Chapter 18
By Cliff
Beta and Clean up: Not done
Reviewed by Hotpoint.
9 Jan 3047
Before sunrise Day 3 on planet Cate's Hold
Early the next morning, right after the ship's crews had finished the morning meal. A local supply factor showed up with the order of processed cattle, that had been prepared for shipment across the stars. The Cargo Master and a crew went out to inspect the food, before they would load the delivery of the meat and make payment. This had already been agreed on, when the request had been made and accepted by the two different groups.
After a few minutes, a loud ship wide announcement was made on the dropship. It said that Captain Copeland was needed on the loading ramp. Robert left the cargo bay, that he just happened to be working in, and headed to the outside of the ship. There were a lot of witnesses to his location, to include some of the locals. They had been checking out a computer system that was for sale. It was all very staged. But it was so well staged, that no one could tell that it was staged. Not even most of the crewmembers on the dropships knew that it was staged.
When he made it down the loading ramp? Robert was joined by the Cargo Master, the dropship's captain, and one of the cargo master's helpers. They also had the meat factor, truck driver, and someone in uniform. The last one might have been police or some other kind of local law enforcement. When Robert was within speaking, without shouting, distance. He announced his presence. The three crewmembers turned to face Robert, as he finished his approach to the group. He made sure to have just the right look on his face.
Robert looked around the group of individuals in the shade of the Mule class dropship. On the ground were three plastic covered frozen cow halves, that had been pulled out of the shipping container. He could not identify, why he had been called out, by what he saw going on around him. That is unless he had a crystal ball, or he already knew what was going on before he had exited the cargo ship.
"So, what is going on gentleman and ladies?" Robert made sure to give a slight head bow to the females standing to his front.
The meat factor was a woman, and on this planet she more or less acted as one of the systems key leaders. In the MC women were in most of the positions of power or authority, in this small interstellar nation. This would be one of the few times, that he had to deal with a person in this senior of a position. Captain Copeland's people always tried to keep a lower profile on these resupply runs. The meeting with so high ranked a person in MMM on this run, had been a first, for Robert. And it still makes Robert somewhat uncomfortable, thinking about being that visible. Robert had no problem sticking it to ComStar, but meeting planetary leaders still made him a little uncomfortable. That had been the job of the more senior leaders on a supply run.
The Cargo Master was the first to speak of the group, to Robert. "Sir, the meat failed our spot inspections." His delivery was soft, flat, and to the point. It started everyone on the other side of him, to raise their voices to get their own point across. All to counter what the dropship's Cargo Master had just thrown into the air.
Robert just picked up the handheld testing device, that was sitting on the edge of the container. This device was old tech, and as a matter of fact. This little handheld testing lab had been made in the MC, this year. But it was very innovative and worthwhile to bring a few back home. The Cargo Master had picked up a few of the handheld testing devices, before they left the last system. The MC had a very large and advanced, for the Inner sphere, medical skills and anything that related to health and health care. He walked over to one of the laid-out meat carcasses. He opened the airtight closing device, that the meat was in, and pushed the end of the tester against the frozen meat. The device beeped and showed a red light. That was all it needs to do, to say that it had come up contaminated. So, Robert re-ran the test on the other two animal halves.
All three of them came up bad, according to the tester in Robert's hands. Robert looked at the others and showed them the red light, that said the meat was not safe to eat. The woman looked like she had eaten a lemon. Robert ran the self-test on the device and waited a few seconds, for it to complete. He showed it was green. Then he re-ran the test on all three hunks of frozen meat, again. He would show the results each time he tested the beef to the group. When he had completed the last tests? He came back to the group. He handed the tester back to his Cargo Master, before saying anything to the group of locals.
"There bad, send the whole load back. What is the issue Cargo Master? You know the rules. They fail? Then they go back." He looked around the group of locals and tilted his head a little to one side. He now needed to test his acting skills. "What's the problem?"
The woman was sputtering, and her voice went to almost to a shake your bones level. "The meat is safe! I have never had a load refused before!"
Robert tilted his head again but to the other side, like he was thinking about what the woman had said. Then he locked eyes with the tall and muscular woman. "Well, there is a first time for anything. Don't you think? We have a policy, that we will not take a delivery for any food that fails a safety check. And we will not use that factor, again. If we sell bad food to another planet? It will be us that will get in all kinds of trouble, not you. I will not risk getting anything from fined, jail time, to having one, or all of my ships seized by some local government flunky. All due to someone else selling us bad supplies, and we did not check them."
Robert looked back to one of his crew. "Contact any of the other local meatpackers and let them know what we are looking for, and when we need it by. Officer?" Robert turned to the uniformed woman off to one side. She had been the only one who had not said a word, since he had arrived on the scene. "I think we are done. Would you please escort the factor, and her goods away from my ships? I have to make arrangements for a few trucks and loaders."
Robert did not wait for the officer to acknowledge his orders. He turned and walked back into the cooler air of his ship. As he was walking into the ship. He thought to himself, that he had just played dirty pool, and it could ruin this factor. It would not take long for the information about the "bad meat" to get around the planet and then off. When that word got around, that she had tried to pass off bad food supplies to him. It would make others very shy about using her, as a supplier. No one would want to risk that the same thing might happen to them. They would just quietly shift their business to someone else. It would not take long, for her to have her position as one of the key leaders of this planet threatened.
The tester was new, but somehow it had been broken. The Cargo Master had decided he wanted to keep it, for some reason known only to him. Whenever you ran the self-test? It would come up green, but one of the test strips would stay in place. That meant when you tested something? It would read the test strip, and not the food you were testing. Whatever it tested, would come up with the failed test indicators light. It sure had come in handy today, and Robert was glad he remembered that little device while he had been driving. That just goes to show you, that you should be careful what you discard. It may be useful later.
Robert already had a list of contact numbers set out, when the meat failed. They were on a tight timeline, and he did not want to waste any more time than he has to. By his third contact? He had a heavy-duty cargo truck with a storage container rated for frozen food, and two local loader exoskeletons ready to roll. The Exoskeletons were very basic gear. It would turn a single person into a good-sized all terrain forklift, that also was in a small package. The hard part had been convincing the rental agency, that he did not need operators for the Exoskeletons.
