[Cal Marlise]
[Corean Enterprises]
[New Avalon, New Avalon System, Federated Suns]
[March 15th, 3028]
SCMF #4 was a monstrous structure Cal decided as he watched the intimidating slate grey building grow larger and larger the closer the stretched electric transport golf cart got. He and twelve other Corean employees were crammed onto the slow, open-sided vehicle, with Francis being the driver; the eighteen-year-old kid was a recent new hire as part of the Logistics Division, and being one of the many FNGs he had the enviable task of driving around the sprawling complex and transporting the middle-level managers like Cal.
The Corean Complex was a riot of activity, with dismounted Corean employees moving around the wide roads going about their business while construction crews worked practically around the clock to see the buildings that the Head Boss wanted built. Forklifts raised shipping containers onto the beds of 20-ton semi-tractor trailers, Industrial 'Mechs moved about rows with heavy equipment held in their graspers, and large clouds of black smoke belched from the stacks of Brunel dump trucks as they ferried tons of earth from excavation sites further in toward the buildings under construction.
SCMF #4 had just been completed barely three weeks ago, and the moment it was declared 'open for business', it was packed to the gills with equipment rolling off the lines from SCMF #3 so that it could carry on the same mission. About 100 meters to the right of #4 was #5, and while it was considered 'complete' the thick walls surrounding it weren't yet filled up, but that was already being seen to- lines of dump trucks were waiting patiently along the wall as a light-weight Engineering Vehicle with an extended back-hoe reached down and scooped earth from the trucks and deposited it into the earth hungry maws of the thick, reinforced walls that surrounded each SCMF.
Francis easily maneuvered the kart around the employees walking about, the young man making sure to stick to the interior lanes and out of the way of the larger vehicles and 'Mechs that could squash them flat.
"Here it is, SCMF #4," Francis reached out and touched the flat screen in front of him as he logged his stop, and the moment the kart came to a halt Cal and seven other employees hopped out of the seats and made way for others to climb on. Visible from the front, sides, and rear were four LED panels that flashed over to the next destination on the list, "Next stop: 'Weaponry #7'."
Cal felt a smile tug at his lips as he saw just how bored the kid was, but while being a Cabbie wasn't the most exciting thing in the world, it was typical FNG scut-work that served to get him familiar with the lay of the land.
It could be worse- when Cal was the FNG of the Manufacturing Division he spent his early months scraping carbon from the ore refineries.
Thank God those days were long behind him.
Cal turned and left the kid to make his rounds, the older man striding toward the front of his new workplace with his noteputer in hand and his security lanyard around his neck.
He and fifty other men and women waited patiently in line at the security checkpoint, and after scanning his ID badge and punching in his eight-digit Time Card code at the number pad, he slipped inside and made a beeline for the locker room. Given he was a Manager, his locker room was on the second floor, and he trotted up the stairs before scanning his badge again and inputting this month's four-digit code. Cal found his locker quickly, swiped his badge and input his personal pin, and sighed happily when he saw his Workplace Safety suit- a brand new body sock hanging in its plastic packaging.
While he certainly missed the old Greys and Yellows, he had to admit that the new safety jumpsuits were far superior to the standard cloth jumpsuits they used to wear. Hydrophic, oil, and grease-resistant, with soft padding and hard protective shells over the important bits, and they were also very tear-resistant- made from the same ballistic weaves that the new Cooling Suits were made out of. They weren't crush-resistant, but they'd certainly prevent him from getting stitches, or breaking something if Cal took a nasty spill.
Cal stripped down quickly slipping into the fresh body sock before suiting up, his boots came on next, followed by his gloves, and then lastly were his hard hat and safety glasses. As he slipped the glasses over his nose and tugged the lanyard snuggly, he connected the AR frames to the noteputer and paired them before leaving; it was probably superfluous, but the Head Boss was really stretching the legs of the new Crystal process, and having the ability to check messages on his noteputer without having to physically access it was a very nice bonus.
As a matter of fact, he was using it right now to check the time on the inter-floor tram, and Cal was pleased to see that he'd only have to wait a couple of minutes before it made its way down to him.
He exited the locker room and trotted down the staircase and moved over to the tram platform where a few dozen of his fellow employees were standing by; he approached the yellow line and stood by, the man leaning forward and looking down the track only to see it stretch far, far, far off into the distance.
"Jesus Christ," He muttered to himself as he tapped his gloved fingers along the ferroplast plate covering his outer thigh, "I forget how big this place is sometimes."
At 500 meters in length, the facility was gargantuan.
A chime sounded as 0900 rolled around, and on the opposite side of the tram track on the back wall were a dozen large flatscreens behind a thick ferroglass plate; the time was displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the screens and the background was a live feed from New Avalon city. However, with the change in shift came the change in the background, and the cityscape changed to the video feed from Pukoa Beach- the best beach on New Avalon.
"It seems like Mister Whitehurst has Summer Fun on his mind," A voice to Cal's right spoke out, and he turned his head to see an Arabian woman with a thin shawl wrapped around her hair and neck- though it was more like the headscarf was integrated into her hard hat.
Cal didn't even need to see her name tape on her shoulder to know who this was- Maria Al-Salama was the number five at this plant; his boss's boss's boss.
"It's still a bit chilly for relaxing at the beach, but I suppose that it is a Friday," Cal kept his smile neutrally polite, as he always did when transferring to a new division; until he knew who he could relax around the man always made sure to stay extra polite, especially when interacting with someone higher up in the chain than himself.
He was far away from the comforting embrace of the Centurion line, and while most of the employees, even the lower level ones, viewed taking a promotion out of the Battlemech Divisions as a demotion, Cal wasn't one of those people. Even with a company as large as Corean Enterprises, rising up in the ranks wasn't as easy or as quick as most would assume, and unless one knew for a fact that a promotion led to a dead-end, then Cal would take any and every promotion he could get.
Yes, it wasn't as prestigious as the Battlemech lines, but getting in on the ground floor of the new SCMFs when they were going to be the future of the Company just made too much sense to him.
"I would have personally chosen the Chapel Hill Reserve for today's screen saver, but that's just me," The woman shook her head lightly as she placed her hands on her hips.
Cal didn't disagree- he'd taken his wife and three kids to Chapel Hill during the New Year for skiing, and the coniferous forests and beautiful powdery snow certainly made it a bit of a winter wonderland, however, being the Chief had its perks, and choosing the shift's window dressings was one of them. Honestly, Cal was just glad that they had them at all- with how thick the walls were setting up windows was an impossibility, so it was nice to see the flatscreens displaying something from the outside world; didn't want people getting antsy during a long day's work. That made the rooftop garden a popular place for everyone during the lunch break- the grass, fountain, trees, and pavillions make the days with good weather an absolute pleasure.
"Ah, looks like it's right on time," Miss Al-Salama hummed as the front lights of the tram grew steadily until its brakes hissed and brought it to a halt.
Cal and his fellows made holes so that the off-coming shift workers could slip out, and at the first opportunity, he slipped inside and grabbed hold of the railing while bracing himself up against the wall. Thankfully the Boss Lady took a seat on the opposite side of the first car and started playing with her noteputer; Cal really didn't feel like making small talk today, especially not with someone above him he'd have to dance around.
