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An SI in the Concordat - GhostRider's Revenants (Battletech CYOA)Rev.2

Paulo Brito

Well-known member
Author
Battletech CYOA – Ghostrider Revenants



This work of fiction is based on Fitzgerald's CYOA but with some changes like the initial locations because I get ones already show in other works, and some small details to turn this a bit more interesting.



The hardware was selected using Sarna.net, TRO 3028 (yes, I know is not cannon) and some others.

This universe also include parts of the locations, people and actions / history of the HBS game Battletech – Restoration.





-----X-----





Waking up with a tremendous headache even if I didn't remember drinking a lot last night, I turned up the lights I before finding out that I wasn't in my bedroom. What the Hell ? Looking in the mirror, I see a complete stranger looking at me, a guy of about twenties, blond, taller than I ever was and very muscular. Not at all,my usual 56 year old body that nobody says is in good shape these days.

My heart started racing before my head deciding to make a sense of everything. The last things I remember was that just a few hours back I got home from another day of boring work, repairing damaged computers and remotely assisting the few corporate clients that I still have. After dinner, I played some computer games to distract my mind from the boring life of a divorced 56 older computer programmer / technician with bad health and no close relatives or many friends. And now here I am but where am I?



Then I was hit by a series of memories that were clearly not mine - memories of another life. I'm a 20 year old male (thank God no change of sex ), named Jean-Luc Bassot, single, living in New Vandenberg, recently expelled from the Taurian Defense Force because of a scandal with the daughter of the major and therefore unemployed and to add another cliche to this list orphan. A kick look to what looks like a calendar in this house tells me that the date is January the 1st 3015.
It must be a dream – a strange one for sure. Normally my dreams don't put me in a life of someone with so low perspectives, I am usually a king, a spy or … Someone must have a wicked sense of humor. I just hope that I wake up fast in order for me to return to my boring life.

Thankfully this loser still has a minimal bank account, so I just spend the next days wandering around the city and waiting for this really crappy dream to end.

At least I know this universe rather well – thank God my dream didn't send me in one of the few horror or medieval movies that I sometimes saw. But if I had to be in the Battletech universe, why didn't I dream I was in one of the big capitals, like Tharkad – forget that, too cold - or New Avalon and was a healthy noble? Not even in my dreams am I lucky, just perfect.
As the days go by – while the money fades away and depression comes – without me awakening or returning to my normal life, I get a little suspicion that this might not really be a dream but that somehow a very 'funny' BROB (Bored Random Omniscient Bastard / Being) send me to this body to have this crappy life. At least I don't have to share this body with another mind – I 'only' got the body, the physical capabilities and the memories of Jean-Luc. The body is very fit, and in a manly way, good looking. The minus is that he isn't a very educated person and that might be an understatement, so I don't get many information about this new world.
I or rather this other guy – Jean-Luc Bassot – don't have great professional capabilities and having been expelled from the military doesn't help, as I quickly find out , after trying to get employed in five or six companies. After the incident (that's how he refers to it), he has no friend left. And, as could be expected, my 21st century skills with computers and programming are useless (and I have no money or access to re-train in 'up-to-date' systems), and all the info on the Battletech lore I have can't be used when one is a poor unemployed, without contacts, in other words, a nobody in the Periphery.

Apparently, it is very difficult in this era to get access to an education in computer programming – only the military (thanks for failing in that area, dude), a few companies or very few high level university provides it.
I finally got a job – operating heavy machinery or unloading ships by hand at the sea port. The best I can say about it is that it pays the bills but barely.
My only distractions, apart from writing everything I remember of the extensive Battletech lore (just to keep my mind sane), are hitting the local gym club, a dojo (this guy is a decent martial artist) and read everything I can put my hands on regarding history and science. I need to learn things about this universe other than the bits and pieces from the books written in another universe as there seems to be small differences between both "universes". For example, one day, hearing in the news a tidbit about a small neighborhood nation, I discovered that the Aurigan Coalition exist in this universe and is ruled by House Arano. To most people here and then, it wouldn't mean much but to me it just shows that it is not exactly a lore rigid universe and I wonder what other deviations might exist?


Another day, maybe three months after my "arrival" (it is amazing how one can forget how many days have passed), just after getting up from bed, I heard the phone ringing.
"Yes?"
"Mister Jean-Luc Bassot?"

"Yes, I'm Jean-Luc Bassot. Who's speaking?"

This is the secretary of Victor Blaise from the Law Office of Blaise, Thiers & Chevotet. Hold on please."
Great – lawyers in the morning, the perfect start for a normal day.

"Mister Bassot, good morning, we are the executors of the will of the late Edward Jeremy, from the Jeremy's Consortium."
"The Magnate?"
"Yes, sir. Because you are included in is will. We hope you can visit our office to discuss these maters in more detail."

I get a chance after all!!! Wait, is this that kind of situation? I have read and played several adventures that started like this – all in this universe after all.

The address provided is in the same city, so after breakfast – looking to the calendar, now is April the 3rd – and changing in the only decent outfit I have, I went to said location.
The offices of B, T & C are huge, they occupy an entire impressive building in the richest area of New Vandenberg (the capital and the planet). As soon as I say my name at the reception, I'm led to the personal office of one of the senior partners, in this case Victor Blaise itself.

I'm greeted by a distinguished old man, slender with white air.
"Mr Bassot,it is a pleasure to finally met you. I'm Victor Blaise, one of the senior partners oft his company and a close friend of you late father. Your military medical record confirms that you are related to our late client, and we received very clear instructions about you."

My late 'mother' never told me the name of my father, and because she never married, I didn't have any way, until now, to know who he was. I still unsure about all this but managing to gain access to a military medical record shows how powerful or well introduced he is/was or they are.


"My condolences for your loss. As you might know, your late father was a very successful investor, with shares in all the big Concordat companies. What very few people know, however, is that his hobby was searching, restoring and collecting old military hardware everywhere he could find them.He decided to let you as inheritance the company that he used for that, his collection and a substantial amount of cash."
"And the catch? There is always one."
"Indeed. You can't initiate contact with you father 'legal' family. You don't tell them anything about this. And you rescind any rights on the rest of you father heritage."
"Is that all?"
"Well, no. You still have the benefit of our services for life, your late father included that in our contract and he was one of our best clients, provided that it is not against his family – in that case, we would have to move away because of the conflict of interest."
"I have no problem with that. Would you have by chance a detailed list of what I become?"
"Of course, it is in this data-chip. There is also a private message to you from your late father. Now, if everything is clear, and after you read the exact detail of what you get, we will have to deal with the "small" matters of you underwriting the documents…."
"Can I see the message from my father before we continue?"

"But of course. I will leave you alone. Call me when you are done with it."




Placing the disk in the reader I pushed the play button and a hologram of someone, that looks like an older version of this new body, my late father I guess appeared.

"Hello Jean-Luc. If you are seeing this, it means that I'm dead. By now, you have already been informed that I'm you father. My name is Edward Jeremy and I loved very much your mother, but because I was already engaged when I met her I couldn't do what I should have done. Reason has its reasons that the heart must sometimes ignore.... Your mother was a very proud woman and she never accepted my help when we discovered that she was pregnant. While she broke all contacts with me, I still maintained a discreet surveillance on you, never interfering with your lifelike she desired. When you were six years old, one of my companies discovered a relic Liberty Jumpship with an DroST IIb Dropship still attached, both loaded with military hardware from the Reunification War times. Normally I would have sold all of it but at that time, the latest report I got on you were saying that you had started playing mercenary games and I thought "Why not?" and decided to use these to form the core of something that I could later give you as a gift.

Because I didn't want to register them as a mercenary unit, after all, I was a respected businessman with no real interest in going in this new market, I had to find a way around as even for me it would have been difficult to create a hidden military force as all the governments tend to dislike people going around with big toys, I convinced my contacts that I would keep the obsolete BattleMechs for my private collection while selling them every "modern" or usable items I found.

And so, I created V4RU – Vandenberg Recover, Rebuild, Repair and Refit Unlimited – with a group of capable and dedicated people with the mission to find, obtain and restore old military hardware in order to give them to you when the time would come. They also repair and refit modern military hardware for the Taurian Defense Force and several mercenary outfits.

They are very good people indeed and they found several more modern wreckage that were sold to the government or to some selected companies. In the end, you will have a decent if only small force to play with if you still want to play mercenary. If not, you can sell them and use the money to increase your other gift, my private account, that no one knows about. I can't tell you the value right now, because I don't know when I will die but there is enough to sustain you and your force should you want to go this way. From the unknown father that loved you, I bid you farewell my son."





And with these last words, the hologram dissolved.




Let me see. Vandenberg Recover, Rebuild, Repair and Refit Unlimited – a recover and repair company with a security unit on top of it, not bad… and the 'toys': 1 Jumpship, 4 Dropships along with some old 'Mechs and vehicles. All very old models, some barely useful even in the Periphery. Oh, and 280 fucking million C-Bills in a Comstar bank account!.

I'm rich, very rich. It is tempting – oh so tempting. Hundreds of millions of C-Bills and living in a nation that – if nothing changes from what I know – will stay in a state of peace for more than 50 years, up to the Jihad times. But I don't believe that the 'dear' BROB that sent me here will let me escape so easily.

Well if this is not a standard setup for an adventure, I missed the memo. From what I see, our dear BROB is obviously lacking in originality. But that simplifies my life for a while, as the initial moves are easy to make having been discussed over and over in all the BT related forums in my world.

After signaling that I have ended reading the data my 'late father' left to me, Mr. Blaise re-enter the room.

'So, Mr. Bassot, have you any questions?'

"For starters, I need to visit V4RU and see what they have in terms of people and assets. Only after that can I make a proper decision. Right now, I don't know what I will do. Just not enough information, I hope you understand."




"That is perfectly comprehensible. When you have made your mind, please contact me back."

"Also, I think that I'm going to need some kind of protection.''

"For your security, I would recommend you to contact Smith Securities, they have an office in this city and they are very good and discreet."


After carefully reading all the documents, and signing the necessary ones, I exited the B, T & C building to start a new life.



My fist move after that was to go to Smith Securities and after showing them a black credit card – AKA (almost) unlimited funds, one of the things that I got just after signing all the papers in the law firm- I received the full VIP treatment with personal assistant and access to the very best merchandise.

It is stupid I know, but for once, I let free my inner bad boy, rationalizing that now, I need a bit of protection. I ended buying a comfortable black outfit with incorporated ballistic armor, boot blades, shoulder holster, one Serrek 7875D auto-pistol with several clips and a box of ammo. In other words, the XXXI century Taurian version, of John Wick clothing, for short.

I also contracted, for the duration of my stay on New Vandenberg, two bodyguards.



After that, I felt better and went on doing first things, first. For example, bolstering my ego by telling my ex-boss that I quit, obviously in a very graphic way. Next, I stopped at the local computer store, and bought the best noteputer they had, several high-capacity data-chips and a portable scanner. After the boring but necessary task of digitizing all my notes, I now had to think about the future and I needed to seriously think about what I wanted to do next.
 
V4RU is located on the other side of the planet, which means traveling to there but thanks to being rich, it is quite easy. Taking one sub-orbital flight in first class leaves me in the nearest city and after that it is rather easy to find a VTOL and fly there. From the air, the company installations are isolated in the middle of a prairie field and includes several very big warehouses and an airfield / drop port.

The lawyers must have already informed them of my arrival as while we are landing, I can see a welcome committee waiting for me. Exiting the VTOL I saw five people waiting – three men and two woman: one is the perfect suit man, another one the bookish type. We also got the dirty mechanic, the beautiful redhead and a smallish brunette in a kind of uniform. What is this, the stereotype week?

The "suit" takes a step forward and begins speaking.

"Good morning Mister Bassot. I'm John Smith, the general manager. The people around me are the leaders of the different branches of V4RU, to my right, Bertrand Suchet is the Recover department leader – this guy just looks like many low budget stereotypes of bookish small man - , Gilbert Leloup - looking strangely like Yang Virtanen in the HBS game, even if his cybernetic arm is the left one this time - is our master technician, and at my left Sara Pelletier – a beautiful looking redhead that can easily work in the supermodel world - is the boss of the space department, that means that she is responsible for our Jumpship and Dropships, and last but not least, miss Lise Bonnel - a very interesting smallish brunette, dressed in a casual way, with a military type jacket, mirrored glasses and with a big gun on her holster is the most distant image of what I picture security or military related - is our security chief. Would you like a tour of the installations ?"




During said tour I can see several military vehicles and 'Mechs under works. Mr Smith informs me that one of the most lucrative businesses of the company is the repair and refit one and that they have contracts not only with the Taurian Defense Force and several small mercenary units but also a good relation with VMI (Vandenberg Mechanized Industries) to support then and even sometimes execute the final assembly and testing of new deliveries. When I asked about the military hardware owned by the company and after a small saddened look on Mr Smith's face that vanishes as soon as it got there, I was guided to a separated group of warehouses and hangars containing several 'Mechs, Aerospace Fighters and other military hardware, but to my dismay, all dating back to the Reunification War or similar periods. In other words, antiques. Seeing my dismay face, Mr Leloup quickly added that while, the hardware might indeed seem old, they have all been extensively refitted with modern systems. They are modern versions in all but name and aspect but more importantly, they are also capable of accepting modern components and could be used in the field if necessary without risking any lack of parts or ammo. Inside of three of the hangars are also Dropships that were also modernized and are ready to be deployed. The only empty hangar is the house of the only Jumbo DropShip that the company has and that at the time being is running a contract for VMI, delivering equipment to a mercenary force somewhere in the Inner Sphere. According to Miss Pelletier, it should be returning in about three months. With it is our only JumpShip, one old but also refitted and fully operational Liberty, the one mentioned by my "father".

Gilbert Leloup, informs me with evident pride that V4RU is one of the smallest – if not the smaller – company that can do extensive repairs and refits on DropShips. When asked about what kind of DropShip the biggest one was as it was obviously not an Union, he informed me that it was a Black Eagle, "the grand daddy of 'mech carriers". This one had like all our hardware (including the two DroST in the other hangers) been fully retrofitted with current tech and were even sometime used to deliver goods from V4RU or VMI to other planets.

In one of the repair shops, a Marauder, in the colors of the Taurian Defense Force, could be seen in the middle of the delicate and very complex operation of replacing his engine. Very few places can do that, outside of the full 'Mech factories. Clearly V4RU is more capable than I have ever thought.

Initially I had thought that V4RU was a small company, but oh boy, have I been wrong. Yes, it is small if you compare it with the giants of the military industry like the local VMI or the much bigger Defiance Industries, but it is more a medium one than a small one, very well equipped, staffed with competent people and more importantly, it seems profitable.

Lise Bonnel, quietly points out to me with a disturbing sultry voice, that the DroST IIb is regularly used as an escort DropShip loaded with some platoons of marines and the small craft carrying them are older Intrepid Assault Craft, well armed and loaded with a platoon of said marines if necessary. Her troops have plenty of experience in anti-piracy missions.

Then, I ask Suchet about what is Recover department is doing. To my surprise he answers that they have extensive databases on the whole human sphere (Inner Sphere + Periphery and even bits about the Deep Periphery) with their focus being on old battlefields and their post battle cleaning. If they find info that some were not extensively cleaned, they send a team to that location to see if they can obtain (Recover) some usable piece of military hardware. This is where everything in my company comes. He adds with a glint in the eye that they have just found a probable location for some Taurian and/or Star League wreckage from a ground battle that could be usable. When asked why no team had been sent, he simply answered that the operation has not yet been approved by Mr Smith while looking at him with a not friendly face.

Mr Smith informs me that most of these operations are just a waste of funds and time and until now they are not a priority. In other words "I don't plan on doing anything but if the new owner takes responsibility for it, so be it."

Not wanting to decide now as so far what I have seen is only old hardware which makes me less and less excited in keeping that company, after all they don't have a real mercenary unit, I temporized and asked both to send me their estimates and that I would decide later.

