Copeland Supply, Salvage, and Resale

by cliff.west

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

80. Chapter 80 Aug 3052

Chapter 80

By Cliff

Beta and Clean up: Not done

Reviewed by Hotpoint and Cannonshop

Odessa system

Aug 3052

Maureen was dreaming of wood working in a house that she had never lived in before, and then the dream radically shifted. Now it was about someone using some kind of a power tool to remove a very stubborn bolt. Then her eyes shot open at the sound filling her metal box of a cabin, and she slammed her elbow into the hard muscles of the body behind her as hard as she could. The elbow strike was just enough to get the other body to start to rotate along his axis so that the mouth emitting the obnoxious noise was no longer near her ear. Maureen tried to go back to sleep, but after a quick look at the timekeeper mounted on the far wall. Maureen knew that she had four hours before she was due to be on the bridge by her own schedule. Legally she was not due on shift for another eight hours according to the shift sheet in the official logbook of this vessel. It was well known that a jumpship's captain's job was not exactly 9 to 5.

After failing to go back to sleep for those few remaining hours, she pulled herself out of the bed. And it was a bed and not what most people would have thought of as a "normal" ship's bunk, it was good to be the captain after all. Sleeping in Zero G had its advantages and disadvantages but being able to move without waking your partner was one of the lesser known advantages of Zero G sleeping. She quietly got dressed and made her way to the workout room on the grav deck of her Pampanito II. All without waking up the man that was sharing her bed. After doing some warmups and then the required weightlifting that was needed to keep her bones and core muscles healthy, it was time for the fun part of her workout.

Maureen set the treadmill and got into the groove of her running. It had not taken her long before her mind was wondering as the kilometers started rolling by under her feet. She started thinking about her life, at about the 4th kilometer point of her daily run. So many things had change since the day that she had lost her merchant class jumpship Pampanito. Now Maureen had the Pampanito II, and she was a lot more capable Tramp Class jumpship that was even complete with a very high tech Lithium-Fusion battery. Oh, and she was also armed more than a "normal" jumpship had been in over a hundred years or more.

At first, some things had been a little tense between her as the captain of the vessel and the listed second in command of this vessel and his people. Surprising to many of the crew members on this vessel, was that while the crew had moved through the deep of space. They slowly had grown in their ability to work together, just like any other ship that traveled interstellar space. Of the eight survivors from Maureen's original crew on the Merchant class jumpship, six had found new jobs or just had given up the lifestyle of a jumpship crewmember.

The missions run by the jumpship that had been dedicated to support Mark's "group" had been few..at first. They had checked out some key star systems along the major trade lanes in slowly increasing numbers. Over the last few years as one of her "old" hands had left the Pampanito II and more of Mark's people replaced them. The Papanito II undertook more dedicated spy missions as she moved around the Inner Sphere. Now the whole crew of this jumpship worked for SLIC…kind of, and the trading was "only" the cover for the intelligence work this jumpship was undertaking. They were gathering as much information as they could at every stop that the Jumpship made, and then worked on getting that information back "home". She didn't know when it had happened, but somewhere along the way she and Mark had moved from whatever they had started as, to going all the way to a long term relationship.

When Karen Whot had caught Maureen watching Mark working out in the ship's gym one day. The ship's engineer had slapped the captain on the back of the head and told her to make the first move or lose him forever. Karen had fallen into a relationship with one of the techs that did double duty of working on the K-F drive and then a lot later the faster than light comms hidden within the ship. That event had happened a few months after Pampanito II had settled into traveling the space lanes of the Inner Sphere. Maureen had no idea why she had floated over and kiss Mark after the smack on the back of her head, but he returned the kiss… with a lot of gusto. Maureen knew that she was not the prettiest woman in the Inner Sphere, and Mark looked like he could be in Tri Vids as the main hero or the loveable villain that was the center of the story. But somehow it worked between them…..at least it had worked so far.

Besides making spying runs and helping carry much needed cargo towards the combat zones with the clans and the rest of the Inner Sphere. They also had picked up the odd cargo dropship that had been taken to or from a system called Split on an isolated navigation computer, and one of those dropships had even been left behind by this jumpship. She had not asked about the passenger liners they had carried out, but it would seem that they were full of families and their things going to Canopus. What they were doing on the capital planet of the MoC was not her concern, and besides she didn't care one way or the other. She just wanted to see the stars, but things started to slowly change for her the longer that she ran missions for SLIC.

But her personal changes were not the only ones going on for this team and jumpship. First, there had been the use of a shipyard in the Lyran part of the FedCom. That shipyard had done all of the work on the outer hull of the jumpship for free, and they had even fitted enough Defiance Industries made Buzzsaw antimissile systems to fill all the open slots in the old ship's hull. The shipyard had done this work, all for only getting a detailed look at the battery system that was attached to the K-F drive on this vessel. Mark had smiled like a cat with a mouth full of feathers, when he had told the rest of the crew about this work and the details of the contract that had been worked out with this shipyard. While the shipyard in the Lyran part of the FedCom had made the outer part of the Pampanito II look almost like new. It had given the SLIC trained team a long and detailed look at one of the largest shipyards in that half of the Inner Sphere.

That had been a very productive side trip into that shipyard with the intelligence trained team acquiring some very detailed files on the Claymore class assault dropship. That non SLDF based design was only just starting to come off the production slips to start filling the ranks of the FedCom black ocean navy. It was said that they were being acquired as soon as the set of prototypes passed testing of their flight envelope. Then there had been the small shipment of Bear Slayers that had fallen off the back of the dropship and showed up in the Pampanito II's cargo bay. The crew of the jumpship could have done the work on attaching them to the hull, but it would have been hard and might have drawn too much attention from some groups within the Inner Sphere. So, a different idea was brought up to the commander of the jumpship to make it so that they would not have to hide these weapons or who had done the work.

A major shipyard in the FWL had been able to fit those powerful energy weapons onto the jumpship, and the shipyard had done the needed updating of the fire control systems to use them effectively. Again, this had given Mark and Maureen's crew of agents a good long look at another major shipyard of the Inner Sphere. Those had not been the only major planets and star systems that Maureen had led her jumpship to be over the last few years as an undercover of a simple merchant jumpship.

Maureen had been able to send and even receive a very few messages from Mark's home, but only after many eyes had seen those messages and then took the time to okay their release. One of the key things that was in those messages had been that Dougie had gotten his new eyes, just as he had been promised. From the notes that she had been given. It had taken a few months, but they had "grown" a set of new eyes for him without asking for payment. Dougie now was working with the Star League Navy, but he could not tell her on what ship or base. Dougie also now even had a wife; he had said that she had found him exotic when they had been dating. They already had two kids now, with plans for more to come as soon as they could get a larger home. In a few words, he was doing great and very happy with his life. Dougie was doing way better than he would have done, if he had stayed working for her or anywhere else within the whole Inner Sphere.

########

The Pampanito II and her crew had been finding odd things in their travels around the Inner Sphere. Some of the things had at least some kind of possible explanation for them, if you looked at them in the right way. It was that or you had to have a few beers or other stiff drinks. But then there had been things like Odessa that the spy ship had found. Mark had somehow been provided a list of areas that he had been directed to check on, that were listed in order of their assessed importance to the SLiE.

When Maureen had seen the whole list, or at least it was the whole list, until they were given updates…from somewhere to add more names? This complete information had let her plan and keep to their cover story, one that would be very hard to be broken by any intelligence service if Mark and his people would just listen to her. It was on one of those runs that they first stopped in the Odessa system to see if they could find anything that might be even the least bit out of place.

Now that Maureen knew what to look for, it didn't take long to know that things were….off in this star system. Mark had been trying to get Traffic Control to clear them to send a small craft to see the glory of Odessa IV. That permission had not been granted, and they had even been warned not to deviate from the approved routes for the dropships that they had just carried into this star system. That had been odd, and Maureen knew that Mark reported the problem to whoever he was working for.