Higher-ups always had a way of making conversations a minefield, doubly so when he didn't know them well enough.
The tram pushed off down the tracks toward the back end of the SCMF where the cargo and personnel lifts were stationed, stopping a few times down the way to pick up and drop off employees at each station along the Primary line.
Unlike SCMF #1, which had the honor of building the first complete production run of the Sun Chaser Scout Tank, and SCMF #2 which was acting as a test bed for the automation layout for the new Valkyrie line, #3 and #4 had the pleasure of being the lines that produced whatever was needed. As it stood now, they should be almost complete with building the order for a Centurion Battlemech line that was sold to Jolassa; from his spot on the tram, he could see large Andosteel waldos being pushed slowly down the assembly line as other waldos connected the disparate components together one step at a time. A few dozen meters down the line optical packages and sensor packages were slipped into their housings on each outgoing waldo.
It wasn't the most glorious of tasks, but being the SCMF that built the tools to build the tools had its own prestige, and it was nice that the Chief Boss viewed their work as some of the most critical.
There was a lot of wheeling and dealing going on in the Head Shed, and while someone like him could only hear whispers from up on high, he had learned that the Centurion line of Aerospace Fighters from Jolassa had arrived and was going to be set up in SCMF #5 when it was completed at the end of the month. By the end of next week, the Centurion Battlemech line- that was probably traded for the Centurion ASF line now that he thought about it- would be finished, and the dropship that brought the ASF line here to New Avalon would be on its way back to Panpour with its cargo holds full.
It was a touch strange to hear all of that, however, as the number of times Cal could remember Corean Enterprises collaborating with other companies could be counted on a single hand; he'd been with the company almost fifteen years by this point, and he hadn't ever heard of Arthur Corean's father exchanging licenses like this before.
Cal shook his head clear of those thoughts as he made his way over to one of the personnel lifts and got off on the sixth floor.
Thousands of machines of all shapes and sizes stretched from one end to the other, the 15-meter height of the 6th Floor allowing for a second internal level to pack even more machinery inside. While they were primarily geared toward manufacturing electronics, they were also one of the 'Flex' floors that covered whatever else was needed.
This was his domain.
Or, it would hopefully one day become his domain- Cal was a Line Production Manager, which boiled down to him being the Assistant Manager to the Assistant Manager of the Floor Manager.
He looked around the partially automated lines before looking up and behind him to spy Javier Suzuki leaning against the guardrailing of the internal second floor.
Their eyes met and Javier waved at him, "Cal! Good to see you- come on up!"
Cal strode toward the metal staircase and made his way up, the man hugging the left-hand side so that a trio of other employees could head down the right side, and once he made it to the top he tucked his noteputer underneath his arm, "Mister Suzuki, what do we have today?"
Mister Suzuki's lips pulled into a smile, "Well, for today and the rest of next week? We have an order for new Tank Sim Pods for NAIS, but that's Benny Hill's section- you and your boys, however, have a job straight from the Head Boss himself."
Cal inhaled slightly in shock, but he did his best to keep his surprise off of his face, "Understood. What does Mister Corean require?"
"You know that Civvy Car he's been developing? The 'Everyman'?" Mister Suzuki asked leadingly, and Cal nodded.
Who hadn't? It was one of the hottest rides in the employee vehicle pool to drive, if only because of the novelty of the thing; he hadn't had a chance to sit in it let alone drive it around, but that was because he wasn't one of those who'd trade Paid Leave hours for a chance to drive it for a few minutes. His wife would never forgive him if he gave up PTO for such a frivolous thing- if he wanted one, he'd buy one when it came out; the discount for Corean employees was pretty generous, and it wasn't like the vehicle was all that expensive to begin with.
"Well, the car is going to make its debut at that endurance race on New Earth, that fancy one, right? The Head Boss is pretty convinced that it's going to win handily, and he's expecting the interest to peak once word gets around, so it's going to be all hands on deck for non-critical manufacturing space. SCMF #4 has been chosen to contribute so that parts can stream across the street to the assembly lines over there, so while Kelly-Anne- you know Kelly, right? She runs the Armor floor. Anyway, she's going to be making the body panels on the side while we're going to be making wiring harnesses and the electronics stacks for the interior," Javier Suzuki made a few gestures with his hands, likely playing with his glasses' AR screen, and Cal saw his noteputer's mail icon light up on his own lenses, "The coils, wrappers, and bundlers are already in place- Mitch from night shift set that up for you- and the Vac-Stacks from the 5th floor, and crystal displays from the basement will be up within the hour."
Cal opened up the email and looked over the photos and checklists before he spotted the Work Packages attached.
"This ain't something you and your boys have done before, but I spoke to Big Rich over in #2 and he says its pretty simple stuff; just follow the steps in the WPs and you'll be boxing up harnesses and instrumentation packages in no time," Javier clapped his hands, "Just be aware that two of our cargo trains for the floor are down- #22's electric motor finally burned out and #17's instrument panel shit the bed- so be sure to allot an extra fifteen minutes or so to your pick-up times for your completed components."
Cal took that in; an inconvenience to be sure, but nothing major, "I'll be sure to get my teams right on this, Mister Suzuki."
Mister Suzuki sniffed, "You know you can just call me 'Javie', right? Everyone does; Mister Suzuki is my old man."
The Line Manager mulled his boss' words over in his head before he nodded, "Sure thing, Javie. We'll get to work."
"Smashing. I'll see you at lunch then!"
As Cal retreated down the staircase he heard Javier joking with the man next to him, "Geeze, are all Battlemech guys that stiff?"
He ignored the slight prick to his pride at that, but he knew full well that he tended to be distant from his peers until he could feel them out, so it wasn't as though Mister Suzuki's words were wrong...
Cal swept those thoughts to the side as he accessed his Line Team message application on his noteputer and typed up a short message before sending it off; it would be a good five-minute walk before he made it to his Section, and that would give his boys and girls enough time to use the restroom or grab a cup of coffee before he got there. Once he arrived they would get down to business- if the CEO handed them this job then it wouldn't do to let it languish; it was an opportunity to shine, a small one, but he would make sure he shined brightly nonetheless.
[Mike Mitchell-Harazawa]
['Bright Spark' Game Development Offices]
[New Avalon, New Avalon System, Federated Suns]
[March 15th, 3028]
Mike was more than a touch nervous as he sat there in the meeting room of the Bright Spark game company's offices.
He really didn't feel like he belonged here. He was just a visual effects artist fresh out of Technical College, barely out of school a year and a half ago before a failed game launch put their company on the ropes with a very dark, uncertain future on the horizon. Everyone else seated in here were the Big Wigs of the company, but given the massive number of layoffs over the past few months he wasn't the only one seated in a chair that felt too large to fill; Nathan Harwood across from him was the representative from the Level Design crew, and he had only been on board Bright Spark for barely nine months longer than him!
More than half of the old Department Leads were MIA, the Chief Direction Officer for their studio's flop, 'Merits of Honor', was shit-canned, and with their CEO temporarily benched following an internal review by the new owner of the company... things were looking pretty bleak.
