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

Chapter 73
From the very beginning of her reign, Kamea had decided that Coromodir V, the old Espinosa home-world, not touched by the civil war, and now directly controlled world by her family, would have its already impressive (impressive for the Reaches that is) industrial infrastructure expanded, while Coromodir VI, the capital world, was going to be restored to a non industrially-polluted world.


At first, progress was very slow, in no small part because of the lack of funds. But bit by bit and after a while with my help, when I located as many of my companies as possible in Coromodir V, the world evolved to a very respectable industrial powerhouse. At first, in the civilian side, but bit by bit, the infrastructure and support industries for a military-industrial complex were created. Now, in the early 50s, the results were evident.


Thanks to the investments of the Arano-Bassot family in Coromodir V, the production line of the Shogun SHG-2H started in February 3052 instead of in New Vandenberg.
Coromodir V in 3052 also had operational production lines for the Karnov VTOL, the production license had been secured in 3028, the Cobra VTOL in its Command and MASH variants and the Vector VTOL in its Scout, EW and Attack variants. Two production lines of industrial 'Mechs also went operational in February 3052.


While the Cobra being an old and common design was no problem with its license, the Vector was a General Motors one. Luckily for Arano-Bassot, they had a very good relation with GM, so negotiating the license of production was relatively easy.
The fact that, except for the Shogun, which was produced by the local VMI branch, all these designs were VTOLs produced by a new industrial group, Coromodir Heavy Industries, Ltd (totally controlled by the Arano-Bassot family).
In Coromodir V, industries capable of supporting the production of 'Mechs, ASFs and other diverse military equipment had been built, with only the assembly lines missing, since only the one for the Shogun was available.
Thanks to the big investments in the shipyard in Mechdur, it was foreseen that in 3055, it would be able to produce 3 Pintos and 4 Invaders per year, keeping 6 other slips available for maintenance.


To solve the problems with the terrorist groups of the Maskirovka / Death Commandos units, the TDF resorted to hire several groups of mercenaries specialized in counter-insurgency operations (COIN). Less known and discreet than the large units that used ''Mechs, these mercenary forces like all specialized forces had their use. Fortunately, several groups were available in early 3052, and although they had to pay a (relatively) higher price because some didn't want to go to Periphery, all the available units were hired by the Taurian Concordat.


By this time a new wave of pirates had started to target the Concordat JumpShips. Every tentative of protecting them with military DropShips and / or armored marines failed. The pirates apparently had too good information and didn't target the protected ships. Since no one from crew returned or no member of these pirate groups was captured, no information on them was available, but the TMI suspected because of their efficiency that they were Capellan sponsored.


In retaliation for these operations and the insurgence groups, both suspected of being Capellan sponsored, Thomas authorized TTI to help HildCo Interplanetary in St Ives to (re)build the production lines of the Pillager PLG-3Z, something that the Federated Commonwealth has not helped the small nation with. The price of said help was the production rights of the advanced Assault 'Mech for TTI, turning them into the second company to produce Assault 'Mechs in the Concordat.


VMI was Thomas' first choice but the political in-fight inside the Concordat forced him to select TTI, that not only was based on Taurus, but also was not controlled by the Arano-Bassot.


Due to the implosion of Comstar and by association of the MRB, MRBC succeeded it with a base in Outreach, basically the same as Jean-Luc remembered.


The second generation of ground defenses i the Concordat was a bigger fortress with a pair or two of Heavy NPPCs, greatly improving the capability of defending the word they were installed in against light WarShips. Ground based batteries of Killer Whale capital missiles started to be installed at the same time, even if for now they were in small numbers and only in strategic worlds, providing an extra capability against any orbital menace.



News of a new civil war in the FWL began to circulate in March 3052.
From what was known, in early March 3052, units from Regulus had tried to capture WoB WarShips in the Gibson system. Tried and failed. In retaliation, WoB WarShips had executed an orbital bombing of Regulus shortly after, showing to everyone what the Word of Blake really was, that is a group of trigger-happy bastards. The escalation, as well as the number of deaths caused, led many to rise up against such action, and against the WoB, in the Parliament in Atreus. Shortly after, the FWL was again involved in a civil war, with the forces loyal to Thomas and supported by the WoB being the only ones with WarShips.


