start on our trip back to New Circe."

The stress had risen to a palatable level in the briefing room, with two threats to their home world laid out before them right after breakfast. Now it was time to defuse that stress somewhat. "I would like to wrap up the new information with Lora's part of the meeting. I think that I have shown that we need to keep all of our eyes and ears open."

It took a few seconds for Lora to collect her thoughts. This was just too much new information to take in all at one time. She had only just gotten use to the idea of what happened to the, she now had to call it. The Original Exodus fleet, after all these years. Now to think that not only was there one group near what was thought of as Human space, but there might be a second group of ex-SLDF forces hiding in plain sight in the heart of the Inner Sphere. She gave herself a little mental shake to get back on track. It was never good to be wool gathering in your first big meeting.

"I re-checked just before the meeting. And the money has not been put in the account, for the sale of the jumpship. The Bank is aware that the sum is coming, and from whom it is coming from, as well as the base idea of what the end amount could possibly be. They have agreed for us to be able to start drawing on those coming funds free of charge or any fees by noon today. But first thing tomorrow, if it has not been transferred by then. I will start making phone calls to MMM and see what is going on. I also have looked at the total capital, which you had before the sales yesterday." She stopped talking for a second before continuing.

"You have 530,000 in C-Bills, or trade bars. That we can start spending today, if you need to do that. It was mostly what you brought with you to this system. The sales of the cannons, for cash, will add thirteen point five million C-Bills to your available capital. When the rest of the money hits the bank? It will add another two hundred and forty million C-Bills to your capital resources."

A loud set of whistles went around the table. None of them, except Robert, had ever dealt with numbers that large before. With a slight smile, she went on. "Yesterday, I posted most of the list that you gave me on the boards. I only gave out, what Captain Copeland approved for public release at this time. I have the last half of the list ready to go, and I'm waiting until I have been given the word for its release. I would recommend that we do not hold onto that last part of the list for too long."

She smiles broadly. You know the full toothy kind of smile. "I already have a list of venders that would like to do business with us. I expect the current list of venders to grow, threw out the day. I have two large hover cars, with drivers, set up to take whoever needs to go check out the proposed loads from those first set of venders."

She passed out a card to each of the people at the table. It had a set of names and contact numbers for a taxi service. "I have contacted this company and made some arrangements. They will pick you up from anywhere around the local area and drop you off at the dropships. Captain Copeland, you will have to settle the bill, before you lift off planet. I have reduced the list of vendors, to only the ones that have the best reputation or the ones that I have worked with before. Captain Copeland will have the complete list, so that he can double check to make sure that I'm being honest. It's always nice to have a second set of eyes on a project like this. I am also a firm believer in trust but verify. I don't want someone to say that I was biased. Besides one of the other shadeier groups might have something the others might not have." She smiled at the Captain before continuing. She was on a roll now. This was her job, and she was very good at it.

"The first company is a large vehicle transport company. They said that they have twenty of the 10ton class flatbed cargo trucks for sale, that match what you wanted. I told them that someone would be going over to see them, soon. The inspection is to make sure that the parts are compatible with what "Our" planet can produce. I asked, they are not fusion driven, but they are electrical/battery powered engines. A second vendor called, and they said that they have ten of the 50ton class of flatbeds and one of the 70ton class of heavy mech hauler all for sale on their lot. The person that I talked to did not know what the power plant each of the trucks might come with. But when we send someone out? They can check that out for you as well as your normal check list."

She went back to her notes and stopped talking, till she flipped to the one note she wanted. "Most of what has come in, for request on items they have for sale, have not been on our published list. They are more or less automatic, when word gets out that a cargo ship has open space that needs to be filled. I did not put this one item on the cargo alert, but someone contacted us. It would seem, that they have a FedCom WLF-1 Wolfhound mech, that they thought we might be interested in. I called them back for some more information and got what was basically background on the beast." Lora could tell that this was getting the attention of about half of the meeting personnel.

"It was supposedly picked up from a Combine supply depot, not too long ago. The Combine had pulled it off of the battlefield back in 39. It was repaired sometime later than that. They say that none of the Combine Mech jocks wanted to pilot the thing. I think that the Dragon's supply department had it sold on the open market, and that was how it wound up out here. I bet the jock needs the money, or the mech is a wreck, or both. I still think that it would be worth a look. I understand that it is quickly becoming a major light class mech for the FedCom units and the mercenaries' that are working with them. I also have a line on bulldozers and other construction equipment that was on the list. I expect more request for information to come in, as the days go on. I have set it up so that any more requests will come straight to me on my little electronic leash." She waved her digital data and communication pad in the air to show the leash she was talking about.

Robert looked around the table, and then looked back at the Captains of the Maru and White Rabbit. "I would like you all to put together two six person teams. Send one team to each of the vehicle dealers and have all of the trucks checked out. Make sure they have a copy of the check list with them. You both can decide what vender each one of the teams gets to go to. I think Jess, Lora, Mike, and I will take a car and go see the person selling the Wolfhound mech."