That he was selected by his peers in the VFX Team to be their representative terrified him like he wouldn't believe- he didn't know jack shit about leading himself, let alone the entire VFX Team. He was a novice artist with almost as many hours in the company training teams as he did a fully-fledged member of one, and the worst part is that he couldn't tell if the people around him genuinely believed he would do well as their Representative or if they were just foisting the responsibility off on the relative newcomer.
The presence of an armed security team with what looked to be some sort of Exo Skeleton armor certainly did little to soothe his nerves, though after looking around the room he was pleased to find out that he wasn't the only one looking a little green around the gills.
A click was heard and he looked to the double doors at the back of the room and saw them open, and Mike felt his eyebrows rise up to his bangs as he witnessed just who entered the room.
What was Arthur Corean doing here?
He was some Military Defense industry hotshot, someone who did something important enough to be bestowed a system Duchy by the First Prince himself, and while nobody knew what it was he did, what everyone did know was that it had to of been something monumentally impressive.
Mister Corean cut a striking figure in that suit of his, and seeing the man dressed to the nines while he was here in a stained button-up shirt; though to be fair to him the stain was fresh, as Penny bumped into him barely an hour before the meeting and he spilled some coffee on his Oxford. However, he didn't exactly have the time to rush home and get another, but he supposed that he could have at least worn a tie...
The man's piercing blue eyes swept over the room as he pulled out the overstuffed leather office chair at the head of the table, "Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Given that most of Bright Spark's game portfolio has revolved around military titles, I am certain that you are well aware of me as the CEO of one of the largest producers of war material in the Federated Suns, however, for those of you who don't, I am Arthur Corean, the owner and CEO of Corean Enterprises. Now I am also the owner of Bright Spark and Mini-Magic."
He placed his hands on the top of the table, "I'm certain that many of you are curious as to why I would purchase two video game development studios, and there are many reasons for this, but ultimately they boil down to opportunity, cross-compatibility, and need."
"Firstly, Bright Spark has hit a financial rough patch, leading to me being able to pick it up for a relatively small sum; that was the 'opportunity'," Mister Corean raised his left hand up and made a fist, a finger extending as he checked off each 'block', "Second, I am developing a new line of Simulation Pods for Battlemechs, Aerospace Fighters, and Combat Vehicles that aim to squeeze every last ounce of realism possible so that the Mechwarriors, Pilots, and Crews can have the easiest transition possible when moving from training sims to their real-life mounts. While the creation of video games and sim pods is not a one-to-one in the slightest, there are certainly a lot of carry-overs from one to another. POV-Sim 13.1 is the primary Simulation Construction program that Corean Enterprises uses currently, and that has widgets and applications that Bright Spark uses such as TruColor Studios 6.5.1, VFX Studio 9.91B, Strukture-Map Pro 3.7.7, and Texture Maker Pro 22.1.1."
Mike blinked and he held out his hand, "Uh, Mister Corean?"
Everyone in the room turned to him the moment he spoke, and he immediately felt like he had just made a huge mistake.
Mister Corean's gaze stabbed into Mike's chest and he almost shivered at the sheer intensity, "Yes? Mister Mitchel-Harazawa?"
He knew his name?
Mike blinked rapidly before adjusting the glasses that had slipped down his nose, "A-ah, we don't use VFX Studio 9.91B anymore. We reverted back to 9.85S- while the additional feature sets in .91B were very nice to use, they weren't as bulletproof as Starshot Programming led us to believe when we upgraded our licenses; while serviceable on our end, the new protocols led to a lot of artifacting issues that greatly impacted our graphics engine. After fixing the bugs we could... it wasn't enough to save Merits of Honor from being consigned to the dust bin, so we've since swapped back to the Stable 9.85S build."
"Then it appears that the change-over packet Mister Brunting provided us was not correct. Samantha, if you would be a dear and have the lawyers look over the details once more," Mister Corean's face turned to the gorgeous red-haired woman standing to his right before returning his attention to Mike, "That was informative, Mister Mitchel-Harazawa. Thank you for that."
"Not a... problem," He felt the same touch of irritation he experienced with his co-workers; despite keeping the same neutral expression, Mister Corean sounded genuine but Mike couldn't be sure if he'd just stepped into some shit or not.
"Now, while I haven't played Merits of Honor, my little brother has. The game was a technical marvel, according to him, but the gameplay and story were trash. I don't have the luxury of being a gamer, but what did impress me was the visual fidelity of the title; the graphics were excellent from what I could see, with weather and visual effects far above the norm for a studio of this size. Simulator Pods, if you do not know, are well ahead of the gaming industry in terms of realism and stability, but graphically speaking they are generations behind, and that leads to a training detriment because what a Mechwarrior can see with his naked eye- or with the optical magnification sensors afforded to him- does not match up with what most Sim Pods are capable of handling. I aim to change that by integrating small teams from your staff to build a brand-new Simulation Engine from the ground up- one so feature-filled and powerful that we'll need to upgrade even the hardware in the top-of-the-line Sim Pods seen at Sakhara Military Academy."
A man off to Mister Corean's right, someone whom Mike didn't know given he stayed within his lane as part of the VFX Department, cleared his throat, "While I am certain that we are all thankful to be rescued from insolvency by your purchase of us, Mister Corean... it sounds like you plan to strip us for parts."
Arthur Corean tilted his head, "Temporarily? Yes. I won't mince words with you, Mister Watts, I will be stripping members of Bright Spark away to augment Corean Enterprises' Simulation Pod Development Division, however, that will only be- as I said- a temporary thing. Twelve months at most. You are a video games company first and foremost, and I aim to keep you a video games company; the reality of the situation is that with Merits of Honors dead in the water Bright Spark currently has no direction- no game to develop. So we will be fixing that with a very large, sweeping project that very well could change the Military Warfare genre of gaming entirely. However, that will take time- time that will see most of your teams languishing for upwards of a year or more. So while we work back and forth to come up with a plan for how these new games are going to be done, these teams will be either training the new hires or working with the SPDD."
Mister Watts dabbed at his brow with a kerchief as he listened, and Mike could see that; he'd much rather be working for Corean Enterprises doing VFX work versus the alternative. Games companies usually had numerous projects in the pipeline, so when one project was completed the crews could roll right into the next one while the Planning Staff built up the foundations for the games to come; given that they were on the verge of bankruptcy their other projects were canned entirely.
If there were to be new games, then it would take a year or more for them to even work out the basic framework for setting, story, gameplay, mechanics, and the like... which would lead to months of teams sitting around waiting for someone to even tell them the general direction their asset creation needed to go.
And people didn't just sit around.
Sitting around cost money, and companies weren't willing to do that, so instead of letting people sit around they fired them.
Thankfully it appeared as though they were going to avoid having more of their staff put on the chopping block, which was a Godsend because Mike was already down to seven other VFX artists, and if they were forced to lose anymore then it would be bad.
"And what games did you have in mind?" Mister Watts asked.
"There are four games that I want to develop into a single eco-system of play, where while they might be released years after one another, I want them to exist within the same 'universe'. I call it 'Project Athena', named after the ancient Terran Goddess of Wisdom and War. This will encompass the other four projects: Project Aces, Project Warrior, Project Armor, and Project Backbone," Arthur Corean steepled his fingers as he leaned on his elbows, "Merits of Honor was, according to the player base, an objectively terrible game, but what it served to accomplish was to act as a test bed for what made Infantry on Infantry combat successful. Or in Em Oh H's case, what not to do when making an Infantry vs Infantry styled of game."
