Chapter 25

By Cliff

Beta and Clean up: Not done

Reviewed by Hotpoint and Cannonshop

25 Sept 3047

The Station over New Circe

Robert was boarding another Colonial built Raptor, only this one was crewed by personnel in SLDF uniform. Robert had been mailed real paper orders to report to one of the outlying military bases on this date. In the two-page document, he was told to be ready to do a full After-Action Report or AAR review with Commander Xi in her office. Robert had been surprised that it had taken this long to get around to having this done. When he contacted some friends, while he was "on vacation". He had been told that his was the last review that needed to be done. He was told that every report and rumor, besides the first one that had upset some of the Colonials, were very positive.

The ride up to the massive construction in space, was as smooth as he remembered. He had taken a few trips off planet during his time off, and he was getting very used to the artificial gravity decking. He was able to take the one seat in the troop transport, that was near a window. This gave him a great view of the Space Station and its construction and repair slipways, as they closed in. It was not the same station he had seen, when he had been here the last time. What had been at the two "normal" jump points was now integrated into the still growing orbital support base. It now looked like a giant metal mutated pair of spiders trying to reproduce.

That was not the only addition to the key to Clan Wolverines space support. He had been catching up on all the news and developments, which had happened on his planet of birth while he had been gone. The other scouting missions that had been launched after he had left, had been pulling in every bit of human technology that they could find. They were being systematic in their search and recovery mission. They were going in a growing circle or globe around this hidden system. The SLDF Navy had "hired" the Colonial ship Zephyr to be the new main salvage ship for the whole SLDF fleet. It was an impressive ship that was over 1,300 meters long and over 400 meters around at the turning ring. It was longer, wider and out massed a Monolith Class Jumpship.

Most of the stuff they had found had only been good for recycling, but other items were proving to be a lot more useful. They had hulked out six newly found dropships of indeterminate pedigree, and they had turned them into more offices and medium sized manufactory areas for the Station. They were small vessels with the largest being the wrecked Mule, that Robert had brought back on the last shakedown cruise. The number of building slips was now up to five. The two newest slips were smaller at only 800 meters long each. That was compared to the almost two kilometers long that the two older slips had been, and the pressurized yard that the Yukon normally used.

The other addition to the Station was a large Colonial style landing bay for small craft. It looked too have been at one time part of a Colonial Battlestar, when they got closer. He wondered where it might have come from, but he did not have long to think about it before his craft had entered the new addition to the SLiE space station. When Robert exited the 50ton short winged craft. He was again, surprised. He did not have to float to his meeting this time. The whole station had been outfitted with Colonial made artificial gravity plating. Well, all areas that needed them had been refitted with them. That was except for the manufacturing and building slips. They worked better in zero g.

The office that Robert was walking to was different than the last time, also. The insides of the Station were almost completely changed, in less than a year. He was glad that maps were now posted at each of the major hallway junctions. He found himself using them half a dozen times, that he could remember. He was "only" ten minutes early, and instead of just reporting to Commander Xi. He was sitting in a waiting room, just like they would have done down the gravity well. The only thing that was missing was a window with a view of the city's skyline. At the appointed time, Commander Xi's new assistant ushered him into her larger office.

When Robert entered the space rated hatch, the room was not much bigger than the office he had last seen her in. It was a little nicer and brighter than most rooms in a slapped together space-based outpost, that he could remember. He gave his boss the required salute, which she returned with the same professionalism.

"Well Commander. The new office is nice. I take it that the powers that be, were happy with our last run after all?" Robert was fishing. He was only a low ranked jumpship captain, and a very small fish in a very big sea of brass.

"Please have a seat." Commander Xi looked at Robert and decided to take him down a peg. "Captain Copeland! You are not the only project that I have oversight of. You are merely the most painful one to deal with, of the whole lot. So, we can get started Query-Affirmative?" Commander Xi pointed to a functional but nice office chair, in front of her metal desk.

Robert smiled at the Commander. He had to admit, it was a good comeback. When he settled into the chair. He pulled out his noteputor and accessed the reports he had filed over a month ago. "I'm ready whenever you are, Commander. What is your first question?" He used the word I'm, just to prove a point to the Commander. She was not the only one who could play games.

Commander Xi gave a hidden tooth smile and pulled out a hard copy file from her desk. She was always known to be a little old school, when it came to doing paperwork. The truth was? She hated computers, even before she found out that they could get smart and blow planets apart. Now she almost loathed to be around them.

