Chapter 23
By Cliff
Beta and Clean up: Not done
Reviewed by Hotpoint.
25 Aug 3047
New Circe.
In the deep black of space, an energy wave alerted this hidden system that someone was coming. In that few seconds of warning given to the defenders. A pair of jump fighters disappear in a flash and reappear, at the old-style jump point. They would get there just 2 seconds, after the long and old Tramp jumpship had fully arrived into the system. The rapid response of the alert crew was a testament to their skills and since of duty.
Before the SLS Styx could radio, via HPG, that they were friendly. A dozen armed Raptors were popping into space near the long ship, to join the two 100ton ones that were already there. Robert made a note, that next time? They would be allowed to send a HPG message, before they came into the nebula and not after they made it all of the way home.
The longer the Styx was at the jump point. The more her powerful radar was seeing that some things had changed. The jump point was completely empty of, well stuff. The old station that had been there for generations made from an old jumpship, which had been deemed as no longer useful for the clan. Even that mass of metal was now missing. All of the old style jumpships, that had been left at this location for any future need. All of them were gone. That did not mean, that the Styx was alone. Robert was looking around at all of the radar contacts zipping around the local area.
Robert looked over from the radar display to a position that was along the far wall. "Comms, have we had a reply?"
The comms station operator did some checks. "Sir, no reply has been received via the HPG section. Do you want me to send a regular speed of light radio message?"
Captain Copeland and Lt Jules Vaun were looking at each other, when the comm station interrupted them, before they could give an additional order one way or the other. "Sir! An HPG is in coming." The Communications station was quiet as the information went first to the HPG team, and then was uploaded into the ship's other systems. When it was done, the data was ready for the bridge operator to relay the message.
"We are to hold station and prepared to be boarded. We are ordered to be under quarantine, until cleared. We are advised that lethal force has been authorized threw out the quarantine time." The tone was bewildered, and it matched the look on his face. Robert and Jules shot each other questioning looks. This was a first, and something like this had not been done on any other supply run that Copeland could remember.
Robert looked at Jules who shrugged his shoulders. It was Robert's call, and it was his name on the blame line. "Comms reply, via HPG. Tell them. That we have full bays, and that we will need to launch our pair of small craft to make room for the inspectors. Make sure you tell them that we are not moving, and all of our weapons are powered down. Jules, please pass along that order to all dropships. I want them prepared for boarding, under full quarantine rules. Let the staff know, that we will let them know as soon as we know anything."
As was expected, by Robert. They did not receive another message for hours, after their reply had been sent to the HPG station on the planet. Robert and Jules only had to field questions from each of the dropships once. Each of the command crews on those three smaller ships had a good guess on the amount of firepower that was currently flying around them.
It was six hours later, and about time for shift change, when they were joined at the old jump point by a ship that was almost the same length as the Styx. Robert and Jules knew that their supply run would be a major political nuclear weapon, when the Colonials found out about it. That was why Robert was not that surprised. That they were being put on the back burner, for now. If things did not work out, by the time he returned to his duty shift? He was planning to take a more active approach to the problem. He was not going to let his people be left out in the cold.
Those thoughts went out the air lock, when the Radar and tracking section called out to the bridge in a very frantic voice. "Sir! Contact! It just showed up on the energy wave detector! She is squawking, that she is the Yukon. Frak! We are being hit with a lot of energy."
Now that they were back in the home system. The rules for speaking had been relaxed, so Captain Copeland did not say a word about the use of a Colonial based word. He had expected that one or two of the smaller modified dropships would be sent out to them. Now that the heavily modified Riga class Destroyer was off his ship's nose? Now he was a little more nervous.
The Yukon had been the smallest of the Clan Wolverines operational interstellar capable warships. That had been before the coming of the Colonials. But her small sized did not mean, that she was a push over. The Tramp would be so much ash in the wind, if the warship went tactical on her. She would not even need to launch her heavy fighter load to get that job done.