Mike winced, and he wasn't the only one.
"So what we're going to do is take what Merits of Honor did right, keep that, and then fix what it did wrong. Movement? Will be more in line with how actual human locomotion works. Weapons? I will be getting you access to the complete suite of infantry weapons that the AFFS uses for scans as well as motion capture for things like weapons handling and recoil; I had heard that you used photos to make the weapons in this game, and while I think that you did a decent enough job with what you had, this time you will have the access you need to make excellent assets-"
Mister Corean went down a laundry list of things after that, delving into the vision he had for Project Athena.
Four separate games that could integrate seamlessly through the planetary 'Net- a game where battlefields could be small and tight or wide and expansive, with infantry players, armor players, ASF players, and wannabe Mechwarriors interacting on the same map against each other. There would also be purely organic PVP and PVE experiences as well, where the players could get the Fighter on Fighter, Infantry on Infantry, Vehicle on Vehicle, and 'Mech on 'Mech action they wanted in bite-sized chunks if they didn't have an hour to play a single match.
What did surprise Mike, however, was to learn that Mister Corean would be directly participating from time to time, slipping into the offices to work on the game as time permitted, which prompted Mike to ask another question.
"Mister Corean, just to bring it back to the beginning of the conversation... you said that three reasons made you pick up our studio, and while you named the first two we sort of got side-tracked before you listed the third," Mike licked his lips, "Does that tie into why you're going to be joining us personally for the development?"
Arthur Corean blinked once and then he gave Mike a lidded, easy smile as he leaned back in his chair, "Oh, that? My fiance has been saying that I've been working too hard and am in need of a low-stress distraction; a hobby if you will. Project Athena will be that hobby."
"A hobby?" Mister Watts didn't sound pleased, but to Mike... it was like a ray of hope shined in through dark clouds.
"Yes, a 'hobby'. This isn't going to be about squeezing every last pence out of our customer's pockets, this will be all about making the very best game we can make," The CEO of Corean Enterprises shrugged his shoulders, "It's not all about the money. If we make a great game, one that people enjoy, then money will naturally flow in. You make something people want, and people will buy. It's basic business."
Mister Corean's steepled fingers came up in front of his lips as he smiled, "So our goal is to make the War Simulation video game to end all War Simulation video games. It will be visually impressive. It will be mechanically sound. It will tell a riveting story with a colorful cast of characters. It will have a carefully tailored experience for those seeking excitement in a variety of roles while not detracting from the experience of those who purchased other entries into the Project. And most of all? It will simply be a good game. Or a good set of games, in this case."
Mike leaned back in his chair, removing himself from Mister Corean's line of sight as he ran a hand through his hair.
He didn't know it at the time, but he was smiling just a bit.
Hours later, at another game development studio across the city, Arthur Corean was seated on a beat-up leather couch in a tiny office nestled within an even tinier office building.
Mini-Magic was a game development studio that was just one step above what the industry termed an 'Indie Developer'. They had seventeen employees, eight of whom were recent hires that were brought on to augment the nine programming school students who dropped out. Their drop-out was for financial reasons and not ability, or else Arthur wouldn't have even considered purchasing them.
They made a sprite-based Platforming Action-RPG game called 'Runic Knight Quest' that was fairly popular with seven planetary licenses distributed to worlds on and around New Avalon. It was a game made with low-end noteputers and mini-puters in mind, so it wasn't very technically demanding or costly in terms of storage space, but while it was an excellent game for what it was, once the three divergent storylines were completed the game was over unless you wanted to try different builds.
It was a bright spark, but ultimately a flash in the pan in terms of longevity; it netted them a fair bit of money, more than enough to expand out of their garage and into this cramped office space while doubling the size of their teams, but they needed to begin working on the next game soon lest their fattened coffers started to run dry.
That was where Arthur Corean came in with his brilliant, never-before-seen idea for a new game.
"-the key to success with this is manyfold but conceptually easy: Cute girls doing cute things when they're not kicking ass. Hot women doing hot women things when they're not kicking ass. Cute boys doing cute boy things when they're not kicking ass. Hot guys doing hot guy things when they're not kicking ass."
The sixteen college-aged young men and one young woman were entranced as he laid it all out to them.
"-they're Battle Androids that were created as part of a secret SLDF program before the Amaris Civil War kicked off. However, once Amaris took control of the Terran Hegemony he did as he did with everything else- he twisted it for his own purposes-"
Soda was sipped. Chips were munched. Glasses adjusted. Pimples scratched. Notes taken.
"-and out of all of the AFFS soldiery... they chose you to be their Commander. To lead them into combat to fight against the twisted mockery Amaris made of their brothers and sisters-"
Hands went up and questions were asked and answered.
"We don't actually have any artists... besides Ted. We had to outsource most of our sprites to fellow students in the Liberal Arts department..."
"Then we search around and find artists to hire. Then we look at all of the great comic and manga artists that are on the NewAv 'Net and bring them in on it. Others from outside too. We want the best of the best working on this with us because it is imperative: Our Android boys and girls must be the cutest. Our Android women the hottest. Our Android guys the manliest or manly-effiminate or whatever. While the art style doesn't need to be copied verbatim, there does need to be a general 'vibe' attached. We're going to have Warship Girls, Jumpship and Dropship Girls, Tactical Infantry Girls, Tank Girls, 'Mech Girls, Conventional and Aerospace Fighter Girls- even Artillery and Mortar Team girls."
The lone female hand came up, "You... said Warship Girls and stuff... but before you said 'Boy and Guys' too... are there...?"
"Yes. There will be different models for all of them, I just said 'Girls' because saying 'Girls, Boys, Ladies, and Men' would just be tedious."
"How exactly was the Lottery System going to function again?"
"While players play the game they will get Requisition and Resource tokens, and they can spend those tokens to take a spin at the wheel for various Androids. We won't be doing any sort of official 'Tier System' or 'Star System' as I want every character to have their own strengths and weaknesses, though naturally there will be limitations baked in so that people don't just roll for an All Atlas Lance without consequences. However, I want the game to have a fairly generous Consolation System so you can eventually get the Team Members you want if you don't get them with your rolls. And making players roll to get the specific model they want would be cruel and unusual punishment; once you get a unit players will have the option of choosing the Variant, as well as the specific sprite and character art- be it Girl, Boy, Man or Woman character models."
"What about monetization? How is that going to work?"
Arthur Corean grinned like a shark.
Even if they only got a single Pound from every player, they were going to rake in Billions, most of which would be funneled into Corean Enterprises to further fuel their expansion.
[Doctor Gerald Beauford]
[Corean Enterprises Aviation Refit Hangar #1]
[New Avalon, New Avalon System, Federated Suns]
[March 15th, 3028]
It was late.
Very late- almost midnight the last Gerald checked his wrist chrono.
Doctor Gerald Beauford, Michael Collier, and a dozen of their Federated-Boeing compatriots were all up on a catwalk hanging above a Leopard dropship that was placed upon a frame with supports underneath. They had initially come as part of a larger retinue for the Industrial Gathering held back in December, but once word made it back to the Duke of Galax most of them remained behind to serve as part of Federated-Boeing's offering for the NAIS Cooperative. The rest of their group would be arriving soon- in fact, they were expected within the hour!