His next call was to a meatpacking plant that was along the right road, near where Jess had found her little find. He gave them a ring and set up a time, in a few hours, for his people to come out. They would check out what the local had in stock, on such short notice. At this point it did not matter what the local had or the cost. His location was the most important thing to Robert.
Robert's SUV, heavy truck, two loaders, cold container, and six additional personnel left to go to the first facility before local noon that very day. All of the people in the two trucks, where crewmembers from the two cargo dropships under his command. Robert was not going to let any of the locals anywhere near this mission. The first stop for the trucks, was not at any meat packing plant. It was at an isolated stretch of road, out in the middle of nowhere. The larger truck had quickly pulled off the main road and found the smaller off-road truck, that Jess had been using. The larger truck backed up its cargo bed, so that the two trucks were tail to tail. When they were almost touching, the back of the cold truck, opened up. Now it could let a loader suit leave and walk into the covered area of the other truck.
The rest of the ground crew started to move folded up heavy duty shipping crates, from the larger truck into the smaller one. Each of these hard-plastic crates, when it was unfolded and locked, would be 1.2m long x 1.0m wide and the same tall. They each were rated to hold 100kg of load, without warping or collapsing. As each person carried arm loads of those flat boxes to the other truck. They would pick up a load of weapons, tools, and other things from the smaller truck. They would be hidden in the cold truck, until it could be off loaded in to one of the two dropships.
Jess and her team had loaded as much as they could, by hand. But they were limited by only being able to move, what the three people could move by themselves. Then there was the limited amount of time they had to make the long walking trips. After these items had been transferred, the back of the off-road truck was covered for the trip out to the main road.
The now empty off-road 5ton cargo truck left the area. It was taking two new people, to help load the off-road truck with one of the loader suits tied down in the back. The cold truck, with its hidden cargo, the remaining loader, and the second four door SUV commanded by the Cargo Master continued down the main road. They needed to "see" the beef, that they needed to conceal their plan with.
The truck made it to the first meat packing facility and met the manager of the facility at the main office. The locals were more than happy to show this new customer, what they had for sale. They were going to sell the meat for almost the same price, as what the factor would have sold it to these outsiders. And the facility would not have to pay the travel cost or fees charged by the factor to complete this sale. That was a lot more, than they would have sold it to the factor for. But the outsiders should and would not know that little bit of information. All of the frozen beef and beef analog were tested, and after it had past the testing. The heavy loader Exo-suit, manned by one of Copeland's people, would put the meat inside the cold shipping container.
This did not go quickly, because Copeland had ordered that each package was to be checked a second time before it was loaded. It was advertised that the visitors just wanted to be on the safe side. This was expected by anyone watching. Because the story had gotten around already about the tainted meat, that someone had tried to sell to them earlier in the day. A dark covering had been hung from the inside top of the truck. This helped to make sure that no one could see deep into the truck. The thick narrow rectangle hung plastic, that was normal for a cold truck finished the camouflage, cover and concealment of the old Star League items at the very front of the cold container.
As the rented trucks pulled out of the meat packing plant, a message was forwarded to them from the dropships. It simply was telling them. That Jess was not ready for a second pick up, yet. Not even with the delay they had made at this meat packing plant. That was a wrinkle they would have to work through. The Cargo Master decided that they would not change the plan. He would just have his team wait for a while at the point, until the smaller cargo truck showed up.
When it did finally show up at the hidden location. They were able to quickly off load almost two tons of the old SLDF stuff off of the smaller truck and hide it behind the frozen meat in the larger truck. Jess's truck pulled away and went down another low traffic road and returned for another load to be brought out of the tunnel.
The two trucks made it back to the space port, just as the local sun was setting. A mech sized power loader was waiting for them to return outside of the dropships. It would lift and take the whole climate-controlled container off the truck and carry it into the dropship. The two rented trucks would stay outside and visible to anyone watching. They were safe under the guns and missile launchers of the three dropships on this drop port.
The cargo hauling mech slowly carried the partially filled cargo container into the lowest cargo bay of the Mule dropship. The hull access ramp was pulled up and the hatch had been closed behind the haulermech, so that no one could see into the ship. As soon as the power loader had finished setting it down. One of the deck crew was plugging it into the larger ships power supply, to run the cooling systems.
The container was opened and crews under the watch full eyes of the senior Cargo Master, the Ship's Captain, and Captain Copeland went into three different areas in the container. Each of those senior leaders, would look at each load of the found SLDF equipment, as it was pulled out of the steal box by the armload. The Cargo Master would give directions to each of the emerging crewmembers, on were to store the priceless things coming out of the cold shipping container.
When the last piece of equipment was removed. Captain Copeland ordered the cooks to select some of the meat freshly brought in and serve everyone a nice steak dinner on all three ships mess halls. With the coming of the Colonials, the fresh beef supply had been stretched very thin back home. It had already gotten to the point. That it was now too expensive for the average person to have a fresh cut, thick steak more than once or twice a month.
The meal tonight would have a quality of beef that few had ever had in their lives, counting before the Colonials had arrived. It was a way to reward the crews as part of the historic find, that Jess and her crew had found. It went over very well with the crews of all three ships, as pounds and pounds of fine red meat were cooked, cut, and eaten with gusto.
While one crew was enjoying a massive steak dinner, another part of the crew was having a camping meal around an open fire. This fire was under the open skies, and they were not breathing recycled air while they were eating. The two additional personnel, that had come in when the off-road truck had returned after dropping off the first load. Had quickly unloaded the loader Exo-suit that was there to help move the 400kg scout suits towards the exit. It took some time to move the metal hatch that was blocking the way for this limited mobility machine, but the Exo-suit had proven useful at this task as well. The heavy hatch was moved to the back of the tunnel and out of the way, even if it fell over while a team was moving in the rest of the tunnel.
It was getting late in the afternoon, when the first of the folded-up Nighthawk suits was loaded onto the back of the off-road truck. It had upset Jess, that they would not be able to have as much cargo ready to transfer to the other truck as they had planned. The delay in moving the cut hatch, was caused by having only one suit to work with. It would have worked faster to have both suits, but Robert could only find two of the loading suits for rent on such short notice. It would have looked odd if one was not "seen" by the outside world. Keeping one back on the dropships could explain only one being seen while the Cargo Master was out looking at meat.