That night in her cabin, Mark had told her that there had been a SLDF Navy warship base and not a small one in this system. On top of that, it should be going around Odessa IV if their information was correct. There should have been wreckage or easy to find reports of an attack on that location. Maureen had no idea why there had been a warship base there, and not going around Odessa III or at one of the two main jump points. She thought that those were the normal places that something like that would have been built before the Star League or the locations of the few built during the Succession Wars. It had taken Mark an hour to explain to her that the old Star League did odd things, and that putting a base in those areas would have drawn to them massive attacks back during the 1st and 2nd SW. Yes, it would have been cheaper to build there, and it would have also been cheaper to work on ships in the locations that she had just pointed out. But it would also have been easier to damage them at those locations by an attacking force.

#######

The second trip to this star system had been sometime later. It had been when the clans were still on the march and plowing under all those that dared to stand before them. Half a dozen thin arrow like things were released from the hull of the jumpship without anyone noticing. Those Arrows only massed a dozen tons each, and they had only one mission. Also, they would have melted down of their own accord if anyone tried to intercept them with the wrong codes. The dark shapes were made of something that would not show up, unless they got very close to something with a very powerful radar and also possessed some heavy computer processing support for the same said radar.

A few hours after the Pampanito II had released those devices from her carefully painted outer hull. The small spy craft's equally small engines would power up, but the onboard systems would keep the engine's heat sources carefully pointed away from any known sensors. They were not powerful engines, but they were warmer than the background of deep space. Thanks to some clever engineering the hulls of those craft were not that hot for the measurements this far from a star.

With the six unmanned scouts now headed from the North Pole of the star system and going towards the south, by taking the slow path of staying at the very edge of the jump zone that went around a star. It would take months for the spy equipment filled arrows to do their jobs. If these Arrows were found on this mission and somehow physically recovered? There would be nothing to point to who might have sent those dark painted objects, even if they were somehow taken intact after all. The Arrows would have been collecting data the entire trip after leaving the mother jumpship on their very high tech passive systems. They had no idea what data they were collecting but collect data they did very effectively.

It would take almost six months for the Arrows class of spy craft to do the job that had been given, if they worked as designed. Now it was time to see if they could be found by the mothership on the other side of the star and not be lost like so many libraries that ComStar had paid to be burned. Only the small spying devices didn't know that this mother ship was not a Colonial made vessel that they had been designed to work with, or that Colonial home space was a long way from this part of the galaxy.

#######

Maureen activated the comms channel reserved for contacting the critical areas of her ship. "Karen, are we ready to do a double jump?"

Karen Whot was the chief engineer of this jumpship, and she had an annoyed look that flashed across her face at her captain's question. "You know that "WE" are, just like I told you last night. I'm sure the cargo would like to get to Odessa III on time."

Maureen smiled back that Karen would not see before cutting the line. Then she looked over to the XO floating about a dozen feet from her. "How long do you need to get the packages?"

Mark pushed off from a stanchion and got closer to the "captain" of this jumpship before he answered her question. "After we dump the Birkin, Greyjoy, and Athenia. We will give it a few hours to make sure that the area is clear of any other ships in that local area. If we are clear as we expect from our Intel?"

Mark pointed to the Radar station to show what he was referring to. "We will send out a certain set of timed radar pulses. It's the best way to cover distance at any speed. You know the whole rules of the speed of light. That should activate the engines to slow them down, and that also means that the engines would be pointed at us so that the locals won't notice them. If we have to? Then we can launch the landing boat in Bay 2 to collect what we can." The use of the small craft was not optimal to keep the mission hidden, but it was a Plan C. It also might not be a good plan for the long term idea of keeping the Pampanito II hidden as a working spy jumpship.

Mark floated a little closer to his girlfriend. "You know that I would have preferred, that we had kept that jump charge in the battery…just in case."

Maureen gave Mark's arm a soft pat, you had to be careful with physical contact in Zero G. "I know that you would. But I am still better at navigation than you are. That delay when that old tramp Mule was a week late getting to the jump point, it had a knock-on effect for our arrival date in Odessa. Now the only way to get here in the time you mapped out, is by doing a double jump. Or we would have to have a "miss jump" that would put us way out of the jump point zones. You know something like that would draw a lot of attention from the locals." It was a known fact that any reported misjump would cause an investigation to be launch by the FedCom Safety Agency and any local government. It also would draw a safety review board that would be headed by ComStar. All of those would be bad for a spy ship.

Mark didn't say more and for only a heartbeat, he thought about kissing his exotic looking woman. Instead, he kept his place and only gave a slight nod of his head to her and a quick wink of his right eye. Mark rotated some, so that he would not blow out the woman's eardrums before he bellowed. "Let the dropships know that we jump in 60 seconds and remind them that this is going to be a double jump."

62 seconds later, the Tramp class jumpship left one jump point only to arrive at another jump point. They had moved a full 30 light years distance from the point that the jumpship had just left. The massive jumpship and its three dropships only stayed here for a dozen heart beats, before it again moved faster than the speed of light. And now the Tramp class vessel was at the least used jump point of the Odessa star system.

If asked about arriving at this point, there was a ready lie that was going to be backed up by any data that might be found by those looking. For the last six jumps that the Pampanito II made, all of them had arrived at this type of jump point. So this arrival could be marked under, that the merchant crew of the jump vessel had just gotten a little lazy in their jump calculations. That was not good for the jumpship, because it was well known that lazy jump crews can kill jumpships and the dropships that she might be carrying.

Mark looked at a few read outs, before he sounded off to this ships master. "All systems are green! Radar is powering up. We have sent the arrival message, but it is going to take about an hour for them to reply to our report. We can launch the dropships, at your command Captain."

Launching the three dropships this soon would cause some….issues, but the local traffic control would know that three dropships were scheduled to arrive and they had received flight plans. It was just that they were coming from the other side of the star. They also were a pair of weeks early from the last update sent to them via a HPG message in normal house cleaning and Safety of the Space Lanes Notices. Then again, this jumpship was reported to have a LF battery, and again it was just that they were coming in at the wrong jump point.

Maureen had a part to play in this part of the game that had to be played out just right. "Wait for half an hour, and then let the dropships leave of their own accord."

That would still be maybe a few minutes early but within the window of normal civilian jumpship and dropships operations in the FedCom. That delay also would give the radar time to reach out a good distance further. If they were to hold the dropships longer than what regulations suggested? It would be up to the local traffic control to let the jumpship know… in a timely manner. And that was according to FedCom travel regulation outside of a warzone. It was cover, and not a thin one for the jumpship's command crew to hide behind.

Half an hour later, the three cargo carrying dropships left the Pampanito II to start the almost weeklong burn of their massive plasma throwing engines going towards Odessa III. It worked out that the three dropships were out of range, and there was not another jumpship at this point to delay the next phase of this part of the mission. There was nothing around them for 30 light minutes that would be an issue. There had not been anything on Radar at first but the three dropships. Then a quarter of an hour later the IR telescope picked up some small flares of light and heat.

########

"Captain! We have six IR spikes. They looked to be slowing down and adjusting course towards us!" This was yelled from across the bridge and command center for this over half a kilometer long spaceship.

Normally that would have meant that a whole squadron of aerospace fighters were on their way to the jumpship. Something like that would be bad news for a civilian jumpship, much less a jumpship being used for spying as its main mission.

Maureen and Mark floated over to the passive systems and peered closely at the incoming data on the wall mounted display. It had not taken long for Maureen to notice that the data was…odd. She did a slight head nod towards her command chair that was directed at her XO. She knew that all of the people on this ship worked for Mark and his commanders, but she had known one thing, and that was that you had to have a need to know to be told something. That way you could not talk, if you didn't know the information in the first place.