The Good Doctor placed his hands on the guardrail and looked over the edge, sweeping his eyes over the nearly completed refit of the Leopard toward the huge chunks of refined aerospace-grade steel that were neatly lined up on the far side of the hangar. Their group, along with Arthur Corean and his engineers, had stripped out much of the dropship's internal supports and replaced them with Andosteel supports, completely revamping the interior. The stock weapons packages had been replaced with Corean models, with additional heatsinks installed to handle the higher heat loads of the PPCs, more ammunition with Prototype CASE was installed in the magazines for the new LRM launchers, and when combined with the mass savings from the Andosteel structure they had saved almost 250 tons. This mass surplus was put toward tripling the Leopard's armor protection and improving the amenities and comfort for the crews with additional 2nd Class cabins and a platoon-sized infantry bay instead of steerage where passengers were expected to lay out cots or sleeping bags wherever they had space.
The remaining one hundred and twenty tons was put toward modular cargo bays for Battlemech spares and ammunition for said Battlemechs.
This refit barely cost $20 Million C-Bills and took their small crew only a month to complete- once the Leopard's new landing gear was installed the vessel would take its maiden test flight to ensure that everything was kosher. However, Doctor Beauford and his team were confident that everything would be just fine- they'd run the numbers and if anything the internal structural integrity was 12% over-spec.
Once everything had been verified, then Federated-Boeing would begin offering these refits for existing Leopards for the AFFS and aligned mercenary units, and then money would flow in. He was confident that at the planetary refit yards on Galax, with their facilities, they could turn out these refits inside two weeks per dropship, and if they dedicated some bay space for their orbital facilities then it would be even less.
The Board might even be convinced to make this Leopard Mod the standard for their Leopard production lines going forward!
He could hardly contain himself!
A jack-cracking yawn to his right caught his attention, and Gerald had to suppress the urge to yawn himself as he looked over at Michael Collier, the young man leaning on the railing with his chin resting on his crossed forearms, "Feeling a bit sleepy, eh, Michael my boy?"
A red eyebrow arched as Michael grumbled, "I have a guest lecture at NAIS at eight in the morning, unlike you. I can't believe Arthur talked me into that. I have enough on my plate as it is."
"Well, you should know Arthur by now, Michael- he wants to learn from the best! You should take that as a vote of his confidence in your abilities."
While the Federated-Boeing team had been quite busy, that wasn't to say their schedules were all as full as they usually were back on Galax; in fact, many had a glut of free time on their hands! So much free time that Arthur convinced them and NAIS to allow their seasoned Aerospace engineers and scientists to take up guest lecturer slots teaching at the university; they were certainly paid adequately for their experience and insight, but much of the NAIS staff was... 'career academia' as Arthur had put it.
NAIS had first choice when it came to the bright minds that came through its halls, and they more often than not snatched them up as soon as they graduated and integrated them into the university. This led to NAIS having talented individuals who were excellent at the theoretical but lacking in practical experience. The engineers and scientists of Federated-Boeing, however, had centuries of practical experience putting together Aerospace Fighters, Dropships, and Jumpships between them; each and every one of them knowing firsthand the true pitfalls that their fellows would face once they made it out into the real world.
Arthur Corean made it a point to attend these guest lectures personally any time he could, and especially made sure to attend every lecture that Michael or himself held.
When they had first met on the Corean Gem they had been 'Supplier and Customer', and this continued on when they first began conceptualizing the Strike Eagle, Warthog, and Blackhawk conventional aircraft. Now, however, they were peers working hand in hand, and when it came time for their lectures Arthur Corean proudly sat among the other students ready and eager to learn the wisdom that Gerald, Michael, and their fellows had to offer.
It was enough to throw young Michael off, to see Arthur Corean- whom he had thought looked down on him- raising his hand politely and waiting to be called upon so that he could ask a question.
If anything, the shift in dynamic in the classroom had done a lot to soothe some of Michael's ruffled feathers.
He might grouse and complain about the extra work, but it had been very good for his growth!
Michael didn't verbally respond to Gerald, and instead, he pushed off the railing and strode toward the front of the hangar where there were a bevy of ferroglass panels that let in light from the outside. Gerald followed him along the catwalk, and once they reached the windows the younger engineer spoke, "He does know that landing those dropships here will ruin his tarmac, right?"
"Of course he does," Doctor Beauford drummed his fingers along the railing, "This whole airfield is going to be torn up in a few months anyway once the new airfield to the south of the complex is completed, and with two runways one will still be functional."
A year ago Arthur Corean had put in a very expensive order- five Mammoth dropships and a Star Lord class jumpship.
It was to be the first of multiple planned "Corean Dropshop Caravans", a group of dropships packed to the gills with the necessary equipment to jumpstart the creation of a new Corean facility. Everything necessary to start construction, begin mining operations, build the tools needed to build the tools, and have plenty of amenities to see the crews through their long deployments.
They had been completed around the new year, and were now on their final approach, though given the sensitive nature of what was going to be on board they weren't going to be landing at the New Avalon spaceport- not with the number of refits that were needed, nor with the equipment that was going to be installed on board the vessels. They would instead land on the southbound runway, and though this would irreparably damage the flight line, the whole airfield was going to be torn down and rebuilt anyway.
Maybe in the future, for the second Dropshop Caravan, Arthur would trust Federated-Boeing to have the next ships built to his specification at their plant, but trust had to be earned, and Gerald couldn't fault the man for wanting to keep some cards close to his vest. However, he was certain that once Corean Enterprises showed the merits of having such an expansion system in place other companies would follow suit; construction of new facilities took a very long time, and as the saying went: 'Time is money'. The sooner new facilities were constructed the sooner they could start production and begin making money, and while the initial investment of such a scheme was rather steep, the ability to keep much of the important bits in-house without needing to outsource it to other contractors meant that money could be saved in the long run, and company secrets better preserved.
One by one, their Federated-Boeing fellows, as well as plenty of Corean employees, trickled over to join them, and soon the whole catwalk was packed to the gills as people stood around to watch the dropships arrive.
Soon enough, the first telltale signs of the dropships' arrival were visible- six bright pin-pricks appearing in the twinkling night sky. At first, it was difficult for the untrained eye to tell, but as they approached closer and closer the glow from their massive fusion torches began to overpower the well-lit Corean manufacturing complex. Over the course of thirty minutes, five Mammoth dropships and one Overlord touched down on the tarmac with roughly a hundred meters of spacing between them- the intense heat from their landing caught the grasses between the runways on fire while the tall, thick walls surrounding the airfield diverted gusting winds up past the peaks of the SCMFs further away.
It was a beautiful thing to see such an impressive stable of factory-new Federated-Boeing dropships arrayed in front of them- so beautiful it almost brought a tear to Gerald's eye.
No doubt Arthur Corean would be pleased to finally see his new fleet.
[Hanse Davion]
[Corean Enterprises]
[New Avalon, New Avalon System, Federated Suns]
[March 16th, 3028]
It was late.