When he had transmitted this plan? It was hoped that Jess would have two of the suits, to help move the heavy equipment. It took some work getting the timing right, but once the loader suit had left the arms room. The rest of the crew would reenter the room to load the folding plastic crates, that had been sent to them with the loose equipment found there. They hit a good rhythm pretty quickly, and they had ten folded up Nighthawk PA(L) suits and a few of the boxes filled and loaded into the off-road truck. Before they knew it, they ran into an issue.
They had to stop loading the off-road cargo truck, and actually unload some of the plastic packing crates. They had overloaded the suspension of the truck without even noticing it, until after the fact. They were able to fix the problem, and the second load left the area. They learned the lesson of the overloading and they were quickly able to get another load done and get settled in for the rest of the night. They were tired enough, that sleep was not a problem. Keeping an alert guard, was not as easy to maintain after a hard afternoon of work and a large meal. Most of the group had loaded the small truck three times today, and even the two new people had helped load it twice. That was a lot of work, no matter how you looked at it.
Early the next morning the two trucks pulled away from the dropships, so they could go to a second meat packing plant and "view" the offerings. The new location for meeting up with Jess was sent via a coded message, on the radios that they had taken with them. The combined groups off loaded the small truck into the emptied cold truck, faster than they had loaded the off-road cargo truck the night before. Then it returned to get another load from the camp site
The next meat packing facility that the rented cold truck stopped at had more time to plan for the upcoming sale. They had more weight, and more varieties of meats ready for the off worlders to see. It still did not even come close to filling up the over large container the truck carried. Having to deal with all of those varieties had caused a huge delay in finishing the loading, which caused a delay in the cold truck meeting with the off-road truck. It was during this delay, that traffic started to increase on the road that the cold truck was taking. It was not like Robert knew the high traffic times, on any of this planet's roads.
The cold truck was not able to take the turn off that they needed to, without a high chance of being seen by the locals. With security not guaranteed. The Cargo Master canceled the second pickup of the day and told them to go for the backup plan. The off-road truck would pull onto the main road, about an hour after the cold truck had passed the turn off. It would make a "supply pick up" for the camp from the dropships, before returning to the camp site Jess had set up. This was riskier, but the lax security of the drop port was risked, and it was not that uncommon of an event. It just would give the camp site less time to refill their truck for the next day.
The cold truck made it back to the dropships without drawing much attention to themselves, it was only a rental cold truck after all. The only people who really noticed the two trucks returning, was the meat factor. She was watching from her office in the drop port main building, and near the large vehicle side of the entrance. She was still reviewing the reports from her informants. They had told her what these off worlders had been buying and how much, so far. She had an almost complete list, of what was in the cold shipping container on the truck. The one that had just passed her building, heading towards the three grounded ships.
The large truck and the smaller one, which was acting as an escort, were met outside of the dropship by a waiting loader mech. The Factor watched as the cargo container was lifted off the truck and carried into the Mule class dropship. What she could not see, was that the shipping container was being unloaded inside the dropship. By now a second freezer shipping container had been purchased and hooked up into the power system of the dropship. It had its own power supply that was rated to power the unit for weeks, but it was considered just as an emergency use item.
All the meat was moved to its new container, that would stay in the dropship until it was off loaded on New Circe. Then the cargo handling equipment moved the ten scout suits and filled plastic crates to where they would stay until they made it back home. That had been from the morning pick up from the camp site. All of this was done without anyone that lived on this planet knowing, what was really being moved around inside the egg-shaped ship.
The evening was quiet for the three dropships crew, but after there last stop. They were at what other dropships would have said, was a heavy crew watch for the three dropships. When the camper's truck showed up? It was driven straight into the lowest cargo bay. It was also quickly unloaded, and then reloaded with fresh and now unfrozen steaks. They were already to be fire grilled, back at the camp/loading site. Robert would have loved to have sent more personnel, but he did not know how to get them back without being noticed by the locals. Jess would be taking Robert's rented SUV out with her to help with the transport of the additional bodies, that were already under her command.
The third day was a repeat of the Day 2's events. This time they were able to do two cargo transfers between the two large trucks, without any surprises or other issues because of the locals. They were able to also stop at two different meat suppliers, and filled the areas covering the weapons in the cargo carrier nicely. While the meat carrying truck was going back to the space port, it was not drawing any unusual attention. The off-road truck and camp were not so lucky. Anyone who was seen as an off planet "looker" was watched, just in case they found "something" on this planet.
The off-road truck was followed, from a distance, by an old four passenger off road capable wheeled transport that had seen better days. It did not go unnoticed by the big wheeled truck, as it made its way back to the camp site. The camp went on alert, but they did not stop working for long. The work was too important to come to a complete stop to many times, and they had been expecting to be found by the locals. While the last of the equipment was loaded into the cargo truck, an alarm would periodically go off as the outlying sensors were tripped by someone in the evening and night.
Every time this happened. The loading would have to stop, while two armed personnel would leave the camp to check out what had happened as stealthily as they could. Repeatedly one of the pair would see someone running from the area, on their hand-held night vision systems. After the third time this had happened. Jess had to notify Captain Copeland, that they might have been noticed by someone or some group of locals. Once was an accident, twice was an incident, the third time was enemy action. When you were dealing with millions of C-Bills worth of equipment? You had to be prepared.
Finally, the last of the equipment was loaded onto the off-road truck. It was a little overweight, but it only had to make it down the trail one more time. And besides, it was only a rental. After everything was loaded, in the dark. Jess and her team used the truck's blocking position to cover their acts of re-sealing the exit hatch and resetting the camouflage that had kept this place hidden for so many years. Jess was now thankful, that she had been careful about the removal of that camouflage. By the time the camp settled in for some sleep, the hatch into the bluff was as invisible as it had been before Jess had found it.
The only marks would be the campfire hole, rib and other meat bones, and some truck tires prints or ruts. Jess was not happy. She was hoping that instead of covering their tracks, in the night. They could have used the rented loader suit to move some of the cave in and go a bit deeper into the tunnels. She was sure, that they could have gotten a hole big enough. Then she could slip through and gotten deeper into the rest of the SLDF facility.
As the campfire burned. She had to keep reminding herself of the old saying. It was about one bird in the hand versus two in the bush. Every time she said it in her mind, it still made her mouth taste like old shoes. Even with a huge steak dinner sitting in her stomach, and all of the hard work. She did not sleep well, for the rest of the night. Every time she closed her eyes. She had visions of row after row of SLDF equipment waiting for her and her people to claim, and then be used in the battles with the Cylons or those clanbasterds.