When they were both holding onto her command chair for this vessel, she spoke in a low tone. "Those are a lot colder IR spikes than they should be. Even a light fighter at a very low power setting would put out a lot more heat at idle thrust than we are currently picking up. Is something wrong with the packages?" She was about to alert the Plan C team and have the small craft launch from her supporting bay even knowing the risks.

Mark looked at Maureen for a second, and then he decided that she should know. "They are not using fusion powered plasma throwers for engines, as you would think of them. We picked up some….odd tech over the years off the edge of the map. They are not as good for moving large ships at any useful distance, but smaller ships can get up to huge speeds with them. They are pretty good…as long as you have the special fuel to feed them." Mark was not going to talk about Tylium fuel, all it could do would be to further confuse the captain.

Maureen took in the information, but there was not much that she could do. So, she kept her mouth shut and waited to see what was going to happen next. Oh, and hope that nothing had gone wrong with this very risky mission. They would have to wait for a little over eight days for the solar sail to collect enough power to recharge the K-F drive anyway. It would take a few more days to replace the charge in the huge battery needed to do another double jump, if they didn't want to use the ship based fusion engine without cutting to many corners. Right now the XO and Captain of this jumpship wanted to be very much forgettable.

########

It took only one of those days for the six small stealthy Arrows to be quietly recovered from local space by the Pampanito II's crew. The small autonomous spy craft made it to the jump point without any major issues but pulling them into the cargo bay was…harder. It was not like they could practice doing something like that while trading dropships filled with uncleared and vetted crewmembers were attached to the Jumpship. That kind of specialized training would stand out to other trained spacers as being odd.

They had gotten all six of the spy craft into the two small craft bays and the Landing Boats were carefully moved and tied down to one side of the same bay in zero g. It was a tight fit, but the math worked out as the large brains back on New Circe had said. Even if the bay crews were using every bit of colorful language they collectively knew when they were dealing with getting the last two packages aboard. Later it was found that "Only" five of the small spy craft had recoverable data, and one of those with "recoverable data" was giving the support tech team issues on the data recovery side of things.

Still, now the SLIC trained crew had all of that data and a lot of time to kill. When they could do it safely, and not being over seen by third parties, the Arrows would be moved to the outside of the hull to fit into the areas painted and set up to conceal them from any wondering eyes or hands of any nosy customs inspection. That was how the Captain and the XO of the Pampanito II found themselves looking at the data collected by the spying devices on their off time.

The data that the pair of senior officers were currently reviewing was playing at fifty times normal speed on a large screen in the captain's day cabin. That Cabin had been meant to be used for plotting trading routes. They had the time, but there was not that much time to watch the data on 1 hour to 1 hour replay of the data. If they passed something that was interesting? Well, that was what the rewind function was built into the device was for. Besides in space you could get up to huge speeds, but then again unless you moved at the speed of light? Well, there was a reason that space was well called…space after all. It had a lot of area that was as good as empty.

The more that they saw, the more that Mark and the Captain started to worry about the ramifications of the data that they were seeing. They had found that every few months two dropships would leave Odessa III, but that was not the odd part of the data that they were seeing. Those two cargo dropships would head towards a jump point, but it would fly close to a large Trojan class rock. With the dropships now hidden from the general area of Odessa III, the dropships would quickly change course. The cargo dropships would then take a course directly towards Odessa IV. The dropships were tracked by the small spy craft, and soon the SLIC trained crew had one area of the gas giant identified as an area of interest.

With the tracks now "seen", the jumpship's navigation computer pulled up a special and little used algorithm to go to work on the new gathered data. Within only a handful of minutes of heavy computer time, the rock orbiting Odessa IV was found. That was "assessed" as the hidden old SLDF Navy base, but only after a few days of hard looking at the gathered data by many sets of eyes and brains. Now that they had the one location to keep a close eye on. Well, they were looking at that one area a lot more closely, the data was restarted from the start of collecting to see what else they could find. They were watching a dark area that would occasionally flare to life, but it would go dark a few hours before it was time that a jumpship was scheduled to arrive. The pair also saw half a dozen jumpships arrive in a location that kept anyone from Odessa III knowing that they had arrived in that star system.

Mark and Maureen sat in the hamster wheel that kept them healthy, as they were drinking from a glass that could only be used in the grav wheel. Maureen was the first one to speak after the wine bottle was over half empty. "So how many?" She really didn't need to give any more hints to what she was asking about.

Mark took a small sip of his wine and used the time to think about the data they had seen. "We at least saw one Magellan, a Scout, and the rest were Merchant class jumping in, and not one of them had an active IFF system. The real kicker? It is the other six visitors or what was in orbit around that orbiting rock of Odessa IV. Not one of them is less than 600kton, and I would bet that it means we are looking at real Warships."

The captain of the jumpship made a sour face at the word….warship. "How do you think your boss will deal with this news?"

Mark was lost in thought again, and he didn't say anything for a while. "I don't know. I just don't know. I hope something good, but in the end, I have no more clue than you have. I do think that we need to start looking at other places that have fallen off the map a lot more closely. I also think that someone is playing some major games with well-hidden pieces. And I have a bad feeling that I know who that "they" might be, and why they might be doing it."

Maureen gave a snort and then drained the last of the wine from her glass. "Good luck writing that report." Her voice now went low and sultry. "So, Sailor. When do you have to be back on shift?" Very few real words were said for some time afterwards.

They were going to need to wait three days longer than was required to recharge both the jump drive and the Lithium-Fusion battery on the jumpship. There were a pair of dropships coming to them from Odessa III at a solid 1.2gs. The pair of dropships were taking advantage of the jumpship with open collars that had arrived. Pampanito II could not just leave without some dropships to deliver to another star. Something like that would look odd to the locals, and it would be remembered by at least some of the wrong locals. Those were two things that a spy ship did not need to leave behind. And well, the Pampanito II had to make pay roll and pay for the maintenance that every great ship of the dark seas needed to do.

Oct 3052

Clan occupation Zone

iLKhan Ulric Kerensky was in the office that had been fitted to one of the rotating grav decks of the great warship now called Dire Wolf. There were only three people currently in this room, and in truth that was about a normal number for it to hold for most physical meetings at this level. Ulric was a firm believer that the larger the meeting, that the less work that would actually be done in said meeting. The leader of all of the remaining clans was the one who decided who would physically be in this room with him, and if you were told to be there. Then you have better be there come hell or high water.

Right now, the other two occupants were made up of Khan Natasha Kerensky the leader of Clan Wolf and Star Commander Phelan Wolf who was one of her best war leaders. The last one was the youngest of the three of them. Phelan might not have been born into Clan Wolf, but now there were very few that would say that he was not a wolf now. All of them were reading the same report, and each would have input on what they think should happen next.

Khan Natasha Kerensky had been known as the Black Widow for decades, and she had been an unholy terror across the length and breadth of the Inner Sphere and beyond for just as long. Then she had cut a path through those that had thought her age made her unfit to lead "real" clan units in the Pentagon Worlds. The lucky ones had died in those attempts to unseat the Black Widow in any way that they could. The unlucky ones had to live after the battle with her, and then survive those that thought they were now lessor warriors for falling under the guns of such an old warrior as the Black Widow. But all of that had been before Tukayyid and the massive losses by the current members of the deployed Clan combat units. Ulric now thought that she would not have to deal with as many young lions trying to unseat her….at least not for the next few years. Somethings were too deeply ingrained into some parts of Clan society to be put on hold for very long.