Or to be more accurate, it was very early.
When Hanse had arrived at the Corean Admin Complex to make good on his promise to meet with Arthur to see the new Black Box the man had put together it was almost midnight, though when he learned that a small fleet of brand new dropships would be arriving soon? Well, it would be a crying shame to not witness it, and Hanse, along with Arthur, Miss Sterling, and their respective security details stood on the roof to watch them arrive.
"Are you going to go over and inspect your new arrivals later, Arthur?" Hanse asked as he removed his hand from the protective Ferroglass barrier surrounding the rooftop.
Arthur shrugged before hiding a yawn with his hand, "Later. I have lectures in the morning to attend at NAIS, but for right now you'll just have to settle for seeing the new kit. Though I promise that before the Dropshop Caravan takes off into orbit you'll be invited to take a tour of the Mammoths we're going to make."
"Capital," Hanse clapped his gloved hands lightly together, making to follow Arthur as their group moved toward the stairwell of the rooftop access, "I am greatly looking forward to it. June, was it you said?"
"June is the planned departure date. I want to have it on Petrolia by then to start filling out the Corean office buildings there, and with all of the industrial capacity the Dropshop will have we can begin building out a whole lot of what Augusta City is going to need in the years to come."
"Augusta City?" Hanse grasped onto the handrail while they walked down the stairs as he usually did- no sense in risking a broken neck when he didn't need to; if he was going to die he hoped that it would either be on his bed surrounded by his loved ones or in the cockpit of a Battlemech.
Arthur's head bobbed from side to side, "Yes. I left it up to the people to name the new capital city of Petrolia II, and given they've been very happy with all of the support that my sister- and yourself- have provided them... well, they wanted to honor that help. 'Yeathers City' just doesn't roll off the tongue, so they put it up to a vote, and 'Augusta City' was what won. I'm so glad it did, because if they'd gone with 'Corean City' or something silly like that I would have lost my mind."
Once back inside they made their way into the elevator and began their descent toward the ground floor where they would switch to one of the hidden elevators that would take them down to Arthur's personal labs.
"So..." Hanse rocked back and forth on his heels, "I know that the answer is likely to be 'No'... but I thought that I would extend to you the invitation to join me on Terra to attend my wedding."
"And walk directly into the Lion's Jaws? No thanks," Arthur snorted as he clasped Hanse on the shoulder, "I'll just have to settle for watching it on the holo instead... though trust me, if ComStar wasn't out to kill me I wouldn't have missed it."
The elevator doors opened up, and they stepped out before making their way down the halls of the Corean Admin building toward the second set of elevators, "Besides, I have my own wedding to see to."
"Ooohhhh?" Hanse gave Samantha Sterling a broad smile as they piled in, "Congratulations are in order then. When is the date?"
"August 20th, my Prince," The retired MIIO Agent's cheeks reddened, and while the First Prince was happy to hear that... his thoughts sort of stuttered.
"August 20th?" His voice was laced with surprise.
Arthur blinked before staring at him, "What? Is something wrong with the date?"
The Prince chuckled before shaking his head, "No, no, there is nothing wrong with it at all. In fact, August weddings are rather fashionable in the Federated Suns."
"I know, that's why I picked it," The CEO of Corean smirked slightly, "I read like six marriage catalogs to find what would be the best month to get married."
He sounded rather proud of that for some reason.
"And it also lines up neatly with the completion of my mansion, as well as giving me a few months on the ground to mingle with my people and get caught up with what's been going on while I was away," Arthur crossed his arms over his chest as he nodded, "We'll leave New Avalon in June, arrive by July with the Dropshop in tow, their holds laden with a hundred or so Agricultural robots so that I can stay true to the promise I made, and then the wedding can take place. After a few weeks of no work during the honeymoon, I can return to New Avalon by November ready to continue with my work."
Hanse snorted, "Why Arthur, you sound almost disappointed with the thought of doing no work during your honeymoon."
"Oh, I'll have some small projects to tinker on during it, and there will always be things to do while we're working out the kinks in the Dropshop concept, but I promised myself and Sam that I would stick to light work," He unfolded his arms and wrapped his bride-to-be in a brief side-armed hug, "Besides, Lingling should be retired in June and she'll join us in taking a tour of her new home."
The elevator doors to Arthur's personal labs opened up and Hanse hummed, "Ah yes, Colonel Ming. It will be a shame to let someone of her caliber go... but I have a feeling that she'll do just as much good with you, Arthur, as she would serving in the AFFS. But, we can ruminate upon such things later- you have something to show me."
"So," Arthur began as he circled the large crate and plastic folding table, "I am not going to lie to you, Hanse. This was a bit of a doozy. I could see why the Lyrans hadn't made much progress in doing anything other than copying it directly; aerospace mathematics is a walk in the park compared to hyperspace mathematics, and the lack of numerous research materials certainly made this a lot harder."
In front of them was a plastic folding table that had quickly become synonymous with Arthur Corean's reveals.
To think that some of the greatest scientific achievements to ever grace the Inner Sphere would be presented to the First Prince on a plastic folding table; it positively tickled him pink.
This was definitely making it into his memoirs.
On top of the off-white, slightly dirty table was an off-brand hard case that wouldn't be too out of place in the hands of an Astech, used to carry around non-ruggedized noteputers for more delicate technical work, and next to the hard case was the K-Series transmitter that Hanse had loaned him back in October; the leather briefcase was non-descript and exactly like any of the millions of mid-level office workers carried around to and from their work.
However, while the two cases on the table were likely meant to be the focus of the display, the simple cargo container placed to the right of the table caught the Prince's attention. It was old, judging by the numerous scuffs, scrapes, and divots along its surface, and the red paint was poorly applied; from the looks of it, the coating had barely adhered and was likely a few more scrapes away from flaking off. It was just so plain. So boring. So unobtrusive... if it had been placed next to a few other crates it would have slipped his notice entirely- like a phantom hiding in plain sight.
It was absolutely perfect in its mundanity, and that was what made Hanse think that it too was part of the display- a thought that caused the First Prince to smile broadly.
Arthur noticed his attention on the cargo box and smiled in return, "I spent the first three months going through the materials that the Lyrans provided, and another month digging through the Library Core."
He patted the top of the non-descript square case that looked as though it could have belonged in any dropship's cargo hold, "What you're seeing here is about two months' worth of work, though I doubt that I could squeeze much more out of the designs unless I can find more White Papers; the Terran Hegemony kept a fairly good stranglehold over any scientific research as it pertained to the HPGs or anything adjacent. There is also absolutely nothing about these K-Series transmitters either- not surprising given their highly classified nature; I wouldn't be surprised if Kerensky took with him the majority of them when he ran away from the Inner Sphere."
The scientist opened up the leather briefcase to reveal the K-Series transmitter in all of its glory, the ancient relic of the Star League was covered in sticky notes with a flowing but legible script, "This is the K-Series transmitter that the Star League used back in the day. There are numerous parts to it, but the four main parts are the Scanner, the Computational Stack, the Transmitter, and the Battery Pack. The scanner takes in 200 kilobytes worth of data, roughly two pages with standard script, packages it into a dot-SLI file, or Star-League Image file, and then sends it to the vac-stack to process it before triggering the transmitter and broadcasting it. The current design could transmit that 200 kilobytes of data up to 100 lightyears at a rate of 10 lightyears per day before the signal lost coherence."