Before the local sun had risen, the rented truck left the creek side campsite for the drop port. The seats and small cargo area in the cab, had been needed by Jess and her team to get out here. Now it was not necessary, and it would be helpful to keep the weight down. The driver had volunteered to do it alone. Jess and the rest of the team would be following in the small SUV, that she had driven out. The drive back had everyone on pins and needles. They had eyes out and looking for anything. Sometimes they saw something, but mostly it was just their minds playing tricks on them.
While Robert was completing some reports, in the meeting room. He was contacted by the bridge. He was needed at the main loading ramp on the Mule. He was told that there was a delegation of locals who wanted to talk to him, and one of them was in a Police or other type of uniform. It was noted that the uniform person was armed.
"Well this could be bad," thought Robert as he left the room. He made sure to grab his thin computer, just in case he needed it. It had a copy of "his books" for as good as a copy could be, that was only vaguely correct. They were called The Book of Lies for many centuries, before the Star League failed. And they were still called that, in certain circles.
Instead of going downstairs, he went up, so that he could stop by the bridge of the ship. Now he could see who was waiting for him outside on the ship's sensors. When he displayed the security image on one of the bridge screen units. He could see the Cargo Master, one of his assistants, the meat Factor, a person in uniform, and another person standing by a large coffin like crate in a rumpled ship's suit. Robert relaxed, just a little but not much.
"It was time to get my acting chops on." He thought and grimaced. He thought something like this might happen, before they were able to break atmosphere. He went back down to his cabin and checked his uniform. He also took time and reviewed his notes, before he had to take the stage. He went over about a dozen different lines and thought about each one. All before coming up with three other lines that he might use as he walked the ship's corridors. He did that, just as he hit the top of the exit ramp off the dropship.
Robert walked down the loading ramp and kept going until he was beside the large rented cold truck. The rental company was not due to pick it up till around noon, today. It was just sitting and waiting for them to complete the agreement, it had already been paid for. The Cargo Master and the Factor were just starting to get to the point of using loud and outside voices, when Robert closed the final distance to the group.
Robert had his game face on and fixed firmly in place, but there was not a hint of a smile on his face. He had not liked using the Factor like he had, but the mission had required it. He had, and he would have done it again, for just one of those Nighthawk suits. Now he had a need to see what cards she had to play, how smart she was, or maybe how smart she thought she was. Robert took the bull by the horns and spoke up to cut through the yelling.
"Factor, what can I do for you?" Robert made a show of looking around at each of the people, which included his own personnel. "I hope you don't want to sell supplies to us. We have a set, and published policy. That if you fail a safety test once. We will not use that company again. I understand that it is a normal policy, in this part of space."
The Cargo Master threw both of his arms up to the air. "Sir! That is what I have been trying to tell them, for almost an hour now." An exasperated Cargo Master said throwing his arms in the air again and turning around as he spoke. He was now facing Robert. It was a very good bit of acting on display, and Robert made a note to himself not to play cards with this man. The Cargo Master was fraking good at this kind of game.
It was the uniformed female officer, that spoke in a very even tone in reply to Robert. "Sir. We just would like you to retest this load, if you have the time. Failing a health safety inspection, is a major problem. We want to cover all the bases, before we close the investigation on this issue. That is what we have been trying to convey to your…. man.'' The officer could not help but put a little bit of discuss in her voice as she said the last word.
The Factor had not said a word, but Robert could tell that it was killing her not to be the one leading this charge. She had locked eyes on Robert, as soon as he had opened his mouth. She had a target lock like a Cylon missile, and it was not going to let up. Robert still needed to play his part in the game today. If he did not? The whole thing would fall apart, and the old SLDF base might be also lost to his people.
"Cargo Master. Is this code the same, as what came in a few days ago?" He was pointing at the coffin like freezer, that now he could see held some kind of red beef like meat in a standard shipping wrap for that kind of product.
The Cargo Master assistant pulled a scanner out of a pocket of his ships coveralls and ran it over the light metal tag on the meat. He took the readout, and then checked it against the list of numbers from the first delivery of meat those few days ago. The younger man did not know about the games, that the Captain and the Cargo Master had been playing. As far as he was concerned, the meat had truly failed the health test they had run on it. He knew something was up, but he did not know what. He did know about the SLDF bunker, but not why the failed meat had a role to play in letting them recover the prize.
"Sir, the numbers match. But there is no way to tell if they are exactly the same animal, or not. It is just that the numbers on the shipping cover match the lots that we saw from the other day." He just raised his eyebrows at his commander and waited for word to be given to escort the locals away from the dropships.
Robert nodded to the younger man, and then pulled the handheld test lab from the hook on the Cargo Master's waist belt with an easy motion. He ran the self-test on the device, and then touched the exposed red and white marbled meat. When it processed and displayed the results? He turned the device to show the crowd, that it had returned an unsafe result. Just like the device had done a few days ago.
This time the Factor could not hold it in any longer. "Captain Copeland! These are exactly the same animals, that we were dealing with the other day. I made sure that they were not mixed with other packages, just in case it was contaminated! I asked Captain Stanton to run tests on this delivery using the same labs that are used for her crime scene work, as well as the full health department rig at the hospital. They come back safe! Every test has come back that they are clean and safe to eat! You could eat them raw! And it still would be safe!"
"Factor! I don't know anything about the labs you used. The MC shipping standards say to use this type of tester. That is if you want to be listed as a 1A grade shipper."
Robert held up the handheld lab, to show what he was talking about. Robert let his arm drop, and then he walked over to the large cargo truck. A second handheld tester was within easy reach, so he pulled it down. He returned to the group and ran the self-test on both devices. Both returned a green light showing that each had passed and were safe to use. He reached down and tested the meat again, with both test devices. The results were not the same, just as he knew it would be. Robert had the Cargo Master leave a "good" portable tester in the truck and another one near an airlock, just in case.
"Well, that is not good." Robert tried to twist his arm a little, to show them the results. He then tested each of the three large packages of meat in the shipping coffin. Robert was looking at the green and red lights on the devices, with a deep frown on his face.