Meanwhile the tour ended, and we arrived at the administrative building where the research department is located. It is right then that I was struck by a crazy idea and turning to Suchet, I asked him if in their 'extensive databases' they had references to a DropShip class named Argo. After a few moments Suchet answered that thanks to their access to the '3010 Complete Delranes Black Sea Encyclopedia', the most comprehensive database of all black sea ships, if said DropShip class ever existed, he would find it. Soon one of is subordinates confirmed that two DropShips of that class had indeed been built in 2762, the Argo and the Myrmidon but that the Argo was lost during its maiden trip and that the Myrmidon had been broken down for parts before being its full completion.

With tremendous effort I controlled my expression… maybe it was possible… I refrained the impulse to ask about Axylus. Instead I simply asked to get full access to all the combined databases in my soon to be office.




After that came the mandatory part about what my intentions were regarding the company. Good question. However I managed to calmed down their fears that I could sell it for some easy money. I concluded by saying that for now I wanted V4RU to work like before while I take some time to analyze the books to get an idea of the profitability of the company, giving authorization to launch the operation asked by Suchet will have to wait until I get a clear picture. However what I knew but couldn't tell them is that if I found out what I will be looking for in the cartographic database, I would really need to create a military unit before hunting down the legendary Argo and its treasures.
 
The next six months passed in a blur for me.

Because the V4RU complex included several blocks of apartments for functionaries, and had some free, I took one for me. Also, after evaluating the quality of the security forces, I dismiss the bodyguards that I have contracted some days before. Next I started an intense regime to put me in condition for what I planned to do.

Small arms and hand-to-hand combat with the security team – boy firing laser and flechette weapons is fun – practicing with one of the available 'Mechs, learn as much as possible about this universe and about the working of V4RU – I have all my days full.

While the accounting software in the Concordat in the 31st century is different from the ones used in Portugal in the 21st century – and in another universe – the basic principles are the same, and so thanks to my past life – I have needed to know how to read these numbers in previous jobs - I can easily confirm that the company turns a respectable profit, even when the projects of the Research branch generate a loss nine times out of ten (retrieving military hardware from old battlefields many times don't generate enough 'goodies' to pay the expense). The company also has business deals with almost all the military companies in the Concordat.

I found out that Axylus indeed exist and was located near the Alloway system situated between the systems of Detroit and Joppa in the open area between FWL, CC, MC and the Aurigan Reach (like in the HBS game set). On the one hand, I was inclined to stay the owner of a successful company in a nation that in the next fifty years would be at peace, that is if you discount the 'incident' with the Reach in 3025-3028 in the HBS game. On the other , I wanted to get my hands in what was in the Argo and in Castle Nautilus. And if I followed that path, then the rest of the caches in the IS that I knew of (Helm, New Dallas, etc) would also be fair game.

But, right now, what I needed was to stick to the plan. I don't have a mercenary force nor I'm I prepared for that kind of life but I have a lot of money, knowledge and a (profitable) company. It is a start.

I decided to authorize the Recover mission that I had been informed the day I had arrived.

Paying a little extra, I convinced several of the techs already in my service to teach me things like programming the systems of this era – not that different from what I know, more like the robotics / domotics and with a lot less UI??? than management software, but thankfully I have some experience with that – in my past in my original universe - I have done a lot of work in an animal food company, programming this semi-automated factory, so is not totally a new area for me. I also kept a rigorous regime, training with the marines hand-to-hand combat and small arms. I still remember the first day I used one of the Toro BattleMechs for the first time – so different from the videogames, but thanks to the memories from my 'counterpart' in this universe I managed to do it without too many problems. Even if the technician that tuned my helmet commented that I had strange, but passable, readings.

I also discussed with Leloup about my ideas to modify the Eisenfaust, turning it into a passable 'Mech. After our discussion, he answered me that it was going to be expensive (even if much less than buying a new 'Mech) but that he was confident that his team could do what I wanted.

I spent a lot of time looking through the different databases, which were indeed massive, trying to confirm the data I had from my previous life and catching the divergence points and general news that I didn't know.

Soon after the confirmation of the Argo and Axylus existence, and after deciding to go for the more adventurous path, I talked with the lawyers from B,T & C in order to start the process to create a mercenary unit and more importantly to learn the ropes of running this business, what they can and can't do. For example I could contract then to escort the V4RU jumpship and dropships – and if by chance they encountered a pirate group… all the loot was to be divided as agreed in the contract between the mercenaries and the contractor – both myself in this case. But invading or raiding systems of other nations without the authorization of the Taurian government (or any other) was a big no. Buying equipment and recruiting personnel after registering the mercenary force at the MRB was perfectly okay with the Taurian government.

And that turned my planned raids on Helm and Artru difficult as both planets were inhabited worlds inside nations, meaning that the Concordat was not going to be happy if I raided them. New Dallas on the other side (apart of the 'small problem' of Comstar having a permanent look in the system)– was considered a dead world and nobody would give a shit if I visited the system.

During this few months I gained a lively respect for Lise Bonnel (that small brunette was deadly in hand-to-hand combat) and she tossed me time after time around the tatami.

At last the Recover team returned home with about two hundred tons of usable pieces of diverse hardware and much more scrap. While per se it was not a good trip, we now had enough parts to rebuild a Talos battlemech, a Merkava Mk. VIII and a Marksman SPG that is if we could obtain the fusion engines for it. I authorized the order, under the protests of Mr Smith and to keep him silent, I used my private funds. With this last rebuilt, I now had six 'Mechs – not bad, but not enough.
 
Just then the lawyers called me back, informing me that the Revenants mercenary unit had finally been registered at the MRB and also in the local Concordat systems. I could now start buying modern military hardware, contracting people and looking for contracts if I was interested.

One thing I knew for sure was that I didn't have the necessary experience to create and manage and much less lead into battle a mercenary unit. My own time in the military was long ago – and in a different universe. The memories from this body were up to completing the training, not enough by a large margin.

Thankfully, after reading her file, I knew that Lise Bonnel has served in one of the special forces units of the TDF and could probably help me finding the right person for the job.

After asking her to help me in that particular problem, she informed me that she indeed knew several retired officers that maybe could be interested in the job. She said that she was going to ask around but made no promises.




As soon as the Eisenfaust was declared operational by the technicians, I took it for a run in our firing range. While small, it was a comprehensive one with the full number of cameras and all the needed sensors needed to certify a 'Mech or vehicle as fully operational.

After months of using the Toro, I could see the differences from the start; even with the updates we had made, the Eisenfaust was still a much slower 'Mech, barely passing 60 km/h while the smaller Toro could reach almost 90 km/h easily. The weapon load-out was also different as the Toro was a long range 'Mech while the new Eisenfaust had weapons for all ranges. My final conclusion after finishing the last run of planned tests planned was that the techs had done a good job, turning this 'Mech into a decent if only a bit slow medium.



A month after my conversation with Lise, I received a visit.

Gervais Vasseur, retired Brigadier (in other words a Major) from the TDF (I later learned that he had retired after an accident killed his family four years ago).

Even without watching his vita, this guy screamed military with every single move he made. His look (1.75 meters, very fit with short black hair) just added to this feeling. After all, why not another cliché?

After the initial and usual jokes, he provided me with his résumé – XO in the Taurian Guards under Brenda Calderon, several deployments before that including two against pirates, nothing exceptional – but most parts of the curriculum were full so… all in all, someone with plenty of experience in the business. Interesting, no personal 'Mech and hailing from a middle-class family, which could explain both the missing 'Mech and the interest for the job.

After that, I explained to him that I wanted him to lead a mercenary unit, about the size of a combined arms battalion with several peculiar missions I wanted it to be able to carry.

His reaction was typical.

'So, if I understand this right, you want to create a mercenary force to go treasure hunting in the no man's land between us, the Magistracy and the South of the Reach.

Are you crazy ? For that you already have more than enough hardware, you don't need to buy more. Alternatively, you can contract any small mercenary force - that is much cheaper than creating one from the ground.'


'Yes, Brigadier, but I want a force that I fully control.'

'For that you just need to look to the MRB rates - several small merc units have a very good reputation. I think that you have too much money to spare and just want to play merc. Not a good combo.'

'Look, Brigadier, it is my money, and in the end you will receive a very good salary for creating and commanding that force for me. If I'm wrong, you will still be paid and you will be able to drive a Heavy 'Mech for several months. But, if I'm right...'

'What is so important in that legendary DropShip for you to risk that much ?'

'Other than the fact that is the size of the Behemoth, and that is was built in the last days of the Star League ? Several clues point to that it was used by the Star League Intelligence Command and that it might have inside a map of all their hidden bases in the Periphery.'

'Even if all of that is true, what guarantees you have that said bases are not emptied when the SLDF run away or found after ?'

'Well, that is a risk I'm prepared to take, brigadier. Do you want the job, or do I need to look for another commander?'

'Son, it is you money, if you are willing to spend it that way, fine for me. But be prepared to pay a lot of money to buy the force you want and in the end all the adventure be a bust.'

'Noted. And welcome to the party, brigadier.'

He had accepted the job offer but not without a last request – more exactly, demanding that the operational command had to be his, something that I fully supported.

Vasseur also asked about the hardware that I had and after I informed him, he made a quick list of the extra hardware that was going to be necessary. Thankfully I still had a good treasure chest and VMI could provide me with everything we both agreed to buy. Recruiting personnel was also going to be his job as I had no clue where to start.

After a meeting with the VMI procurement division, I returned to V4RU, with several orders placed for several very expensive military hardware. Thanks to the fact that VMI produced most of what I needed, I just had to negotiate with one company, one that has its HQ and principal factories in this planet. The drawback was that they had more bargaining power than I had.

While I had probably ordered more things and more costly than necessary for a good start, I wanted to form a company of 'Mechs with support, something Vasseur fully agreed upon. I could get four heavies (Marauder 3R, Warhammer 6R, Archer 2R and Thunderbolt 5S), 2 mediums (Griffin 1N) four Vedette Medium tanks, four Hunter Light Support Tank and twelve Heavy Wheeled APCs. The reason behind my choice of going for four different heavies was that it meant I could get my hands on the first available 'Mechs from 4 different production lines instead of having to wait for several months for the same 4 models to show up. A simple trick that made me smile and that ensured that my unit would be ready in the near future. I had specifically requested that everything fresh out of the factory had to be delivered to the new base that was just now being finished.

Creating a mercenary force from the roots was really expensive as for the 'Mecha and tanks alone, I had to pay 44 millions C-Bills and this price didn't take into account spare parts and ammo! . Without forgetting that I had to let the ASF arm out of the way because getting pilots was going to be a pain as I still had no crews for the Hammerheads (not a single one) and so far only the four Intrepids were fully crewed . ASF was the only part that Vasseur wasn't confident that he would be able to find enough personnel.




Buying the small arms, equipment and uniforms for the infantry force complement was small money compared to all the money I had just spent and I got these from several small companies in New Vandenberg. As I was a potential big customer for these companies, I could bargain "good" conditions.

Returning to V4RU, I talked with Leloup about the modifications that I wanted in the new hardware that was going to arrive soon. I wanted all the vehicles to to be vacuum certified as I planned on using to use them in the Argo takeover), which included among other things, replacing the ICE engines with fuel cells. I also wanted to modify the Marauder to the 3D variant (I liked the zombie, no ammo capability of the D). Leloup assured me that both things were rather trivial to do, even if they were going to cost some money and some time.

Any illusions that I could still have about my capabilities as a 'MechWarrior were rapidly dispelled after several training sessions with Vasseur where he constantly defeated me, explaining to me in painful details all my mistakes after each session. But, the good news was that I felt I was learning and improving, if only slowly.

Another good thing during these days was that my team had found Farah Murad, just after her finishing her doctorates at Sian University. Paying top C-Bills, I offered her a place in my organization at V4RU or the Revenants, her choice. Thankfully, she accepted but for now only in V4RU.

In the following weeks, I continued my training and studying, while Vasseur was busy recruiting people inside the Concordat.

Vasseur was not only a veteran Mechwarrior, he was also an excellent teacher. I learned a lot about the practical side of business watching him. Following his advice, I bought four networked top-of-the-line simulators, the ones that could be programmed to simulate almost any 'Mech (with only a few coding twists) and plenty of different environments.

VMI started the deliveries of the bought hardware, and V4RU started to modify the vehicles to my specifications; mostly replacing the ICE engines with fuel cells and adapting them to work in vacuum.

In spite of because of his rather profit oriented approach Smith was an excellent manager and managed to secure a few contracts while at same time providing the necessary personnel and company assets to execute my orders without interfering with the daily work of the company.

While recruiting personnel in the Concordat takes more time and provide you with less opportunities, particularly in the ASF arm, it also had some interesting advantages as you could spare yourself the year+ long trip to Galatea and back and it was also much easier to check the background of the candidates (to be honest, Vasseur's good connections played a role here too).

Unlike in Galatea, none of the contracted 'MechWarriors had personal 'Mechs but they were all ex-members of the TDF. They were just lacking the money or the family to have their own ride into battle.

It was the same with the rest of the personnel, none came with military gear, except for some of the techs contracted. For another unit that would have been a problem but not for mine as I had already bought all the needed hardware.

During this preparation time I received the visit of a pair of agents from the Ministry of Interior (I strongly suspected that they from the Taurian Ministry of Intelligence). They wanted to know what my objectives were with the mercenary outfit that I was creating. Once they were informed that my only interest lied in 'treasure hunting' in unsafe places and maybe a little of pirate hunting both outside of the Concordat territory, they left.

I also executed my first orbital voyage by taking advantage of the marines training. I went along with them during one of their simulated assault on a DropShip. Thankfully, I don't seem to suffer from space sickness – always good to know.

In early September Farah Murad arrived at V4RU and I couldn't wait to meet her.




A smallish, a bit overweight woman, with several tattoos and a pair of intelligent eyes enter my office.

'Good morning Dr. Murad, thank you for accepting my invitation.'

'Well Mr. Bassot, your invitation is intriguing and you monetary proposal very interesting. I understand that you have this company and are also interested in doing some mercenary jobs ?'

'Yes. This company does several repair and refit work from JumpShips to DropShips, 'Mechs and all kind of vehicles both military and civilian. But I'm also creating a mercenary force that I want to use to recover some valuable items in the Periphery.'

'What kind of valuable items, if I may ask ?'

'For starters a lost Star League big DropShip, but the place apparently includes some kind of pirate base that use the remains at part of their base. I want to recover all the possible hardware from that ship, and if available any valuable data that the computers included. If said DropShip can be recovered the better.'

'Interesting – what class of DropShip are we talking about?'

'The rarest one – The Argo class.'

'Rare indeed – if I'm not wrong only two were produced and only one ever flew and was lost during its maiden mission, right ? And you know where the remains are?'

'Correct in both cases. As I said, I want to recover it if possible. Are you interested ?'

At the mention of such a potential treasure her eyes sparkled and I knew I had her.

'Well, yes, of-course! You can count me in that mission.'




By mid September, Vasseur had contracted all the needed people with the exception of enough ASF pilots ; I only got two of the four needed but the prospects of getting more were low. Logical since ASF crews had always been a proverbial weak spot in the Concordat. At that time, all of our hardware had already arrived and been refitted to my specs so the time to depart to Axylus was getting close. Only the Marksman was still in the capable hands of the V4RU techs as they had problems with the replacement electronics or something like that. But against pirates I was confident that we wouldn't need artillery.

In October 4th of 3015, we departed from New Vandenberg for Axylus, a small, airless moon in the no-mans-land between the Free Worlds League, the Magistracy of Canopus, the Aurigan Coalition and the Taurian Concordat.
 
I was a little apprehensive before my first jump mostly because I wondered if I was one of the happy few people that suffered from Transit Disorientation Syndrome (TDS). That would have sucked big time. Thankfully, I was a lucky (or normal) guy; I just suffered from a little disorientation for a few seconds after the jump.

Eight jumps and two boring months later, we arrived. Let me tell you that they are right, waiting in zero or minimal gravity, for the K-F drive to recharge is boring as Hell. However that changed just after we arrived in system when the alarm sounded as a JumpShip was detected near us!