Robert looked back at the two Captains, making sure to have eye contact with each one of them for a few seconds. "We can start releasing some of the crews for shopping trips. Remind them of the rules, before they leave the ship along with the normal safety briefing. I will be authorizing the release of an additional one hundred C-Bills advance on back pay, in cash for each person, to do as they will. I know there is a money exchange location at the main annex of the drop port, so breaking the large bills should not be a problem for anyone."

Copeland let his voice get hard. "I expect them to follow the rules, which were set down. If they don't? I will pull everyone back into the ships, and we will see how long it takes for me to get confidence in them again. Please pass along those exact words to your crews."

He again stopped talking to make sure the other officers got the point of his statement. "Now, do we have any other business? No. Good, let's plan to meet again at say 1700 local and see where we are at on getting some cargos lined up." Roberts starting to rise was the signal that the meeting was over, and the rest of the people present rose also to start about the task of the day.

Lora, Jess, and Robert walked out of the room together. After one quick pit stop. They were waiting at the personnel exit of the dropship, until they were joined by Mike. Mike had been sent a message to meet here for a mission, which he was needed on. Robert greeted the almost mech pilot with a handshake, and then turned to the group.

"Now that the gang is all here. We can see, what we can find out about this light mech that the local wants to sell us. Mike. Do you think you can pilot it? You're the only one I know on this mission, which has been checked out on House military tech neurohelmets before we left." Robert was in "Captain Mode". He had asked a question and he would not only want an answer, but he wanted to know the truth.

Mike looked down at his feet for about two seconds, and then looked up about six inches over the head of the commander of this mission. "Sir! I can do it. I worked out with every mech, that we had data on at the training base simulator, before we lifted off planet on my own time. I don't know about taking one into battle and being an asset to the mission, or something like that."

Mike did not want to make eye contact with Robert, and he looked like he might want to bolt out of the dropship. Then he got himself back under control. "Sir. I washed out of mech combat school, because I did not take even one mech down during the final test. I am a failure, as a combat mech trooper. I do not know why I was picked to be the backup workmech driver and weapons turret crew on this dropship." Now his head came up to look at his commander and the whole convoy commander, in the eyes.

Robert was concerned, as he was looking into that set of wet young eyes. He knew that Mike was a mech tech or mechanic before the Colonials had found them. He also had been one of the few people who was qualified to work on the type of mech that they were bringing on this trip. "Mike, you will do fine. Do you know why you were chosen for this mission?" Robert let more emotion show on his face, and it soften the look. He wanted and needed Mike to know, what part he was selected to play on this supply run. Normally on a supply run a crew had over a year to find their place, without being hand carried to this conclusion. That was even before they made contact with the Inner Sphere.

"No, Sir?" Mike was confused. It was the goal of everyone who was an accident or an instant to want to be a mech jock. He had failed out of the final testing, and he had been assessed to be a grease monkey on the machines he had wanted with all his heart to take into combat. Clan Wolverine only had so many open mech pilot positions each year. They would only take the best for those limited number of openings. He had even taken classes on dropship turret repair, on his off time. That had been what he was planning to do, to pay the bills. A mech wrench turner did not pay that well, when you were not on active duty.

"When it was decided to bring a mech on this trip, to show off the ultra-auto-cannon. They drew up two lists of names. One list was for qualified mech pilots, and one was for qualified mech techs. Your name was on both of those lists. Do you know how many people showed up upon both of those lists?" Asked Robert, he was shifting into a fatherly mode. He had spent some of last night reviewing a few personnel files while eating dinner.

"I was? I don't know how many others, had the same skills as I do, but I would think there had to be at least a few hundred." Mike was shaking his head left and right like he was trying to throw the thoughts into the right bin in his brain.

Robert put his arm onto the other man's shoulders and gave it a slight shake. "Yours was the only person, who could do both jobs on the whole planet. You had bad luck on your Trial for Position on graduation. I bet you would have had another shot, in a year or two. And this time? I bet that you would have won it, hands down." That was all he would say. Robert started walking down the walkway towards the pickup point outside of the grounded dropship.

Robert and his team did not have to wait long at the pickup point, for it to do its advertised job. Lora had called for a car, before they had left the dropship conference room. It was a nice car, but not too nice. It was a six-person passenger hover car that pulled up for them, and it was not your normal bar hopping buss. Lora passed the information about their destination to the driver, after the doors had closed behind them with a soft click. The four of them did not talk on the trip out, after the information had been past to the driver. They only listened to the random selection of music, which was playing in the background as they shot through town at what seemed like an excess of speed.

The building the hover car pulled up to was tall, but it was not that wide. It looked more like an industrial building, then a home that it was supposed to be. It was on the edge of town, but not that far out of the way of major traffic avenues. It was right off the main road, which connected this area to the drop port in almost a direct line of a high-speed access. The four members of the off-world team got out of the blue hover car and looked around the area. The taxi did not leave the area, as the renters started to make their way to the building's front door. The rental just pulled down the road a little ways, so that the traffic way was cleared of its obstruction. Robert was about to ring the announcement button, when the door opened for them.

"So, you must be Captain Copeland." This was said by a lower 30ish man with blond hair, as he looked up from his wheelchair blocking the doorway.