"Let's start, Query-Affirmative. What would you change on the next run? And you will be taking the Merchant class jumpship with you to sell on the next run." Margret could not keep the smile off of her face. The fact that the mission was a go, had been kept from Robert. It had cost her many favors, and a lot of powerful people were in on the joke.

Robert's head snapped up. He was not expecting to start there. Every other AAR had started at the first day of the mission. It took him a few minutes to get his mind right about this change. Besides the head jerk, he was not going to let it show that she had surprised him with the revelations that the next run had been approved.

"Okay, what worked? It was having the Blockade Runner around. The heavy firepower made things easier for me, in more ways than one. I do not think putting it up for sale, is a good idea. I know that the regular navy people want to get rid of both of them, but I do not know if that is the right thing to do. The Hobgoblin worked out great, and I also want to keep her and the six fighters. I want to upgrade our weapons technology. I would like to upgrade all the craft to equal to a Royal level of offensive ability." Robert stopped talking and looked up from his electronic device. He was still reading what he had sent down the day he had arrived back over New Circe. There should not have been any surprises in what he had just said.

Commander Xi was looking at the older man. She had let her face slip and she knew it. "That is not going to happen. High Command and the Lord Protector will not risk something like that. None of your reports or the reference material you brought back, say anything about royal level machines in use much less in widespread use. Until you run into units fielding a lot of upgraded weapons? The only Star League tech you will have, are what are on the Styx. You will now be able to use those to their full capabilities. There is a cost and time issue as much as the security risk issue, for this decision.

Robert was not surprised, about not getting the upgraded fighters. She also had a point of not running into anyone, so far, which had anything in the field with high-tech weapons. That did not and would not help them, if something went sideways. "Okay, but I would like the Extended Range Large Lasers to be upgraded to first tier levels of the SLDF Navy." He knew that he was asking a lot. It would not take that long to change out the old first generation extended ranged weapons to clan tech second generation weapons.

Commander Xi looked down at her computer and made some notes. "I will pass that along, but it will be a breach if the technology is revealed. What else."

Robert looked down at the screen. "Thank you, Commander. Now, if we are expecting to move the other jumpship. I am going to be getting a lot of items. I do not think the Mule can hold that much, that the sale should bring in. We also have the cash we did not use from the sale of the Scout. If I take one of the Mammoth class dropships? It would let me bring over 36,000 tons of cargo versus the under 10,000 the Mules could hold. I was thinking that I could leave the Mammoth on the Styx, and just use the White Rabbit with her 1,500ton cargo space to run to the planets and back to the Styx. With the upsurge in technology? I think that I could fill a ship that size on most of the stops. It might take be a little longer to fill the larger cargo ship, but I think I can do it and still stay within the timeline that was outlined in the first mission." Robert was in Sales Mode as he pitched his idea in person.

Robert had spent a lot of time thinking about this, and he had come up with a few different ideas. "Having the larger dropship, would also let me do some things to help with the security issue we discovered. I can convert one of the small craft bays into two more fighter bays. I could also put in a few passenger modules on the larger dropship. With some of those emplaced? Then I can carry additional troops and their equipment, for long term security on all of the mission craft. Speaking of security issues, from the last mission. What happened to that device, that we recovered from when they unlocked the White Rabbit's hatches?"

Commander Xi was taking notes like a mad woman. "I will look into this modification with some of the engineer teams. I am however, concerned that taking a dropship that large and it never touches a planet. Do you think it would look odd to anyone, like ComStar? I am expecting that they will be watching you a lot closer, as soon as they find out that your back."

The Commander stopped talking and spent the next two minutes looking for the information he had asked about. When she had found it? She made eye contact to the still silent man. "They are calling it a hacking deck. Until you brought that device back with you? It was only assumed to be used to get into a battlmech's operational systems. The hardware base line was not that impressive, and we would have call it a mid-level portable commercial office machine. The software, on the other hand? That was impressive enough, that some people in our intelligence sections are wanting to add it to our kit for special missions. I am making a note to add a copy of it to your tool kit, if it is safe and without any booby traps. I am betting on, what you really wanted to know, is if we can come up with any worthwhile counter intrusion software."

Robert gave a sly, but almost childish smile to his boss. "Yes, that was what I wanted to know. We were watching them, and it was freaky how fast those Frakers made it through the hatch locks. If they cannot come up with a software patch? I will have to see what physical patches might work to stop them, if they try something like that again." Robert was speaking very politically. He knew to his toes that ComStar or one of their proxies would try to use something like that on his people again.

Commander Xi nodded, having someone sneaking onto one of your grounded dropships was not an enjoyable thought. "Nothing that has been reported, but I will make another note to check on it. I would suggest that you might want to think up some more physical counter measures for any unwanted visitors, just in case."