The four Intrepids and the two Hammerheads scrambled, but strangely, no sign of activity was detected aboard the unknown ship that we had now identified as a Merchant and an attached Danais.

After boarding both, the marines informed us that they were deserted. The tech team that followed, reported that the DropShip had the drop collar fused and that the JumpShip not only had two helium seals ruptured but that several components had burned. Perhaps an electric discharge ? The K-F drive and the bridge appeared to be intact. I decided to let them behind us. If we won, we could get our hands on them.

Locating the Argo and the pirates was not as difficult as I had feared. Their base was the only place on the moon that had signals of activity and every infrared and energy readings found them quite easily. From orbit I could see the wreckage of the Argo – Yes! I found it! Boy, it was a real big DropShip, easily dwarfing the Jumbo or the Mule that was scattered nearby. However even from this afar it was easy to see that it was in bad shape and that there were several makeshift constructions in the area. I caught Vasseur looking at me with an intense stare. When I looked back, he looked away.

We landed at a safe distance as Vasseur didn't want to risk facing their potential Flak weapons. We first deployed the 'Mechs then the vehicles. Unlike the Black Eagle, the Jumbo was not a military DropShip designed to rapidly unload military forces, which meant we couldn't do a blitz raid on the pirates, another untold reason for landing at a safe distance.

I still drove the Eisenfaust having decided that the Marauder that I had initially planned to use would be put to better use in the hands of a more experienced 'MechWarrior. In the few training missions with all the 'Mechs the Revenants had, it had been easy to see that I was the less experienced of all our people and not by a small margin. For me it was positive as it meant that Vasseur had done a good job contracting experienced people.

Taking with us only the Hunters for some extra long range fire support along with the APCs, we departed in direction of the pirate base and our prize.

Near the pirate base, six 'Mechs opposed us; the biggest a Shadow Hawk, the other five lighter models (two Wasps, two Locusts and one Commando). So, no vehicles this time, another (happy) divergence.




One thing the pirates were not was a bunch of cowards ; even against such superior force, they came to fight and died well.

I was nervous. After all, it was my first battle, this time is for real and I could be killed. Noticing my hesitation, Vasseur told me to stay close to him (not a big problem since our 'Mechs had the same speed) and to fire on the same target.

Vasseur selected the Shadow Hawk as his target and hit him with the LRM-15 and Large Laser of his Thunderbolt. Following him as I had been instructed, I placed a shot in the Shadow Hawk with my AC/5, hitting it in the right torso, but my Large Laser missed. However before I could shoot again, dozens of LRM's fired by the Hunters landed on it right before the Warhammer piloted by Luis sent two well placed PPC shots in the already damaged torso of the Shadow Hawk, penetrating it and destroying its gyro, which brought the 'Mech to the ground and this fight to an end. Looking around, I could see that the only 'Mechs still standing were ours, the pirates were just piles of wreckage. The battle had ended so fast. Vasseur told me later that one thing that had helped us was that all the enemy 'Mechs were in bad shape. For example, the Shadow Hawk entered the battle with less than half its normal armor.

Approaching the base, we only needed to deal with two makeshift remote controlled turrets that were quickly destroyed from afar as they didn't even have long range weapons, just a pair of medium lasers and machine guns each. After that, Vasseur called the APC's in order for the infantry to secure the base while the 'Mechs made a security perimeter around it.

Our infantry had little difficulty and few losses in securing the base. Unlike the pirates, our infantry had the best Ablative/Flak Armor that you could buy in the Concordat and the NCO's were all veterans with plenty of experience in small scale CQC. They stormed the place, eliminating the majority of the pirates and capturing the few that surrendered fast enough or were caught after being put unconscious during the fight. They also found and released several slaves and the crews of several captured DropShips.

Combining the information obtained from the liberated slaves with the data 'extracted' from the pirates under a 'robust' interrogation (not a nice thing to do but they were pirates and the end justify the means), we could get a better picture of the pirate band. It was a medium one with a single JumpShip, an old Tramp, with all is docking points operational and loaded with two DropShip, a Leopard, modified to carry six Light 'Mechs and a Buccaneer. Apparently, the most capable of the pirates were gone in that JumpShip and would return in about two weeks. Last but not least, these pirates were following a standard procedure and we learned that they always exited hyperspace near the abandoned Merchant. Armed with that knowledge, Vasseur started the planning process to try to capture this new prey.

Much different from the game.
 
Two days after the battle ended, Farah Murad entered my makeshift cabinet in the Black Eagle DropShip. We had moved our landed DropShips to the pirate base after the fight had ended. The smallish, slightly overweight Pakistani/Iranian had been very active in the past days, inspecting every place of the pirate base.

'Boss, I'm ready to deliver my report on what we have in this system. What do you want first?'

'Start by the JumpShip then the Jumbo and last the Argo, please.'

'As you wish. The JumpShip has two helium seals damaged, several electronic components burned and one of the docking collars fused. Everything can be repaired if we get the necessary spare parts and helium to replenish the tanks. Expensive, but that would give us a serviceable JumpShip. The DropShip is a Trojan, not a Danais. It is fully operational but with the fused collar it won't move until the repairs are done. The Jumbo is almost repaired, these barbarians have done a crude but efficient job. With two more days I could finish it. The Argo is bad news, I'm afraid. With its hull broken in several places, one of the big engines ripped off and the fuel tanks cracked, there is nothing that can be done. I'm a good engineer, not a wizard. That ship will never fly again, not even if you had a Star League full dockyard in orbit. It is no small miracle that the ship didn't break in several parts.'

'Damn. Well, if we can't we can't (crap, in the game she could repair the Argo, but this one is beyond repair. That sucks). What can we salvage from the Argo? Tell me that the data-cores and the machinery are intact, please.'

At that question, Farah's eyes lit up with excitement.

'The data-cores are indeed intact, but protected by serious encryption. My guess? SLDF late period. There is Nothing we can do with the tools we have here. The machinery or rather the manufacture and repair shop is indeed operational, even if a bit banged. These idiots have used it to repair their 'Mechs and the Jumbo but they didn't know what they had in hands. This is the most sophisticated and versatile small workshop I have ever seen, it can produce almost everything provided you give it the necessary blueprints and raw materials.'

'So, we can't repair the Argo but everything else is repairable? Including a JumpShip and two DropShips ?'

'That's my assessment, boss.'

'Well, not a bad mission after all. Can you start repairing the ships and prepare to disassemble everything we can carry from the Argo and load in our DropShips? '

'Sure, boss, but that will have to wait until I repair the ships as I'm going to need the repair shop to produce components for the repairs. Thankfully the wreckage of the Argo provide us with enough raw materials for the repairs.'

'Take your time, we are going to stay here for the time being. By the way, do you happen to know how they got fuel and water on this God forsaken rock?'

'Oh, that's easy. They tapped in an underground ice field giving then water, oxygen and hydrogen for fuel.'

'Pretty clever. And lucky for them to have such ice field in the neighborhood.'




After she exited, I called Vasseur, and he told me that he was confident that some of his 'friends' at home could get access to good enough hardware and software to work on the files. After all, the TMI had plenty of experience playing with the SLDF encryption systems from the old days.

He also reported that our boys had been a little bit too enthusiastic in the way they had dealt with the pirates 'Mechs; they were all just good for scrap or at best to extract some pieces, none could be rebuild. Shame, they would have been a nice bonus.

We also talked about the operation against the pirate JumpShip. The only serious danger was the Leopard DropShip. To deal with it, the two Hammerheads would be loaded with rocket pods that while slowing the ASF's, would give then a lot of extra firepower against the single DropShip. If everything went right, the Intrepids would be able to board the JumpShip before the Leopard unlocked, if not, it would be the job of the two pilots to neutralize it, hopefully, without too many losses and without destroying or damaging it too much.
 
Two days before the planned arrival of the pirates JumpShip the DroST IIb stowed to the abandoned JumpShip, to delay the enemy detection when they would come out of hyperspace. With it were the two Hammerheads and the four Intrepids, loaded with the marines.

Three days later, the pirate ship returned as planned.

The problem was that it didn't return alone. Just a few seconds after its jump, another JumpShip, a Merchant, also exited hyperspace.

Faced with two targets instead of one, the Hammerheads stuck to the plan "neutralize the Leopard", while the Intrepids split in two with one pair facing each JumpShip.

But this time, luck was not with the Revenants and not only did the Leopard manage to unlock faster than anyone expected but with a lucky shot, it hit one rocket pod destroying one Hammerhead.

The other Hammerhead hit with a revenge the pirate DropShip, thanks to a concentrated massive salvo of rockets and two large lasers landing on the roof. Some shots must have penetrated the cockpit because the DropShip suddenly stopped to maneuver or to return fire, moving erratically.

While the force sent to the Merchant encountered little resistance taking both the JumpShip and DropShip with little casualties and freeing prisoners, the pirate numbers and skill extracted a bloody price from the marines trying to capture the Tramp or more precisely the Buccaneer. Only the arrival of one of the other Intrepids with reinforcements changed the situation and allowed for the capture of both pirates ships although at a high cost in personnel.

Capturing the damaged Leopard proved difficult. Not because of any organized resistance but its damaged cockpit made it very difficult to stabilize and move it. Only through the use of the Intrepids as improvised tugs and the jury-rigged repairs done by Dr. Murad's team did we manage to stabilize the Leopard. Reattaching it to one of the JumpShips was a long and nightmarish operation.

Inside were less 'Mechs than I had expected. The pirates had lost half their forces during a not so successfully raid and were left with one Phoenix Hawk and two Wasps, all in very bad shape and displaying the marks of a narrow escape.

The sole DropShip attached to the Merchant was an old Monarch.

Soon after, I received a video call from the men sent to capture the Monarch. Surprise... The ship was full with a Canopian diplomatic team and their leader wanted to talk with me.

Looking at me on the screen was a very striking woman – tall, a mix of African and North European traits, blue eyes, with long brow hair and a very elegant business suit, perfectly dressed, even if a few moments ago as been in pirates hands ...and I had the distinct feeling that I knew her from some place…

'Mister Bassot, thank you for freeing us from these pirates. My name is Ana Maria Centrella and I'm leading this Diplomatic Team. We were in route to our destination when we got captured.'

That's it! She was the Canopian diplomat from the HBS game !!!, Boy, ten years early and pretty (my twenty something body screamed "Holly Shit Shes Hot", but my fifty six mind said "heck, she's pretty")

'What I can do for you, Lady Centrella?'

'What I would like to know is what you plan to do with us?'

'Well Lady Centrella, since my security force are confident that all the pirates are dealt with, you and your team are of-course free to go your own way. Can I be of any further assistance ?'

'I don't think so. In my name and in the name of the Magistracy, I would like to thank you and your force for freeing us from these pirates. Just out of curiosity could you tell me how you found us?'

'Well, Lady Centrella, we were executing some anti-piracy operations in the area, when you and your captors just came by. '

'I see. Farewell Mister Bassot,'

Luckily for her and her team, only their security team had been killed while the rest were left untouched by the pirates. Clearly they had expected to extract a big ransom from the Magistracy from this coup.

A few days later our JumpShip departed for Detroit taking with it the liberated slaves and with orders to buy enough helium and if possible spare parts to help repairing the abandoned JumpShip. Just a precaution in case Murad team couldn't produce or repair everything.




At some point during our wait, Vasseur entered my makeshift cabinet.

'Do you want something, Brigadier?'

'I just wanted to make the final report for this operation, Sir'

Well, well – from son to Sir. This was going to be fun.

'Please do so Brigadier.'

'We captured one damaged Merchant that our techs are confident they can repair, a Tramp that is in decent shape, a Trojan, that is in surprising good shape and fully armed and can be used as soon as our techs repair the frozen docking collar in the Merchant, a very damaged Leopard that needs a new cockpit at least, a Buccaneer that can get a refit but for now is usable and a Jumbo that is also almost repaired by our resident tech wizard. You can add to this three 'Mechs, one Phoenix Hawk and two Wasps. However, I would prefer that V4RU do a comprehensive repair and refit before any of them is deployed. The other goodies obtained from the ruins of the Argo were a small but well equipped and highly automated hospital and enough simulation pods to increase the capability we already had from lance to a full company simulation. We also got several parts from the ones that we destroyed and hundreds of tons of useful gear from that wrecked massive DropShip that we came to capture. That one is a total loss, I'm afraid. Our losses are one Hammerhead and ten soldiers, six assaulting the pirates base and the other four during the assault on the JumpShips and DropShips but we had a lot of injured people in that one.'

'So, not bad after all, even with us failing to obtain our principal objective.'

'Not bad? We get in one single mission more booty than several forces in a life-time! And the thanks of a high-ranking diplomat from a neighbor nation that could be useful in the future. When we present the report to the MRB, our rank is going up and not just a bit.'

'To be fair, Brigadier, I only planned to deal with the ground forces the pirates had and if possible take the Argo. I never dreamed of also taking such so much booty.'
 
After our JumpShip returned from Detroit with enough helium to recharge the repaired Tramp (I was glad that Murad's team had fabricated enough spare parts to repair it, because none had been found on Detroit), we started to fully load all the DropShips with all the useful items recovered from the pirate base and the ruins of the Argo.

Even if we had packed them up to the roof, enough valuable items stayed behind that I decided to organize as soon as we got home another voyage to take what was left, which meant a small team had to stay and guard the remaining booty.

Two months later, we were again in New Vandenberg, with a full cargo, three JumpShips and eight DropShips much to the surprise of the V4RU people that didn't expect us with so many things.

The Liberty was sent back, carrying the two Jumbos and the Buccaneer, while the rest of the ships received a much needed repair / refit (pirates are not known to be good in that area, after all).

While one team worked on the ex-Argo machinery in one of our warehouses, the rest of the booty was sorted out and put to good use. The 3 pirate 'Mechs were repaired and entered the TO&E of the Revenants.

A month after we arrived home, I received a message from the Magistracy Armed Forces with a contract proposal to do a garrison and anti-piracy mission on the world of New Abilene for a full company of 'Mechs with optional ASF support. The contract would last one year and the pay seemed a bit superior to the usual in the Periphery. Someone in the Magistracy must like us, probably a thank you for freeing their diplomatic team.

After talking with Victor Blaise and with Vasseur, I decided to accept the contract. After all, it would pay some of the bills. After negotiating via HPG with the Magistracy Armed Forces representative, we agreed that the Revenants would come as soon as the Liberty returned, that would be in about three months from now.

By that time, Vasseur would have contracted enough personnel to replace our losses but I was sure the ASF would remain a problem. This is why I suggested that we could go via Herotitus trying to contract someone there or that (in the worst case scenario) we could perhaps find someone in the Magistracy. And if we didn't find anyone, the ASF support was optional in the contract. Although Vasseur preferred a Taurian only policy, he agreed in the end.

This time, I wouldn't go with them as I had too much to do in New Vandenberg and this was not one of 'my' missions after all. One of the new 'MechWarriors, piloting the Phoenix Hawk would go instead of me. The two other 'newbies' would stay here with the two Wasps, adding to the security of V4RU.

By then Vasseur's friend had finally arrived. A retired professor, she had worked for the TMI (according to what he had told me in the Bureau of Analysis). After dealing with her, all I could say is that in spite of her smallish, bookish look, she had a keen mind and sharp tongue. While she asked a lot for the necessary hardware and software, I decided to pay the price but not to hire her. I didn't want her reporting back to the TMI, those Taurians are die-hard patriots. This is why I decided to do the decoding myself – after all I had trained with the V4RU tech in using the 'modern' computer systems. By luck, one of the SLDF codes the professor had provided me was the correct one and I decoded the databases as quickly as the software could.

Like I suspected, the database contained a detailed map of many and perhaps of all the bases of the SLDF in the Periphery as well as the blueprints and technical manuals of the very advanced machinery that we had been busy rebuilding in the past month in the V4RU installations. The advanced workshop was very useful for V4RU and it was funny seeing many of the techs drooling around it.

It was going to take some time to figure everything out because for security reasons, I wanted to do this alone and I needed to filter the bases already found / looted. I had already put the Castle Nautilus on top of my research list as everything in my guts said that this base hadn't been found yet.