But not everything was going well for the loyalists and the WoB. One of their WarShips, the WoBS Herald of Retribution, an Aegis class Heavy Cruiser, was destroyed by a violent attack executed by several squadrons of ASFs in retaliation for Regulus and if rumors were to be believed with the use of several Alamos.
 
Chapter 74
TTI (Taurus Territorial Industries), a long time adversary of VMI, now had a solid support in the political group that opposed the Arano-Bassot family inside the Concordat, heavily lobbying for selling their own production to the TDF and the militia.






The principal focus of the company had been in the last decades the aerospace and vehicles divisions, with their 'Mech department being neglected. However, in the last years of the 40s they had upgraded their production and assembling lines and by now, they were able to produce not only the brand new and advanced Assault 'Mech, having got the contract for the Pillager -PLG-3Z but also Locust (1V) and Wasp (3A), while still producing older designs. Thanks to their investments, they were able to produce about 10 new 'Mechs per month, on each line.


But their true jewel was the new Wolverine WVR-7TC, replacing the old 6R line. A brand new variant, the result of the in-house research team and a very capable medium even if a bit too ammo dependent.


The engine had been replaced by a XL model and the armor upgraded to FF, while both torso sides received CASE. For weapons the SRM-6 was kept, while the Medium Laser was replaced by a Pulse one and the AC/5 by a Gauss Rifle. The Heat Sins were also upgraded to 10 Freezers, turning the 'Mech in an oversinked one, capable of pushing its limits even in the most demanding grounds. The only limitation was that both the SRM-6 and the Gauss Rifle only had one ton of ammo each.


After evaluating the first prototype, the TDF ordered two changes before it would buy some. They wanted the Laser to become an ER one and the Gauss Rifle ammo to be increased to two tons. The changes were easy to implement and once done, the TDF immediately bought the entire first year of production.


The cheap Wasp and Locust were bought in bulk by the TDF to fill the quotas of Light 'Mechs in several units and the rest was sold to Militia units or exported, for cash strapped mercenaries that needed 'Mechs but didn't have the money for the most expensive ones.


Pinard Protectorates Limited (PPL), that already produced the Toro II under license, started the production of several variants of the Phoenix Hawk. The budget one was the standard PXH-1, the other two were the PXH-TC1, that removes both machine guns and respective ammo, upgrading the Heat Sinks with Freezers, while upgrading the Laser to an ER one while adding a Small Laser and a Beagle Active Probe. The TC2 only differed from the TC1 by exchanging the BAP for a Guardian ECM Suite.


Continuing their long policy of cross-licensing with VMI, PPL traded the licenses of these 'Mechs in exchange for the rights to produce the Jack II and the Colibri (the PA(L) produced by VMI), also with Coromodir Heavy Industries, even if for now VMI and CHI didn't have the budget to start the production of new lines.


Several mercenary units with long-term contracts with the TDF like Gordon's Armored Cavalry were also offered to become house units, meaning that by early 3052 the number of mercenary formations inside the Concordat was at an all-time low, none bigger than a battalion.






At the same time, Jean-Luc found evidences in the files from the Taurian R&D that decades ago a team had found out a leak towards making sub-capital weapons and even produced some workable models. After the mandatory cursing, he began working on securing the funds needed to produce these weapons while passing the information to the teams working on WarShips and Pocket WarShips.