Both Robert and Jules stayed on the bridge of the Styx, while the warship moved down one side of the jumpship and then it went over the top of them. The entire time, the Styx was being hit with all kinds of Radar, DRADIS, and something that none of the tracking crew could work out what it was. No one on the bridges of any of the returning ships knew exactly what the warship was looking for, but they thought that they had a good idea of the types of things they were looking for. At the 120 minutes mark. The supply run flagship was raised on the short-ranged radio, by the warship that now was back to sitting off the nose of the Styx.
Over the large built in speakers of the old Tramp, came a strong but younger sounding voice. "Styx Actual. This is Yukon Actual. You have been gone for some time, and some rules have changed while you were away. We were checking your ships for any trackers that might be active, passive, or activated by certain wave energies. We also were checking for anything that might be a threat, and somehow was infiltrated on to your ships. The good news is that we have not picked up anything like that on our active, passive, and visual scans. Now for the painful part. It is, that we will be checking every member of your crew. Query-Affirmative Styx Actual?"
Robert flipped a switch on his armrest. "Yukon Actual. This is Styx Actual. I copy that Phase One is done, and that Phase Two is not going to be fun. What is Phase Two? And how can my people help you, so that we can get our feet on the ground to feel real gravity and the wind again?" Robert had just transmitted in the open and not encrypted, so that each dropship's bridge would also know what was going on.
The voice was lighter now, but it was still fully in business mode. "Styx Actual, you are correct. I want your two small craft to depart with minimal crew, and land on my ship. They will be checked out on my end, but while we are doing that. Four Raptor class craft will dock and turn your two small craft bays into their base camp. They are going to go through every compartment and test every person. If someone resist? They will be taken down…hard. The same will happen to any stowaways, as the first step. I hope we do not need to worry about step two, Query-Affirmative."
Robert was nodding, as the voice told them about the next phase. Jules picked up a second device, and passed along the directions to the jumpship's crew, and the attached dropships at the same time. When Jules was done? He gave Robert a look and showed that the other device was off. He wanted to ask a question, and with a nod from his oldest friend he asked.
"Yukon Actual. You're looking for Cylons….Query-Affirmative?" Jules had a slight problem going back into speaking "normally" again, and the last part of his statement had taken a few seconds to be added.
It took a few minutes for a reply to come back over the short-ranged radio. "Styx. We are looking for a lot of things. The Cylons have picked up a few new tricks, since you left. I am not going to tell you exactly what we are doing, and how. Query-Affirmative, you understand security and why things are done that way, commander."
The warship's Captain was not going to tell anyone, about the interviews that would be taking place on some of the crew. Anyone that had even passing contact with this Isaac Nelson, was not going to have a good day. Getting the files together, had been the main reason for the delay and getting the Yukon out this way. If there was any question in the interviewer's mind? That person would be put into the warship's brig, until they were transferred over to SLIC. Finding a ROM agent on New Circe was still special compartment access only information. The warship's Captain had only been "read on", when his ship had been tasked to "Quarantine" the returning resupply mission. He still was having problems getting his mind wrapped around the idea. He was going to make sure that something like that would not happen again, not while on his watch.
Robert was starting to hate this counterintelligence crap, but he did understand why it was being done. About a million lives depending on it to work was all of the reasons he needed. "Roger Yukon Actual. Do I need to send you my reports Query-Affirmative?"
The sound of a light laugh came over the radio, to start the Destroyer Captain's reply. "Negative Styx. Just like I know things, which you do not need to know. You know things that I do not need to know. Please hold those reports, until asked by higher authority for them. I am only here to make sure you are good to go."
Captain Copeland ordered the two small craft crews to launch the Mark VII landing craft. When the two small craft landed on the fighter carrying Destroyer. Four Colonial made Raptor craft were coming out of her lunch bays on the other side of the warship. The small Colonial designed craft were not armed, with external weapons. It would have been more than a little redundant considering the number of 100ton fighters flying around the local area of space, along with the other armed one- and two-man craft. Two Raptors made for each of the small craft bays on the long jumpship. They were not breaking any speed records, but they were not dragging their feet.