Before I got any results, the Revenants departed to their destination, the contract in the Magistracy.

I was lucky as I really got a list of several 'nice' places to visit that I remembered from my original life, even if many were very distant.

The final list includes about a dozen of places only defined by a serial of numbers and letters – these were all marked as small caches in not inhabited systems – about half are relatively near the Concordat – Magistracy of Canopus area.

And bingo; Castle Nautilus was marked as a research station (?). The access codes were included and the information that about a battalion of 'Mechs (!) should be there. So, apparently, like in the HBS game, after all.

The others that I recognized were far away – as in, about an year of voyage in each direction – ouch. It was like a Christmas list: Mundo Nublar, weapons and warship testing area; Camelot Command, naval base; Epsilon Pegasus / Columbus, research facility and operations base with an dockyard (!).

One other place that caught my eye was a small cache in the world of Celano, located in the Concordat. I remembered something about some advanced hovers found there. That one was going to be easy to deal with.

As soon as the list of bases was finalized I decided to do a test and try the Celano option. I instructed the law firm to buy a piece of land on this planet at the exact place I showed on the map. After that was done, I sent a recovery team there with precise instructions on what to do. Five months later they returned with the DropShips fully loaded and some good news: they had found a SLDF cache with several high tech weapons and spare parts, along with two dozens of Maultiers in working condition and enough equipment to deploy an infantry battalion – Mauser 960, portable SRM, even some portable PPC and lots of other gear.

I made a deal with VMI where the Revenants would get 20% of the production and I would give them the blueprints of the downgraded version of the Maultier with standard armor and a regular SRM-2. I also sold them samples of the Ferro-Fibrous armor and of the Streak launcher with its ammo. If they wanted, their R&D teams could work on them and I could make some money out of it.




After going through all the database, I decided that instead of going to Castle Nautilus, which was after all located in another nation, the first thing to do was to 'visit' the small bases in the near Periphery. A little calculation showed me that I could visit three in the following year, and none of these had any diplomatic or military problem attached to it. The Recover team was ecstatic, I couldn't blame them for it.
 
Because the Revenants were out in the Magistracy playing pirate hunting, our force was a bit different; this time I took with me the Tramp, the two Jumbos and the Trojan. For extra firepower we had to rely on my own ride, the two Wasps and the Merkava tank; basically the forces that didn't go to the Magistracy. Deep down I knew I was at risk; after all I had created the Revenants to support these kind of missions and now I was doing one without them. But I had decided that the risk was worth the reward.




X432-C775-45T0

Another airless moon, this one orbiting a gas giant in an unnamed, uninhabited system north-east of the Concordat.

During the approach, our DropShips were challenged by an automated request for an access code – thankfully the ones we had were accepted. We saw after landing how lucky we had been, because half a dozen of automated, heavy turrets were protecting the entrance of the base. Strangely, they were similar to the heavy ones in HBS game.

This base was made of a series of underground massive warehouses.

All empty…

The only thing salvageable in this operation was that while empty, the base was still operational, so we could get our hands on a massive fusion reactor, able to power an entire city, the complete computer system that the base had to manage the stockpiles, the comms array and twenty four Buster Industrial 'Mechs that we later discovered had been modified with power cells instead of the standard ICE engine, allowing them to operate in vacuum.

Not good, but not a complete disaster. Oh, we also took with us the heavy turrets and the detection systems, thanks to the Industrial 'Mechs that were very useful in dismantling and carrying them.




967P-7AV5-00X0

A small planetoid orbiting a brown dwarf star. Strange, no signal asking for our identification this time.

We were even less lucky this time; this place had been completely looted long ago. This trip had been a total waste of time. Yep, this trip was officially a total, unmitigated financial disaster. The defensive turrets were also present, but this time, they had obviously been destroyed.




C47U-231Z-603F

This time, the target was a big asteroid that these maniacs of the Star League Engineer Corps had excavated to create a store station. You could say what you wanted about them but they didn't think or play small, no Sir.

At last, this one was not empty and it was in good conditions. Jackpot at last – well, kind off.

The problem was that it was a naval base, nothing for us, ground ponders.




We found warehouses after warehouses – some empty, some half full, but the majority at a third or less - with all types of naval grade armors from Standard one to the very expensive Lamelor Ferrous-Carbide, several capital missiles, one entire warehouse had even twenty two Killer Wales (these monsters were as big as the ICBM's of my time) and NAC rounds of all sizes, hundreds of Helium seals and several gigantic Hydrogen and Helium tanks, some even half full.

And all kinds of electronics and other components used in the SLDF warships.

What could I do with that? Nobody outside Comstar had WarShips and there was no way I was going to talk with those crazy lunatics. Wait a minute… the Concordat still had a derelict warship – the TCW Vandenberg if I remembered correctly.

Mmmmm maybe this was an idea. I ordered my people to do a video inventory of the findings and also to make a copy of the computer inventory.

I think the Concordat Navy was going to like the news very much as I was going to be of great help in restoring their WarShip .

We took samples of each of the most valuable items, letting almost all of our ground components here to protect the treasure and we headed towards the Concordat but this time, the target was Taurus and not New Vandenberg.

Arranging a meeting with a high ranked member of the Concordat Navy was not an easy task but I finally managed to do it or so I thought. Here I was sitting and waiting in an empty room. I had completely forgotten these power games that kept me waiting for several hours in a room. Maybe they think it will work on me and it might have on the young me but the older me knew these games well enough and I had more than patience to stay here almost forever.

Finally, a young, rather pretty, blond woman in the uniform of a Cornet (these Taurians and their strange ranks, couldn't they name a Lieutenant, Lieutenant?) came to me.

'Mister Bassot? Space Master Shoguwa is waiting for you. Please follow me.'

Only a Space Master (Ship Captain for the rest of the world)? I had hoped to get at least a Commodore but this was to be expected

We entered a small, austere cabinet full with archives and where an older man, in his mid sixties I guess, in the uniform of a Space Master of the Concordat Navy stood behind a big desk.

'Sir, Mister Jean-Luc Bassot.' After announcing me, the young Cornet discretely went away, closing the doors behind her.

'Mister Bassot, I'm very busy, so please go directly to the reasons of you requesting an audience with the Concordat Navy.'

'Well, Space Master, in my last voyage I found a SLDF Navy storehouse. In this data-chip you will find the inventory and a video of the interior of several warehouses. I have also in one of my DropShips in orbit several samples of the items we found there. I think the Concordat Navy might be interested in getting the information about the location of said base and its resources.'

While reviewing the data provided, Shoguwa's expression changed, a rather interesting experience as we got through the 'his precious time part' and he completely focused on the data, writing some notes from time to time.

'You said you had samples in orbit? How fast can I send a team to verify the authenticity of said samples?'

'As soon as you can get said team, Space Master. Obviously, the samples are free of charge. Do I need to say that the navigational memories of my DropShip have been erased?'

After a few quick calls, Shoguwa turned to me and extended a sheet of paper.

'Please instruct your DropShip to land at these coordinates. A tech team is going to verify your findings. If they are true, someone is going to talk with you about making a deal. If they are an elaborate hoax, the penalty will be very high. You do understand me young man, don't you?'

'Crystal clear, Space Master. I'm staying at Hôtel du Cygne for the time being. If necessary, you know where to find me.'
 
As soon as the Lone Raider – our Trojan DropShip - landed on the Concordat Navy base, all its cargo was transferred under military control, while several teams of scientists and technicians were busy with the samples we delivered.

Knowing what they wanted the most, I had make sure our cargo had extra samplers of Barracuda missiles, NAC/10 rounds and Ferro-Carbide armor.

While waiting for the results and the Navy decision about the veracity of the cargo, I moved to the Hôtel du Cygne – one of the best hotels in Taurus. After almost a year in DropShips and JumpShips, I wanted a bit of comfort, even if I knew deep down in me that it was going to be for a short period. The pleasures of a comfortable bed, fresh food and unlimited hot water were mine again.

I can tell you that almost a year in DropShips and JumpShips, with only a few days out in airless moons and asteroids, sucks. You can only do calisthenics to maintain your health and read, both a lot.

My mail caught with me again – the joys of long time interstellar travel. The company was doing well. During the past year they had fully rebuild the Argo machinery and hospital. They were sending me reports after reports. Boring, boring and… boring. The only interesting news was that the Revenants were returning home, after an – also boring – uneventful year in the Magistracy. Apparently no pirates had appeared in their area.

I knew that the value of my finding was much more than what I believed the Concordat was prepared to pay, so I decided to set myself a goal for the value and this from the beginning. My plan was to negotiate for about 100 million C-Bills. Not a good deal but the best price I believe I could get.

Four days later, I was called back to the Ministry of Defense. This time to talk with Marshall Joan Tharn; clearly they thought that what I found was good stuff. Good.

This time, no waiting– as soon as I registered at the reception, the same Cornet took me to much deeper in the building, to a much bigger office – I could see that rank had its privileges too.

There, I met the Marshall – a small, but energetic woman in her mid sixties I guess, with white hair and intelligent blue eyes – which was accompanied by a civilian – a tall, mid forties if my guess was right, blond with green eyes, very elegant in an impeccable business suit of the latest fashion– that the Cornet said was Lady Emma Sartre from the Exchequer. Good it could only mean one thing: the Concordat Navy was very interested if a full Marshall and someone from the Exchequer were present.




'Mister Bassot, I'm Marshall Joan Tharn. My specialists have confirmed that your samples are indeed from SLDF vintage and the Concordat Navy is interested in obtaining the full finding – provided that your inventory report is accurate.'

'Well Marshall, the lists detailing our findings are indeed accurate. Because of the nature of the hardware, me and my people are not interested in taking anything from you, so I'm in the position to sell you all of it… Provided the price is right.'

'The Concordat is prepared to offer you 100 million Bulls for the entire finding' – said the Exchequer delegate.

I couldn't contain my laugh at that.

'Please Lady Sartre, jokes aside we all know that is an insulting proposal. The value of the finding is way superior, easily in the billion of Bulls. We also know that the Navy is going to use it to rebuild the Vandenberg, and you won't be able to find a similar stock of hardware anywhere around here.'

'Excuse me, the what ?' said Joan Tharn trying to hide her surprise. I think I would have agreed that she was good at it but I was looking for any small hints and I had seen a very fast hardening in her eyes, even if it was only for just a moment. Well, anyone that obtain that rank needed to have a good poker face, no surprise there.

'Please Marshall – I said with a smirk in my face – this is one of the worst guarded secrets in the Concordat. A lot of people in the business know that the Navy have had that relic for decades and tried unsuccessfully to repair it. With my findings, you can finally turn that WarShip operational. So, please make me a decent proposal.'

'It seems that you are rather well informed, Mister Bassot – said Sartre with a disgusted expression in her face – Very well. What do you want in return, young man?'

Young man – I'm more than a decade older than you b… but you can't know that can you? -'About 200 millions C-Bills, tax free of course. We all know that this is selling the cache on the cheap side, but I'm a reasonable man, after all .'

'That's outrageous. – the Exchequer representative almost jumped out of her chair – We don't have the budget for that.'

'Nor for repairing that ship – I retorted – but I am sure we can find a compromise – I said in an amused voice – I accept being paid over a period of five years and even in Bulls. That way you can place it in your budget without much fuss.'

After a little exchange of looks between both, the Marshall turned back to me while the Exchequer woman looked defeated.

'You seem to have learned a lot in the recent time. I'm prepared to offer you 100 million C-Bills, paid in Bulls over 5 years. That is my final offer, Mister Bassot.'

Well, well – I was right about the value they were prepared to pay, after all.

'I think we have a deal here. It was a pleasure making business with you Marshall and Lady Sartre.'
 
Returning home in New Vandenberg (home being a relative thing for someone that is from another time and universe), now it was time to do a little rebuild / maintenance before going again in deep space adventures.

The hardware that came with us from X432-C775-45T0 – our first visit – was put to good use.

The fusion reactor, after being reassembled, provided V4RU and the Revenants base with energy independence. A good thing for security and an excellent one to reduce the bills.

The Buster industrial / cargo 'Mechs were a welcome addition for a company that moves so many heavy items.

After analyzing the defensive turrets in detail – they were nothing special, really, only a heavier version of the more common models sold all around the IS and Periphery, even the weapons were all standard – we put them in positions to defend the most vital places of our complex.

The mainframe was integrated in our network as no company can seem to have too much computer power – even less in this God forsaken era in the Periphery.

While the Mauser 960 was an excellent weapon, it was too heavy and by far (10.5kg!!!). I ordered half to be stripped to the minimum – removing the bayonet, grenade launcher and survival kit – which provided us with a more manageable 6.5kg weapon. It was still heavy, but much better. In case of necessity, all the extras could be re-attached. That provided the Revenants with an excellent pulse laser rifle loved (yeah really) by our infantry troops.

The techs had finally brought the Marksman back to operational status but to do that, they had to create a complete new electronics package (we didn't have the blueprints of the original which prevented us from trying to create one with the ex-Argo workshop ) – bigger, less capable, but good enough.

Another team of techs had been busy creating an expanding database of blueprints to feed the Argo workshop – apparently it could build anything they had tried so far, provided that the right raw materials were at hand and that the dimensions didn't exceed the capability of the machinery. As far as I understood, it was like an advanced 3D printing / manufacturing system that started to be used in my time. The production was both very small and time consuming and I kept on hearing about the energy used (even if we had our own fusion reactor) but focusing its use on several components that were very expensive, rare or not available made it a real wonder tool for our company.

The small but very well equipped hospital was also useful as one can guess that with a mercenary force and a company working with dangerous items, accidents were more common than what I would have liked unfortunately. Before, V4RU had a decent infirmary with nurses but now, we contracted two full doctors. They loved the equipment they had.

As I suspected, Vasseur didn't get any fighter jock from the Magistracy nor Herotitus. I talked with him, and we decided to try to contract some from the Outworlds Alliance, not an easy thing to do because of the distance, but our best bet.

Meanwhile, the people that had stayed on C47U-231Z-603F returned home with the Concordat Navy taking control of the place. All our JumpShips and DropShips received a complete maintenance revision, always a good thing to do if you could afford it.

With all the money that the Concordat had paid for the cache, I had more money by mid 3017 than when I arrived at V4RU, and a lot of more options and toys to play with.

Talking about money… we received a 'surprise inspection' from the finances department – the local IRS.

Nothing fun during several days, until they departed with dejected looks on their faces, giving V4RU a clean bill. I bet good money that this was a 'gift' from Emma Sartre from the Exchequer – the bitch revenge for being forced to pay more and to give it tax free (a capital offense).

I also had an interesting conversation with Dr. Murad about the Argo K-Boons. Cutting edge but an evolutionary dead end. Much bigger, complex and expensive than the normal ones, they not only needed almost the double of energy to operate compared to the standard model but they could also only be used by DropShips of 50k tons or bigger and you could only pack one for every 50k tons – but are restricted to expand the field to a mere 2k tons dropship. I had at last the explanation why the Argo had only two and why this K-Boons were never seen again.

Meanwhile, Vasseur had made deals with the local defense forces, militia forces that is, but that's the Concordat for you – New Vandenberg is one of the most industrialized worlds of the nation but is barely defended, most of the forces being in the Hyades Cluster or in the frontiers - to make joint training exercises and if necessary to act as a second line of defense in case of invasion or raid. Since the Revenants had more firepower than the militia, we were a strange second line of defense..

More seriously, it was time to start planning: I planned to either aim at Artru and Castle Nautilus or a new round to the last set of near small caches; but these were almost at double the distance, which meant two years in a DropShip (brr) to visit all of them. Not much fun in that I'm afraid.

All that changed because of outside events – In early 3017 Thomas Calderon took the title of Lord Protector of the Realm, succeeding his mother Zarantha Calderon. Soon after, a contract to defend Althea's Choice from Federated Suns invasions or pirate incursions was offered to the Revenants with a duration of a year, with an option for four yearly renewals.