Note.: 'Mech production in the Taurian Concordat in mid 3052


Light - Jenner (DHS), Toro II (Wolfhound F-2 with FF, ES and JJ), Stinger (3R), Locust (1V), Wasp (3A)
Medium - Shadow Hawk (DHS), Griffin TC (ERPPC, LRM10, 2ML, DHS), Talos II (2ERLL, 4ML, DHS), Phoenix Hawk (-1, TC1, TC2)
Heavy – Archer (4M), Marauder (2R), Warhammer (7A), Penetrator TC (2 more DHS and ECM), Thunderbolt (5Sb)
Assault - Marauder II TC (2ERPPC, 2ML, 2LRM10, JJ), Hellfire (2ERPPC, 2LPL), Shogun (2H), Pillager (3Z)
 
Chapter 75
'Emma must have access to an advanced equipment source somewhere in the Deep Periphery' concluded Anne-Marie at the end of her report on the Magistracy of Canopus. 'Otherwise how did she get about two regiments of 'Mechs, all late SLDF or unknown designs, as well as the dozen Dictator DropShips that appeared at the same time?'


'And your sources couldn't find out their origin?' asked Kamea leaning forward with an interested look.
'Not yet. The first series of JumpShips and DropShips, we now know about, came from the Alexandrian Covenant, Emma captured an intact shipyard there, as well as several operational Ships. Letting this information leak out is an indication that the Magistracy is probably done with the place, as they do hope that other intel agencies will waste time and resources looking in the place. SOP for the MIM. We still don't know exactly where the installation has been bought but it likely to be in an uninhabited one near Canopus' replied Anne-Marie consulting her notes 'Regarding these new forces, my sources are adamant that this new equipment comes from another place. Apparently, they got several civilian DropShips, about a dozen JumpShips, Star Lords and Monoliths, a dozen Dictators, and I think an operational WarShip'.


'An operational WarShip?' I asked, astonished 'what are you basing this on?'


'Well, Emma, in recent years, has been very insistent in negotiations to get some WarShips from Thomas' answered Anne-Marie putting down the documents and looking at us 'more recently, she basically no longer press on this issue, and I'm reasonably sure that no other nation is even willing to sell WarShips. My conclusion is that along the rest, they probably also found at least one operational or in a state that Emma thinks she can repair without help'.


'Aunt Anne-Marie, couldn't Emma just have changed priorities or simply have no money to buy one?' asked Sara, that had just recently started to participate in these reunions.


'Yes, in both cases, Dear' replied Kamea 'but with all her neighbors getting WarShips or already having some, and that nasty civil war on her border, it is difficult to believe that Emma don't want one or two also.'


'But, how can we be certain Emma got one WarShips?' asked Sara again.


'There are at least two ways' answered Kamea ' TMI can get that info' as these words were pronounced we could hear a snort from Anne-Marie's side, 'yes, Dear I know MIM is still way better than TMI even if TMI has improved a lot but I am sure they could do it.' and without a pause, Kamea continued in stride 'The other option is sending a ship to look for us in all these uninhabited systems near Canopus, the most probable location of the hidden shipyard and logically said WarShip.'


'But Mother, if a WarShip is in one of these systems, don't we risk losing the searching JumpShip?'


'No, if it is a Mriya as they have LF battery, and could escape before interception, Dear. But, it is both a time-consuming and expensive operation and I don't know if Thomas would authorize that. Anyway, we don't have any Mriya or any orders to give to the TMI, so it is not up to us.' finalized Kamea.


'As for the origin of this supposed WarShip, I've never heard of a colony in this area with that kind of equipment and the SLDF list of bases doesn't include anything either' I replied thoughtfully, looking at my notes in my personal noteputer. 'That leaves us with some options, none of them good. First, a base or a colony created after the Amaris Crisis, and that for this reason is out of the Argo database. Not impossible but unlikely because at that time, the Star League lacked the resources for new colonies, and new bases would have been in areas closer to the conflict, not in a remote area. Second, it may be related to the SLS Dobrev, which was more or less lost in this area'.


'The SLS Dobrev? I've never heard of it, Jean-Luc' replied Anne-Marie with a curious look, while Kamea and Sara also leaned towards me with an interested look 'what are you talking about?'