As soon as the small craft bay doors closed on the hull of the jumpship, and the atmosphere in each area was safe to use. The bay was filled with two dozen people, all in thin Colonial made spacesuits. They went about their tasks of converting the area of the small craft bay, into their short-term command posts. They did not communicate with the convoy commander, or anyone else on the jumpship. One second the hatch from the small craft bays were locked and the windows covered, and the next. Ten teams of two people, all still in space suits, started walking/floating down the corridors of the jumpship.
As the ship's crew had been warned by the fleet commander. The two person teams went into every room, and every person was scanned by some kind of device that looked to be testing DNA and who knew what else. Once a room was checked and passed the strange inspection. It was locked, by attaching an alarm strip. They were like the ones that the law enforcement department had been using for a few centuries now. It took two hours for the teams to make their way to the aft most part of the jumpship and then back to the nose.
The inspection crew had very little communications with anyone. The faceplates on the suits were mirrored, so the crew had no idea who was inside the suits. After the team of two persons left the bridge of the jumpship and the crew was still closing up some of the panels, that the inspectors had wanted opened. The senior enlisted man on the jumpship was impressed with how thorough the inspection was being. They had found two hidden areas that he had not known about. They had been empty, but he made a note to check those areas in the future.
The inspection teams returned to the small craft bays. Robert was starting to worry, about the lack of communications between the inspectors and his crew. They had not started up the big fusion plant, when they had arrived into the New Circe system. They were on emergency batteries, and they were getting a little too low for his comfort. They were only intended for emergency use, after all. Jules was looking at the same numbers Robert was, and had just opened his mouth to say something. What he was about to say? They now never would know.
Over the speaker on the bridge, a new voice came over the short-ranged radio. "Styx Actual, this is Yukon. The inspection and quarantine teams report that the SLS Styx is clean. Do not allow anyone from a non-cleared dropship to enter your vessel. If that happens? The inspection teams will have to start all over again on your vessel." The voice on the other end just stopped talking.
Jules picked up the mic and pushed a side mounted button at his station. The person on the other end was not the warship's Captain, and they were not using proper SLDF communication protocols. This made the alarm bells ring in both men, and that alarm was saying Star League intelligence. "Yukon. This is the Styx, wilco." Wilco was slang for we will comply, and it had been used for centuries.
The next communication was an inter-ship one on hard lines. It was between the jumpship Styx and the dropship Hobgoblin. It was to inform Captain Copeland and the flagship bridge. That a few of the inspection teams had entered his ship via the interconnecting hatch between jumpship and dropship without warning. It would not take long, for the ten teams to check every inch of the 70-meter-long modified fighter carrier.
It took only an hour, before Captain Copeland was notified by the Yukon. That the Modified Leopard Carrier Class jump light carrier was cleared, and that the same rules would apply if anyone violated the seals on the hatches. The separation between the time of the contact from the SLS Yukon, and when the contact had come in from the Hobgoblin, was only ten minutes apart. This was a sign of how professional the inspection team was. Ten minutes was about the time it would take for a person to fast pull themselves from that drop collar to the small craft bay.
The next dropship to get the mass visit of inspection teams, was at the other end of the long jumpship. The blockade runner sent word about the visitors, as soon as the main hatch near the K-F boom was opened. The Trojan class had a small crew complement for its size, at least when compared to the Leopard class carrier. It did have a lot larger cargo area, which would need to be gone through by the inspectors. Even with zero g to help with moving items around. It was not going to be a quick task to clear the ship.
It was half an hour longer, before Robert and Jules were told it was clear. The whole bridge was told that the second dropship was cleared, and now the jumpships crew could be allowed access to the other inspected ships. The last ship to get inspected, was the larger Mule class Lisbon Maru. She had a larger crew, and a lot more cargo spaces that had to be checked. When Robert and Jules read the report about the start of the inspection on that craft. Both men shared a smile along with the NCO of the jumpship. That job was going to fall into "Well this job really sucks" category.
Four hours later, word was sent that all ships were clear and clean. The number of fighter sized craft started to dwindle, even before Captain Copeland had been given the word that the last support ship for his fleet had been cleared of whatever they were looking for. Jess had thought that the number of "fighters" dropping had been due to the crews needing to be replaced. Jess was very happy to be proven wrong.