At first I wanted to refuse as I had made plans, and accepting would have put a big delay on them, but a simple look at the commanding officers of the Revenants remembered me of the gold rule of the military: never give an order you know is not going to be obeyed. Crap – I was going to have to rely only on the Recover team. There was no way I was going to go after the Nautilus with such limited forces, so the Recover guys were going to explore the remaining caches around, but I was not going this time – no DropShip for me for a time. I had had enough of them for the time being.
 
I sent the Recover team to explore FE32-YT48-XZ90, another cache about 4 months away from New Vandenberg.

During this time, I stayed home and decided to study some more. I wanted to be taken seriously when dealing with the nobility of any realm and not for some barbarian from the Periphery. This is why I contracted some teachers, to learn the basics of Chinese and Japanese as well as the the ways and mannerisms of the people of the high society. Thanks to the fact that I was already proficient in English, German and French, I would be able to understand most people without any help, even if I might "officially" need some.



Just after the departure of the Recover team, I detected that someone had accessed my personal files, without any alarm being triggered. Thanks to my paranoid side, none of the data on the SLDF list was in the computers. I had long ago placed everything in the smallest data-chip I could buy, keeping it with me, disguised in my id-tags that were now made into an alloy that had defeated all the scanning systems I put them through. An emergency backup was hidden in a hole in a remote place. I knew that if the TMI or any other intelligence agency made an extensive search on me or my movements, they would probably find one or another ; but if the situation was so far awry, I would be fxxxd anyway, so…

Other than that, everything went normal, ie boring; that is until the mission returned This one was a mixed bag, to say the least.

The location they were sent to was a depot of ground hardware, and was about a third full but only with equipment from the times of the Reunification Wars, nothing recent. And even worse, there was not a single BattleMech, just tools for mechanized and infantry forces.

We got our hands on 38 Merkava MK.VIII, 4 Thumper towed artillery pieces, dozens of trucks, APCs, jeeps. We even got 10 Karnov VTOLs as well as enough field gears and weapons to fully equip at least two infantry regiments. Good for expanding the Revenants, but nothing spectacular. And we also got some non military stuff, things like industrial / cargo 'Mechs, a central computer, a big fusion engine, defensive turrets and some comms array. What we didn't use or convert to parts was be sold on the market providing the company with a nice extra cash.

A few days after their return, I received a summon to Taurus, to the Ministry of Defense again.

This time, not only were Marshall Tharn and Lady Sartre there but they were accompanied by a new player, a middle-aged, plain normal guy. If that guy was not from the TMI I would eat my jacket- without salt.

'Good morning Mister Bassot' started the Marshall, without presenting the new guy 'I see you keep on finding interesting places.'

'I do my best Marshall. However, I find your people well informed about my small business. May I ask why I was called here this time; we all know my latest "exploit" is nothing special' I said in a bored voice.

'Very simple Mister Bassot' said Mr. X, 'you obviously have in your hands a list of SLDF caches. You probably got that information from the Argo don't you?. If you have more places to 'visit' in that list, we want to be part of it.'

'Not bad.' I answered, looking directly at him 'Yes, the list is extensive and covers all the Periphery . Several places are however in the other side of the Inner Sphere. And how do you want to be involved Mister ?'

'You can call me Mr. Smith' he answered not even smiling 'we want access to the list of course.'

'No way, if I provide you with the list to you, several people are going to analyze it, and very soon everybody will know about it, with undesirable consequences for me. For now I'm the only one with it and I'm very comfortable with that. I'm open to offer participation to the TDF and TMI in the missions, if you help with the costs and the transport and lift part, but that's all.'

'Typical mercenary' said Lady Sartre 'only looking for profit, not for honor.'

'Well Lady Sartre, a man fights for what he lacks the most. I have expenses that need to be paid and I want a profit like everybody else' I retorted the Exchequer bitch 'if I was only interested in profit, I would have moved to the Lyran Commonwealth long ago. They have far deeper pockets than anyone else, after all.'

'I must insist' said Sartre, with a dangerous look 'we have other means to get this if necessary.'

'Do that and my lawyers are going to love it, furthermore if you go down that path, measures have been taken to leak to the interstellar news agencies like Comstar News and Davion Press. I bet you like to go to the Circus….

'I am sure we can find a solution.' quickly intervened the Marshall, before anyone else could speak 'If I understand your position, you want the Concordat to pay the bill of the traveling expenses and to keep a share of the finding ? The first point is no big deal, but how much could you consider a fair share?'

'Now we are talking' I said calmly 'You can also add the expenses of my people dealing with in the operations. And for the share, about 50% with first choice.'

'No way. 20% for you in hardware useful for a mercenary unit, with first choice for the Concordat. The other hardware, like naval infrastructure or research items, we want it all but we can pay you the equivalent of said 20% in Bulls of course.'

'Change that for first choice for us and add to my first choice, the infrastructure / civil part . Half the payment would be in Bulls, the other half in C-Bills deposited in a Comstar account.' I counter-offered. 'And I want the Revenants included in the operations, I didn't create them to see them used as a counter-piracy in the distant frontiers of the Concordat, after all.'

A small nod from the TMI guy and a emphatic negative from Sartre showed their positions.

'I can agree with that' said the Marshall 'but I am afraid that I must insist that all the payment will have to be in Bulls.'

'I think I can accept your proposal.' I said, enjoying the cringe from the Exchequer bitch at that.




Several hours later, all the papers were signed. Thank God B,T &C - my lawyers had a filial in the capital and they reviewed and approved the new contract.

'I think we have a deal, mister Bassot,' said the Marshall in a much more relaxed voice 'By any chance, does any of the places in your list have any description attached to it or are they all just locations and access codes?'

'Some have descriptions; one is marked as an Outpost Castle, another as a naval dockyard, a third one as a naval base and another as a weapons test site.'

'And why haven't you 'visited' these "things" whatever they might be?' asked the Exchequer bitch.

'An Outpost Castle is the smaller version of the Brian Castle. I think everybody knows about these?' I asked. After receiving nods from all I continued ' But to get back to your question, the answer to it is simple, the Outpost Castle, while near is in another nation and not in a no-mans-land system. As far as the others are concerned, they are all on the other side of the Inner Sphere. It takes a lot of time and it is very expensive to go there. On top of that, if they are that big and if by luck, they wouldn't be empty, I wouldn't have the transportation capacity to take everything with me.'

'Well, for these, I am sure that the Navy could provide enough ships' said the Marshall with a glint on her eyes (clearly after having heard the 'SLDF dockyard' part, she had stopped thinking about the usual priorities, lol) 'the Castle is more a question for the diplomatic side but if they authorize the mission, the TDF could provide enough support for a raid I'm sure.'

'Oh, by the way, Mister Smith' I asked 'was your team or another that copied my files some months ago? Because for your information, none of this dataset is on an available computer. I am no fool.'

''We didn't do it' said Mr. Smith.

Not that he would have said otherwise if it had been TMI I thought.
 
By the time I came back to New Vandenberg, the Revenants were also present.

To decide on the next course of action, I met the different heads of department of V4RU.

I talked with John Smith about creating the proper installations for the Revenants that were slowly expanding. My idea was that it would be better for them to be in their own "house" rather than to have to rely on the generosity of another, even if it was family. And I also had plans for V4RU that would make space there a luxury. At first he resisted this idea but in the end accept the extra work ; the new installations were to be build in adjacent land that was still to be bought and for that I knew I had to use my own money as the Revenants were not making any money and I had further plans for V4RU, plans which would need a lot of money.

Next I talked with Bertrand Suchet, asking him to find designs of civilian 'Mechs produced by companies that no longer existed. To his questions, I answered that I planed to start a production of civilian 'Mechs as I thought there was a market for civilian 'Mechs in the Periphery but that I didn't want to pay licenses / royalties to existing companies, which would allow us to improve our margins.

I also talked with Gilbert Leloup to make sure that he could get the specification of as many "advanced" tech as possible so that we could later use the advanced kit obtained in the Argo to bring some of them back into production and make money out of it. He was very interested in that project.

Last but not least, I had a meeting with Lise Bonnel to see how the security of both companies could be improved against spies and sabotage. She already had ideas for improving it and I assured that V4RU would pay for all of it, after all, the Revenants were a sort of security unit for them. She also suggested a false raid/stealth attack to look for weak points. I pitied the poor guys that would be on patrol and surveillance duty when the raid would come.




After launching these projects, it was time again to get back to the Revenants with the recruiting and rebuilding part. Thanks to the tanks, arty and infantry gear obtained in the last mission the unit could even grow substantially. It was around that time that the Fighter pilots recruited from the Outworld Alliance also arrived. Of the six, four came with their own ASFs ; two LTN-G15 Lightnings and two older, barely operational VLC-5N Vulcans; which meant that we needed to perform a comprehensive rebuild and refit before they could be operational. Expensive and time-consuming, but two capable heavy ASFs were always a good thing to have. The last two pilots didn't have personal fighters, so I gave them the two Hammerhead that until now were collecting dust.

Before we had contracted them, we had a sort of dilemma as they formed a unit, making it an all or nothing contract. The problem laid in that we also needed to contract the wife of the leader, a MechWarrior with a Merlin. Apparently she was former test-pilot of Mountain Wolf Battlemechs and when her contract with the firm ended she could get a 'Mech. I wasn't too happy with getting another untested, foreign 'MechWarrior and so was Vasseur too but in the end we needed to strengthen our Aerospace forces and I signed the deal.

During their time on Althea, the Revenants had defeated a pirate incursion but because of the contract, all the captured hardware was taken by the Concordat. The Revenants also 'acquired' a liaison officer, Subaltern Christine Marais; the Cornet I knew from the Ministry of Defense, which had earned a promotion along the way. Since she was a staff officer and not a 'MechWarrior, we didn't have an extra 'Mech to carry with us.

Once that set, it was time to get back to our Star League business but this time, with the Taurians. While Marshall Tharn wanted to go to Epsilon Pegasus and target the dockyard / dry dock that should be there, the realities of logistics, costs and politics forced us to put the raid on Castle Nautilus on top of our list. This target fitted the Taurian agenda as the Protector wanted a confirmation that the big findings in the list were real while sending a message to the Aurigan delegates in the currently stalled negotiations.

So, by the end of 3018 we departed for Artru.

I let the fourth lance, the 2 Wasp, the Phoenix Hawk (that sometimes replaced me) and the Merlin home to 'defend the V4RU facilities' along with the Vulcans, that still needed a comprehensive refit, and one of the Hammerheads, taking with me 4 ASFs.

My Revenants were very happy, not only was a raid more prestigious than garrison / anti-pirate duty, but they were going to fight along one of the most prestigious Taurian units in what was for sure the most significant foreign operation executed by the Concordat in several years.

Three weeks later we arrived around Artru. I had taken with me all our JumpShips and DropShips (this was a big operation after all), while the Concordat had sent two Invader JumpShips loaded with two Jumbos, three Mules and the Iberia, a Fortress class DropShip, the pride of the Concordat Navy (another similarity with the game I had played at home), commanded by Space Master (not yet Commodore) Samuel Ostergaard.

In orbit, we had a last video conference.

'Our plan is to land as near as the cache as possible and crush it… You seem to disagree, Mister Bassot. Care to explain why?' said Subaltern Samamha McGrtnn (the leader of the Taurian ground forces)




'I know that you have plenty of experience in conducting raids but we are talking about a Star League Castle with defenses that might be active and that we might not be able to deactivate from afar. I want to land at a safe distance of the Castle, allowing to deploy in force without having to disembark under fire or losing strength before we head towards the target. If something went wrong with the codes, we will need to buy time for the EW specialists to do their job and since we don't know what we will be facing, I think it is better to play on the safer side. If there is no threat for them, the DropShips and the ASFs can always come to give us a hand

Everybody agreed with my plan and the DropShips headed towards a location some kilometers away from the Castle.
 
The landing went smoothly as the Aurigans didn't have any force defending the world, so we were unchallenged.

The ground force that had came with the Iberia was the 2nd Company of the 3rd Taurian Guard Battalion; a mix of assaults and heavies, probably the heaviest 'Mech company in the whole Concordat and maybe in the whole Periphery. They also had with then a mix of LRM carriers, Manticore tanks and a standard company of infantry. Unlike us, they didn't have air support.




On the negative side for the Revenants our unit had to disembark from cargo DropShips, which us took a lot of time, all under the eyes of the people my unit want to impress. Not good. I really needed to get my hand on a true military DropShip.

Because we had to deal with 3 small and one big exit, we placed 8 tanks and 1 arty piece before each exit, with the Long Tom of the Iberia ready to support any place. Each small exit also received a 'Mech Lance while the big entry was dealt by two, which left one Lance in reserve to help anyone in need.

And my initial fears were confirmed as the Castle defenses rejected the code we provided and as soon as we got that answer, drones started to exit the fort while several heavy turrets could be seen emerging from the ground.

And, boy, the memories from the game were very wrong about the strength of the defenses. The turrets were about a dozen in numbers, all heavy and with advanced weapons; the drones were modified Von Luckners heavy tanks, difficult to kill and with a heavy firepower. The only good thing for us was that in the cold climate of this planet, each of our 'Mechs could fire at maximum rate without running hot.

As planned we launched our ASFs to help us but as soon as they approached the area to bombard / strafe the turrets, two massive laser beams were fired from the Castle, destroying one of the Hammerheads and forcing the others ASFs into a panicked retreat.

Shit! That could only be Naval Lasers, They didn't exist in the game and they meant a death sentence for any forces flying in sight.

The only good news was that my initial plan of landing away had probably saved us from a total disaster.

The turrets survived longer than I thought and hit badly some 'Mechs and destroying some unlucky Merkavas with them the poor sods. The only way to deal with them was to use our artillery pieces to destroy them one by one but this took some time. The drones were caught in several rings of deadly fire and were most of the time destroyed as soon as they exited the doors, but not before they could at least fire one salvo and in some cases more.










Everywhere around, there was only confusion. I saw near me the four Toro in our Light Lance concentrating their PPC fire on one of the drones, delivering plenty of damage to the big tank, more than enough to destroy it.




To make things worse, the units we were fighting were the Royal variant, with a more lethal weapon load-out. "Shit, I should keep focused" was my thought as my 'Mech was hit by a salvo of cluster ammo from one of the drones, I lost most of my armor on the right side. I hastily retreat to what I thought was outside of the LBX-10 range just to be hit by another shot that ripped off my left arm and the Large Laser in there.

I saw Vasseur's Thunderbolt going down, with one leg ripped-off by what looked like a Gauss round fired by one of the turrets.

What appeared to be an eternity later, but was just a few minutes, the TMI specialists finally managed to extract the right code and the defenses powered down.

Castle Nautilus was ours and this time, we had enough time to explore and comprehensively loot it. We were very lucky as very few people had died but several 'Mechs and tanks had been severely damaged, not counting the three destroyed Merkavas and their entire crews.

The first thing we all went to look was the 'Mech bay (call it professional curiosity). And it was jackpot: 40 'Mechs present, all of them Royal versions. Thanks to the contract with the Concordat, the Revenants had first choice, but that meant only 20% of them, so 8 top of the line Royal SLDF 'Mechs for the Revenants .

I selected 1 assault lance and a mixed heavy/medium one. 1 Atlas II, 1 Highlander 732b (the ones from the game, even if this was the 'standard' Atlas II with an LBX-10 and not an AC/20), 1 Nightstar NSR-9Jb (an unknown Royal variant with a Tacticon b-2000 Battle Computer the one you could find in the Cyclops and there was no discussion: this one was for me) and a Royal Thug (THG-11Eb), 2 Royal Crab (CRB-27b) and 2 BL-6b-KNT, the Royal variant of the Black Knight.

I caught Vasseur, with his right arm in a sling and his left leg in a cast, looking to the Highlander I had selected with the kind of look reserved for one's bride. I was sure what his future 'Mech would be.