The one time member of the Kell's Hounds was quiet as he read the reports, and Phelan Wolf had a natural tendency to think before he spoke or acted. And the iLKhan knew that this was something odd for someone his age, much less a warrior of his age within the clans. Most Clan warriors at this age tended to be full of…..wind, and they often felt like everyone should spend their time and energy occupying any empty air with that wind. It was almost like they felt that if they didn't release that hot air, that their heads might explode at any second and thus deprive everyone else with the glory of their intelligence and insight.

Unlike the other two people in this room, Ulric had read this information twice before those two had been called into this office. That didn't mean that he was not going to read these reports one more time anyway, if only just to make sure that they had not changed between readings. This was too important, maybe one of the most important reports that had been written going all the way back to the finding of the Outbound Light by the Smoke Jaguars. Ulric didn't jump when the one time Black Widow tossed the small electronic device onto the iLKhan's desk with a crash. It was something that she tended to do more often than not after reading anything.

The woman might have been old, but she could make some of your body parts move in odd ways with the slightest look or when she turned her charm up to 11. But now her voice was anything but helpful for the procreation of the human race. "So, some of the remaining Smoke Kitties, Tin worms, and the Green Turkeys want to go on a headhunting trip. If you're asking me? It's all a snipe hunt."

Phelan looked up from this own digital screen, he had known what the Black Widow was going to first say. "They seemed very upset about this data, but you two don't seem that concerned about it. quineg." The word "why" was not said by the young man.

Natasha snorted and leaned forward in the high back chair and looked at the ex-Kell Hound. "There was at one time twenty different Clans under an iLKhan. The first to get the knife had been the Wolverines. Little Nicky hounded them, and he would've kept going after them until he reached the Gates of Hell. But he was able to kill almost all of them before they reached the Inner Sphere. I think that if he had not died, he would have sent units into the Inner Sphere after some things calmed back down back home…say in a decade or two."

Ulric groaned at how the Khan of Clan Wolf had just talked, but he was also looking at the younger man. "You know about our bloodnames, and how hard it drives so many of us to get one of their limited numbers. Nicky passed a little note that was added to the book of laws of the clans, word for word. It had said that anyone that found and killed members of what we now call "The No Named" would be able to field a new bloodname and found a new bloodhouse. That is what those fools want to do. They want to track down anyone that stayed behind when the Exodus was launched and that also might have a genetic link to those in that long gone clan."

Phelan had a funny look on his face, and then he spoke in a soft tone. "That makes no sense. I think that there are over two dozen different branches of the Camerons left alive even after four succession wars. Are they going to try to put one of them on some kind of throne when this war is finally done?"

He didn't say more, but then Phelan tilted his head to one side, and he walked right out onto a limb, and he started cutting. "Then there is The Treaty."

Ulric tapped the data pad he had been using. "Both the Vipers and the Falcons want to take a full Galaxy worth of combat units along with a full Star of Warships in support of them on this mission. I would bet that the Jaguars would have wanted to do the same, but they don't have that amount of firepower left to use for this one operation. That is why they "only" say that they want to send a cluster worth of mixed forces, but also with a pair of Warships in support of their quest."

Phelan's eyebrows went up in a flash. "That would blow the hell out of The Treaty." Natasha only gives a slight head nod in agreement and Phelan kept talking. "Are you really thinking about letting them cross the lines, and letting them hunt human prey?"

Ulric gave the young man a level look. "Star Commander you are skilled on the battlefield, and you have been very helpful in showing me how the average person thinks within the Inner Sphere. But you are lacking in the skills of "handling the Clans". I will have to fight very hard to keep my current position, and in truth. I have more ways to lose my leadership role than I have in keeping it. I have to play for time, or our faction will lose in our ideals. If I do not approve this…issue, that has been legally brought up to me? Then I might not be alive to reach the Pentagon Worlds where the real fighting is going to take place to keep that treaty in place."

Natasha leaned back in her chair and aloud creak sounded from near her shoulders. "The boy does have the right of it. That amount of firepower won't go over well with the House Lords. The Treaty will be only as good as a roll of cheap toilet paper stopping a charging Atlas. You'll need to stop them, or the war will start up again."

Something clicked within Ulric's brain. "No?! I have to let them go, but I don't have to let them take all of the toys that they want." He gets a lost look on his face for a few seconds as he tries to look at all the angles before settling on a plan. "I will let them take only a star worth of units each, and one small dropship for that star to use. They will not take warships or even other dropships to support them on this mission. Let them learn what it takes to travel within the Inner Sphere. Oh! And do not let them know about the other teams. They did not file together so we will treat them as individual requests and not a joint operation. Quiaff?"

Ulric gave a snort and an evil smile comes to the man's face. "I think the Watch might have some files that would be useful, if the right parts are added. Quineg."

Ulric looked from Phelan to Natasha, and he waited for them to mentally catch up to him. It took a few seconds, and then the face of the Black Widow turned from stone to an evil smile as she worked out how these trying at Bloodright was going to turn out. She started to laugh that was really more of a cackle. "Oh…. that that's going to be good. They'll try to kill each other when they bump into each other tracking down the same names. Then they will spend more time looking for other poachers, than they will be headhunting some poor schmuck with an unlucky last name, or some genes connected to them. That would also get rid of more Crusaders that will kill each other to get those few spots for this snipe hunt. And then they will kill each other even more, all while looking in the wrong places. Quineg."

Natasha tilted her head down a little and one eyebrow went up. "You will be looked on as being correct by the rest of the clans for limiting the number of possible new bloodnames. They'll be looked at as only the best that those three Clans can field to try for this boon. How much time do you think that little pair of political tricks will buy you?"

Ulric gave a grunt of understanding and tipped his head to the Black Widow. "Not as long as you might think. But each day will be very helpful to support our cause QuiAff."

Natasha shifted like a cat in the chair and she went digging for gold. "What of the Smoke Jaguars? How will that effect your plans?" She very much looked like a cat watching a pretty bird on the window ledge as she waited.

Ulric gave the woman a level look, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see a matching look on Phelan's face. Ulric let out a sigh. "The Ghost Bears, Nova Cats, and the Combine have already started picking at the holdings of the Smoke Jaguars."

Phelan Wolf jerked like someone had shorted out a large battery on his butt. "Really!? That is something that I have not heard….Quineg."

Ulric tapped one of the dozen different data pads that were currently covering his work desk. "The Combine took Avon from the Smoke Jaguars a few weeks ago. At about the same time, the Ghost Bears took Kiamba. Then the Combine launched an attack out of Dumaring that went after Kiamba after the Bears took it over. Currently it looks like the Combine might take it also, but they might be kicked back off if things break just right for the Bears. The Nova Cats had to pull out of Kanowit and Mualang when the Combine moved into them, but the Cats used those forces to take Asgard and Port Arthur from the Jaguars."

Ulric gives a slight snort, "I think that it says something that the Cats would pull out of two worlds because of the Combine but take two worlds from another clan. The Cats might be getting ready to take Caripare, but that is not clear at this time if that is a short or medium term objective. The Bears also took Bilam and Ferranil a week ago from the Jaguars. The watch reports that taking Nykvarn and Schuyler are the next moves that the Bears are looking at. I think that the Nova Cats will move to connect their spread out holdings by taking Duxfort and Hyner in the next few months, if they have the forces to do the job. The only thing that is slowing them both down, is the losses those two Clans have taken on Luthien and Tukayyid."

Phelan was at a loss for words, but it was Natasha that spoke first. "The Jaguars will be thrown out of the Inner Sphere in less than a year." There was more than a little hint of glee in that woman's voice. There was no love lost between the Smoke Jaguars as a whole and the Black Widow.

Ulric gave the loudest snort yet, and then he raised an eyebrow at what she had said in the Inner Sphere way. "You did not read the Special Watch Report or the Monthly overview about them?" Ulric was rewarded with Natasha looking embarrassed, but it was Phelan that spoke. "What Special Watch reports? Quineg."