"Jacob go get another tester out of the cargo bay and make it quick." The way he delivered the statement. It was intended to show some anger, but not too much, just a touch to add to his display. Robert hoped that he was not over playing it, but you had to push it sometimes. The crewmember returned to the group and passed the asked for device to his boss. The man was visibly out of breath from running the entire way to the dropship and back. With his long legs, that had been a very fast trip for the "twenty" something man.
Each of the three machines were used, again on the three exposed carcasses. The results were that two of the handheld labs showed that the meat was safe to eat, and the other showed that it was not safe. Robert had a deep frown on his face, as he walked from the cold case of meat to the Cargo Master. Robert passed the "Bad" device to the man, like someone might pass an old-style football to the chest of a running back with a dull thump.
Robert returned to the Factor, as the Cargo Master walked back to the dropship with his toy in his hands and a well-hidden smile. Robert looked at the two women. Robert was working out how exactly to pull this off, he was betting the fines would be high. But even one Royal class mech could be worth several to almost ten million C-Bills. He had hoped, that they would be on the burn going out of the system before this came up. But the Factor showing up now was not a showstopper for him. That is, as long as he did not go to jail or something like that.
Robert picked one of the three options that they had worked out, when they had war gamed this plan. Robert looked right into the eyes of one of the women. "Officer. There has been a slander committed against the Factor, and I am at fault. It seems that our two-month-old lab tester, was defective. I can show you the sells receipt, but how do we fix this?"
Officer Stanton stiffened, as the words the man said sank into her head. Slander was a legal term and he had just admitted guilt in the crime, in front of witnesses. She was about to say something, but the man was not finished with what he wanted to say. She just kept her mouth shut, for now. Like most law enforcement personnel. She preferred it, when other people talked. That way she could try to pick out the smallest of lies, in what they were saying. She knew that the more they talked. The harder it was to keep a lie hidden, from someone that was looking to find those lies.
Robert turned to match eye contact with another of the women. "Factor. I have bought a little over 40,000 MC dollars in products from other venders, that we should have been buying from you. I would think a fine is in order, to make reparations and compensation. It is also for the expenses, that are going to be incurred repairing the damage to your reputation after we are gone."
Robert now turned his head, so that he was looking at the officer of the law again. "I think 400,000 MC dollars should cover any fines. Don't you think Officer?" That was a lot of money. But it would clean his soul for the Frame job, that he had worked to put the Factor in. Right now, they had money to spend. It was time to make it right. Besides, it looked like they were going to be coming back this way, in the not too distant future. He knew that higher command would send someone back, to work in what Jess had found.
Both the Factor and the Officer were at first stunned by the amount the man was offering, to settle this dispute with. Normally it was only a thousand MC dollars in fines and a week in jail, for something like this. That was a lot of money for most people to come up with, on the spot, to pay for a fine. The Factor was being offered full reimbursement for lost sales, and an almost 10 to 1 in fines. That was a lot of money. Even if the Factor lost the next three or four shipments, to the bad press she had received. She still would be able to show a profit for the year, and the next year, no problem. That alone, should be enough for her to keep her job and position of influence.
The officer looked over at the Factor and was about to say something, when she noticed the Factor giving this man an odd look. She did not really know how to take the look and the feeling, she was getting, from the powerful meat factor. If this had been a criminal action? She would have known what to do. She had only agreed to come along, in case this conflict got physical.
"Factor? It seems like a fare offer of compensation has been made by the Captain. Does it meet with your agreement? I will have to write and post a report, to the effect that the good Commander was fined. All because he had faulty testing equipment. That would clear you of any suspicion of wrongdoing, Factor." The Officer was splitting her time between looking at Captain Copeland, and the locally powerful planetary Meat Factor.
The Factor was studying the man in front of her. Her gut was telling her something was off. She could not put her finger on it, yet. But something was off with this man. The man was being very generous, and she did not know why. Maybe there was still some meat on this bone? Now, to try to find out what his game was.
"Captain Copeland, that is very nice of you. That is something that is rare enough to find out this way. And it is enough to raise some warning flags." She wanted to start digging. She needed to scratch the itch at the base of her neck about this whole situation. Part of her mind told her it was a risk, to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Robert grinned at the woman and went with the "Answer C" in his mind. "Factor? Well let's just call it, a matter of Honor. One of my Cargo Master's duties is to make sure everything we use to checkout any cargo, works properly. He failed in that task, and I didn't catch it. Don't worry about the money. I'm going to dock some of his pay, to cover some of it. I'm also going to take his conflict pay bonuses, for the next two years or so to make up for some of it. It's nothing too bad, but enough. So that he and his subordinates will double check each piece of equipment twice, before it's used again. I will pay, to get some of that preparedness."
He said the last part with a sly grin on his face. "This could have turned out a lot worse, than it did. What could have happened? If that tester lab had tested something as clean, and that something was not? Someone could have got sick, or even maybe have died from that error. Besides, we may be back this way again. Having one of the major Factors on the planet upset with me? Well that could be bad, for someone in my kind of business."
The Factor was still looking at him, trying to weigh, if this was all on the level or not. Finally, she just gave up on it for now. Like he had said. It was a learning experience, and no one had been hurt by the failure. He also was right, that if she had seen them again, and this problem had not been resolved? She would have held a grudge for a very long time.
"Okay, I can see that. But why didn't you wait to see what the fines might have been, before offering that sum of money?" She was a money person, as far as she was concerned. Everything came down to money sooner, or later.
This was a pointed question, and the truth of it was. He had not wanted or liked, to have almost ruin someone's livelihood. All just so that he could maybe complete a mission, that had not been sanctioned by his government or even higher military command.
"It was an honor thing, but it also is the limit of my cash reserve. I probably should not have told the Officer that, but I don't think the officer will jump the "fines" on me after I made a public offer." Robert was giving both women a sly smile, that he knew most females thought it went between nice to sexy. That had been what his now dead wife had told him, many times before.
The Factor gave a slight nod of her head. That was all making sense, and it fit some pieces together nicely about the behavior of this person. "I'm going to have an uphill battle, to fight the bad press caused by that faulty hand lab of yours. A little bird told me, the other day. That the Captain of the White Rabbit sold a very high-end computer system, to someone who wants to keep it very quiet. Some people, I know, have said it was a Lostech level system. A second one was sold to the local defense supply and intelligence unit, for about 10,000 C-Bills. If you had another one of that type of computer system lying around? My company could use something like that." She gave the man a look, that was almost coy looking. If she was not well known to be the most cast-iron witch in a thirty light year range, it might have worked.