Robert and Jules were in the massive turning gravity producing deck's gym, when they got the word about the Mule. They had to spend a lot of time there, to preserve their health. The two officers were still there, when a member of the HPG team made her way to the workout room. The tech visibly stumbled when they entered the 140m diameter Gravity deck. The deck had been bumped up to 1.15gs for those wanting a harder workout.
"Sir, we have a message from traffic control. They sent us coordinates and require us to be there in less than two hours. They say that if this is an issue? You are to contact them, with the reason for the delay or other issues."
Jules was smiling, as he let the barbell down into its locking holder. "Well, Robert. It looks like we are closer to being home."
Robert was also smiling, but he remembered how much work they had still to do. Before the mission was wrapped up and they could go home, the paperwork had to be done. "You know that it just means. That now, it looks like we will have a little longer shift. Let the team in Engineering know to spin up the Colonial drive. I bet we are going to the L1. Make sure that the boards are clear, before anyone is given leave for home."
Robert wiped the sweat off his arms, and as he put the towel into the bin. He looked towards the HPG Tech. "Let them know, that we will make their schedule, and pass the coordinates to the bridge."
A little over an hour later. The Styx was in orbit over the life-giving planet at the L1 location, that Robert had thought they might be heading. Robert won the last bet on the betting board. He had picked that they would not be able to land on the planet, until at least one full duty shift or more after arriving. He had picked that on the way back home, when the idea was posted by someone else in the fleet. Traffic Control said that they were not ready for the dropships to land. They were given a time, which was a full day after showing up in orbit over the planet. The mission did not have a set date to end, and since they were not able to send an HPG message. The ground side support was not fully ready for Copeland to arrive, even after the half day delay at the old-style jump point.
What had surprised Robert was the second message that the Flagship had been sent, a few hours after the first message. They were told that there was another change in plans, not long after they shut down their jump engines. Everything would need to come off the jumpship. The jump sail was already deployed for power for the simple reason, that the jump ship was now very short on fuel. This last change was something that was not covered in the pre-mission reports and SOP's.
Every bit of food and all of the extra parts were inventoried and packed into the pair of small craft's 67ton cargo bays, that were coming in very handy. Jess and Robert were directed to send their reports, as soon as the Styx was stable at the L1 point. They had been ready for days, to file those reports. So, as soon as they were directed to file them. The digital reports were transmitted to the pair of their supervisors at the speed of light.
Early the next day was quiet, and the landing counters slowly worked their way to zero. Traffic Control contacted them one hour out, to give the final approval of the orders for the dropship's descent flight plan. They were all cleared to land at the main drop port on the planet, but the assigned landing location was at the very edge of the landing area.
Again, Robert was not surprised by this request or maybe order was the better title. It was the area that was normally used, when a supply run's cargo ships had started to return to dirtside. It had been set up to handle a dozen cargo dropships at a time. It was well guarded and had a huge housing combination warehouse, which was built almost fort like. The unloading of just over 10,000 tons of cargo, was taken out of the dropship's captain's hands. And even Captain Copeland would not be allowed near any of the items that had been in the cargo bays. They were only allowed to unload their light gear and personal effects.
This cargo handling task was taken over by a special set of stevedores, which had been training for this event for the last six months. It was a small group of stevedores that had been trained by an older generation on what they had learned. It would take a long time to get the cargo handling done as they compared the inventory they had been sent, versus what they were pulling off the dropships. The crews were off loaded off the dropships and landing craft and housed in a special housing unit. It was not far from the offloading ships.
It took three days for the Jumpship to be shut down, and the items and extra crew where transferred to ground side. It also took three days for the three dropships to be emptied of supplies and crew. Final payouts from the sale of the cargo would be in fits and spurts, for the foreseeable future. Not one pound of cargo had been put out for sale yet. It did not take long for over 90 percent of the crew to be allowed to go home from the temporary hotel set up for them. The only ones that were left were the ones that had more to say to higher command. They were mainly the Captains and XOs of all the ships, there was also Jess and the entire HPG team still living in the hotel.