Now Ulric used a scolding tone in his voice and focused directly on the woman sitting with folded legs in the chair. "Now Natasha, you have to learn to delegate information to the rest of your staff…. Even if you do not read them quiaff. The Smoke Jaguars were in a bad way with supplies, but Luthien was a belly punch to them. And then they made some very poor choices to get ready for Tukayyid that was the knockout blow."

He let the last word trail off. "The Khans of the Jaguars stripped the cupboards bare to refill their ranks for that last assault. Now what is left of the Jaguars war machine is trying to stand up against the Bears, Cats, and Combine, and not doing a good job of it."

Ulric stopped talking and looked up to the metal ceiling, and he was doing the math. "'The last two joint supply convoys from the Home Systems. The Jaguars with us only received a Star Lord and a Carrack, but most of the cargo they were carrying was hyper military related. Do you know that the Wolves use every slot in the convoys from the home worlds that we can under the operation's rules the council put out, quineg."

When Ulric saw that he had their rapped attention, he continued. "The only other Clans that have taken a like advantage of this, besides the Wolves, are the Bears and Cats. The Sharks are next in numbers. Then you have the Vipers, Falcons and the rest that are next and the Jaguars are at the bottom of the list. The Ghost Bears and Nova Cats will be the first of the three groups to recover from these battles. If the Smoke Jaguars have a holding within the Inner Sphere after six months, it will be almost proof of a higher power watching over them."

Ulric waves a hand in the air as he was talking. "But the key in those reports the Khan of Wolf did not read. Quiaff? It was that there has been reports of jumpships that were not part of the joint convoys and escort system arriving from the home systems. Most of these "independent" convoys have been seen on the edge of Ghost Bear and Nova Cat's space even before the battle for the Combine capital. The total number and size of hulls does not tell the whole story. Now were we shift 50 percent military supplies and 50 percent other support needs, and Falcons are more like 80/20 mix in the joint convoys. The last few joint convoys have the Cats and Bears are at more like 30 percent military assets and the rest is used to move civilian caste or items needed for them to set up local supply within the Inner Sphere. Now what might not be in your reports that I have seen? It is that the Nova Cats have been in talks with Jaime's people about setting up an embassy on Outreach. And in case you missed it, those extra convoys were escorted by Goliath Scorpion warships and crews."

The room was quiet as the pair worked out what the iLKhan had said and what he had not just said. When the quiet was about to turn uncomfortable? Ulric gave a shake that started at his head and then went deeper into his body. For just a second the others can see how deeply the last year had affected the one time leader of Clan Wolf and now the leader of all of the Clans.

Ulric asked, "Have you two thoughts about how best to save "our" clan? I think that we are behind the power curve for at least two or maybe three competing clans that might have had the same base idea." With this change of subject, each of the people in this room pulled up a personal Noteputer and then they started reviewing the file with a one word title….Exile."

Oct 3052

Canopus.

Lora and Kimberly Jay were working quietly in the large office that was their part of the command center for the whole Resort. The Resort that also was developing into being the main support base for all operations for the SLiE, along with its supporting of intelligence operations across the Inner Sphere. By now, not only were more of the families still coming in every few days, the Resort also was holding cargos that were being sent back towards "home" in spurts best measured in thousand ton lots. There had been such a growth in the Intelligence operations alone, that an area of land owned by the core Resort had half a dozen prefab buildings built in an area that would draw very little attention from any temporary visitors on the Resort's main grounds.

The door to the large office was open so that it would speed up the passing of any news from the rest of the supporting staff making it to the pair of women. If the pair of women needed to have a private talk, well the walls were thick and the door had a good lock and counter spy systems built into it in secret. Those systems were very rarely used, but they were there if they were needed at some future time. Normally it was Kimberly Jay's job to know when those counter spying systems might be needed and for how long.

But they were not thought to be needed when one of the SLIC Team walked into the office after a soft knock on the doorjamb before dropping off the same report on each of the only two office desks in this part of the office. There was not a computer line running between the main SLIC office and this office due to security risks. The term was called "isolated systems", and it was a hallmark of the current generation of SLIC. That made for a lot of use of the age old sneaker net for data transfer, and that was a term that had been lost to the mist of time by the 31st century.

Kimberly was the faster reader of the pair, and she was the first to sift out the first golden nugget in the message they had just been given. "The Zephyr is due in system in about two days plus or minus four days. They will be sending a Lion class dropship to the main drop port and the Monarch will be coming back to us. They plan on being in system for ten to fourteen days, but it could be longer. They will want to know if we have cargos and enough passengers that it would be worthwhile to be shipped out to them when the Zephyr is cleared to leave."

Kimberly Jay stopped talking and flipped to a different page. "The Lion is carrying a VIP of some kind for the locals to deal with, but that dropship will not be staying with us no matter what. I think we might need to find a few homes or at least come up with a list of residences and estates that might work for that VIP for long term habitation."

Lora was reading the second page from the start while Kimberly had started reading on the top page. "It says the VIP will want to have a short and low profile meeting with us. They also want "us" to make an appointment between them with the head of MMM and then pass the date to the Zephyr ASAP. Do you think they are finally moving to get a seat on the board of directors for MMM, now that the war with the clan is kind of over for the next decade?"

Lora looked over the top of the report to see how Kimberly was going to react to what she was thinking. "I wonder if they will let us know why the Styx has not been around lately." What she was not going to say, was that she wondered about the last mission of the Styx that they knew about didn't have Robert Copeland as the commander of the mission. Something had changed, and they felt that they were being kept in the dark about it. They had been surprise to find out that the SLIC agents on site were also being kept in the dark about details of the last supply run. Lora was not Intel trained and sometimes she forgets that some things could be happening, but she was not told, due to her lack of a need to know about it.

Kimberly Jay gave a soft snort, to let the other woman know that she had a good idea why Lora had made her last statement. Knowing that Lora was reading page 2, Kimberly went straight to page 3 on the report. "They have dropped off the second warship that the MoC bought, and this time they will not be providing training for her crew. They made a special note that it will not have a crew, so we will not need to cover for them. And we will not need to make room to ship them out mixed in with the other returning families and cargo. That is going to cause some issues, but at least ComStar is too busy on other topics to spend time looking in our part of occupied space."

Lora put the report down and looked over the double desk to Kimberly. The shattering of ComStar had come as a surprise to both women as well as the rest of the Inner Sphere. Not to mention that it had started to come apart… so publicly. It had started with the failure of what was known as Operation Scorpion and then the retirement (death) of Primus Myndo Waterly. The reports that had been passed to her from Virginia Hall of Wolf Net, had said that Focht had shot the crazy leader in the head himself. There had been rumors of this fact, but it was nice to have a secondary source of information on that story. Many still wondered if the retirement was due to that she had launched Operation Scorpion, or that it was launched and Focht had been kept in the dark about it until one of the House Lords senior people had asked him personally about it.

Lora gave a slight head shake at the past news. "Have your people gotten any new news on what is going on with Gibson in the FWL?"

Kimberly hit a button hidden on the underside of the desk and the door closed automatically and the stage one counter measures where activated. There were three more levels of security, each was more secure than the last. "We got a report a few days ago from one of our contacts within MIM. The fighting between the splintering groups of ComStar seems to have stop…at least there. MIM still doesn't know who started the shooting first, but it looks to have been at least a three way "war" on the planet that spontaneously erupted. They know that Demona Azirz and Cameron St James were on one side, and they are both now very dead. Percenter Blane had a side, and Percenter Arian was maybe or maybe not had been supporting Blane in the opening phases of the battles. MIM thinks that at least the last one of the pair is also now dead."