Captain Copeland nodded his head up and down and gave a soft snort. Then he went to writing his own notes, as a reminder to start coming up with ideas or contacting some others that might know something about how to stop a B and E of a dropship. "Thank you, Commander. I will put that on my "To Do" list. Can I let some people I know into the loop about that hacking deck? I might have a few contacts that might be helpful for the overall project. The issue of having a cargo ship, not making a run to a planet. It is in my experience, that it is not that big of an issue. A lot more trading is happening at the jump points, than had been reported on any other supply run."

Commander Xi thought about it for a few seconds, and then agreed with the Captain. "Yes, you may. As far as I know, SLIC is not keeping the Hacking Deck close hold. Now, your point about adding more security to your mission. It has merit. It was already brought up by most of your lower ranked officers and senior enlisted. You made up a scratch 4-person team, that had failed out of infantry training. You used them for both an escort and quick reaction force. I will put forward an idea to up the numbers and make them a dedicated security or marine force. Do not even think about asking to use some of those PA(L) suits you found. It is not going to happen. All of the top of the line equipment is earmarked to be used to fight the Cylons."

Commander Xi could see the mouth of Robert open and then close, as she finished her prepared statement. He was hit so fast, that before he could put his poker face back on. He had a schoolboy being told "no sweets for him today". It was a little unfair, that he would not be able to use something that his command had found. She decided to throw him a bone.

"I will make sure they are outfitted with the best equipment that we can. Have you seen what the Colonial sidearms can due to normal body armor? I would suggest that you check it out. It is not as good as our best lasers, but each round they fire is armor piercing. A lot of private security people are picking them up on the open market from the City-State. Before you blow me off, as not knowing what I am talking about? You might want to check out the test results on the network and remember. They do not fall under our protocols."

Robert was about to make an off-color comment, about the tech base of the Colonials. Then he remembered how a certain Titan captain had messed up, about thinking the Colonials were all a low-tech society. "Commander I will check on that, and as you say. They will not fall under our security protocols. I tend to support whatever my security detail wants for equipment. If you can sell them on it? Then I am fine with it. I just hope the Lord Protector agrees with you, if we leave one behind and it is picked up by the wrong people."

Commander Xi gave a slight smile, but she was looking down at the time, so that Robert could not see it. "Now you brought up about the amount of capital, which you might get from the selling of the Merchant class ship. It has been brought up. That if this was going to be only the first set of supply runs, or even the start of setting up a normal trading route. Then maybe we should leave the left-over funds in some kind of banking account. What are your thoughts about that?"

Robert had been thinking about this, all the way back to when he had closed those accounts. And the looks he got, when he had to have an escort back to the drop port. Even with word of ComStar being upset with them. It was not normal to just shut down accounts on that scale. "I think that would be a good idea, but I see a few problems. One? The bank would have to have offices or agreements with other banks in all of the places that we might travel. The only one that comes to mind, is also the one that has major ties with ComStar. The other problem? It is who will have access to those accounts. They will have to be put on the access roster, when the account is open. I ran into some of this with our Family member, who is acting as our trading Factor."

Robert pulled up a digital form and he sent it over to his boss. "I did a little checking on this, and they do have a password system set up. That way, if someone knows a set of words or phrases? They will have access to the accounts or a certain percentage of the accounts that is set up when the account is activated. They did say that the bank will not reimburse anyone, if any strangers "hack" the words or phrases password. They would prefer, that only people with fingerprints or other biometrics on file have access to the accounts. If we go that way? How would we approach this? And will it violate our protocols? We have the Emma suits, but having "her" show up in too many places might cause some issues we would rather not have to deal with." Robert had Jess use the Emma suit at the beginning of the mission, but it had quickly fallen out of use. Robert had an image of someone in an Emma suit being on two different planets at the same time, and someone on Terra's main office of ComStar seeing it.

Commander Xi nodded, she was not surprised that Robert had already checked into this problem and had an idea on how to address the issue. He had some good points and the money, was SLDF in Exile's money. It was not his right, to risk those funds. Not without input from higher, in case of massive losses.

"That is a good point. I will pass these notes along to higher and see what they think. I want a report with pros and cons sent to me, by the end of the week. I will attach it to my report and keep a copy for our records." She looked up and made eye contact with Robert. He gave her a nod of his head, that said he heard her tasking orders.