The HPG team was still currently working, only they were now in larger rooms' groundside. And it had even grown in number, of those specialists working on that task. When Robert and Jess were eating lunch in the "hotel", a runner called out their names. They both had messages from the same person, Commander Xi. She was coming down in a few hours, and she needed to talk to them in debriefing room four. Jules was in another room, ready to receive his own grilling at the same time Jess and Robert would be receiving theirs.
A few hours later, Jess and Robert were in the debriefing room waiting when Commander Xi entered the room. She was carrying a thick looking briefcase, which was very out of place with her uniform. She took a seat on the other side of the desk from the two recently returned naval officers. She pulled out a paper folder, a noteputor, and put them on the tabletop in just the right places. Now that she was ready, she smiled at the two.
"Robert, Jess great job on your successful supply run. I will say that your return was a surprise, and not only to Traffic Control. I was not expecting you, for another three months or so. Command and the brain trust sitting above my paygrade, did not expect you to be back for another six months." She was smiling, but it did not reach her eyes as she looked across the table.
Robert knew that he had brought home some poison pills. He was wondering how long it was going to take for them to start filtering through. He was thinking that this was one of the reasons. That he was still restricted to the "hotel" and had not been allowed to go to his own home. He wanted to find out what had changed. They could not see the burn scar from the massive wildfire, but the story had been in the reports he had been able to read. He already knew that one of his favorite fishing streams was ruined. He still wanted to see the runoff damage with his own eyes. At least the additional cold weather hearty seeds would come in very handy in the near future.
Robert brought his mind back to the meeting at hand. "We had some good luck on and in, a few different systems. We had some problems selling all of our large ticket items. We did find a few items, of a lot of different types. All most all of them, were things on the list you gave us to look for. I also found a few things, that I thought would be worthwhile to bring back."
Commander Xi looked down her nose and focused her eyes on Captain Copeland. "You also turned up some interesting intelligence while you were gone. Star League level weapons not only in production, but they are also well known to all corners of the Inner Sphere. Then there is the whole maybe a clan unit in hiding for forty years, in the Inner Sphere of all places."
Jess gave a grin and jumped. SLIC did not fall under Commander Xi's department. They had their own chain of command, when they were back in the home system. "Also, don't forget about making the nice people at ComStar so happy to see us again."
Commander Xi was not happy with that comment. She shot the younger woman a look, before turning her gaze back onto Copeland. "Yes, and also let's not forget them, and your new friend the female Duke."
Jess knew she stepped into something. She had meant the comment to be a joke. It looked like it had fallen very flat. She went on the defensive for her Captain. "Commander. We kept to the cover story, and every supply run has had issues with the robed wonders. We made sure that we were not followed, and we had a clean sweep from the Yukon. Captain Copeland has been able to use his contact with Duke Terry, to help us at almost every stop we made on the run. Without that contact, and the information she gave us? We would not have known to look for signs of SLDF tech, and I do not think we would have looked for those books. By the way. How has the HPG decoding team done? They were told not to talk to anyone, even shipmates after they got dirtside." She was intel, and in charge of the HPG team while on the mission. To find that she had been cut out of the information loop, had been very concerning to her.
Commander Xi let a smile break over her face. Robert knew that she like playing games, and Jess had fallen into it hip deep. That had not stopped her from fighting right back at the senior officer. A little bit of backbone was expected to be found in a Wolverine combat officer. Xi relented and let the younger woman off the hook.
"The intelligence teams are going nuts. They have not been this deep into something new, since the Colonial showed up. Everyone is happy with what you have brought back." She was not going to bring up that mostly it was being used to double check the information, that had come from another source that had recently "turned up". She was not fully briefed in on what the small Coast Guard vessel had brought, but she knew that it was giving a lot of people heart burn.