Kimberly had an odd little glint in her eyes. "Talking about an office meeting going wrong every way possible known to man. We now have Precentor Sharilar Mori and Focht leading Comstar, but that leaves this Word of Blake and the group called Blake's Will are still out in the wind. We know that Blake's Will are made up of the more radical elements of the Toyamas and the group calling themselves the Six of June. The last report also covered that the group reported to be the Blake's Will are leaving Gibson for points unknown." She didn't need to say that this Blake's Will was going to be trouble in the near future…if they didn't kill themselves off first.

While Kimberly had been talking, and Lora was listening to what the other woman had been talking about. Lora had also been reading the new intelligence report, but only the highlights. After the other woman had stopped talking. Lora paid more attention to the new intelligence report and pulling in every detail that she could.

Lora gives a loud sigh when she reads something even more distressing. "If you go to page 8? Looks like Robert Copeland has retired, but it reads to me more as him being retired by higher command and not him being the one who turned in his papers. The Styx is also being taken offline for "much delayed extensive maintenance". All for the future need of the SLDF." Lora let a loud snort slip out her lips as she analyzed the data.

Lora looked up and over to Kimberly. "Do you think that he made someone mad higher in the food chain?"

Kimberly Jay made a face and went deep into thought. She had almost made a quip remark, but that would not have been appropriate at this time. "I don't think so. I have not seen any signs that there were major….. issues in my reading between the lines. Besides, it might just be that he wanted to spend time with his new wife."

Kimberly let the new report fall to her desktop with a soft thud. "I would not bet that you have heard the last of him. I give it eight months, before he starts bouncing around enough that the leadership back Home will do whatever is needed to be done just to get him out of their hair." Kimberly Jay had to fight down a giggle as a few images of Robert started flashing threw her head.

########

Nine days later a Lion class Dropship unloaded a small group of passengers along with a dozen tons of cargo at the city of Crimson's space port. The newly arrived small family signed the paperwork to buy a nice sized estate on the edge of the city by the end of the day. While the group set up in a new household on the planet, one person of that family took a rented hover armored Limo to the main headquarters of the largest producer of military equipment within the MoC and a major employer on this planet. There just was not time to finish one task, before the first step of the major part of the mission had to be started. It also required that the highest ranked person had to be the one to make this next step.

Gavin Priest-McDonogh had been the CEO of MMM going all the way back to 3025, and he had seen the huge company threw many issues, some good and some bad to stay at the head of this company. That had been not a small task for a man to do in a woman dominated society like the MoC. Gavin looked up when his male assistant announced that his next meeting had arrived at the building's main security check point. Normally it would have taken weeks to even a few months before someone unknown got some of this CEO's time. Oh, and the many gate keepers between him and the public would have already filtered out many issues. And at the same time they would have provided him with notes on what might be the issues that needed his big hammer to address, along with some very well thought out and vetted suggested fixes that he might want to choose from.

Then again? When he had been passed a short note from a group, via a direct message that had come from someone that had proven to be very valuable to MMM and it had shown just how short on time that he was? Well, Gavin had found a date on his calendar that had some "lower" value meetings listed and Gavin had order them canceled or rescheduled for a later date. Next Gavin had clandestinely passed along a note back that he had confirmed the appointment. At least he knew who this stranger was connected to, if not their name, and what they may want.

#######

Tomas knocked on the door and then addressed his boss in a loud voice from the twin wooden doors as the main access of this office. "Sir! A Mrs. Cersei Gao is your next appointment today."

Gavin rose from behind his massive and massively expensive wooden office desk that dominated this room. Gavin rose and he took time to button his jacket closed before he addressed the woman walking towards him. "Mrs. Gao, I take it you're the person that the Bright Light Resort contacted me about." It was given as a statement and not a question.

While Gavin was talking, he was evaluating the woman that had just entered his plush office. Off the top of his head, she was tall, very tall even for the female dominated MoC. She also was good looking enough that he should have recognized her from one of the main entertainment shows spread across the Inner Sphere. Then he looked at her eyes, and then he knew that this person was sharp and might have a lively sense of humor hidden deep within her soul. That could be bad news for him, very bad news.

General Cersei Gao of the SLDF was wearing the correct type of dress suit that SLIC had advised her to wear in this female dominated local power. She had found the reports from the Colonials and some of the Families had been almost as helpful as the SLIC official reports in getting ready for this meeting and her new mission. Now that Cersei was out of the Split system, she was about to start the mission that she had been training for over the last two years to undertake. And yes, even General level of officers had to undergo training, when they had to.

With a working smile on her face. Cersei Gao took the hand of the man and gave it just enough strength to let him know that she was fit, but not a hand breaker by general nature. She and Gavin were too old to play power games like that. At least they were old enough not to try playing those types of games this early in the meeting.

While they were still holding hands, she addressed the man. "Please call me Cersei, my mother was Mrs. Gao." What she had said was not telling a lie. Her mother was also a General Gao now that she had been recalled for this war.

The pair did some small talking and drinks were offered and declined. It was just some foot movements to work through some of the ice between the pair of power players meeting for the first time. It was Cersei that changed the steps to this game with just a few words. "Gavin, I'm sure you have more to do than talk about the weather with me. What I am here for, is to get a seat on the Board of Directors for MMM."

She reaches down and pulled out a locally made noteputer from her stylish briefcase, and after powering on the device and making sure that she had the right document ready to go. With a slight smile, she passed the device over to the man, and now all she could do was wait.

Gavin took the device and he let a frown come to his face that was not faked. On the screen was a short list of names and numbers. Two of the names practically leaped off the page, and they were Copeland and Xi. Those two names were only the first, and then more showed up along with most of the fund holding companies that were of the type that only the richest and the most powerful in the MoC if not the rest of the Inner Sphere tended to use.

Gavin started talking as he reviewed the data. "Mrs. Gao, we just can't give just anyone a seat on MMM's board of directors."

While the man was back to reading the names and numbers on the screen, Cersei had started talking. "As you can see. I hold the proxy votes for two major shareholders, and by the end of this week I will have consolidated the transfer of shares from the major fund houses that "we" have been using for some time now. I am just here to give you a heads up, at least before the financial news services gets wind of this." The smile on her face was predatory.

The deep frown on Gavin's face was now very real and at the same time just a type of game face. The numbers that he was seeing were a solid four points higher than the upper end range that the MMM's financial department had come up with when he had asked them to put them together, and that was not good news for MMM. He had to see what the game plan that this woman and her people were going for, and much to his disappointment it was a good plan for them to run. Gavin still had more shares than this, but only by using all of the proxies from the rest of his family, and that was not something he could always count on getting

Gavin looked over the data screen one more time, and then he gives the tall woman a level look. "Are you trying to buy out my family's company?"

Cersei gave a laugh that was well practiced, but in this case, it was totally genuine. "Oh no, Mr. McDonogh. Back where we have lived, we have a saying. It goes…"IF it's not broken, then don't try to fix it you dumbass." No, we are looking at "only" being silent partners in MMM. I am just here to make sure that my peoples' future is looked after. At the same time, I might just be able to help cut down on any miss understandings that might come up between us and you. You know some small things, which if not handled quickly can badly blow up in everyone's face with very little warning. I can put that in writing….. if you wish it of me."

Gavin put the digital device down, and he looked at the woman. He had been expecting something like this for some time now, and Gavin was not going to have her write something down that would not have been legally binding anyway. It would have been both insulting and a waste of time for both of them.

With a slight sigh Gavin gave the woman another level look, and then he let a small smile come to his face. "Well, your timing is pretty good. I should be able to get all of the current seated board members to record their votes and have them sent via HPG now that its back to working. That way the proper forms can be filed at all of the relevant exchanges."

Gavin slowly rose from his chair and shook the woman's hand one more time. From the look on the woman's face, he could tell that she didn't get what he was totally saying and that was confirmed a heartbeat later.