"As a matter of fact. Factor I have one more of those systems we found, for sale. And no one has shown any interest in it." Robert tilted his head down a little. "You know as well, as anyone. That they have value, more than just a sale cost. They also have a very high-status symbol value. If you want the last one? I am willing to sell it to you, but at the same price I sold it to the government and military representative. If any of the pair found out that I just gave one away. Let's just say, they might be just a little upset with me. I don't want to have a supply Factor upset with me, if I can help it. I'm okay with that, if it means that lots of people with access to battlmechs and aerofighters are still happy with me. Sometimes people like that can develop a shoot first, shoot second, and then ask questions about who they were shooting at in the first place. Those people, are the type you do not want to have a mad on for you." Robert had a grin on his face as he finished his line of thinking, which was said out loud. He had thought of that line on the trip out to deal with the Factor, but these two women did not need to know that.
Both women gave a soft chuckle of understanding where the man was coming from, and in most ways. They agreed with his line of thought. The Factor took two steps forward and stuck her right hand out towards the man from off world. "Done deal. When would you like to transfer the funds?"
She was referring to both the money sent to her as compensation, and the C-Bills she was going to pass over along with a request for a receipt for what she was going to pay for the new computer. She would be able to get a tax write off on the buy, and recoup some of the cost of the device at the end of the year. This deal was turning out to be a boon, instead of a bust the way it looked the other day. Besides the fines were not taxable.
Robert reached behind and underneath his ships jacket and pulled out his noteputor. "We can do it now and have it all taken care of before anymore rumors start. Besides the officer can be a witness, to us settling things." Robert was kind of waving the little computer in his hands back and forth. Like a fisherman uses a lure to catch a prize bass.
The Factors face changed, at the sight of the noteputor waving in the air. She looked like she had bit into an apple and found half a worm. "Captain, I am afraid that our planet does not have the infrastructure to transfer funds wirelessly. We will need to go back to my office and use a hard line to complete the transfer. The withdrawal will be done next week, when a chartered mail ship is due to come into our system. I do have a car, if you don't mind riding back with the Police officer and I." She was pointing off to one side, towards a strange long box on a set of bright blue balloon skirts.
Robert smile was full and toothy. "I think as long as you ladies will bring me back to my ships, silver bracelets are not involved, and my accountant can come with us? I think that will be okay." The five people entered the four-door hover car, that Robert would have bet the title to the Maru. That it belonged to the Factor herself, and not the company she worked for. It was too nice to have been a cheap company car. He had seen a few of those around and they all were… dull.
The transfer of funds went without any major issues, after they arrived at the Factor's office. Lora had set up a company account with the Bank of MC. It had turned out that every planet in the MC, had at least one branch for the primary bank of the country. The Factor had and account that the funds could be sent to. The officer had assured Captain Copeland. That the funds should be sent directly to the Factors account because a crime had not been committed, so it was all legal. The Factor did not want to transfer funds to Robert's account, because she "thought" an audit might make it look like there was a kick back involved. She paid for the computer system that was on the way over, in cash.
After the work had been completed. The Factor took them all to Maxine's Steaks for lunch. The meal had a rule set down by the Factor, before they walked through the door. It was that no one was allowed to talk about work, as long as there was food on the table. Robert enjoyed the last full day on planet before having to return to the Dropships and finishing all the work, that was required for the launch back into space.
Robert and the captain of the Lisbon Maru, who had been the delivery person for the computer, had returned to the dropships before Jess and her team had returned from wrapping up the camp site. To find out, that the Camp site team was not back yet caused some concerns. Robert was concerned enough, to radio the two trucks to see if everything was okay. They reported that they were only about 10km from the space port, and that so far everything was okay. They were only being slowed down by traffic. That update did not last. It was only a few minutes later, and Jess called him back on her portable radio.
They reported, that they were now convinced that they were being followed. Robert cut the line, and then called the Maru to pass along a few messages. He put all three of his dropships on full alert. This was just in case things went badly. Next, he also contacted the Officer he had just had lunch with. She was able to raise the alert level of the whole drop port. He was surprised, how easy it was to get her moving to the limit of her authority. She had no problem telling him, exactly what that limit was. And what she would do to him, if he exceeded his. Robert found out that the officer had an impressive turn of phrase, that could make a part of your anatomy try to crawl up into your lower stomach.
These changes were not much, but it was better than nothing. If someone tried to highjack Jess's trucks. The response team from the Drop port that would have been available normally, would be that much quicker in responding. If things did get bad for Jess and her team? They would be quick off the mark. It also gives Robert an excuse, to arm up some of the dropships crew and activate the fire control systems on the three dropships. He could not launch any of his aerofighters, just yet. They were ready, and if he had to pay a fine if he launched them. He would pay them at a drop of a hat, it that was what was needed to protect his people.
When Jess and her two-truck convoy entered the drop port. The car that was following them was stopped at the entry point by the very awake security guards. It did not have a pass to enter the area, and it was turned away by a very alert set of gate guards. Ones that had doubled in number, less than a half hour ago. The officer was able to get some images of the six people in that vehicle, that had been behind the last of the rental trucks. They had not been very happy, that they were not allowed on the drop port landing zone.
The dropship's crew and the campers had the two trucks emptied, before the Officer could make it back to the dropships to update Robert on what had happened at the gate. Robert called the Rental Company and asked them to please pick up their trucks as soon as possible. Jess was supposed to have dropped hers off at the rental office. Robert was willing to pay an extra fee, for them to come pick it up at a common area near the Drop port exit. The same was true of the other vehicles they had been using. Robert wanted them parked away from his ships, so that they could light the plasma engines and not destroy them.
He was worried that whoever had been following them might have tried a little kidnapping, if they caught even a few someone's out and away from anyone else. It just was not worth it, to lose someone this close to lifting out of the atmosphere. Robert asked the police officer, that checked in with him. If they could keep an eye out and gave her an idea of why. He told the Officers that he had a feeling, that they were being targeted for a highjacking or something. The truth was? Robert did not know if they had been a group of Lostech hunters, that was trying to see if we found something. Or maybe they were a ComStar team, that had followed them here after all. He had to many unanswered questions.