Commander Xi made another note, and then moved to a new page. She took a few minutes to review the data, before continuing the meeting. This was a report from SLIC. Robert did not know; he was after all only a captain. That all of the senior people on the resupply runs were watched, and their access to government owned networks was very closely monitored. "Captain Copeland. You have had some time, and I know that you have been checking out intelligence reports on some of the planets in the Inner Sphere. How many did you check out, two hundred star systems? What are you thinking about, as far as a route you might take?"

Robert hit another button and he sent the commander a detailed plan, but he would talk about the highlights. "Commander, your spies are as good as always. But it was closer to a hundred and ten, not two hundred planets. I am thinking about taking the same route to the split point." Robert stopped talking, and he started staring into space lost in thought.

Commander Xi had seen that look before. "What is it Robert? You just had a brainstorm, come on and give it up."

Robert blinked and made eye contact with his boss. "I had been planning on the second jumpship following us around to different planets, just like the Scout had done. We would travel together, until we could find a buyer for the thing. It just hit me. We could take care of two items at once. We load the Merchant with the Rob Roy, and then the Roy can act as an escort for the other jumpship. We use the HPG on the Styx to contact one of the Families. We let them know, that we are on the way and with what we are looking to put on the major item sales market."

Robert had a glazed eye look again, and he worked out a new travel plan. "From the split point? They can travel straight to Canopus IV, and there they can put the two ships up for sale. I take the rest of the convoy on or close to the plan I just sent you. We can start at Ltzehoe. They have a working HPG station and I have a good relationship with the local leadership, minus the ComStar contingent. Then we go to Duniashire and the MMM facility. Then we will meet up with the Rob Roy at Canopus."

Robert was still looking off into space. "It is a capital world, and it should have enough threw traffic to move both ships. It also should have more of the other items we can use. I pick up the skeleton crews from the two other ships, and then we will make our way to Andurien. Andurien is a regional capital, and a major border world for the Free World's League. The way back out will depend on how much cargo I need to finish filling any of my cargo holds."

When Captain Copeland had said the first planet, it had wrung a bell in Commander Xi's brain. She flipped threw a few digital pages, and she found what she was looking for. She looked up snake quick, and the smile she had on now was not very friendly. "Now Robert! You would not want to be going to that one mud ball, because you want to see this Duke Terry person again Query-Affirmative?" Developing a serious relationship with someone from the Inner Sphere was a major breach of The Protocols. Dealing with the Families was different, but it was still not encouraged.

Robert Copeland felt, and he could sense the warning. He needed to be very careful with what he said next. On top of that, he needed to tell the whole truth to his Commander. "Commander, I will not lie. I feel something for the Duke, but I know the rules. I also agree with those rules, to include what the consequences of breaking them are. My reason for stopping there? It is, that we have been able to make some good deals there. When we last left them. I was told that she was looking for mechs and fighters to add to her defense force. I think I can move maybe a light fighter, as well as smaller and less expensive cargos. The ores, meat, and cloth that we pulled from there on the last mission sold well. And she was selling ammunition and other supplies to militias off planet, pirate hunters, and even the ComStar run Com Guards. They were rapidly developing a good cash flow, when we last left. If it does not pan out? Then we will not stop back there on the way home or start there on the next run. I think it will also give anyone looking to follow us, a good place to start that is a decoy."

Commander Xi nodded her head, but she was still eye locked on the Captain. Everything he had said was true, and it all made a kind of sense. After what felt like hours, Xi had looked at it from a few different angles. She could not poke a hole in his logic. "Okay Captain. I will make a note of this, but you might have to defend this data point to higher command."

Robert sat a little straighter in his chair. "I understand Commander. I will do my job, and act according to what is expected of an officer of the SLDF. If I am ordered, to not stop at Ltzehoe? I will obey my orders." He kept is back parade ground straight, while he sat in the chair. "What will I be carrying, as smaller trade and sale items? Having a big bank account is great, but most of the systems may not have access to that network in a timely manner. Am I also to be putting down as time, is a condition on this run?"

Commander Xi hides a smile. It was just like the Robert she remembered. He always was having his mind working on a dozen different things, no matter what else was going on. "I agree with you, and it has worked on every other mission. It would be a good Plan B. If you need it? I have found another 100 old computers of different types, and manufacture. They all work and have been cleaned of anything that might point to us."

She gave a loud snort and shakes her head in disgust. "I do not know how many more computers we will be able to get. They have stopped all production of new home and office computers on New Circe. Their production is going into Battlemech, dropship, tank and aero fighter's fire control systems. With all the additions to our world? The new built in stock supply of new computers, is gone. The secondary rebuilt market is booming, like nobody's business. So much so, that they have started to check out all of the junk piles before my people got there. The Colonials might have something to ship out, but we do not have an official notice yet of anything. Right now, it is more of a rumor and a good hunch that I have."