"Are you the person that contacted us, and has a mech that you would be looking to sell to us?" Robert made eye contact by looking down, but he was not steering down at the other man. That was a knife edge juggling match that very few could pull off. Where he came from? Seeing someone in a wheelchair permanently, was a very rare item.

"That would be me. I'm Don, nice to meet you." Said the man in the wheelchair, and he holds up and out his hand to the older man.

Robert shook the man's hand. He had a strong grip. That was for some reason, a surprised to Robert and he waited for just a few seconds before letting go of the hand. "Nice to meet you Don. Can we see what you have?" Robert pointed his chin towards the insides of the industrial building.

"Follow me," and the men spun around with in the length of his chair in a very practiced maneuver. With a few pumps on the large back wheels. He had wheeled himself away from the doorway and was at a rapidly growing distance going into the "home".

The whole first floor was open, and when Robert entered the home. He could see the whole room, after not covering even five steps from the front door. In the center of the room, was a bipedal mech which vaguely had an animal appearance of its head. When everyone was in the building. The heavy front door shut automatically, and the lights raised to almost spotlight the one combat machine in the room. It was a light class battlemech that ranged from 20 to 35tons. This one was at the upper end of that class. It was supposed to be right at thirty-five tons, according to the limited data Robert had seen.

"So, Don. How did you come by this machine? You called it a Wolfhound, right?" Asked Jess, as she walked around the war machine looking up at the almost eight-meter-tall walking machine. It was an impressive looking machine. She knew that the mechs on her planet were in most ways better than this one on a ton for ton guide. It still was an impressive machine, when you're at its feet and looking up.

"I was with a merc unit hired on by the Combine. We had signed a three-year deal back in early 38, with "The Son". I had my 55ton Shadow Hawk blown out from under me, when the FedCom jump the border for what we thought was just an objective raid on the planet that we were hired to defend. We were a company plus of active mechs. Well, we were almost two companies strong of mechs, when we took that contract. I think the old man was looking forward to becoming a full Battalion, after our contract was up with "The Son". He had been juggling a number of deals, to get the numbers to look right on paper for over a year."

Don was lost in thought, and then his voice cracked a little. "By the end of the war? We were down to a single Mech lance, a tank lance, plus some odds and ends for support. The contract the boss signed said that they were supposed to replace any mech or tank lost in combat, with an equal machine as soon as the next supply shipment made it to a planet we were on. It took them almost two years, before they showed up with this mech. It was supposed to be my replacement for my 2H. They said to take it or leave it. The Boss was told that it was this one mech or another one like it. That was going to be the only replacements we would get. Just two light machines to make up for everything we had lost. They had been shortchanging us for the whole time that we were under contract, but it had been nickeling and dime kind of things. This was a whole new level of being hamstrung."

He was shaking his head as he relived those good(?) old days and he kept talking. "Right up until that day. it was nothing that big. We had heard rumors that every mercenary unit was getting the shaft in one way or another, even with the "new leadership" that they had been supposed to be working under. The Boss was upset, and I think he knew this was only the beginning of our troubles, just like we had been warned about before he had put his name on the dotted line. Somehow, he contacted a jumpship, which was also not happy about how they were being treated by the Combine. He made a plan, and with the help of a pair of fighter lances from another unit that had been dealing with the same kind of thing. We stole a modified Union dropship and blew our way off planet. We had to fight our way to our new ride out of that system. We hooked up with a merchant class jumpship, which just happened to be going our way and had an empty spot on her hull."

Don was now looking up at his machine talking, but not looking at anyone in his "home". He had a slight smile about something, he was not talking about. It was amazing how you can convince someone to look at things your way, when you have them under your dropships and four heavy fighters' guns. He did not want to sound like a pirate. There were very few people alive now who knew about that part of the story. Only the second in command and a few others had been interested in leaving the Combine, but that had been enough at the start.

"We knew that the Combine was not going to be happy with us, and we had been exchanging fire with the FedCom's units a few months prior on two different planets. The old Man did not think they would like to see us with our hat in our hands. We were running out of new places to go, and so that only left FWL or the Cappies as the only major player left to get a paycheck from. We ended up working our way to the FWL. We even got some help from one of the Wolf Dragoons regiments that the old man knew, to get out of the warzone. We did a few security jobs that we could find, but nothing that was paying the bills that well."

Don did not notice that his group of visitors were not saying a word. They wanted him to keep talking and he wanted to talk. "We split up from the jumpship while we were still in the FWL. They hooked up with a larger merc unit. One that was big enough that it could pay the maintenance, that the ship was overdue to have done. I don't blame them for leaving us, when they did. They did help us get in contact with MMM, before they hooked up and took off with their new friends and bill payers. MMM needed or wanted some more firepower out this way. It was hoped that it would stop some of the pirate activity, which had been popping up over the last decade. It was a nice six-month deal with an option to extend. It even came with a nice sized bonus, if we worked out."

Don looked over and up to Copeland. "That's where the guys are now. They are out hunting a pirate group, that raided an MMM convoy a few months ago. It's obvious that I could not go with them." Don was pointing at his chair, and he had a deep frown on his face and the smell of deep depression hung over him. There was no way he could pilot a mech with his injuries.