'Do you remember when the Revenants captured that Assault Mech, the Bull Shark? At the same time we fought pirates having advanced weapons.' They all agreed, and I continued, after looking again at my notes 'Good, when we captured the base of the smuggler who was behind those weapons, a Notker Baumann, we also found the records of a JumpShip that belonged to SLDF, the SLS Dobrev. This JumpShip was totally wrecked, had supposedly left with Kerensky in the SLDF Exodus, but was found for some reason, by Baumann South of our border with the Deep Periphery. Now, we know that Kerensky went North, so something must have happened. Stranger is that the shipping records, even if damaged, recorded part of a voyage coming from a location far in the North. It could be a second Exodus, from part of Kerensky's forces, that went wrong, somewhere South of the Aurigan Reach'.


Kamea and Anne-Marie looked at each other with a thoughtful air.



'It may be, but it seems a bit far-fetched,' Kamea said, then turning to Anne-Marie, 'See if your connections can find out more about this equipment. An increase in the Magistracy power, even if at the moment, a friendly nation, is always to be looked at with caution.'
 
Chapter 76
On August 27, 3052, Thomas Calderon abdicated the throne of the Taurian Concordat and Edward Calderon took over. The official line was 'health reasons', but only a small group knew that Thomas had been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease, for which there was no cure, only palliative care.


The civil war in the FWL continued, with the rebels, i.e. the anti-Thomas Marik / WoB faction, even though they had no WarShips, confronting this "über" weapon with a high number of Aerospace Fighters, much more than they were supposed to have. Those who paid close attention could notice that many of these extra Fighters were models that could easily be found in the nations bordering the FWL, even if they were not the most advanced variants.


Even if it was at the costs of great loses, this threat and its efficiency were enough to cause sufficient damage to the Word of Blake Warships and to force them to be more cautious.


In September, 3052, news started to circulate that Thomas was not the real Thomas Marik, but a substitute, certainly inserted by a shadow organization, be it the Word of Blake or more probably the extinct Comstar.


Although few believed at first such a rumor,Thomas Marik's supporters denied everything, calling that a desperate attempt to undermine his position. But the fact that no one was able to get access to the original tests of Joshua and Isis Marik, tests said to come from the Atreus Central Hospital and that no further test was made to deny the accusations, gave credits to it with more and more people starting to believe them




An unofficial / non factory produced version of Dragonfly MM-3, was created specifically for the Revenants. The Large Laser on the nose was replaced by an extended-range one and the armor by Ferro-Aluminum, making the MM-3R (Reach / Revenants) considerably more lethal than the already deadly MM-3. And also turning a very expensive Light Fighter into a even more expensive one.


In November 3052, Andrea Stirling (CO of Sterling Fusiliers) and Tony Rubensky (CEO of Cosara Weaponries in Northwind) visited Coromodir VI.
Both of them and the Elders of Northwind (which Andrea represented), were dissatisfied with the level of support the Federated Commonwealth provided to Northwind. On one hand, Cosara Weaponries wanted technical support to modernize the factories in Northwind, so that they would be able to produce the most advanced variants of Crab and King Crab and increase their production capacity without forgetting the creation of a HGN-732b production line that the company had bought the rights for and that the Northwind Highlanders regiments wanted in large quantities. On the other hand, both the Northwind Highlanders and the Elders wanted to build a dockyard in the system to support at the same time, the various JumpShips that the regiments had and the commercial ones that various companies in the system controlled.
In both cases, the FC had provided little more than vague promises. Knowing the good relations of Coromodir with the Wolf's Dragoons and the solution that the St. Ives Compact had obtained from the Taurian Concordat for the modernization of their production lines, both planned to obtain similar conditions for Northwind.


While several championed the idea to go directly to Taurus and Edward Calderon, to negotiate, other rightfully pointed that, while Northwind was a semi-independent world, it was not a fully independent one, with connections and obligations to the Federated Commonwealth. Having these kind of negotiations with a foreign power, even if it was one at the moment friendly with the Commonwealth would probably cast a shadow on the relationships with the Federated Commonwealth. On the other side, Jean-Luc Bassot was known to have made several deals with the Wolf's Dragoons without repercussions while Outreach was a world with a status close to the one of Northwind, . And everybody knew that his companies had the necessary expertise. In the end, the council decided to go to Coromodir and negotiate with the Arano-Bassot family.