They were fabulous machines all of them, even if the maintenance was going to be a headache. I was reasonably sure that producing ammo for the Gauss Rifles was going to be easy and that the Artemis IV systems could fire standard munition, just without the guidance advantages. Only testing would give me the answer about the cluster ammo for the LBX but the gun could still fire standard ammo; so, this was also not a big problem. Furthermore, the armory had hundreds of tons of ammo, armor plates for the 'Mechs and spare parts, including many DHS and I got 20% of all these, nice.

The hangars also had several tanks and ASFs, our share of the booty was four Demon tanks (Royal) and two GTHA-500b Gotha ASFs (also Royal).




The research part of the Castle had then Nirasaki mainframes and dozens of terminals from the Star League time and hundreds of datacores. I didn't even get a chance to look at them as the TMI people quickly took control of them without any discussion possible. I heard them saying that they belonged to the Concordat, end of the discussion.

The Castle was also powered by the biggest, most powerful fusion reactor that I had ever seen (and by the expressions of the people around, it was a really big one indeed) and that one was also for the Concordat. I smiled at the greedy bastards.

They also took control of all the surviving drones, 13 in total and we also got our hands on two K-1 DropShuttles.
 
After raiding local cities, to both hide our true target and impress the Aurigans, we returned home, without problems.

The mission had been a complete success from several angles.

The Concordat had shown to the Aurigan Coalition that if the Concordat decided to invade or even simply raid them, they were defenseless putting a lot more pressure in the negotiations.

It also had validated the quality of my list of potential targets in the Concordat minds.

Even if I didn't get access to one of the mainframes or to a copy of the files inside, we had received a lot of valuable loots, including 'Mechs, ASFs and vehicles, lots of ammo and spares that would let the Revenants operate the advanced models for a while.

Heck, they had even paid us a nice bonus, a first one for the Exchequer.

This was also the first time that people had died because of me and that hit me hard. I wanted to write letters to the families of the fallen but Vasseur said as the operational commander, it was his job and I let him do it.

After war, it was time again to focus on business. I sold both K-1 DropShuttles to a transport company as they were useless to me and I got a nice price for them. When I was sure that Lise had finished improving our security and that it could deal with anything except a raid by a Steiner Recon Company ('MechWarriors and their jokes), I contacted several companies, like VMI, Sterope Defense Industries and O-P Electronics and for a nice amount of cash, I provided them access to the Royal toys ('Mechs, ASFs, vehicles and spare parts/ammo) for exhaustive analysis but on my terms: in our installations, accompanied by our techs and under a very close surveillance by Lise people. I also sold them some samples of our loot.

From the first analysis made by V4RU, and as I had suspected, the Artemis IV FCS equipped launchers could use normal ammo. That's good, because everybody said that producing new ammo with these kinds of seekers was going to be very difficult in the next years. Gauss ammo was no problem and cluster ammo was also not complicated to manufacture, only expensive. As could be expected, the Double Heat Sinks were one of the most sought after items to study and I sold some for a lot of cash to each company for research. Unfortunately the Streak launchers only worked with Streak ammo, so until I could secure a reliable source of supply, we needed to replace then with normal ones.

In the end, I got more than 25 million C-bills from these operations, including the sell of the K-1s. And valuable contacts and favors from big companies, which was nice.

While I wasn't exactly the owner of the rediscovered techs-, after several reunions from both sides legal teams we agreed that I was also entitled to a small fee for the use by others of these pieces of technology, not exactly royalties, but close. . The Taurian Government, that had access to same items didn't for some reason seem to do anything with it. At least, nothing that I or my associates knew about.

Leloup and his people were in heaven poking every inch of the advanced Royal equipment we had acquired in this mission. But, at same time they were furious with me because we had sold our "toys" and they were being destroyed by strangers or at least it was what they said. I am sure that deep in himself, he agreed with my ideas.

The extensive research done by Suchet and Leloup gave us access to several designs that had been produced by now defunct companies. With a bit of cosmetic changes maybe some could be produced in the Concordat if I was able to negotiate a deal with some companies that I had good relations with now...

While at first I wanted to simply start production of these civilian 'Mechs inside V4RU, the reality was that the company was not capable of that, lacking the industrial might necessary, so I needed to make agreements. In cooperation with other companies, I spent a lot of money and VMI opened some production lines for civilian 'Mechs (industrial, agro, cargo and security), which also turned me into one of the main shareholders of the company. V4RU got several contracts with special conditions with VMI and the Revenants even got a piece of the security contracts. Thank God, the unit had expanded because I still needed a substantial force for the expedition missions. Even after detaching forces for securing V4RU and VMI, I still had about a combined arms battalion to use for whatever I wanted with about a company of 'Mechs at its core.

After our success, the Navy was preparing for the long range mission and some of my forces would go with them. However, I wasn't going to spend two years or more in space, so I decided that for the time being I would stay on Vandenberg, letting Vasseur lead our part in this long raid. After having recovering from his wounds, he was more than happy to go and do something. .
 
In the talks with VMI, I had insisted on security measures and at first VMI people had grumbled that me and my team were paranoids because of the, in their words, excessive backup and security measures I had managed to implement them via the admin board where I had my seat. And those saying that were Taurians.

But, after a very strange fire in the research area, that consumed several of the new prototypes, they changed their minds. Because of my 'paranoid' measures, almost no data was lost and the research were almost not delayed.

For me, it was a signal that Comstar was starting to 'look' at (or should I say interfere with?) my actions. Not good at all as I expected to have more time before getting their attention.

With the added work hours needed to manage all the projects and with the need to deal with the VMI people I got little time to train (or some would say play) with my new 'Mech. It was a pity as it was a real pleasure to run it on the range field and it was very different from my old but still operational Eisenfaust, that right now was for a new 'MechWarrior. The SLDF Royals were indeed equipped with the best toys; everything was so much better than the normal models. I even got an advanced neurohelmet and a cooling suit both of Royal grade. The difference with the equipment that I had used before was brutal. Lighter, more comfortable and working much better, it was on par with the Royal monster I now had. The comms and sensor suit alone put it in a very different class, I could easily manage with it a complete battalion, provided I had the capability for it. After all, this 'Mech was the big brother of the Marauder and especially designed to be used by unit commanders. The weapons were in a different league too: this 'Mech was a supreme sniper, with at the same time plenty of ammo for the pair of Gauss Rifles and an ERPPC to add more fun to the party. At this time, my 'Mech was the only Royal design that stayed home as all the others departed with Vasseur for the long raid. V4RU had been busy repairing all the hardware damaged on Atru and by the time of the departure of the Revenants, almost all of it was operational again, even if most of the repaired designed were staying on New Vandenberg for the different defensive contracts they had.

One side effect of entering the board of VMI (that was a much bigger company than V4RU) was that I was now a public figure, invited to several social events, including and some I couldn't refuse. Most of the times, it was a total waste of my time but some of these events provided me with useful contacts. This made me glad that I had taken etiquette and protocol lessons.

Creating new lines in VMI as at same time easier and more difficult than I had thought. Easier because the requirements for civilian models were much lower and easier to satisfy than those for military ones. And more difficult because creating several new production lines was still a very complex operation and because some parts were still difficult to get. What I had in mind was automated control units, high precision machinery that were needed to produce 'Mechs of decent quality and in meaningfully numbers. Luckily, the advanced machinery at V4RU was up to the task most of the times, even if some components were too big or if we didn't have the necessary blueprints, forcing us to get the needed data from other companies.

By early 3020 the first commercial line started operating, producing an variant of the Buster, with enough improvements to compete with the Powerman being sold inside the Concordat with the added advantage that being produced locally meant less taxes and transport fees and therefore a lower price. Two months later, our variant of the Jabberwocky also entered production followed by other models in the following months. Like I had hoped, they were very successful, the only limitation being our production capabilities. This success secured my position on the board of directors of VMI, providing the company (and me) with a new and stable influx of money.



Because I was a bit paranoid about Comstar, one of the first jobs of the team that operated the ex-Argo machinery was to try to reproduce it. But unfortunately, while several parts were no problem, the core of the equipment was impossible to reproduce. Way beyond what my tech could defeat or understand. Pity.
 
The exploring team missed the two years return mark. I knew that we couldn't communicate with each other because of the secrecy needed around the mission. The only option was to wait and hope for the best. While there could be a margin of error, after three months of delay I really started to worry.

Meanwhile, the business was doing good. V4RU was only growing a little but at least it was in comfortable economic conditions while VMI had considerable success in the civilian market. They were selling all the 'Mechs they were able to produce on that specific market. Already some new lines were in different phases of construction.

Because of that, my proposal to add lines to produce all types of exoskeletons was well accepted by the board of directors. While the civilian applications and market were for now the objective, I had the idea that as soon as the program went in smooth progress I could start the development of Battle Armor. The pure research part had already started in V4RU.

The part of the Revenants that stayed back was also doing ok. We had used these two years to train together, and we were now a well cohesive group. Since we had about two dozen 'Mech simulators for only a company of 'Mechs on our side, we had the luxury to be able to train others with us or against us. The specifications of the advanced 'Mechs had also been introduced in the simulators, which proved a difficult job for my programmers, but had already been done by early 3021. One thing that I had trained myself to now was leading a 'Mech company, putting to good use the amazing capabilities of my 'Mech in that area. I had also improved significantly my marksmanship. Thanks to the help of and training with Georgina Martins, the Merlin Mechwarrior and former test pilot at Mountain Wolf, I had learned a lot about how to pilot a 'Mech. This woman was a mobile encyclopedia on 'Mechs and knew a lot about how you could execute several combinations of movements that I had never dreamed about.

After ensuring that all the lines producing industrial 'Mechs and exoskeletons were in full activity, I started to look to the Vandenberg Shipyards ruins in orbit around Lompoc (New Vandenberg IX). The opinion of the techs that made the survey (lead by Dr. Murad herself) was that while right after its destruction, many came here to extract salvage, the core of the shipyards was not in such a bad shape and could be repaired. However, it was going to cost a lot and take at least a decade. The principal problem was obtaining the funds since the technology and trained technicians already existed in the Concordat. I started trying to create a consortium of companies to take on the job, but without the support from the government, very few were interested and my contacts ended in nothing.




Finally, two and a half years after their departure, the team returned to New Vandenberg with no loot but very happy.

While reading Vasseur's report, I discovered that the mission had gone even better than my wildest projections.

Not only had they found the hidden dockyard but also a Congress class Frigate inside almost ready to be launched, with an advanced but empty Lee DropShip attached to it. Apparently, the K-Boom had fused. On the ground, while much of the base was empty, they had found enough spare parts to repair everything. The highlight of the operation was the discovery of an operational HPG. A lot of human remains told the story of a fight between several elements and the holes in the walls meant it had been severe, perhaps explaining why the WarShip was never repaired.

The repairs and learning how to do them were the reason for the 6 months delay. But after doing that, they managed to load everything (and by everything I meant every single piece of equipment of the dockyard) they could in the massive cargo bay of the SLS Admiral Perry (the given name of the Frigate) and loading to the max all the DropShips they returned home.

As usual, I had to go to Taurus for the negotiations regarding our part of the share. This time Christine Marais, our liaison, came with me.
'So mister Bassot, you deliver again.' where Marshall Tharn's welcome words.

'Well, Marshall, I like to satisfy my customers and partners. I understand that we might have some problems with my part of the share ?' I said, knowing full well that that there was no possible way the Concordat could provide me with any of the recovered items.

'I'm afraid so,' said the Marshall 'by the Lord Protector orders, the Congress, the dockyard the Lee DropShips and the HPG are considered strategic items for the Concordat, and their existence also falls under the Protect Secrets Act.'

'Oh, rest assured I don't want to contest that' I said with a calm face, to the surprise of the other party 'I just want to negotiate the way the Concordat fulfill its side of the contract. I don't want nothing of these 'hot' items, I don't have a desire to paint such a big target in my back. But, the value must be in the billions, even for my small part. I have thought about the problem during my trip to here and I might have a solution. You could provide me with this from the Navy Reserve, let's say one Invader and three DropShips. Since many of the ships in the reserve are only destined to move the Guards in case of open war, right now, they are collecting dust. I can even agree to let them return to the Navy if and only if a state of open war with the Fed Rats occurs. As the operation in Artru showed us, I need transportation for my forces.'

At first the Marshall was in shock, but after a few moments collected herself.

'That kind of decision can only be taken by the Lord Protector Mister Bassot. But with this clause, I think it could be possible.'

'Great. Next, I want the Exchequer to provide me and my associates with fiscal incentives while we try to rebuild the Vandenberg Shipyards. With that, the Concordat will not only get a shipyard since you should easily be able to convert that dockyard in a fully functional shipyard but also a second one , in New Vandenberg. Our nation needs it. Oh, and by the way, Lady Sartre, some money from your side could also be of some help. I also want one of these nice Nirasaki mainframes since my people are doing some research that could benefit a lot of more computer power.'

Lady Sartre got an interesting red color, but before she could open her mouth, a voice came from the Marshall's communicator on the desk.

'You think big, boy. But I agree. Make it so.'

The way both Tharn and Sartre reacted I was more than ready to bet good money that it was Thomas Calderon, the Lord Protector himself.

Nice, I think while trying to contain a smile, apparently Calderon likes me. Good to know.

'And what is your next adventure, Mister Bassot ? Another forgotten treasure ?' asked Sartre with a smirk.

'Marshall, Lady Sartre, I think that is time for you to provide my people with a contract to clean the Pirates' Haven Cluster. That area is old Concordat territory and I am sure that the Navy still has detailed cartographic charts of the area. On top of that, the pirates that we captured in the Althea's contract were from there, so you or TMI got an updated chart for sure.'

'And why would you want to go there ?' asked Tharn with an interested look on her face. I also noted that miss Marais was also paying more attention.

'To be frank, for two reasons – first I despise pirates. And second, my people need a combat contract, they are getting rusty with only long range exploration and security missions.'

'I think we can do that. For the rest, well, you heard lord Calderon agree, so we just have to wait for the legal departments to finish the details.'

'Oh Marshall? If I were you, I would take good care of these toys. Don't let an incident like the one of the Tripitz ruin your day.'

'Any particular reason for that advice, Mister Bassot ?'

'Well I like to study history, and one of the interesting things I noticed is that every time a discovery of a big relic of the past, some unknown forces raid and destroy everything, only never to be seen again. The logic behind these different raids is that someone with unlimited access to intelligence and resources must be playing some kind of game. I don't see many powers in the Inner Sphere or the Periphery that would be able to do that.'

'Are you accusing Comstar of that ? They are a civilian neutral company for God's sake.'

'Neutral… remember they read all the communications in all human space. That provides then with a lot of power and temptation..'

'Interesting idea. But without any proof...'

'Oh, for sure. But someone very well-equipped has done it. Someone never seen again. Just take that in consideration and adapt your security measures. I don't think that Comstar will be pleased to know that the Concordat has a functional SLDF class A HPG to play. Don't let them know about it.'

In the end, I received 'my' Ships, which thanks to the combo of one Invader, one Union, one Triumph and one Leopard, increased our mobility. The only drawbacks were that they were all staffed with Concordat Navy crews, call this an insurance measure, and can only use then in TDF / TMI approved missions. I also got the mainframe and the Exchequer even provided me with bonus of 25 million C-Bill (again in Bulls, but that was okay for me).

By mid 3022 I was starting the planning to go against the Pirates' Haven right after receiving the ships.
 
Before departing, I had a meeting with all the V4RU department chief officers. There was nothing really new as everything was going rather well but it was always better to leave instruction before leaving and it showed people that I did care about the company too. Unfortunately for them, I had a shopping list.

'John, I want you to represent me in the meetings with the leaders of the other companies in the Shipyard project. Now, that the government has agreed to give everyone participating a package of fiscal benefits and taxes exceptions, I think it will be easier to make the other companies accept the project.'

'It's not going to be that easy, Sir, but I think I can manage.'

'Good. I let that in your very capable hands.'



'Bertrand, I want you and your team to look at everything necessary for TMM to restart production of the Snowden. From financial aid to technical expertise.'

'No problem, but why ? As far as I know you don't have any shares in that company.'

'Not yet, no. But that kind of station is useful for the Concordat and for us in order to obtain several more resources. I want to know what is necessary to build more.'