"So, why are you wanting to sell this?" asked Lora. Robert just tried not to cringe when she said that. She, like her mother and grandmother for that matter, always drove to the point. Even when it was not polite, to do something like that. As far as Robert knew, the whole family had a bad problem with their brain to mouth filter.

"That Shadow Hawk had been in my family for over 200 years. It was family, as much as a machine can be part of your family. I'm pretty sure one of the Combine recovery teams pulled my ride off the battlefield and fixed it back up. They did not return it to me, but I bet that they gave it to some Drak. I got this. Now it is newer and fully repaired, than my old ride. Only it's still not my old Hawk. I would have said it was new out of the factory, but I did find a few odd welds in the armor. Ones that could only have been done, while repairing armor plate outside of a factory facility. Those Combine units were getting old Star League machines like Mercury's, Thugs, Highlanders, and even a few Crabs. I saw them at a supply depot, once. I even saw them being used against the attacking FedCom's units. You think they would give me one, after I lost my girl? Never mind, you already know what they gave me."

Don let out a loud sigh. "I would have been happy with a Crab, even if it was lighter by five tons than my old bird. Instead? I get a light class mech that none of their mech jocks would have touched, because they could have the Panther or some old SLDF machine. That was the start of my problems. I was still mad as hell and I was not thinking, when I ran that hover car into a tree at full speed. Now I can't even drive this piece of junk anymore."

Don was looking at all of them now, but not really seeing them through his blood shot eyes. Robert now noticed that he was probably on some heavy pain killers, and lots of them. And it looked like he was chasing those pills by things, that you should not chase them with. He was on the fast track to an early grave.

"I broke my back in like three different places, and it paralyzed me from the waist down. The real joke of it? It's that they say, it is repairable. They have some great doctors out here on the edge of nowhere, but it takes money. It will take lots of money, to get the right kind of a doctor to fix me back up. Boss man wanted me to sign the mech over to them, after I was hurt. But my dad had in his contract, and it had been carried over to mine. That I get to keep my ride or any replacement, if it was lost in combat. So, I have the title for this little beast, all to myself. He was not happy, but what else can I do. It's the only asset that I have, that will give me the credits I need. When I heard that you had sold a jumpship and were looking for cargo? I figured that you would have the money to buy this, without me having to worry that you would stiff me somehow on a payment program. I know that you can sell mechs anywhere out here. At least on ones that do not have a mech factory on the planet. Then everyone wants a service agreement."

"Don. Do you mind if one of my techs checks out your mech?" asked the Captain. He had been listening to what the wreck of a human being had been saying, but he also had a job to do.

"Hoped you would bring one. There is a ladder on the other side of the mech and all of the manuals I could find are already in the cockpit waiting on him." Don pointed at Mike, the only person who was dressed like a working-class person and looked ready to go back to work again.

Mike nodded at the two men, and then walked around the mech. He found what he was looking for, and up the metal ladder to the cockpit he went. This left the two women and the Captain to talk with the crippled man on the ground floor of the home. Jess was trying to draw more information out of the man in the wheelchair. Maybe it was too friendly. Maybe she just needed to pump a new source of information. He had said that he had worked with the Wolf's Dragoons or had a few dealings with them. Then there was the fact that he had information about the Dracs having access to old Star League designs, and in numbers. That was coming as another shock to her brain.

Jess looked around the room. It was easy to see that this was the main living area. The building had a second level that would have been the main living area, normally. Getting to that level in a wheelchair? That would have required a lift of some kind, that did not seem to be present in this building. She started circling the large room and on all of the walls but one, was a mounted single shelf. On that one shelf were half meter tall copies of battlemechs. Each one was visibly different, in some way. She saw half a dozen different versions of the 70ton Archers. Most of the other machine's sculptures, she was not too sure of what the names were.

"So, Don? You like all kinds of mechs." She said but pointed to the shelf with the mechs on proud display.

Don looked to where she was pointing, and quickly thought he understood the why of the question. "I also try to find out everything that I can about a new mech, or a new version of a mech, that even might be coming out. I then try to make a scaled copy of it a smaller physical form. I have to do something to keep my mind busy. I also can sell some of them, at one of the local shops. All I have to pay, is the materials and my free time to make the things." He said with a smile at the woman, and a gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

Jess nodded her head and changed the subject. "So, did you look into the history of this mech?" Jess asked pointing to the mech in the center of the house.

Now Don seemed to have a recharge of his energy level. Someone was asking about something he knew about, and it was not about his condition. "I did look into it."

He rolled over to the long shelf and pulled an off-white folder from its holder mounted below the model covered shelf. With the folder in his lap, he rolled back to the woman and passed it to her. "The problem with the Wolfhound, is that no government paid to have it developed. As near as I can tell. This one was produced in the Lyran Commonwealth by TharHes Industries, for "someone". There are no records of who bought it, or when it was first sold. It could have been the Kell's Hounds or one of the other known testing companies in that part of space. This one is an early production model, so it could have even been tested by Wolf's Dragoons for all anyone knows. There just is not that much information on it, that can be found by the average person. Let me show you what I have found on the thing."