Robert had Jess and her whole team in the meeting room for dinner with the three dropship's Captains. It gave the commanding officers a quiet place to have a nice meal, but still talk shop without disturbing the rest of the crew and feeding the rumor mill to heavily. After one of the crewmen had topped off all the drink glasses one last time and had left the room.
Robert looked around to mentally check off each person at the table. He waited for Jess to look up, so that she would know that she was going to have to speak soon. When she put her fork down? Robert thought, that she might be ready to get the meeting started. No one wanted to waste food. So, in place of the normal flow of speak, eat, and then speak some more. It was eat, small talk, eat, then start all of the briefings. It was now time to brief and the real reason for this little get together.
"Okay Jess. We all know that you just got back in from the field site, and there is no way for you to have come up with a complete report yet. But can you give us an overview of your little impromptu mission?"
A round of soft laughter went around the table, that included Jess and her team. The looks that each of the leaders gave the younger woman was of admiration, and not animosity. She had done an amazing job so far from, just what little each one of them had seen being packed down. The rumors were a lot harder to believe.
"Well Sir, we did a rough inventory of the items as we went. None of my team was an expert in weapons, so some of it. We just had to make a guess, on some of the items. We did take more images of everything, and I mean everything that we pulled out of the find. We can have a backup made for the egg heads back home to look at, in a few hours."
She looked down at her noteputor and made some adjustments to it, before she finished. "We found thirty Nighthawk suits. We have no idea if all of them will end up being serviceable, or not. A normal unit should have had two extra suits per squad. That would mean that six suits are not accounted for, to support a full 28 persons SLDF Platoon. Whoever had set the security on the arms room might have thought they were coming back. I think, that it was set for a long-term storage program and not something else more drastic.
Jess looked around. "As far as we can tell. All the O2 and humidity had been pumped out of the room, when it was last locked down. The arms room still had a slight positive pressure from extra nitrogen that had been pumped into the room, to help maintain the weapons. The safety measure of the locking bars should have activated, when we cut the first hole in the inner armor of the hatch. But for some reason, they did not deploy at that time. After being left alone for so many years. Most of the safety and protection measures failed to activate, and even the anti-theft locking bolts had a major delayed in deployment. We have no idea which measure we tripped, and we may never know what had them activate on us. If we had more, even a little more time on site? I would have liked to have taken the cut hatch with us, but it was too heavy. That would have taken one truck load just by itself, to get it out on those trails."
Jess looked back down at her notes. "We found empty spots in some of the weapons racks. We think, that when the unit left last. They loaded up with whatever they thought they might need, and they took it with them and left the rest. We loaded twenty of the Mauser 960 systems. Again, we were not able to test them in any way, before they were packed back down. All of the ready ammunition, for the grenade launcher was missing. As a matter of fact, we did not find one round of any type of ammunition in the arms room at all. We should have found hundreds of rounds of ready ammunition loaded in magazines for the QRF, if nothing else. They must have taken it all with them, along with all most all of the clothes, bedding, and other field items. Even all of the food was missing. We did not find any residue of food, so it was not left behind and then rotted away.
Jess put her hands flat on the table. "What I think happened, was that the unit packed up. It might have been, when the recall for the Exodus was sent out. They wanted to blend in. They took only the weapons that the locals or any of the local house units would have access to, and then hit the road. All of the crew served weapons, that had vehicle mounts were also gone. They did leave behind all of the tripod weapons. They also left behind about 30 pistol type sidearms of different makes, models, and calibers. We also loaded up 20 laser or ballistic rifles, that look to be maybe of four different types when we put them in crates."
Jess took a sip of water and flipped to a new screen on her thin computer screen, and then started talking again. "They did leave less than a dozen Blazer Laser Rifles, and another four support weapons. They are two Heavy Support Pulse Laser type weapons and two Self-Propelled Support Particle Cannons with the ground mounts for them. We found six of the Mk. 2 Man-Portable AA Missile Weapon Launcher systems, but without missiles of course. None of my crew knew what they were. But when we lifted one out of the locking cradle? It had a data plate identifying what they were. I made sure they each were marked with an ink marker, I happened to have, to note what they were. We found in one weapon's locker, a four set of heavy SRM Launchers in it. Again, they were without any rockets for them, and the self-test batteries were dead. I have had some time to read up on them, when we had some down time after the truck was loaded. The version we found. They have a built in HUD, laser range finding, and a night vision system on the launch stick."
She looked up from her computer and made eye contact with Captain Copeland. He was the most well versed in weapons that she knew, beside herself. When he did not make a comment, she kept on talking after a few seconds break. "I don't know if we have any of those last two types of weapons, back home. The Colonials, I think, will absolutely flip if they can start making these heavy SRM launchers. A few of their ground troopers, or maybe a squad armed with those things? They could take down one of the new Praetorian combat machines, we were warned about."
She was holding the last bit of information, until the end. She wanted to get the most bang for it, so she took her time. She was faking, that she was reviewing her notes again. She had been told about the Cargo Master and Roberts, little display of acting as a briefing technique. She wanted to see if she could match it.
"The rest of the room had support and maintenance tools for the weapons, that were stored in the room. We also think we found tools and kits, to fit and refit the suits to new personnel. We kept those tools together and loaded on the off roader, for the last load of stuff that we pulled out. They were in two large metal lockers, one on each side of the Nighthawk racks. We just locked and loaded both of the lockers, so nothing would get misplaced."
If she was right, and she really thought that she was. What they had found? It would mean that the whole Star League in Exile now would have exactly five complete suit fitting kits, for the light battle armor. It would take almost a full day to refit a suit of the armor so that it would fit a new person, or if the original person had a major change in weight or body shape. It was a well-known issue with the Nighthawk suits. This one part of the find alone, could cut down the time to refit the PA(L) suit units by 20% alone.
No one had found another fitting kit, in over 200 years of not just looking but hard looking for another one. Only one other site that had hidden suits, had a needed fitting kit with them. The other two kits had been made by studying the one fitting kit for a few years of very hard and focused work. They wanted to make more, but the time, money, and complexity of the equipment had kept pushing it to the backburner. They were only supporting 200 Nighthawk suits and they were not able to make more of those, yet. It had always been hoped, that one day. They might be able to start production of those high-tech suits. Maybe soon? That would change with the additional bodies, the Colonials had brought to New Circe. Then they would also have to make more of the fitting equipment to support the increasing number of suits.