Cersei Gao had understood, but she put an odd look on her face before speaking. "I didn't know that you had some problems with your HPG. What happened?" General Gao knew, but she had to play a little game to protect the technology of the SLiE. She also didn't want to let the man know that her people had their own Intel gathering teams working close by.

Gavin retook his seat. "I'm surprised that you have not heard about it. Your people must be well off the beaten path to not know about the HPG issues that had been going on. ComStar shut every one of them down for a few weeks. It had started right when the Com Guards started fighting the clans in that proxy battle for Terra. The FedCom and Combine seemed to have been ready for it, but most of us were not ready for the loss of all of the HPG stations. It took a few weeks before they started to come back online. Back in July, Focht had to make the rounds getting everyone back on par between the local leaders and ComStar. It would seem that ComStar has not been the neutral party that they have been saying they were over and over again these few hundred years. Then the reports had started coming out that ComStar had even launched a few attacks, and not all of them were focused on the clans."

Gavin was looking at the woman, but he was not getting any signs that she was understanding what he was saying. It was that, are she had one amazingly good poker face. "When the HPG first stopped working? The MoC government first sent out chartered jumpships to any planet with a known HPG station to check on it to see if it was just the Canopus station that was having issues. Many of those stations still had some combat units, and one of the planets they went to was connected to someone on that "little" list of yours. It would seem that Duke Terry had more issues with ComStar than just them playing games with the HPG on her planet."

Gavin could still not get any visible response coming from the woman. "MMM happen to have a mission in the early stages of getting ready to go to the Ltzehoe system when the Black Out happened. When they got there? They found that the planet was claimed to belong to ComStar for the last couple of months."

At this last statement, Gavin got a set of raised eyebrows as the only visible change coming from the woman. But Gavin kept talking. "Well, the MoC had not liked that report when it was passed to them via fast traveling jumpships, not one little bit. They landed a short mech battalion backed up by the MMM escort….to address this "ownership" issue. They found a lot of damage and a pair of working ex SLDF heavy tanks and some infantry working for ComStar. Those forces were quickly smothered by the reaction unit, like a bucket of wet sand on a spark."

Gavin made a little snort. "ComStar was focused on dealing with the locals that were not happy with them. They were short on food and other key items, and this made the locals very disgruntled with those connected with ComStar. Then a larger team from MIM had went looking around to piece together what might have happened between reports threw the HPG. It had already been reported that almost all of the ammunition bunkers and exporting factories were empty or smoking holes in the ground, and the old and much loved leader was gone. The locals and ComStar were in bad shape with the total loss of local support to the main ComStar compound that was a low-grade civil war."

Gavin leaned forward and put his elbows on his expensive desk. "Do you know where she might have gone? That could be valuable information, if it is given to the right ears." He was not going to say that MMM and some of the other larger companies had set or where in the process of setting up power blocks on a planet that had a lot of mineral and knowledge assets. The MoC was also almost finished working on setting up a loyal government to them to fill the power vacuum left behind with Terry and now ComStar out of the planetary leadership race.

Now Cersei spoke. "That is disturbing news, and no. I have no idea what happened to that world. As you have already alluded to, we live very far off the beaten path. Sounds like that was a Class A …..mess." She made a mental note to send the information back to New Circe that the planet of Ltzehoe was no longer under ComStar's thumb. But it is now fully going into the MoC and losing its last visages of independent status. And that it had not been that way for very long. She doubted that anyone from the SLiE would be going that way. It would be a great way to draw a lot of attention and or a lot of unwanted questions to be asked. Both of those things were items that both the SLiE and SLIC didn't want to happen.

Gavin didn't know if he believed the woman, but he currently was not in a position to call her on the carpet about that thorny little problem. "Yes, it was. The MoC was lucky and that it was the only planet that had issues on that scale…. outside of just the loss of fast long ranged communications for weeks or few months. If you can get a spot on the board, maybe we can circle back around to this at a later time." Again, that was a statement and not a question.

When Gavin got a head nod of agreement, he rocked back a little deeper into his chair. "With you now here? I will assume that the second warship that the MoC made agreements with your people about will be turned over very shortly." Again, he got another head nod, but nothing was spoken aloud. Gavin made another mental note about this one, with OPSEC and how well she was playing that game compared to most that had played this game around him.

Gavin's voice got just a little softer. "Will it cause… issues that it will be very likely that the MoC will not be looking at a third one, at least in the short term?"

Gavin knew from a friend in MIM, that two billion C-bills worth of trade goods had been listed as the price for that second corvette class of warship. Those goods had been of a wide range. That range was from two dozen Thunderbird aerospace fighters, fifty suits of new 1ton class battle armor, steel, food, tools, tooling, workmechs, and an array of power plants that more or less said all of them you can get your hands on. Most of the time out in the Periphery, it was easier to come up with cargos than it was to come up with hard cash on hand.

Gavin had not stopped talking. "The MoC has given out a contract to MMM….and a few other qualified companies. They are to start working on the production of a local made copy of the Vincent class warship. That contract currently sits at a minimum production of ten new space frames along, with a prototype copy of the old SLDF Aegis class cruiser or Athena class cruiser to be the MoC Navy's new flagship."

Now Cersei smiled a full smile that reached her eyes. "Oh, that is not an issue! After all, it was some of "our" people that pointed your company to Athena Corp in the first place. I am sure that we will not have any problems trading away our extra equipment to other buyers. Its things like that, is the reason that it's time for someone like me to be here in the first place."

Gavin fought hard to keep his face still at how casually this woman referred to trading of something as rare as real warships. He had to fight to keep from asking what other warships that her people might have on hand, and then he remembered what his cousin Mike had said many years ago. Gavin makes a note to keep taking his time and see what he might be able to gain to let MMM grow even greater influence from this…person. Right now this person sitting in his office could start a hostile takeover of his family's company, and he needed to tread carefully with her. She had said that her people were not interested in that option, but they had only just met. For all he knew, she might be lying to him.

Gavin reached over and pushed a button that would let him talk to his assistant. "Tomas, please clear the rest of my meetings today." He didn't wait for a reply. Gavin would spend the rest of the day getting to know his new silent partner of MMM. After a few hours of this meeting, Gavin was starting to think that this was a grand idea.

########

The sun was setting over the landing field that was used to support this very specialized resort. The ST-46 was old and not as nice as some of the long range passenger transports that normally supported this Resort with dropping off of visitors and supplies. Kimberly and Lora were waiting in the very well-appointed passenger terminal and the attached cargo handling facility of the Bright Light Resort. While the delta winged space craft had come to a stop, and then the ground team were working on making the local area safe something that was still called a jet way was moved to contact the side of the space worthy small craft.

The two women turned when the lone passenger exited this end of the "jetway" at a pace that screamed military. These would be the only three people in this meeting. It would not be good if this person and the Resort were connected, at least being connected this early in the game. Later it would not be as much of an issue, but it still would be an issue with so many things in flux. So, this meeting was going to be a very short one and with few people participating or even witnessing this event.

Kimberly Jay was a well-trained SAFE agent, and a member of a long hidden member of the SLiE. She had no problem noticing that this woman was tired, but she could smell the Intel training leaking from the newly arrived woman like high end perfume on the wind. There also was something else on the air currents. Kimberly gave a slight shift to let her friend know that something was up that they might had not planned on while they had waited.

General Cersei Gao was a long serving member of the SLDF, and she had spent many years working in a management role. SLIC had been under the microscope after the issue of dumping and lying to long service members of the SLiE, the group known as The Families. She had been one of the senior leaders brought in to fix issues that the microscope had found in that organization. Then she had been sent to the Lyssa, from there to oversee certain operations, but that had always been seen as a delay before going to her "real" final post. That post would be on the MMM board of directors and working with the Resort. Now the General would be able to see with her own eyes what the SAFE agent had done to help the members of the Families.