Before the Commander could continue, Robert jumped in and asked his questions. "So, Query what is the unofficial information?" He did not know if his people were actively spying on the Colonials, but he would have been surprised if they weren't. He had learned many decades ago, that information was power.

Commander Xi looked down her nose at him, because of the interruption. She could not fault him for the question, but she did not want to reward him either for the interruption. It also was the same question, which she had put to her intelligence sections a few weeks ago.

"What happened, is that the Colonial government bought one of the Blazer rifle optics grinders and a few other items. What was a surprise? It was that the manufacturing line is in the only school for higher learning, that the Colonials have been able to so far build. It seems that they had some volunteers come over from Rayson Aerospace. They came down for a long weekend, to help set up the equipment. They also helped them set up a syllabus for between 4 and 6 different types of courses. They have been making Blazer rifles, as fast as they can. It still slower than what a full-time factory would be able to produce. Then again? They are running at least three shifts of classes threw a day. That has got to be helping with the total production numbers."

She shrugged her shoulders. "That is what I am putting my money on, anyway. We have been able to get some more of the Class 5 ultra/lbx HODs cannons to the ground pounders. I can have 200 of the older style ultra-cannons moved over to you. By the time you come back? We should have at least 500 more pulled out of service, and in storage when they green light the third run. And yes, I think that they will do that. That is unless you run into something major."

She stopped talking and looked up from her screen. Something was wrong, she could feel it, like a storm approaching. Commander Xi looked into the face of Robert. His face was white and frozen, like he had just seen a childhood monster. "What is wrong Robert?"

Robert did not say anything for a few long seconds more. He was so lost in thought, that he slipped into speaking like he was on a mission. "Commander? I don't think carrying more than 150 cannons is going to be very wise. Word will get out, very quickly, that we are selling weapons again. 200 weapons would make me a target. And word will get out, that I have a cargo bays stacked to the deck heads with high end weapons. It might be so juicy? That even the great houses would launch one of their first line units, to take the weapons without bothering to pay for them. They will try to take them or blow us out of space, just so that no one else could get their hands on that many top of the line weapons. If we launch a second jumpship or convoy into a different area of space? Maybe they could carry another 100, but I think that 500 is too risky for one load. Now if I had known beforehand. I could have made a deal with say MMM, and they could take a bulk delivery of one type of new weapon. I would like to take some of the older Star League royal Extended Range PPC's, not the snub nose ones. I was thinking of the first-generation extended range weapons. I would like to take 50 of them, on top of a "normal" load of autocannons?"

Commander Xi did not make a comment, but she drummed a pen on her desktop deep in thought. It had been her idea to temporally give the ground forces most of the new production HOD's for the next six months. She had pushed that they would need the older weapons for trade, and that it would make supporting the SLDF as a whole much easier. Supply Command would be losing one whole supporting line from the logistic books. Now she was being told that all of her hard work was wasted. The bad point was that she could see where he was coming from. If they could have a close escort, of say the Black Lion? That would be a totally different animal. A lightly armed and almost unarmored jumpship with a few fighters. They would be so much raw meat on the spit, to a determined space attack force.

"Okay Robert, I will pass that along. As the Commander of the convoy. You will have the final word on what is loaded from the list that we suggest."

Robert nodded to let her know that he heard her, and she went on to the next topic. It was a back and forth for the next two hours. They covered a lot of information, and when Robert had left the room. He had felt, like he had just done a few days on a 2g burn. One bit of good news was that his request for some Colonial made artificial gravity plating had been approved, and it was being fitted onto the Styx while he had been on leave. It was not going everywhere in the ship. In fact, it would not be in any common areas of the jumpship. Or any other place, that might be seen or visited by any strangers that might visit or be inspecting the jumpship. The only areas that would be refitted would be the living quarters on the long ship, with a master "off" switch on the bridge in case of emergency.

Notes:

Too much of a good thing. You want to have product for sale, but not too much product that it will make you a worthwhile target.

Colonial weapons vs Inner Sphere Body Armor: The Colonial weapons were powered by Plot, so it is hard to come up with what they might be able to do in Battletech. That is why I brought up the idea about Military grade ammo vs Civilian grade ammo, to help explain away that plot issue. The military grade ammo would be designed to take out the Model 005 Centurions, so they are armored piercing of some kind.

The Hacking Deck. The Inner Sphere has a few hundred years of playing dirty tricks on each other. They are bound to have come up with things that the Wolverines have not seen before.