'Gilbert, could you work with Bertrand and find designs, free of any patent, of course, of some security and police 'Mechs ? I think those are going to be the next generations of VMI designs.'

'Sure boss, easy to do.'



At the end of the meeting I asked Lise to stay.

'Lise, I have a delicate mission for you. You and a selected team of your choice are going to take the Trojan and go along with the next VMI delivery to the League world of Kalidasa. I have arranged for one of the worlds on the route to be the abandoned New Dallas. You and your team will exit the JumpShip there and go to the planet. Your objective is an underground installation in Caddo City, below the military barracks. I want the datacore from the Hegemony Intelligence that is supposed to still be there. Don't forget to study the return timetable of the VMI JumpShip because it will be your only ticket out. For VMI, your cover is that your are looking for some loot for Bertrand's group, like you have done several times in the past. If you get something useful to show the better, but it is not really important.'

'Very strange mission, boss. Why keep it a secret and why don't you go there with the Revenants or in a combined mission with the TMI ?'

'First I'll be busy hunting bandits in the Pirates Haven's Cluster and I plan to be very visible. Second, if that datacore still exists, I want that data for us. Both missions with VMI and the TDF showed us that they are very adept at taking all the good toys; leaving us with the scraps.'

'Very nice scraps, boss.'

'Yes, that's right, but they are nothing compared to the real value of the things we provided them with. I want this to be very discreet as I fear that someone has taken an interest in us and not a healthy one, I'm afraid. You are going to need anti-rad suits and some cargo / excavator 'Mechs.'

'Ok, boss, I think I can do that. I will take some time to put together a team and get ready, but I can do it.'

'Thanks, Lise, and remember we never had this conversation.'

Before departing, I asked Dr. Murad if she was interested in coming with us. Boy, I never saw anyone packing his things so fast.

When I was in the corridor, Subaltern Christine Marais came to me with a confused expression on her face.

'Mister Bassot, why do we also have to transport a team from the University of New Vandenberg ? As far as I know this is a purely military mission.'

'Well, Subaltern Marais, we have two missions, one military and another civilian. While you have been fully informed about the military side of the operation, it seems that you somehow missed the civilian side. The specialists from the University are going to analyze if the planets Badlands and Lorkdal are still considered viable to establish colonies after we clean them of pirate presence.'

'And why didn't I get info about that mission ?' asked the beautiful blonde with a stress on her normally suave voice.

'Merely a failure of communication I guarantee you. Because that part is purely civilian, it seems some of the papers were not send to you. I ask for your forgiveness, Subaltern.'
 
February 23, 3023

A few seconds after jumping in Pirate's Haven Badlands Zenith jump-point, a collision alarm could be heard.

'Proximity sensors report two objects near!'

'Sensors, identify them now! Prepare to launch ASFs.'

'Aye, Aye, sir. Identification coming… wait, they are both Leviathans.'

Leviathans ? I thought that they were all retired long ago. Nice, if I remember right, they had eight Docking Collars each. I started to think what I could do with so much capability.

'ASFs and Assault crafts launched! No reaction from the bogies.'

With luck, we could capture both with little damage…. Stop dreaming, when did things go so easily?

Two hours later, the news weren't good. Yes, we had captured both JumpShips without opposition. But that was only because they were both derelict, none in working condition. Members of Dr. Murad's team that were with us on this mission are busy inspecting then to see if they could be repaired or not.

Let's hope that the team that inserted through the Nadir jump-point will be more lucky.




Four days later after landing in Badlands

Two pirate locations had been detected from orbit, one much bigger than the other. Vasseur took our more experienced force (with all the Royal 'Mechs except mine) against the big one, with full ASF support and I took one lance with vehicle support against the small one.

My warning system informed me that a pirate Rifleman was targeting me. Without giving it a thought, I sidestepped to the left, making the pirate miss me while at the same time turning the torso to put a Gauss round and an ERPPC shot right in the torso of the pirate 'Mech. It seems the last years of training had paid, finally. Not designed to survive that kind of punishment, and already in bad condition, the pirate 'Mech collapsed with its center torso destroyed. Two of the other pirate 'Mechs, a Commando and a Vindicator had already been neutralized, but the last one, a fast Locust was running away. I couldn't let it escape. I carefully targeted it and with the extended range of my weapons placed a solid Gauss round on is right leg, making it splash on the ground and letting it unable to move. The pilot must have been knocked-off.

Just like on a training ground, I directed our long range support (four Hunters) a bit behind, to drop fire on a group of enemy vehicles, mostly technical ones according to my battle computer that were the only forces left in front of us. After softening them, we advanced and quickly destroyed the last remains of the pirates.




Meanwhile, the other group provided the bigger pirate force with what could be expected from a SLDF, Royal equipped veteran force: a lot of pain. We took no losses, just a few soldiers of our infantry forces were injured. I do hope that we will be so lucky in the next missions.

Some hours later I got the final report of the Badlands operation.

The other team had indeed luck, capturing a lightly damaged but still operational Merchant. Unfortunately for us, it was a Concordat ship, so we had to return it to its real owners, 'only' getting a rescue bonus. We also captured two DropShips, one Danais and one Mule. But again they were both sailing under Concordat flag. On top of that we also freed several civilians, including the crews of the JumpShips and DropShips.

Not a bad result, even more when taking into consideration that Dr. Murad said that maybe, with a lot of effort and extra spares, many of them we might have to build specifically as nobody had them anymore, her team could perhaps repair one of the Leviathans. The other one had its K-F drive cracked and was only good for scrap. Even if said drive had so much refined germanium in it that extracted it could alone pay for the full mission. Since both were of unknown origin, it was worth a try.




This mission also proved that Badlands was still viable as a colony, so the Concordat could settle the system if it wanted.

I had high hopes that we could get our hands on more loot on Lorkdal




Two weeks later, Lorkdal Zenith jump-point.

'Sensors ?'

'Nothing near captain.'

'Understood, detach the DropShips.'

Three days later in orbit around the planet

'We detect a small settlement near the Equator. Energy readings show that at least a lance of 'Mechs is present. No DropShips detected and because no JumpShips were found in the system, our analysis is that their main force is out there raiding.'

'Understood. I propose that the ASFs do a strafing run while we land near. We have more than enough forces to deal with such a small group.' Said Vasseur during the planning meeting.




Following Vasseur's plan, our forces easily captured the pirate base. I didn't even fire a shot this time. One of the disadvantages of the Nightstar was his speed and before I could come into range, the others had already secured the pirate base and dispatched the five 'Mechs protecting it, no fun.

Interrogation of the few captured pirates reported that they had an Invader JumpShip but that is was already late from its estimated time of return from a raid in Estuan in the Federated Suns. We waited one more month, but the pirate JumpShip never returned. Years later, we got the information that they had been captured by FedRat forces during that raid.

Apart from the Leviathan (if we could repair it), we got our hands on one Shadow Hawk, one Commando (made with parts of two) and the Locust whose leg I had destroyed. The rest was only good for scrap, except for the Rifleman that could be repaired if we could get a new gyro as my shots had completely destroyed it and nobody in the Concordat made them.

The conclusions of the university team on both planets were that both were still viable to support colonies and that they were perhaps even better than before as with hundreds of years with almost no human on these planets, the biosphere had developed in a way that was favorable to the human beings.
 
Returning to New Vandenberg by early 3023, I had some news waiting for me.

First, Smith had done a good job and the partnership of companies to start repairing the shipyard had been formed and the work on it was starting right now. Curiously, Jeremy's Consortium, the investment company of my (in this universe) late father was also in, even if for obvious reasons, I hadn't looked for them.



We also heard news of a coup in the neighbor Aurigan Coalition, and a bloody one it seemed, with House Espinosa removing House Arano from power killing in the process all the Arano bloodline The small nation was renamed the Aurigan Directorate and was going as far as making new contacts with the Concordat.

Nobody understood why I wasn't happy with that.

The decision to repair the Leviathan was taken after analysis of the cost and capability of producing the necessary parts. The JumpShip was going to be shared by VMI, V4RU and the Revenants with VMI taking precedent unless the Revenants had a Concordat approved mission. Custom production of the necessary parts started at once with the leader of the project being our resident genius, Dr. Murad.

Because buying from the Fed Rats was deeply frowned upon, I used the Revenants funds to buy a gyro for the captured Rifleman in Galatea, the Principal Mercenary Star. For that, I had to use the services of the Concordat representative in that system. The estimated time to receive said Gyro was more than five months, but I was in no hurry, and in the end the Revenants received a new heavy, dedicated anti-air 'Mech. And for the first time, they paid the repairs from their own funds.

During a working dinner with Dr. Farah Murad I asked her about her estimation of the time needed for the Leviathan to be once more operational.

'Well, you see Boss, first we need to get the necessary spare parts. Some we can produce here or at VMI, but several needs to be made by O-P Electronics and these might take time to be available. My best estimate is that we can get everything we need in about six months. Then, you have a six months trip from New Vandenberg to Badlands and back and you can add two months to do the repairs and refuel. This is obviously if everything goes without surprises.'

'So, you are saying that in the best case, we get that JumpShip ready in 12 to 14 months?' I asked the resident wizard.

'Very much that, Boss. I'm supposed to depart in about six months and return eight or ten months later.'

'If that is the time needed, so be it. I will order the DroST IIb with 6 ASF's to go with your force to provide the appropriate protection. '

The following day, I called Bertrand and Gilbert to my office.

'Gentlemen, I was thinking about the Snowden project and the status of these asteroid fields in the system. By your early report, TMM has lost the orbital infrastructure needed to build new Mining Stations and about the same time, a saboteur destroyed all the copies of the plans of the Snowden, was that correct ?'

'Yes, Boss' answered Bertrand. ' That was basically the reason that TMM stopped making new ones; that and a lack of funds to restart the project.'

'If I'm right, our system asteroid belts are almost untapped and even if we put twenty Snowden there, in a hundred years, they will only have done a small dent in the resources present, is that correct ?'

'Well, yes, but in all the Concordat there are only 18 of them and they can't build more.' Said Gilbert, looking attentively at me.

'The Snowden is a station that is too complex for what I want. I want you and your teams to design a much simpler version of it. For starters, it won't need a K-Boom, as it will only be used locally. Next, this system is well patrolled and the last raid was hundreds of years ago. So, I think we won't need armor nor weapons, as there is several ASF patrols in the system. On top of that, if the stations are only to be used locally, they won't need comprehensive repair facilities and I think that the smallest Grav Deck will be enough. We can rotate the personnel faster after all. I believe that with these specifications, you can design a much cheaper and simpler station that could be more easily produced and deployed locally. What are your thoughts on this idea?'

They stayed silent for a while and after looking to each other, Gilbert broke the silence 'Well… yes that is going to be a much cheaper and simpler design. But even so, we don't have the resources nor the money to produce these.'

'Design then and present me a plan to use some of these with estimated costs and benefits. As far as I am concerned, obtaining the money and resources for the project is my job.'

At the end of the reunion, Maud Gerard, my personal secretary entered my office.

'Mr. Bassot, you wanted me to remember you that tonight you have a ball in the capital. Mr Beaudoin's daughter is going to be presented officially to the society and it has been confirmed that Edward Calderon is going to be present. Mr Beaudouin is one of your strongest allies in VMI and it is one of the first time that Edward represents his father, so don't be late.'

'Thanks Maud, I promise to be a good boy.' I said with a smile.

She retired after presenting me with a look of light disapproval. At 56 years and a widow, she was the best secretary I could dream of.
 
Later that night at the party in the Beaudouin's mansion in the New Vandenberg capital.

God, I really hate this kind of social events. I never liked them in my past life and I still don't in the new one.

Years of experience, mostly in my past life gave me enough abilities to be able to fake sufficiently and not make a faux-pas. Circulating around and doing my damned best to escape the usual social butterflies that are attracted to this kind of events. I even had a glass of Glengarry Reserve in the hand while doing so and if I may so, this is really a good whiskey.

Josselin Beaudouin, barely 1.60m with high heels, with raven hair, large but not fat, her bone structure didn't give her any gifts and anyone would hardly call her a beautiful young woman. However the determined look in her face said that she was soon going to be an asset for her family.




After exchanging the usual platitudes with her, I was free to pursue my own agenda and start looking for Edward Calderon, to speak to him and convince him to support me and my agenda.

It took me some time to find him, as he was also trying to dodge the socialites and the kiss-ass people, attracted to people like him. This time, thank God, I wasn't the top dog in this competition.

'Lord Calderon? Funny, I never thought I would see such a high personage play the hide-and-seek game to escape the socialites. I'm Jean-Luc Bassot, at your service.'

'Please to meet you Mr. Bassot. ' He replied with a harm smile.

'Would you mind us looking for a quiet place outside of this circus?'

Having been here several times, I was now familiar with the mansion and I easily found my way to a quieter room.




Upon entering the room, Edward Calderon placed a white noise generator on the small table between the chairs and turned it on, signaling that this conversation was going to be 'off the record'.




'So, Jean-Luc' started Edward Calderon, after sitting down in a comfortable chair, 'would you care to explain to me the enigma of your actions?'




'What enigma?'

'On the one hand, you provided the Concordat with WarShips, Royal 'Mechs and top-of the line equipment that benefit our nation greatly on the military side', started Edward Calderon with a very serious look on his face 'but on the other hand, all you created on your own was in the civilian side. Do you care to explain?'

'There is no enigma at all. I provided the Concordat with the items that I found but what I really want is to improve our economy. If you enlarge the military first, you cripple the economy, but if you do it the other way around, you can easily enlarge the military at a later time while first making the civilians richer.'

'And you think that we have time to do it that way?' asked Edward with an interested look on is face.

'Sure. It is a simple multiplayer game. House Davion principal enemy is Kurita, followed by Liao. The principal enemy of House Liao is Davion and the secondary is Marik. House Marik is preoccupied with Steiner first and Liao second and House Kurita with Davion and Steiner. House Davion, because of his nascent alliance with Steiner also has to deal with Marik. In other words, all the House Lords of the Inner Sphere are too much preoccupied with each other to look towards the Periphery.

It is no coincidence that in the past hundred years nothing bigger than small raids and counter-raids has been done here.' I said with a reasonable voice.

'And the worlds that Davion took from us?' asked Edward Calderon looking at me intensely.

'After two hundred years? Let us be real. With so much time of Davion indoctrination and with much migration from other Davion worlds these are now Davion worlds, not ours under occupation. No revolts, no manifestations, no heavy troops presence. Should I go on? I don't like it, you don't like it and I'm sure your father hates it, but is the cold reality. Even if was the other way around, even if we could triplicate the power of the TDF, we still wouldn't have enough forces to take them back. House Liao, the weakest of the Inner Sphere realms is still way more powerful than us, so I'm afraid that we don' stand a chance in that area.'

'In some circles, that could be considered traitorous...' said Edward Calderon.

'If said circles don't like reality, it is their problem not mine.' I coldly answer. 'But if you want to improve our military with a small investment, just open some aerospace academies. The TDF is weak in that arm, even if VMI and Pinard produce ASFs.'

'And where would we find the instructors for said academies?' asked Edward Calderon.

'In the same place I found most of my pilots, just contract them in the Outworlds Alliance. They are not hostile to us and have a very good aerospace force.' I said.

And the look in Edward face showed me that they hadn't thought about it.

'On another topic, what are your plans for the future Jean-Luc? I don't believe you are happy with what you already got.' said Edward Calderon, conceding the point, more or less.

'Glad that you asked that. You see I have this idea...'

Several hours later heading home, I was reasonably convinced that Edward Calderon could be now counted as an ally, and maybe, with a bit of luck, he could convince his father to finance / support my space program.
 
Some months later, Lise's team came back to New Vandenberg.

The official version was that they had found two Mackies 6S that were so obsolete that they could only be donated to museums, the first one being the New Vandenberg War Museum and the other one a BattleMech Museum on Taurus.

The real important price was that the data core was now safely multi-copied and in my hands.