Margret Xi had to fight to keep her "work" face on. "The reason for this meeting is to let you know, as the Convoy commander. That we have taken some of the items out of the warehouse, after the whole cargo had been inventoried. Supply command was very happy with the three leopard engines. The leopard class light carriers have been used rather heavier, than had been planned in the last year. They passed along, if you can get a few more? That they would gladly take them off your hands. It was assessed that you saved them around 20 million script per engine. I am told that one of the engines will be put into use, by the end of the month. Until you returned. The plan was to pull the ship out of service, for about four months. That was how long it was going to take to pull out and to rebuild the old engine. That takes care of the cost of the refitting of the Styx. It would also cover your whole operations budget, for this run."
Robert was smiling a sly smile. "I was worried, a little. That I might have been making a bad play, in getting them. In the end, I thought they at worst would be used, at some time in the future. Now that we know where we can get them. How many, would be too many?" Robert was already thinking about the next run.
Commander Xi had to look at the noteputor, and she made a face. Robert had asked a perfect question. And one she should have known the answer to, right off the top of her head. "They did not say, but I would be careful if you brought more than four or five more of them back. Dropship engines are reliable things. Too many, and they will just sit in a warehouse somewhere for years to half a decade, before they are needed. That would cut down on the assessed value, for the resupply mission as a whole. The next item on your inventory, which has been pulled out of the warehouse were the 30 Nighthawk suits. They are listed as costing 2.6 million Star League script for each of them, in a new condition."
Xi gave a shrug and kept talking. "I have no idea how they came up with that number. Due to the damage, and the amount of time it will take to get them ready to issue. That is, if they can? Right now, they are assessed at 2 million each. I bet that it is going to tap all of the parts, that they have been hand making to keep the force in action. Finding the Star league base was some impressive bit of work. I know that higher command would like you to try to find more, if you can protect the clan while you do so. Those are all of the things taken out, so far. I would expect more to be withdrawn for military use, as the inventory is seen by more eyes."
Commander Xi pulled out another sheet of paper. "Those 2 line items have covered all the cost of the mission, and it has even paid off all of the refitting cost of the Rob Roy. The beat-up merchant class jumpship is going to be harder to pay off, but still. As it turns out? All of those Merchant parts will have a place to be used to help the Navy. Captain Copeland those were some amazing finds, you were able to pull off. It's going to take some more time, before it is all gone through."
Robert was very happy. Granted those two inventory line items had been more luck than skill on his part, to get. "When and what will be the first items put on the block for sale, Commander? How long do you think it's going to take until the Colonials start asking questions?"
Commander Xi gave a sly smile. "Now, listen to your language. Query-Affirmative. You have been surrounded by those barbarians to long. And it will be the two Rock Hounds and 2 of the 30 ton class logger mechs, which will be going on the sale's site tonight. One of the shipping containers of meat has been put for sale, in 50pound lots. That was a few hours ago. I do not know, if you knew it. But even average cuts of beef had been going for almost 4 Star League script a pound, before you showed up. It had gotten as high as five script per pound." Commander Xi folded up her hands and they covered her files.
"When will the Colonials find out about the run? I will bet some time tomorrow, when they do the planet wide press release about you coming back. Captain Copeland, Robert. I think you might want to keep a low profile for a while and stay out of the City-State. So, I do not know how you are going to sell that stuff that you acquired. You and the rest of the officers are on leave for the next 30 days. I know that we talked about a 90 days furlough, during the planning and recruiting phases. That regulation has changed with a war on. I hope you have some fun and relax."
Robert liked what he was hearing. He already had plans for his items, but he had one more important question to ask. "Commander Xi, when will we be going out again, or was this a onetime shot after all?" They were only guaranteed one run, when he had left on this mission. High command would have to approve a second run, and any follow-on runs.
Commander Xi gave a half smile, which she had picked up from Robert in the first place. "They do not know yet, officially. I would say, that yes. They will approve another run. The voting meeting will be held in September. I think that they will like you to start your second run, maybe a month later. That is if things go the way, I think they will. But I also have a feeling that this is going to be a very political decision, and you know that they can do things that we think are dumb."
Robert nodded his head. "If they ask you, Commander? I will be ready whenever they give the word. I even have a roughed-out travel plan. I would need an updated shopping list, and a crew to man the ships."