Gao was very tired after a long day that had been running for almost 36 hours with just a few cat naps taken in bucket seats. She fell back into her command voice. "Ladies, I am General Cersei Gao. I will be wearing two hats for our operations. One of them is that I will be "our" people's representative on the MMM board. I also will be your new boss for matters around shipping cargos, the Families, and SLIC operations run out of your areas. We are still early in this part of the operation, and we will make arrangements to pass data and orders between our two divergent locations. Right now, there are not going to be any changes in how things have been going."

Cersei waited for the two women to let her know that they understood what she had just said to them. That took a dozen seconds. "Good! Now to let you know somethings. One is that Duke Terry and her people made it all the way back to…..Home safely. They have started to settle in around the same area that the Victorians had first set up. Besides some issues, they have already proven useful in a number of ways. Many of the recovered factories have been re sighted, rebuilt, and they have started low rate production. That has showed some improvements for all of New Circe. The same is true for the Families that have chosen to return to our Home. Do you have any questions...?" There was a long pause that said the General almost had said Query Negative.

Kimberly Jay was the first of the pair of "Local" women to speak after the waterfall of words from the General. "We understand. Your cargo is sitting in one of our warehouses. Notes have been posted not to crack the seals on the shipping units or move them underground until we have talked to you first. Can we know what they are? If that cargo is explosive, we might want to move them to a less populated area just for general safety."

Cersei smiled a real smile, because this was a very good question, and it was one that she had expected to be asked but not this soon. "They are a set of atmosphere and water cleaners that Home is looking to trade to the Inner Sphere threw MMM acting as a front company. When I get settled in with everything? "We" will make arrangements to have them ship to the capital."

Lora looked to her friend and then to their new boss, but she was used to being her own boss much less lacking any "official" intelligence training. "General, I don't know if this is the right time. But do you know what happened to Commodore Copeland?"

Now Cersei let a small smile come to her face that would not be called friendly. This had been a complex question, one that she had expected to be asked from these two to ask as soon as she was within ear shot of one of them. The SLIC reports had said, very clearly, that these two were loyal to the SLDF but they were more loyal to Robert Copeland. It was also noted that they should shift their loyalty over to her very quickly, if she did one or two key things.

With this in mind, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a data stick. "He failed his last military medical check, and he was offered to return to civilian life with the thanks of the Protector and Parliament. He is still supporting the war effort, but by regulation he cannot be in a military command ever again. Still, I know of more than a few rumors that say that there are a few slots that he would be a very good fit for."

Gao let her voice go a little softer. "Robert knew that he was on a short count when he was brought back in 47. A lot of "us" were surprised that he was able to keep command as long as he had." Cersei tilted her head to one side and continued talking. "He sent me a private message that said you both were good people and to look out for you. For all of Robert's….. charm. He does not give out that kind of loyalty to just anyone, at least that is my experience. Oh, and if it's not in his letters to you. He and Terry are expecting a child and they have officially tied the knot." She was not going to talk about Robert faking his medical reports for who knew how many years. Faking any of your reports was one of the big no no's in the military command track.

Cersei not only had a sly smile on her face, but she also gives a wink to the two women. "And he is still pulling SLIC's tail when he gets the urge, and you can bet that he is doing it often and hard with those pulls. He was able to get the legal department to approve a special power of attorney to manage Lora's finances until she can make it home. I'm sure he will make sure you have a very nice retirement fund when you get out that way. Oh, and there is an award waiting to recognize your families support to the SLiE."

Kimberly snorts and then shoots a look over towards Lora. "That old dog! Good for both of them! Still, that kid is going to be a handful if he takes traits from both of those two. I just hope she is not inclined for twins, they might find a way to crack the planet's core when they hit the terrible twos, thunderous threes…..or the early stages of puberty."

#######

General Cersei Gao only had long enough for this meeting with the managers of the resort for the ground team to do a "turn around evolution" of the craft that had brought her here. She spent that time giving the two locals her plan's outlines and a set of the updated encryption keys for the TacFax the SLIC team at the Resort was running. It was going to be a very tightly packed hour before she was riding a plasma torch back into orbit to hide where she had just ben from anyone that was not MIM. It would be a few months before anyone outside of MIM noticed that the newest board member of MMM spent a lot of time fishing on the lakes that were under this Resorts ownership.

The "modified Leviathan" class jumpship called Zephyr picked up the Monarch from the Resort, a Lion class dropship named the Fat Cat, and a fully loaded Mammoth called Lyssa's Little Sister when she was ready to leave this system. The Mammoth was really the Hercules in hiding under a faked IFF. The huge dropship had been collecting cargo for a few months on the planet. Just that most people had not known that the cargo had come straight from the MoC government or they had supplied the funds to buy those cargos filling her massive cargo bays on that huge dropship.

The huge jumpship had the look of carrying a full load of dropships after those three vessels were docked to it. This was thanks to a set of metal covered inflatable decoys holders, that when activated it looked just like Mule class dropships at any distance normally used in the space around a jump point and on Radar. This stopped many questions from being asked about catching a ride on the jumpship to any other star system by other waiting dropships in this major shipping world. It also explained why they needed to know about the cargos before arriving. it was not like they could get away with putting out another decoy after arriving here.

When the long Colonial ship in hiding made her first jump and ended up in the dark between the stars? Very quickly the decoy dropships were drawn down and stored in the special boxes near the very real dropship collars. While this packing of those decoys was going on, the three dozen "non SLiE cleared" personnel were brought off the dropships to be held in cabins on the huge turning wheel near the aft end of the huge ship called Zephyr. They would be restricted to only certain areas of the ex-Colonial liner for the near future as a security precaution that needed them off of those dropships.

After one more check for any spying devices that might have been slipped onto the dropships by some shadow players. When none were found, then the ship was able to go into the next phase of operation. The SLDF/Colonial auxiliary started a rapid transit across the Inner Sphere going deeper with each jump, but always staying away from any star or planet. She had an appointment with a SLIC run "normal" jumpship operating in another part of the Inner Sphere. The Zephyr would be leaving the Lion class dropship and its crew with the SLIC run spy ship, and only then would it head back to the Split system with her valuable cargo.

#########

Notes

Information on Pampanito II. Chapter 51 (Dec 49) and 58 (31 July 3050)

Smoke Jaguars future. With them soon to be gone from the Inner Sphere. Who will the Inner Sphere focus on to kick out and make the clans take a step back. Nova Cats? Ghost Bears? The Steel Vipers in the Inner Sphere are too small to get the attention of the rest of the clan leaders. What about what other Crusader clan is left that is still powerful enough? I have a plan….I have a plan

ComStar faction and updates. Word of Blake (moderate) Blake's Will Toyamas and Six of June (Master is dead along with Azirz and St. James and maybe Arian). Some of the radical groups are heading for the edge of space (points unknown maybe to the lost 5 but there are Explorer Core bases). Primus Myndo Waterly is dead.

Operation Scorpion: The FedCom and DC took control of many key HPGs before being shut down or later they wrested control after the start of the interdiction. The CC and FWL bore the blunt of interdiction due to not being prepared. It failed stunningly in the Clan occupation zone.

Some of the splinter groups: Precentor Demona Aziz (Precentor Atreus) is Toyama. Precentor Blane of Gibson (True Believers are moderates) Precentor Willima Willis (Counter-Reformists). The Shunners are small but growing power and as radical as Toyama and led by Precentor Florida (fedcom) Curtis Byrd. Combat Precentor Trent Arian but now might be KIA. Six of June faction (Cameron St Jamais made Manei Domini the Hand of the Master) One Voice is still very small. (In this AU the WoB is the more moderate of all of the groups, Blake's Will or BW very radical).

33