After several days of tough negotiations, an agreement was reached that benefited both sides.
Coromodir Heavy Industries was awarded the production rights of the Crab, King Crab and Highlander, and for the next ten years a Northwind Highlanders regiment would serve in the Reach, rotating home each year to be replaced by another. In return, CHI would provide technical support, training, the high-tech components needed to upgrade the Cosara production lines in Northwind as well as helping to build a dockyard in the system. None of the help from the Aurigan partners was financial.


On January 13, 3053, the first Pinto class Corvette was launched by the shipyard at Mechdur. After a few political maneuvers, it had been decided to name the ship TCS Keona Arano after the first High Lady of the Aurigan Coalition.
 
Chapter 77
As soon as she heard of the deal between Northwind and the Arano-Bassot, Melissa Steiner-Davion always the consummate diplomat, made a "counter" proposal by which the FedCom would pay half the upgrade costs of the Cosara lines in exchange for a preferred status for 25% of its production and 50% of the dockyard against preferential rates for using it.






That proposal was very well accepted by the council of Elders in Northwind and by the administration of Cosara Weaponeries.


After all, why should Melissa and Hanse be preoccupied by the Arano-Bassot deals? They had helped rebuild the Wolf Dragoons, improved the production for St. Ives – a client state at best – and now they were upgrading the factories in Northwind and providing tech support for the construction of a dockyard in a world that belongs to the Federated Commonwealth – at a time that the FedCom had its tech capability fully used on other projects. For the Steiner-Davion this sounded like a good deal.


At least that was the official version but who really knows what is going on behind the scenes?






After a long and tortuous investigation, TMI was reasonably sure that it had discovered who communicated the targets to the 'pirates'.
After providing them with an interesting target - a Leviathan carrying an extremely valuable cargo - the trap was set, and all we had to do was to wait for them to show up.
This time, everything went as TMI had predicted - the pirates, disguised as civilians in one of the DropShips carried by said JumpShip, tried to capture the JumpShip, but instead of a valuable cargo, they found a force of marines equipped with battle armor and PA(L)s. Once the signal was given, the suspected location in Taurus was also stormed by special forces. Said special forces also used in large quantity PA(L)s and some VTOL transported battle-armor that dropped through the roof at the same time. So fast and brutal was the operation that some 'pirates' were captured alive, but unfortunately, their unknown equipment was destroyed, even if some state-of-the-art code-breaking and listening tools from obvious Capellan origin was found. After a 'robust' interrogation (including narco-interrogation), nothing of interest was revealed, except for that it was a classic cell system well compartmentalized, that communicated with others only via coded transmissions, dead drops and other similar means, making it impossible to identify the final destination.
The 'pirates' captured on the JumpShip had with them another prize in their logs, the coordinates of destination, an uninhabited system near the border with the Capellan Confederation.
The coordinates were immediately sent to a task force that was waiting on standby, and that on February 12th​, 3053 entered the system simultaneously at the nadir and zenith jump-points.
At the nadir jump point, the TCS Samantha Calderon a Congress class Frigate, carrying 2 Lee-CV arrived accompanied by 1 Mriya, while at the zenith jump-point, the TCS Cyrton, a Pinto class Corvette, carrying 1 Lee-CV arrived accompanied by 1 Mriya. In both locations, the TDF quickly took control of the JumpShips waiting there , while the DropShips were launched in the direction of the 'pirate' base location.


Unfortunately, a Scout JumpShip was near the base at a pirate point, and before the Taurian DropShips arrive, a DropShip departed from the pirate base and soon after a series of explosions destroyed it. That DropShip successfully docked the Scout JumpShip and departed the system under the impotent but furious Taurian sights.
Their only consolation was that the base had been put out of service. Analysis of the base debris didn't give any usable information.
Only three JumpShips and five DropShips were recovered, the rest according to the surviving "pirates" having been sold or sent away.
 