Arthur closed the briefcase up and hefted it by the handle, "As you can see, the overall package was small, lightweight at only four point five kilos, and its battery had enough charge to make and receive five transmissions before it needed to be recharged; when on 'standby' I figure out that it could remain on for twenty-three days and still have enough of a charge to receive one transmission before the battery died."
He sat the original K-Series transmitter down and slid the other case over to Hanse, "I've managed to make some improvements."
Hanse resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he undid the clips holding the hard case closed and opened it up, only to be greeted with... what he would have expected the hard case to contain if he didn't know that it actually contained a K-Series transmitter.
The walls of the case were notably thicker than usual, thicker than his thumb, but on the top lid was a thick eggshell foam while the interior was closed-cell foam with numerous holes; a simple noteputer rested in the middle, surrounded by various cable bundles, port adaptors, a power brick and charging cable, and a few instruments that one would need to conduct diagnostics on a Battlemech. Hanse arched an eyebrow and lifted the foam insert out and was greeted by yet another foam insert, though this one had some errant pens, some sticky notes, a half-empty packet of chewing gum, some wet wipes, a fiber-optic cleaning pod, and a laminated set of hand-written notecards with what appeared to be 'cheat cards' for more complex diagnostic routines.
He sat the first insert to the side and then pulled out the second insert, and was greeted with the bottom of the thick, injection molded polymer case.
The Prince looked to Arthur, who smirked smugly, "I take it that this is a false bottom?"
"You would be correct," The red-haired man thrust his arm out to the side, the action pulling up his sleeve just enough to reveal a thin chain bracelet made of silver, with a thin plate of gold connecting the two ends; he fiddled with the clasp for a few moments before the chain unhooked, and he leaned forward to press the gold plate to the four corners in a sequence. There was a barely audible hiss as the plastic bottom pushed up, and Arthur reached in and pulled the thin plastic cover away to reveal a very peculiar black pad on the back; the pad looked as though it had a wireframe image of the case's contents etched into it with a shiny metal filament.
"The 'key' to open it up can be anything really; it is a simple passive RFID chip. The operator who gets the case can customize the sequence to open the false bottom as long as it is four to twelve with each corner being touched at least once. And as for that," Arthur tapped the pad on the back of the false bottom, "That is a Concealment Pad. An inventive name, I know, no need to praise my genius."
Hanse chortled lightly as he spun the false bottom around, his thumbs holding the rectangle in place, "You beat me to it. Now I can glean quite a bit from the name, but what exactly does it do?"
"It is a dampener and emitter all rolled into one. The security scanners utilized throughout the Inner Sphere are all based on the same scanners that the Star League used- infrared, photometry, x-ray, and very, very light gamma emitters and sensors; however, the gamma emitters are more there to 'mark' the item as it passes through most security machines so that it can be verified that it passed through the scanner," Arthur clasped his hands behind his back, "What this does is it dampens incoming radiation as it passes through the case, and on the bottom is a plate that emits the correct information that the scanners want to see for the other sensor underneath the conveyor; it also has side panels that do the same should it encounter an X/Y axis security scanner."
The CEO of Corean Enterprises lifted up the bottom of the case to slide out a plain manila folder, and he flipped it open to reveal a few loose pages of documentation; he sifted through the small stack until he found a pair of color photographs and showed them to the Prince.
"Both of these photos were taken from one of the Securitron 6000 machines we have at the entrance of the Admin Complex. As you can see, it shows the heatmap on one page and the x-ray image on the other."
Hanse inhaled noisily through his nose, "It looks exactly as it should."
Arthur hummed in acknowledgment, the man bouncing on the balls of his feet a few times, "Yes. However, any agent should be very aware that the contents of the case needs to be exactly as it is displayed; a zealous security official with a keen eye for detail could notice upon further inspection if the cables or whatnot are not in the proper place. And if they are a very queer sort then they might do something silly... like removing the contents of the case and then sending the case back through the scanner again..."
"Which would reveal the same image to them on the machine, but they would know that the case is empty," Hanse finished for him, which Arthur nodded at.
"Exactly. However, there are several fail safes built into the design, one of which is a termite charge that will ignite if the inserts have been removed for too long," Arthur reached out and tapped at the corners of the close-cell foam inserts, "RFID tags are embedded in the foam and in the polymer of the case itself, which is connected to wiring embedded within; should the inserts not be placed in properly? Then it will self-terminate after the desired amount of time. So ensuring that the agents that receive these are aware will be important."
The red-haired scientist removed a thin slip of material to reveal the new K-Series transmitter within. It was notably smaller and slimmer than its companion, with the finger-length tall vac-stack replaced with a crystalline processor, and a cylindrical scanner as long as a sheet of paper was wide; the battery was smaller, something that Hanse noted, but the transmitter box itself was a touch larger. Additionally, there was another crystalline processor attached to a box that was no larger than one of the large packs of chewing gum any citizen could find in a candy store.
"With size, weight, and power constraints I couldn't do as much with this as I would like, however, I feel like this is still a significant step up in performance over the original. This Mk II Black Box can send and receive 656 kilobytes of information, though 256 of that data pathway is the encryption key, leaving you with 400 bytes, or four pages worth of information. A good improvement, but where it gets spicy is the fact that these new units are 'Dual-Channel', meaning that they can access two separate bands within hyperspace; they can send and receive from both bands, though it would be best if they stuck with one-band to send and one-band to receive. However, the range and rate of propagation is largely unchanged; my best guesstimate is maybe 13 lightyears per day and 120 lightyears in distance."
"Your best... guesstimate?" Hanse felt an eyebrow arch as he tried to keep the incredulity from his voice.
Despite his best efforts, Arthur was far too apt at reading him, and the man frowned as he spread his arms, "Apologies, my Prince, but I can only realistically test this within the confines of this lab. You know, the only lab in the facility rated for secrets such as this."
The First Prince winced, "I am sorry, Arthur. That was uncharitable of me. Please continue."
"Just as long as we're clear. Heh. I'll leave the actual testing to you and MIIO while I'll be on standby for tech support," The CEO shrugged easily as his smile returned once more, "And yes, to answer your question, it is my best guess. I've run the numbers and that is the top end of what this transmitter should be capable of, so keep in mind that the range and propagation rates are 'best case', but they certainly won't be lower than the old K-Series."
Arthur pointed toward the internals, "Ultimately everything is pretty much the same except for the replacement of the vac-stacks for the crystalline processors you see and the inclusion of an encryption and decryption module- that second crystalline processor on the right; the small vac-stack attached to it is an interface for whatever hand-held device the agent will use, and it also contains a pre-loaded set of encryption keys. If the device loses power then the drive will flash itself. Should the device have an improper hand-held plugged into it the drive will flash itself, and should there be any tampering with it? You guessed it, the drive will flash itself."
"MIIO will be pleased to see all of this security, however... pre-loaded encryption keys?"