While it contained lots of full blueprints for military hardware, including several Royal grade equipment; the real treasure were the blueprints for many different kinds of factories, shipyards and vehicles. Unlike the military hardware, these were mostly of the non-Hegemony sort, meaning very few if any were state-of-the-art automated ones, but even so they were so much better than what the Concordat had right now.

To be honest, the hundreds of advanced hardware blueprints were utterly useless right now as the Concordat like most of the Inner Sphere and the Periphery could barely produce 'standard' hardware. Much more interesting were the blueprints of the 'black boxes' in use in the automated systems of today factories. With that, I could greatly contribute to the improvement of almost all the industrial park of the Concordat and that gave me a lot of leverage.

One thing that couldn't be built right now were the factories that produced advanced items. That meant no Endo Steel, no Ultra or LB-X guns, no Extended Range energy weapons, etc. While I had the plans for several of these factories, several critical components were beyond our capability to produce. And without the science behind to understand them, it would remain so for the near future. I needed the Helm or the Niops cores, the ones with the data on the principles and science behind these technologies.

I had also checked to see if I had any blueprints for the Nighthawks. But no, top-of-the-line hardware of the Hegemony were not included. Bugger. Oh! Well, we would try to get these from Niops in the future, if everything went right, after all.

By the way, several designs of 'obsolete' WarShips, JumpShips and DropShips, all obsolete by SLDF standards were also included. Many of these I had never seen in my original universe. One of the gems I found were the full data specs of the Leviathan JumpShip and thanks to it, we would be able to make a full refit of the JumpShip that Dr. Murad's team was trying to repair in the Badlands system.

Some civilian items came to my attention, one was the Super Caravan transport cargo plane; an improved version of the Antonov An-225 from back home. With 6 hydrogen powered engines, it could carry up to 200 tons of cargo and loaded, it had a range exceeding 15,000 km. Few were produced because by this time, the cheaper to operate fusion powered alternatives started to appear. But in a universe where fusion power engines were not so cheap (like right now), maybe they could have a future. The other interesting civilian items was a mix between a cargo shuttle and a short range DropShip. It could carry up to 2,000 tons of cargo to orbit or to a moon while having articulated, powered arms much like the space shuttle of my universe. It was the perfect design to support and expand an orbital industry. It too fell in disgrace with the massive DropShips entering full production.

These industrial blueprints provided me with several options to create production lines in VMI for almost everything from DropShips to 'Mech for civilian or military use. That is, if I could secure the necessary funds.

Before I could make any decisions on how to best use this new data, I was 'invited' to go to Taurus to 'consultations' with the Lord Protector. Joy.

Before I departed, I left instructions to my team to present the VMI board with options for possible upgrades and I took with me the latest plans of the future Snowden Lite prototype. Unlike the other times and because of a fortunate alignment of JumpShips, I managed to do the voyage in just about two weeks.




The reunion with Thomas Calderon, his son Edward and Grover Shraplen turned very differently from what I expected. Thomas, while very suspicious of House Davion, wasn't totally paranoid about them but Grover has a profound hate against the FedRats as he kept saying. On the other side, Edward wanted to reduce the tension between both realms and perhaps to start with some commercial openings, a position I was more than inclined to support. After several hours of discussions and negotiations, it was decided that the Concordat was going to try to open commercial relations with the Federated Suns but only of civilian products and if VMI wanted to participate, the earnings would have to be invested in new military lines whose production would be sold to the TDF at a reduced cost. While I couldn't decide for VMI, I was only one of several shareholders after all, I was asked to convince them to follow the plans made by this small council.

I also learned that the Far Lookers were going to be directed to the ex pirate location that I had recently cleaned. The two systems were viable and already had a small infrastructure after all. But this time, they would have to do it with only private financing, no funds would be diverted from the government.

Returning to VMI on New Vandenberg, I got involved in several meetings with the board of directors. In the end, the decision was taken to go along the will of the Protector. The new lines that would be created would be for modernized Toro and Talos BattleMechs. These tried and venerable Taurian 'Mechs would probably create a morale boost in the ranks of the TDF while the research part had already been done at V4RU, allowing V4RU to earn a percentage of the sales and also cutting the price down.

Unfortunately, all this forced me to delay the shift to the air and space assets I wanted to produce.

After all was taking care of, now it was time to start doing some marketing research on the Federated Suns. Not really an easy or a small task.
 
Having inside intel, I decided not to wait for any treaty and began looking for opportunities in the Federated Suns.

As I suspected, the market for our Industrial 'Mechs existed and was indeed huge, even if most of it was in the core worlds, the ones near the Concordat being too poor only ordered a few. Some months later, I received information from Taurus, that a limited commercial treaty had been signed between the Concordat and the Federated Suns, allowing only the trade of civilian goods in both directions with inspection from both side naturally. While that could seem fast, it just showed that the Suns didn't care about the Concordat and anything that improved the peace in the area and better commerce was considered good enough for New Avalon, so they didn't delay such limited treaty.

Before the end of the year, V4RU presented a refit of the Talos, replacing the AC/10 and its ammo with 1 PPC, 2 Medium Laser (in the left arm), 1 extra ton of ammo for the LRMs and 4 heat sinks. This version fixed the problem of an ammo dependent 'Mech and became a hit in the TDF, with orders being placed for 50% of the operating Talos to be refitted to this model by V4RU. Considering that this refit was paid at full price (by the Ministry of Defense) but received a full factory support, it was a very good sale for V4RU (much like the AMG / Mercedes relation I knew from back home).

With all of this happening, the arrival at V4RU of the gyro for the Rifleman captured to the pirates was almost unnoticed, even if that result in another Heavy 'Mech for the Revenants.

The sales of Industrial 'Mechs to the Suns largely surpassed even my wildest dreams, most of them being sent to the richest core worlds. Basically they wanted every single one we could sell them as there was no production in the Federated Suns, the factories having been long ago converted to the production of war material.

There was such a demand (as orders also came from the Concordat, the Magistracy and the FWL), that new lines were planned. To fulfill their part in the increased orders, O-P Electronics not only expanded their production in Brisbane, but started a new factory on New Vandenberg. This was only possible because all other nations, including the the Concordat before I financed the new production lines, had focused long ago on other productions like the example of the Federated Suns had shown us.

Thanks to the New Dallas data core I also had access to several formerly lost designs of several other civilian 'Mechs, some too advanced for VMI to produce, some too old, but several just with the right tech level and capabilities to be added to the company growing portfolio. As a bonus almost all the unknown models were from companies that had long ago disappeared, so no problems with the royalties.

By mid 3025 business was booming, the repaired Leviathan had returned to New Vandenberg. Thanks to the profits made, my position inside the VMI board had improved.

So far, I had successfully maintained the Hegemony core a secret, but I knew that sooner or later someone was going to report it or leak its data to the TMI or to another organism of the Concordat government. Until then, I had used several of the blueprints to upgrade as much as possible the production lines of VMI while selling a bit later the same upgrades to other companies inside the Concordat.

I wanted to share the knowledge I had with the Taurian Concordat while making a profit out of it. After all, I wasn't much of an idealist. Being on the board of VMI, running my own treasure hunting company and having connections among the government was all I needed to be able to speak to several boards or directors about a deal. In exchange for money, shares, production licenses, I gave them access to these "new" upgrades. At the end of the 'tour', I gifted one copy of the core to Edward Calderon, thus cementing my relation with the ruling house. While I had no doubt that the Calderons were going to put the core to good use, increasing the competition for VMI, I knew it was impossible to hide the use of said core forever once it started to be used so it was better to make the best out of it.

I used a big chunk of the money obtained that way to buy VMI shares from several sources and with my alliance with the Beaudouins, I got effective control over VMI.

For the gift of the core to the government (technically speaking to Edward, but it was just another name for the government) , I got the title of Baron but because we were in the Concordat, it didn't mean much in terms of money while carrying some other interesting advantages.

One thing that I was aware of was that the New Dallas data core didn't provide any help on the theory, on the math or science side, just some blueprints. With that, me and the people I provided said blueprints to could copy several things, but not deviate from the ones in the core or innovate without a massive investment in R&D, something that House Davion could do with the NAIS but that was nearly impossible in the Concordat. For that I needed the Helm data core or the one from Niops. Better even, both.

The lostech front was also a waiting game for now as I wanted the most valuable of all items, Double Heat Sinks. I had the full blueprints for several models, including the latest Star League and even one not so advanced from Davion as well as the schematics for their production lines. What I was still lacking was the capacity to produce out of laboratories, the complex crystalline matrix that was at the heart of all the models.

One interesting bit in the Hegemony core was that it contained all file formats, data structure, file compression standards known at the time, even if very exotic, rare or obsolete. It could be useful for me later.




At this time, I began hearing rumors about a terrorist organization operating inside the Aurigan Directorate under the name of the Aurigan Restoration and commanded by Kamea Arano that seemed after all to be alive.

VMI finally started to build the production lines for the Super Caravan and for the Star-Lifter (the big cargo shuttle). Estimates put the first design to be operational by early 3026 and the second one by mid 3027.

I still didn't have a clue of how to deal with Helm, so I decided to take a different direction.
 
Remembering that the Perdition Massacre should be around this time, I contacted 'Mr. Smith' from TMI. Obviously, I couldn't give him too much detail but I informed him that one of my contacts had heard about a terrorist cell planning an attack on Perdition. When asked about details, I answered vaguely about business contacts of one of the companies I was dealing with.
Unfortunately a month later Victoria succeeded and not only did she successfully executed the chemical attack, she also managed to escape without a trace.
To make matters worse, the 'evidence' that Santiago Espinosa presented against the Federated Suns was quite convincing but that had to be expected as the special effects / movie tricks team used was very competent.
And that brought a lot of problems to me and VMI. The trade agreement with the Federated Suns was broken by the Taurians, which caused us to lose our largest foreign market and a huge setback in the detente policy that Edward sponsored. Because the Magistracy supported Kamea, something that the TMI had quickly discovered, it created a tense situation between the two nations when Thomas decided to openly support Santiago.
However, by not accepting a contract offered by Espinosa for mercenaries to support his forces, I was able to prevent my Revenants from getting involved.
With great efforts, I was able to very discreetly contact Anne-Marie Centrella, saying her that Kamea should pay special attention to the 'Madeira files'.Having done all I could, I could only hope that she would find the evidence that would clear the Federated Suns while implicating Santiago at the same time.
This whole situation caused a great deal of economic damage to the actual and future plans I had made for VMI and took much of my time, forcing me to postpone for a long time any expedition to Niops, which was my next objective. I couldn't get away for so long at this point and this was the kind of mission I couldn't delegate.




This whole situation was problematic inside the unit too. One day, Vasseur came into my office clearly annoyed.
'Boss, why did you turn down the contract by House Espinosa against the terrorists on the Aurigan Protectorate?'
'Vasseur, do you think Hanse Davion is stupid or incompetent?'
'I never heard anyone accusing him of that,' replied Vasseur with a surprised look on his face.
'So think a bit, this deal with the Concordat is clearly good for him. It lowers the tension on one of his borders and creates a new source of trade and money.'
'So far I'm following you, Boss. But what does this have to do with the Protectorate? '
'If it is good for him, why would Hanse, who in your words is not incompetent, kill it shortly after it was signed?' I asked quietly.
'If you put it that way I see no reason,' replied Vasseur, who had obviously not yet reached the conclusion I wanted him to reach.
'On top of that, chemical weapons are not Davion style, they use assassinations or military raids.' I explained 'On the other hand, Santiago Espinosa came to power through a rather bloody coup and clearly needs our support to stay in place.'
'Are you suggesting that Perdition was a false flag operation performed by House Espinosa?' asked Vasseur with a startled air.
'Cui Bono. Of the two, Hanse does not benefit at all from the attack, while Santiago needs our help. It is very convenient for him that House Davion decides to perform this type of operation when it is most needed, don't you think? And the only 'evidence' there is was provided by Santiago.'

'Maybe, but about some Davion patriots operating independently?' asked Vasseur.

''Possible,' I answered calmly 'but usually they act against Kurita first, Liao second, and the last raid against us was how long ago? Not in the last century if I remember correctly.'
Vasseur was silent for a few minutes, analyzing the implications. 'Do you have any proof?'
'If I had, I would already have submitted it to the Lord Protector. But this smells a lot like shit, and I don't want to get involved.' I answered.
Visibly calmer 'You're right, Boss. It was really better not to accept this contract.'

Not helping at all, Hanse Davion launched Operation Galahad a few weeks later, greatly increasing the tension in the border, even if it only moved troops to the Capellan and Draconis borders. But Grover Shraplen was quick to use the fear of a possible invasion … not the best time I had in this universe.
 
While the actions of House Espinosa had caused a lot of damage to my plans, in a strange way, Galahad was good for me and my business.
Betting that it would be equal (or at least quite similar) to the operation I knew from the fiction in my universe, ie that Davion forces would not invade the Concordat, I took advantage of the fact that a Concordat noble was expected to be ready to defend the Concordat and its people and preemptively made the Revenants available free of charge for the defense of the borders. Of course, it was quite a popular gesture in patriotic circles, making it impossible for the TDF to turn my offer down. The result was that a company of 'Mechs with tanks, ASFs, and infantry support was sent to MacLeod's Land under Vasseur's command, while another unit, similar in strength, went to Pinard under my direct command. This forced me to leave several instructions on both V4RU and VMI to be followed during my absence, but the advantages far outweighed the drawbacks.

For me, provided that Hanse did the same that he had done in my novels, it was a pure public relations operation that would make things better with Thomas Calderon, who liked this kind of patriotic attitude. However for my men, it was a very serious affair, after all they were almost all Taurians and patriots. That was made obvious by the serious looks and small talks I observed during the movement to the border areas.

Another side of Galahad that benefited me was that due to the perceived risk, the Concordat government increased the budget for military expenditures and ordered several new 'Mechs from VMI and some refits from V4RU. Due to the escalating international tensions, several mercenary companies also placed orders with both companies, making good use of the modernization of production lines that we had just finished at great cost.
Another advantage I had not realized was that unlike in the HBS game, the expeditionary force operating in the Aurigan Directorate and commanded by Commodore Samuel Ostergaard was called back. For several reasons, most of which I had caused (like the disappearance of the Argo and its databases before he would go for it), Ostergaard had no personal vendetta against Kamea Arano, nor did he ever find her, and he returned home smoothly.

Three months later, with the end of Operation Galahad and the returning home of most of the Davion forces, the situation in the frontier cooled down a bit.

VMI sales department in Galatea following my instructions had tried for several months to sell equipment to the famous Wolf's Dragoons, but to no avail. I wanted a contact with the Dragoons for the future. But by the end of 3026, they finally managed to make a sale, even if it was a small one.




The Leviathan was currently operating on the busiest commerce lines within the Concordat. Old or not, it was the JumpShip with the biggest cargo and DropShips capacity in all the Concordat and this by a wide margin. The next ones were two Star Lords, with almost all the rest of the fleet being of the Invader or Merchant classes. To protect the ship against any pirate having bad ideas, one of the collars was taken by a Leopard loaded with two ASFs and marines (instead of 'Mechs).

Later on, two old Tigress that were being used in patrol duty in the New Vandenberg system were refitted and placed in two of the four small craft bays of the JumpShip. Part of the refit was to equip them with several rocket pods and armor piercing warheads, guaranteeing a very bad day for any pirate DropShips they would engage. The marines were quartered in the passenger area, freeing the much needed collar for another cargo DropShip.

During my time on Pinard, I also negotiated several deals with Pinard Protectorates Limited, Pinard-Dicolais Electronics and Wingman Enterprises Limited, ranging from partnership to exchange of licenses. For example, VMI received the rights (and blueprints) of the Sabre light ASF from PPL in exchange for those for the Toro light Battlemech.

Interestingly, PPL take on the Toro was different as they replaced both LRM-5 by one SRM-4 and torso mounted jump-jets, creating a 'Mech similar in capabilities to the popular Combine Panther.

No company started producing new units as at this time as all were busy with current orders or involved in the shipyard or Snowden / Snowden Lite long term projects. Their recent upgrades had cost them a lot of resources and they needed some return on investment before doing anything else.
 
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