Don rolled himself over to a Tri-Vid player and after only a few minutes, he started a documentary story about the mech design in question. While the four of them were watching the show, Mike was in heaven going over the mech with all the skill he had. After the talk with the Captain and his explaining of a few things, he was having the time of his life. How many people could say that they were checking out a machine that had never been seen by their people to date.

Several hours later, the show had ended, and Mike had completed his check out of the combat machine. After Mike had gone through the electronics and as many tests as he could, in the cockpit. He had started working his way down the mech. He was checking out all of the areas that were high wear or looked like they could be an issue if it had not been maintained. He was looking into the space around the ankle joint of the mech, when Robert asked if he was ready, or did he need more time to inspect the machine.

Mike slowly removed his hand from checking a fitting that was hard to reach. "Sir? I could always use more time for something like this, but I'm good. That is unless I can take it out to do some running and gunning with it?" He just needed a glance to know that his request was out of the question. "I'm done when every you are ready, sir."

"That sounds good Mike, let's go get some lunch and compare notes." Robert patted the younger man on the shoulder, and then turned and walked over to the wheelchair bound man. There was no way that he was going to talk business around anyone, that somehow might let them know what this small group might be doing.

"Don, I want to talk to my people in private and compare some notes." Robert could see that Don looked like he was let down by the news. He was thinking that they were not interested in buying the mech after all. Robert could read the man like a book.

"Lora has your contact information. You will know in less than 24 hours if were interested in the mech, or not. I like the way it looks. But I cannot buy a machine without knowing some more about it, and at least reviewing the local rules on buying something like this. I at least need to know what a fair price is, and what is going to be highway robbery." He put on a grin to take the sting out of the last few words.

Don was still let down that they were not going to make an offer on the machine. He had hoped that they would jump at the chance to buy it, and then he could get the surgery that might let him walk again. But there was still some light leaking in from the opening the officer had just given. "I understand, Captain. I look forward to hearing from you soon. I have listed her on the mech boards for sale. If someone else makes an offer first, the machine is there's." It was a hollow threat, but he did not know if these four, knew it or not.

The four people left the building and their hover car was moving to pick them up, before they had reached the side of the street and the door closed behind them. After a quick discussion on where to get some lunch and privacy, Lora suggested they go back to Le Chiffre. It was a light traffic day, but it still got heavier as they got closer to the Drop port. When they arrived at the Café? They did not have to wait for a table. They were seated on the second floor again, almost as soon as they entered the front door and checked in at the front desk. Robert looked around, and he thought this looked like the same table they had used before.

After being seated, Robert looked over to Lora. "You must eat here a lot. Is this the same table that we had our first meeting with you?" It was not an accusation, but it was a very pointed question, which also stated he wanted an answer.

Lora looked a little embarrassed by the comment. "Yes, to both. I grew up with the owner's wife, so they generally have a table set aside for me." She shrugged her shoulders. "Mom and I both hate to cook, so now I eat here, or I pick up some stuff that I can heat back up over a few days. This place is also known for its privacy for business deals. I'm not going to say that it is not bugged, but they do try to keep it as clean as they can. Any electronic bugs would not have been put in by the owners, but by some of the local power players."

"That is good to know. Since you know so much about this place. Why don't you order for all of us, if you would please?" Jess was nodding her head as Robert was talking. They had no complaints with their last meal, but it had been an eeny meeny miney mo on the menu.

Lora smiled back at Robert. "I can do that! I will be right back." She almost was skipping between the tables on the way to a set of double swinging doors.

When Lora got up from the table and took care of the food. This gave Robert and Jess a few minutes of quiet time to compare some notes on what they found out from Don. It was not like they were hiding anything from Lora, and they brought her up to speed when she returned from what might have been the kitchen of the restaurant. She was an asset, and that asset could only work, if they kept her in the loop about the things in her lane.

"Lora, as I was talking with Jess. I really want that mech. I think it fits with our orders of picking up anything interesting, that we could. Now if it was a design that fought in the House military's and has been around since before the SLDF left human space? I would have an idea on how much it was worth. This is your area, Lora. How much is it worth, on the high and low ends?"

Lora pulled out her briefcase and started flipping through a folder, until she found what she wanted. "Here you go, Robert". She passed over a copy of a sales flyer. "When I saw that message? I looked this up from my files at home. This one machine has a list price of about 2.9 million C-Bills straight from the factory. When you count the transportation cost and how rare mechs, are even on this planet. That makes them a little more expensive, than the list price. You could add up to twenty five percent more to the base price. That is if we were talking about a factory fresh unit, and at a showroom."

Robert turned a little, to look at the younger man. "Mike, you spent some time with the machine. How does it look, from your point of view?"

"I went over it as much as I could. I moved the arms and as you saw, I even walked in place. I also fired all the lasers in low powered training mode, and they all worked according to the read outs in the cockpit. I checked all the joints, and they all seem to have very little wear on them. I would say that they are almost new, well call it less than a few hundred hours on this set of joints. The armor package is intact, but I did see signs that it had been repaired. There are three areas of armor, that I think have been replaced, but it was done by a first-rate repair shop. I would call it a factory grade level of armor repair. It is as good a mech as you could expect, even if the tech is."