"Yes, the device will be pre-loaded with encryption keys, a set number of them to be determined by the Agent and their Handler, and once it runs out of those keys then the device will be 'transmit only' and incapable of decoding anything it receives," Arthur crossed his arms, "That way if someone somehow manages to not trip every other fail-safe in it and 'convinces' the Agent to... divulge their personal codes for their devices, then once they run out of 'pre-paid' encryption keys the device will essentially be useless. There will be no doubt some harm or damage that they could do if armed with whatever messages they were able to intercept, but at least the damage will be mitigated by them no longer able to decipher everything else that comes after it."
"That is... hem," Hanse paused and cleared his throat, "Some fairly hefty security, Arthur. Though might I ask why? Quintus and his compatriot from LIC, Samuel Johnson, have informed me that they're quite certain no one else has this technology."
However, the moment Hanse finished speaking he felt as though he was about to get slapped right across his mouth with the way Arthur glared at him.
"Hanse. My friend. My annoying but well-meaning brother in all but blood... did you hit your head? Have you gone daft? Or were you always this retarded and I just now only seeing evidence?" The level of derision and vitriol dripping from Arthur's lips made Hanse take a step back, "With everything that you've done to keep a lid on things- with all of the compartmentalization and spy games you've had running around behind the scenes since you became the First Prince... why on God's Green Earth would you choose to just... not practice infosec with these Black Boxes!?"
Arthur turned on his heel and stormed away a few paces, curses leaving his lips with every step, leaving Hanse still holding the photos in his hands while feeling utterly bewildered.
"'The intel spooks tell me the enemy doesn't have them so we're not going to bother with encryption'!? Jesus H. Christ!" The red-haired man threw his hands up in the air and waved them around before he spun back to Hanse, "So what if the Snakes, Purple Birds, and Cappies don't have Black Boxes, Hanse!? So what!? Even if they didn't have these K-Series transmitters, do you know who just might have these K-Series transmitters, Hanse? I'll give you a hint: a certain telecommunications company that just so happens to have one of the only realms unaffected by the digression of the Succession Wars. The telecommunications company that also happens to have the Throne of Mankind, Terra, as their primary headquarters. Whatever we have recovered from the SLDF, ComStar most certainly has by the truckload! Be it 'Mechs, Vehicles, information from Library Cores, and even fucking Warships, ComStar has it. They've just done a very good job at hiding it away and letting it fade from people's memories."
"Oh."
The anger that marred Arthur's face seemingly vanished within a moment, and he nodded gravely, "No shit."
Hanse slowly placed the pages on the table- with the way his hands were trembling, he would have dropped them on the floor if he attempted to hold onto them any longer.
He blinked rapidly for a few moments as the gravity of what Arthur just spake washed over him.
When his vision came into focus he saw Arthur walking over with a plastic folding chair, and Hanse gratefully took a seat, the First Prince groaning in disgust as he placed his hands on his knees and hunched over, "Fuck."
"You are not wrong, Hanse." Arthur chuckled a little bit as he grabbed another chair and sat down across from him, "I'd say that I'm glad to see that my Prince is not perfect, but that would be reserved for if I caught you... I don't know... motorboating a beautiful woman or curling on the couch and watching daytime dramas while eating chocolate ice cream from the tub."
Hanse snorted a few times at that, and he shook his head lightly to clear it, "That is a glaring oversight on my part, Arthur. On myself, Katrina, MIIO, and LIC. God, what the hell were we thinking?"
"The Idiot Ball is very alluring. Lightweight, small, and easy to carry- or so I'm told," Arthur quipped back good-naturedly, but there was no hiding the slight edge behind it.
"Ah, that stings," The Prince recoiled lightly as he placed a hand over his heart, "Though it certainly wasn't ill-deserved..."
Arthur slid down in the plastic chair until he was slouched against the backrest, the man's arms crossed over his chest, "Once ComStar figures it out, and they will eventually figure it out, I would bet you my family's entire fortune that they wouldn't find some way to clue in the other Houses. No doubt a K-Series would 'fall off the back of a truck' somewhere, complete with diagrams and records on how to manufacture them."
Hanse leaned back and looked toward the large lamps hanging from the ceiling, a gusting sigh escaping his lips, "I will be honest and say that for all we have been treating ComStar with all due caution.. it did not occur to me that they would have K-Series Transmitters as well."
"They have everything we have and more, my Prince," Arthur's words were somber, "Though we don't know if they do or not, it would be wisest if we believed that they did; whatever we make, unless it is wholly and completely new, we should assume that they have some of their own and likely have countermeasures developed to defeat them. If they have Beagle Active Probes then we assume they have the Guardian ECMs to counter them. If they have Guardian ECMs then we assume they have Beagle Active Probes, or better. They've had over two centuries to advance behind the scenes, with an economic base that outstrips most of the Periphery nations combined."
"It appears that my staff and I will have to go through and reformulate our threat assessment of ComStar post haste," The First Prince scrubbed a hand through his hair as he licked his lips, "And do you... truly think that ComStar has Warships?"
Arthur groaned as he leveled Hanse with an unimpressed gaze, making the forty-five-year-old ruler of the Federated Suns grin sheepishly at the question, "Kerensky left Blake 17 SLDF Divisions and 14 independent Regiments. With the lift to manage them, all so that Terra could be defended from the 'Carrion Lords' who would seek to add it to their territories. They took those forces and then used them to strip the surrounding SLDF garrisons of even more equipment and material. In order to accomplish all of that in the three days the HPG networks were down, a lot of cargo capacity would be required- capacity and mobility that Warships could offer. And we know that ComStar had Warships when Kerensky left, so... just because we haven't seen these Warships in centuries doesn't mean they aren't there. ComStar has Warships and the means to produce them, I can promise you that."
Hanse shook his head, a rueful chuckle on his lips, "Yes, of course, I'm sure you are correct. How silly of me."
After a few moments of silence, Arthur raised a hand up and rubbed at his cheek with the heel of his palm, "Sorry, Hanse. I shouldn't have blown up at you like that. I was just... shocked... and more than a little bit angry."
"Apology accepted." Hanse rubbed his hands along the lengths of his thighs, "I won't say that your words weren't warranted, because they most certainly were, but you could have done as you usually did... explain things from your perspective in that calm, matter-of-fact manner of yours. However... it certainly takes me back to the day we first met."
Arthur's face contorted as he jabbed a finger at Hanse, "Hanse, no-"
"'Get the fuck out of my lab, Hanse! Nyyyyeeeggghhhhh!'" The Prince laughed as he mimed throwing a binder, weak wristed and all.
Yes. Just like the day they met.
Arthur pouted, "Then I guess that means you don't want to see the other K-Series Transmitter I made?"
Hanse felt his ears prick up and he leaned forward on his elbow, "Now, now, don't be testy, Arthur. I never said that."
"Excellent. Let's wrap this up because its damn near three in the morning and I have a lecture at NAIS in the morning," The CEO was rather smug as he stood up, though that smugness was quickly replaced with a jaw cracking yawn, "Aaahhhhhhh~... this right here, is where I managed to make the most progress, and I think you'll like what I managed to do-"
A/N: Got a little tired there in the middle, I hope the quality didn't drop off too badly. And at the end I sort of skipped the Case Black Box. It's sort of self-explanatory from the description provided above. Better black boxes. Encrypted black boxes. Future crisis averted.
Hope you all enjoyed!