Commander Xi laughed. "I am sure you do, Robert. Now if you all will excuse me? I have a meeting with some of my people, about some more of the goodies you brought back with you." Commander Xi rose from the table. She shook hands with each of them, and then she spun and walked out of the room. The two other officers followed her out of the room, but they made a different turn after clearing the door jam.
Some hours later. Jess looks at Robert, as they waited for a taxi outside of the warehouse and barracks building. Both had seen to it, that their personal cargos were shipped to wherever it needed to go while they waited to be released from the base. Robert had more cargo by a lot more, than Jess had been able to acquire. She did not have the starting capital or experience in shopping, that the Captain brought to the table. While they waited? Finally, she just had to ask something, before they separated for an unknown length of time.
"Captain Copeland? I was wondering. Why did you trade all of those used mech parts, for all of that natural fiber cloth?"
Robert had to turn his head and look down at the younger woman, he was almost a half a foot taller than her. He had noticed that something was bothering her, for a few days now. He was just waiting to see, if she would tell him about it. He gave her a friendly smile and went into training mode. "What you are asking about. Is why buy and import natural fabric, when almost all of the clothes the clan uses are made from manmade fabric?"
Jess knew the tone, but she stuck to her guns. "Yes, something like that. I have been looking at it six ways from Sunday. And I still cannot understand, why you would do something like that. Did I miss something, Query-Affirmative?"
"Well Jess, I know something about that subject. The factory that makes all the cloth for the clothes. It is also the only one that makes uniforms for the military. A military uniform only last about six months, in combat. The factory went into overdrive before we left, but it's only just keeping up with minimum needs of the actively fighting units. Then you threw in 50,000 additional people, with basically only the clothes on their back on a very cold planet? Oh, and how do you like your new 2000 count near-cotton sheets that you brought with you when you reported to the After-Action Hotel?"
Jess mouth dropped to the ground. "I love them. I did not connect those dots, and I should have. Thank you, Sir! Do you think that it will stay that way?"
Robert gave the woman a sly smile, and he let his word usage drop back into work mode. "I don't know. Will you get the same price that I will on this type of load? I don't know, but I would doubt it. I have found that high quality cloth, tends to be worth a good bit of money to the right buyer. That is if we have room for it. The trick in being a merchant. It is in knowing what something is worth here, and then finding it very cheap somewhere else."
Jess nodded, that the statement had made since to her. It also showed her that she still had a lot to learn from this man. "Thank you, Captain. I will try to remember that, if we are able to make another supply run."
Notes:
The spy Isaac Nelson: The ComStar spy being found would be kept as a very closely guarded secret. That story is on the Battletech forum site. ComStar has lost at least three vessels to Clan Wolverine. The Magellan class Pheidippides, is the only one of those three in current use.
The DNA Test. The Test was to make sure everyone who was on the mission was who they said they were. It was a just in case someone had slipped through the other testing. No issues were found, and no one was detained.
Why was Jules not with Copeland and Jess? His daughter is the leader of their people. He has political issues as well as military issues he will be asked about.
Data flow. The SLiE gets some information from clan space. It is not a data core, or anything close to that. Think of it like this. Someone in the Dark Caste picks up on something and reports it back to "someone", that is going to be doing some long-distance traveling. Then they play the telephone game for a few years to a few decades with that information.
The Dark Caste does not know where the Wolverines are, compared to the rest of known space. And the Wolverines will not tell them where they are or leave any hints for the rest of the Clans to find. That would be worth too much to trade to the clans for their own skins. They might get a Gig of data every decade. The SLiE are more interested in keeping up, tech wise, with the rest of the clan. Who cares what the name of the Jade Falcons Khan was last decade?
Selling the cargo. There are a lot of people who would want, what the supply run had brought back. What would be a fare way of letting the whole population have access to items, which are not for just for the military to use? Also, how do you know if the run was worth the effort? The US military does a cost/benefit analysis on projects every 1-5 years. This does not rub everyone the right way, but the bottom line has to be measured somehow.
Cleaning out the jump point. If you can jump closer to the planet, why have that sign post out that way. So, they would start clearing those areas out. Besides they are going to need more resources to keep the war effort going.