Mike paused and quickly looked around. He was not sure if he should finish that thought, but then when seeing Captain Robert shake his head in the affirmative, he continued. "It's tech is older than we are used to. I see no reason, not to see if we can acquire it. If it is not too expensive, that is. I like the whole head ejection system, and the all energy weapons layout makes it a good raider. Its specs say that it is not going to be that fast, but the speed is not that bad for its tech level."

The population of the SLDF in Exile was so small, that they were limited in the amount of home-grown designed fighting machines they could come up with. This new 35ton machine might be able to be modified and used in the fight against the clans or Cylons. Right now, they only had two new light mechs in mass production. The Sling II Omni at 25tons and the Mercury III Omni at 30tons. Besides those two light machines? They had two new medium mechs just now coming online. The medium class machines going to the first line units were 55ton Wolverine III Omni and 45ton Stag III Omnis. All of the Heavy mechs deployed were made up of a few short runs of some Golden Age clan machines. Rumor had it that a new 75ton machine was in the works, but those were only rumors. The big dogs that just were going into the heaviest ground units were 100ton Pulverizer II Omni and 80ton Riflemen III Omnis. All of those new designed machines were just modifications of the older designs to use Omni technology as their base.

The rest of the ground forces were made up of older and less capable machines to fill their ranks. Mostly they were a mix of Firefly C and SLE's, some old Slings, full sized Wolverines, Golden Age machines and a few Royal designs updated as they could with whatever weapons were available. The last were in active or stored until they were to be recycled or sold off. That last part had changed with the coming of the Cylons.

Mike was thinking, that all they needed to do was pop out the old engine and refit it with double heat sinks. Then they could dump the old school large laser for EERPPC, the medium lasers could be popped out for a set of third generation medium pulse lasers or extended ranged ones. It would be a zombie machine, which could take a pounding and still dish it out. The whole head ejection system could save dozens of lives. The suicide charge was a standard fit on SLDF in Exile machines. There was too much of a risk one of their people getting caught after a machine was disabled. If the rest of the SLDF machines had this whole head system? All they, the SLDF ground forces, would need to do is track the head down and then recover it. It would not save everyone, but it would save some of the highly trained pilots.

They did not continue with the discussion about the mech. They were interrupted by two strangers bringing over plates that were heaping with the most amazing smelling things, that three of them had ever smelled. After the wait staff had left to finish cleaning up after the lunch rush, the foursome dug into the food in a blur of moving forks. It was several minutes before anyone was willing to talk again.

"Lora. I don't know what this is, but it is amazingly good." Where the mumbled words coming from Jess as she tried to talk and chew at the same time. She had more or less failed at both, but only just. Mike did not even try to talk. He just nodded his head with a mouth full of food, after he had worked out what she had said. Some of that food was still hanging out of his mouth and dripping down the front of his work jumpsuit. He could careless for the mess.

"They are supposed to be a French restaurant, but I like the Latin style better." It was Lora's turn to talk with a mouth full of half eaten food. This got Jess and Mike giggling a little.

Robert looked around at the group and made sure to swallow his food before he tried talking. "Lora, I can see why you like this place. I think I will let you take care of ordering the food from now on, if you don't mind. This is a nice change of pace from the fish meals that I'm used to. Now Jess. How do you vote on the Wolfhound 35ton light mech with its laser-based weapons?" The last part, he had read off of the sheet of paper that Lora had passed him that advertised the war machine.

Jess did not even look up from her food when she started talking. "I think it would be worthwhile to pick up. The R and D teams will wet themselves on a chance to see what is going on in this part of space." That was as close as she was going to say about her home. After all, the Cappies would have loved to have had let their R and D teams' loose on the light mech as well.

"Then that settles it. Lora, after we finish this great food. Please contact Don and tell him that we would like to come by tomorrow and workout a price for his machine. I also would like a mech hauler on stand-by, to bring it back to the Drop port as soon as we close the deal with him. I think we will see how much he wants for payment, then work on it from there. Paying full price plus a few percent extra, is okay with me. I think Don needs the money bad enough, that he will take a good and honest first offer. Lora what are the rules for paying for something that large, in cash?"

Lora looked up from her food, then reached over to her Noteputor and started to look for the information she needed. "I just wanted to refresh my memory, but it is up to the person selling the merchandise to claim it on their end of year taxes. That is unless they are a business. Don will have to take care of it, but I don't think he will be on the planet long after you take that mech off his hands to file any taxes."

She stopped talking for a minute and was reading intently, before she continued. "Speaking of going off planet? We have a message from MMM. They would like to know what our trading route will be. They made a point of wanting to know, if you are going to make system fall in the Canopus V area anytime soon. They would like to talk about you hauling a high value cargo to Canopus, for them. I would bet that it's some Shadow Hawks mechs, and maybe a few Pike tanks. You have an armed jumpship, a Leo CV, and a Blockade Runner. It makes since and cents for them, because they would not have to pay for an escort on that run of cargo."