"That is about all I have, right now. I can have a more complete report later, to make a more complete brief." Jess was again looking down at her noteputor to see if there was anything else, she might need to bring up at this meeting. She also looked around the room, and no one else seemed to have been that excited about her last statement. That was distressing.
Robert was wearing a poker face, but it was hard to maintain. That was an impressive hall to have collected in only a few short days. "That's okay Jess. Let's wait until we get back to the Styx. That is unless something comes up, and you need to give us a mission critical update. Now, I would give an update on a few things, before we go back to our normal jobs." This was taken, by the leadership to now show what they thought of Jess's find. All of the senior people started to give her a slow clap for about 30 seconds, before stopping.
Robert looked over at one of the Dropships Captains. "Do we have information on that computer, we pulled out of the SLDF base?"
The Captain of the White Rabbit, whose crewmen had been working on the device, looked around the table before he said anything. He really did not want to say anything, because he really did not have anything major to report. He only had a few hunches, that they were working on. He was very short of any facts. After all of the good news that Jess had just revealed, that was going to be a hard act to follow.
"Sir! My guys went through the system backwards and forwards. They did not find anything of value. They think that someone set a Wipe Date program on it. When I asked what that was? They told me. That sometimes the old SLDF would set up some of their computers, with a delay action program. If no one, with the right codes, had logged onto the system by a certain date? Then the program would activate and wipe the computer's hard drives, and then overwrite the empty space on any data storage areas with ones and zeros. It leaves the base line software alone, but any added files or programs? They are completely or as good as anyone that has been looking at with our tools, gone. Near as they can tell. The program was set to run in 600 days, because that was what it was set to when they got power back to the system. They shut it down, now that we know that it works for the most part. I ordered them to pack it back up and move it down with the rest of the materials they pulled from Jess's Toy Box."
Robert let a smile crack his face at the last, of the dropships captain's last comments. "Jess's Toy Box? I like that. Now I know how to write up my reports to higher command." Robert looked back to Jess, who had a quizzical expression on her face. "So, Jess. Are you okay with the name? It's what we will be code naming your find. It's your last chance to let me know if you have any issues with it, before it becomes official in any reports."
"Sir? Are you sure that back home will be okay with that name, and not something more covert or something?"
Jess was a little embarrassed, but at the same time. She was also very pleased, that her name might be added to the site for all future mentioning of it. Only the best finds were given names instead of the encoded locations coordinates of a find. She just gave a positive nod of her head.
Robert looked back at the White Rabbit's commander. He had not known if the other man was done when he jumped in, now it was time to find out. "Sorry about the interruption, Captain. But did the reviewing team of the computer, have any ideas about the unit that had been stationed on this planet?"
The youngest of the dropship captains was pleased. That the senior officer was showing him the respect of apologizing, for the interruption before he continued with his report. "Sir, my forensic team reported about that information just before we started this meeting. They think that sometime around 2784 or 85. A SAS unit of platoon size from the 24 SOG, left the base and did not expect to return to the area for around two years. What happened to them after that? They do not have any information, on that bit of detail. They did suggest, that the computer be turned over to the Lore Master as soon as we can. That is all we have, Sir."
"Thank you. Can you please have a formal copy of your reports ready to be turned in with our logs, when we get home? I also would like a copy of them for my notes, as soon as you can." Robert was giving the other man a level look.
Now it was Captain Copelands turn to give some information to the group. "I have a preliminary report from the local police chief. The crew or group, that was following Jess and her team, were a group of Lostech prospectors looking for the SLDF base. They think, that Jess might have found something, or that she might be able to help them find the base. The local police department do not think that they were looking at a kidnapping, or not at first. Maybe a job offer and then it might have gotten ugly, when she said no." Robert shot Jess a knowing look, before he continued.
"They were not ready to do a snatch, when they were picked up at a restaurant outside of the drop port. I told them, to let those men know. That Jess and her team were only out there camping in the open air. I wanted it passed along, that it was something a lot of spacers like doing after spending so much time in steel cans. She said that they would pass that along, both she, and I do not believe they will like the comment. So, all shore leave has been canceled. These prospectors are an odd lot, and more than a little bit crazy." This did not go over well with the group, and it would go over even less well to the rest of the crew when they found out.
Robert let them make the needed noises and let them get it out of their systems. "I want the notice posted, as soon as we have finished this meeting. I don't want someone outside the drop port, to get any ideas, about picking up a few of our people to see what they might know about a lost SLDF base. I have moved up our launch time to 12 hours, from the top of this hour."
The Commander of the mission looked around the table. "I think it's time to leave while we are ahead of the game, for this round. If anyone has an issue? Please let me know."
Each person in the room looked at the commander of the mission. They nodded that said, that they agreed that it was time to leave. They were only leaving a half a day early, so there would be few issues with the crew. The Commander knew this, and it was why he had done it. A dozen hours, or the chance to lose some of his crewmembers to kidnapping or murder? It made more sense, to him, to get moving a few hours early.
The three dropships lifted off without any issues from the local government or Traffic Control. The trip back to the jump point was normal, in every way. Since this star system did not have any support infrastructure at the jump point. The dropships did not have to make any more contact with the locals, after the ships had left the orbit of the planet. The smaller ships attached themselves to the larger jumpship as soon as they arrived. Within a few hours of the dropships arriving at the jump point. The space was empty of any metal or life in a flash of jump energy.
It was not until a few weeks later. And only because some visiting outsider had asked, that it was noticed that the four ships did not file a travel plan with Traffic Control. Nothing was noted or passed along. Because it really was not against the law, to not file a travel plan with the next destination listed. It was only for safety, in case something happened to the ship between jumps that this information was logged. Sometimes people just did not want others to know, where they were going. It was not unheard of out on the edge of human space, for that to happen. Besides the local traffic control had not asked for one. They had gotten very use to dealing with Lostech prospectors, and they were a type that like to keep everything close hold. That included any of their travel plans.
Notes:
Banking, economy, and buying large ticket items. I always wonder how they set up a banking system in Battletech. And how you would do something like that, on a planet without an HPG.
How do you keep a lostech find quiet on a planet? Now add how to do it when one of the main draws is looking for Lostech on the planet.
Jess's Toy Box: It is not like you could call it "The Cate's Hold find". That would be just a little odd. I did not want them to find anything major on the first try, but they would have more information than the average prospector. That information should have a payoff of some kind.