Robert drummed his finger on the tabletop, as he pictured the local space in his mind and worked out different routes. "I was not planning to go to Canopus V, yet. Its five jumps from here. That stop was going to be on our second run, if this one worked out."

Jess shot Robert a look, that was not nice. It said she was not happy with Robert telling this person, that they were going to make a second run. Something like that information, might let Lora know more than she should. Operation security was a major driving point on all of the previous supply runs. SLIC was a firm believer in the old saying, "that you could not tell anyone what you do not know in the first place."

Robert saw the look, but he did not let the look affect him in the least. He turned just a little bit, just to show Jess that he was talking "at" her. "I was going to see what I could find here, to fill out what the Boss said she needed. Then use someone from the Families to see where I might need to go to find the rest of it and top off my cargo bays. We were going to keep going until we had full cargo holds, and then return home."

Lora looked quickly between Captain Copeland and Jess. She noticed the by play but she could not put her finger on what it meant, just yet. When Robert stopped talking and Jess had not added anything. Lora decided to break the silence. "I would recommend that you not go to Canopus, yet. I think we can find other locations, that would fill your needs on this trip. That would give me more time to contact someone on Canopus V, and it most likely would take more than a single message. They could set everything up, before you got there. If you can? Before you leave, please let me know what you plan to trade on any return trip. If it is another jumpship? Any advanced notice would be great, but the more time I have to work with would be better. I was kind of worried that you might have to sit on the Scout for a few months, before anyone could come up with the capital to buy it. There are very few people on the planet that are sitting on a quarter billion C-bills that are not being used somewhere else."

Lora looked around the table but from the blank look coming from Mike, she quickly focused on Jess and Robert. Lora got the feeling that she crossed a line into something, she was not supposed to know about. But she needed to know somethings, if she was supposed to do her job effectively. She always wanted to do any job the best that she could, and to do that? she needed some information that it seemed their employers were not willing to give her.

"Lora, you know that operational security is the keystone of our people. And I think that, that part of your training was covered before Beth died. I will have to think about it, before I will let you know any information like that." Robert had stopped eating and was looking Lora dead in the eyes, but his head was tilted slightly down. This made is eyes look like they were cannon tubes, and they were locked onto her.

"I understand, Captain. I need to let the people over at MMM know something? What should I say?" Lora backed off, some. If Copeland wanted to play it that close to the vest, then that was his call to make. It would just limit the deals that she could make, or any discounts that might be lying about only known to the right people. Maybe money did not matter that much to this man. She had dealt with more than a few micromanagers, in her career. She also knew deep down that she would have to work with that type of person again.

Robert looked around the table, and all eyes were on him. "Well this is why I get paid the big C-Bills, and why I'm the boss".

Robert went into command mode. "Tell them. That we are heading towards the FWL via the shortest path to pay off our partners, and that we are only buying cargos. We are not interested in setting up any charter deliveries, at this time. If they push? Then just tell them you don't know where we are going. Say that maybe we are just a small company, and we do not want any others to know what our plans might be. This is true, and if they don't like it? Well to bad for them." Jess was nodding her head as Robert talked.

Lora looked down at her noteputor and worked on it with her fingers sliding across the screen for a few minutes, before she started typing on the screen vigorously. She only stopped her typing to take a few bits of food that had been left on her plate, till she was done. When she was done? She looked up from her screen.

"Okay I sent a message with what you said. That should let them down easy. I added some verbiage to cover any political issues your plans might cause." She was glad, when she saw that both Robert and Jess nodded and even seemed to relax a bit. It looked like she had avoided some unmarked minefield before she had made it too far into the damn thing.

It was quiet again as the four people went back to eating the food in front of them. Just as they each were finishing the meal, but before the plates were picked up. Lora's noteputor made a buzzing sound, and she looked down at the header information on the incoming messages. This slight noise caused by the device had drawn all of the eyes at the table to her.

"Well that was fast." She looked over at Robert and opened the message. "That was from the head of the Sales department for MMM on the planet. That was not who I sent the message to, about your upcoming travels. This is from a midlevel sales rep. They said that they have two runs of Martel 5 Medium Class lasers, that they are now overstocked with. They would like to sell them to you."

Lora looked up from her device. Then picked it up so that she could read and look at her boss at the same time. "Robert a full production run for Martel's is about 25 weapons. And it does not matter if they are small, medium or 90mm large bore gamma lasers. So, you're looking at fifty laser weapons of that size. What would you like me to tell them? She also said that they have re-viewed our wish list of items. They would like to send an invitation to you, to come to their main outlet store. Which you can use at your convenience. Someone must really like you, Sir." Lora's eyes got big as she finished reading the message.

Robert about choked, on the last bite of bread. What could they do with fifty medium class lasers systems straight from the manufacture? That would go a long way to finishing arming the last of the Viper MK VII's that the Colonial Navy were flying when he left New Circe. That is, if that many weapons did not complete the needed installations. It also might let the Colonial Supply System to start getting a bit of a stockpile as replacements for the Colonial Navy. Now, all they needed to do was find about fifty more. That would fill the whole number on the wish list, that Commander Xi had given him. The list that Robert had given Lora to put out, had that they wanted "A shipment" of that type of weapon in a short list of different styles.

Robert smiled, after he got his face under something close to control. "It seems like MMM would like to get some of their money back, before we leave. I would like to take care of this as quickly as we can." He looked around the table before continuing. "Do we think we can head over to the show room today? We don't have the money in the bank, yet. But if we can find out what they have on hand? Then all we should need to do, is transfer the funds and have them drop off what we find and like at the dropships." Robert knew that he was making it sound easy, and he knew that it was going to be anything but easy.

Jess was the first to say anything. "That sounds like a plan, Captain. The longer were here? The easier it will be for someone to start looking closer, than I would like, at us." Even Mike was shaking his head in agreement to this statement. Pirates were well known to be in this area of space. Someone robbing a grounded dropship was not an every month type of an event, but it was close. More to the point, it often looked that way.

"Well, Mike? It seems like you will have a lot more to do on this trip, than you thought. Lora how long do you think we have, before the car is ready to pick us up? I want to contact the ships to see how things are going, before we head out on another task."

The job of the senior officer never ends. You must have so many balls in the air at any one time? That you ought to be in a circus act, before you are allowed to take on a major command. "This is a very tiring job," thought Robert. "I need to call it an early night tonight".

Lora was looking down at the computer, while Robert was talking. She did not hear what he had been talking about. "Sorry, Robert. I was sending a message back to Don. He was online, and he replied as soon as it was sent. He would not mind if we came by at the same time tomorrow, to discuss a price for his mech. The MMM Sale's floor just opened an hour ago. We can show up anytime, that works for us. Their policy is that they just like it better if you call ahead, so that they can do a credit check on any visitor. That is something you do not have to worry about, Sir." Lora had a full smile on her face. This was the first client she had worked for, that could claim that price was not an issue.

Robert repeated what he had said. A very embarrassed Lora told him that the driver should be on the street probably, or in a parking area at the end of the block. They could leave whenever they needed to. Robert asked about the cost of these types of services. He was worried that they might be wasting money on what was an extravagance, in his eyes. Lora had to explain, in some detail, that the exchange rate between the C-Bill and what the locals used as a currency. This meant that they would only spend about ten C-Bills a day for this door to door and on call drivers service. Robert was okay with that bill.

Robert pulled out a small communication device from his pocket and walked to a quiet spot on the floor. He stopped by a big window that looked down onto the front entrance to the building. The device was the size of a pack of cards, and they came in many different colors. This one was a dull silver color, with the Tramp class jumpships name printed on two sides of the device in thick blood red letters. It was a secure short-range push to talk radio, that was very cutting edge. It had a range of a little over 20km but was perfect for the ship's crew to use, while in town. ComStar would not know about them or how to decrypt the messages sent from them. The trick was not to do things that would cause ComStar to look for them. They should be able to cover the range out to the distances that the crew and teams would be traveling from the dropship, while looking for the things on the wish list that they were supposed to buy. It they were going much farther away from the drop port? They had a larger older Star League military spec radio they would have taken with them.

Robert used the personal communication device to contact the bridge of the Maru and the White Rabbit. Both ships reported, that they had no major issues to report to the mission commander. They did report that all of the morning teams were still out, and the first groups of people on R and R had just left the first ship a few hours ago.

Captain Roberts spent about ten minutes talking with each of the two dropship commanders. He updated them both, that he planned to go to the MMM showroom, before coming back to the Drop port. He asked the Captain of the White Rabbit to contact the ships at the jump point. He wanted to see how they were doing, and if they needed to report anything. Robert was developing an itch that he could not explain. He was hoping that this little talk and his leading questions, would prod the other Captains to be a little more aware of what was going on around them.

When he was done Robert returned to the dining table? He was just in time for an after-lunch drink of some of the best coffee he had in recent memory. After everyone had relaxed a little and the food was allowed to settle, it was time to get back to work. They were all reluctant to leave the Café, but there was work that still needed to be done. Lora had called ahead, and the car was waiting outside of the Cafe' for them when they exited the front door.

The drive to the MMM Showroom was not that long. It was centrally located in this city for any visitor to this planet to see. As you would expect, it was closer to the Drop port than to anywhere else that was a point of interest. After all, the drop port was the expected source of their prospective clients. It was a large 8 story tall heavy constructed building, but it only had two rows of windows on its tall walls.

The showroom did not have a very nice looking front, it should have been called a warehouse, and not a showroom. The thing was, people did not spend a million C-Bills at a warehouse. After dropping off the four travelers the sedan drove into an underground parking deck to keep it close, but out of sight by any unwanted individuals. It was expected. That people, who did have a million C-bills to spend, did not want others to know they were there.

Notes.

How do you support a one-off machine, when the only production that had ever been made is on the other side of the Inner Sphere? Besides I always had a soft spot for the Wolfhound. It has a few ideas that even the Clan did not think about. At least not until they ran into one in 3049.

How and where, would a down on his luck pilot keep his machine? I just took what I saw from one of the gear heads down the road and worked from there.

Maintaining and working on strict OpSec, is like walking a fine line with landmines on either side.

Next is how do the big boys do sales, but not to the government or to the larger units? That is going to be "The Show Room".