Chapter 78
During 3052, the Marian Hegemony launched several raids on Lothian planets. With her defending forces losing power, Dame Lorelei Logan asked in January of 3053 the Taurian Concordat for help, fearing that a full invasion would be soon taking place as the Civil War in the FWL allowed the Marian Hegemony some liberty on that border.






Edward Calderon decided to help in two ways. First, the Taurian Concordat contracted several small mercenary units, company and lance size, in the name of the Lothian League. These were to delay the Marian forces long enough for the Taurian forces to arrive. Secondly, he sent an expeditionary force, composed of two 'Mechs battalions from the 3rd​ Taurian Guards Brigade, with their combined arms support, escorted by the TCS Zarantha Calderon, the first Concordat Frigate to go through the latest refit program. That the Zarantha Calderon could easily carry 2 Lee CV with 80 modern ASFs, and 2 Lee PW for this particular mission, to provide aerospace support was also taken into account. The TDF didn't want to lose any WarShip like the WoB, because of a lack of support.


The equipment of the expeditionary force was obviously up-to-date with the latest Concordat.






With the expeditionary force went also one Leviathan JumpShip carrying 7 Starlifter DropShips, loaded with enough supplies, spares and ammo for an extended campaign, and one loaded with two-way HPG satellites, to create a direct link between the Concordat and the Lothian League. Said satellites, were a relatively recent product of the Concordat HPG research, to supplement the planet based HPG stations and to replace the older Comstar DRUM network in the Concordat area of interest.


The need to don't cross the Capellan Confederation and Free Worlds League territory, added about ten weeks to the voyage, but even so, the Taurian force arrived on Lothario by the end of 3053, a few weeks before the Marion Hegemony started the invasion.





Meanwhile, in the FWL the Civil War had changed drastically, Oriente, until now a reluctant supporter of Thomas, changed sides in a spectacular way.


A fleet of several JumpShips suddenly appeared at a pirate point in the Gibson system, near the dockyard. Not wasting time, they launched several Assault DropShips, while many CV ones started to launch waves of ASFs.


The dockyard wasn't left without protection, with several squadrons of ASFs and a lone WarShip, WoBS Blake's Redemption, a Vincent Mk.39. The defenders did what they could, but the raiders were superior in number and had Assault DropShips supporting them. The Vincent, like most designs of SLDF origin, was not good at fighting Aerospace Fighters and the attackers were heavily loaded with Alamos. While the more agile fighters dealt with the defending ASFs the heavies attacked the lone WarShip. Hit by several nukes, the Vincent was quickly destroyed but it didn't go alone having taken dozen of Heavy ASFs with him. Soon, Alamos started to rain on the dockyard, on the docked WarShips, and on the infrastructure that was being built to expand the dockyard to a full shipyard.


But, the ASFs, Pocket WarShips and Assault DropShips that were based on Gibson managed to intercept the waiting JumpShips before they could jump again, and they did so with a vengeance, letting the Oriente forces trapped in the system. Now, without a place to flee or refuel-and rearm they were easy targets and none escaped alive.






In exchange for seven JumpShips , 4 Star Lords and three Invaders, ten Vengeance DropShips and an unknown number of Assault DropShips and Pocket Warships and a bit over four hundred ASFs, four WarShips had been destroyed – Blake's Redemption (Vincent), Deliverance (Essex), Divine Command (Naga) and Immortal Spirit (Aegis). The dockyard and all the infrastructure under construction to upgrade it to a full shipyard had been also destroyed. This blow executed by the full space force of the Fusiliers of Oriente had reduced the active Word of Blake Navy to only four WarShips. Without a home base, they were now dependent upon the few shipyards controlled by Thomas Marik, as the order has none left.
 
Chapter 79
Lothian League


Lothario System


February 23, 3054


Zenith Jump-Point






Eight JumpShips suddenly emerged, transporting the I Legio of the Mario Hegemony. Caesar Sean O'Reilly believed in going for the jugular, so he had decided to start the invasion of the Lothian League by directly invading the capital world, thinking that after securing Lothario, conquering the rest of the League would be little more than mopping up.


After a year and half of constant raiding, he was confident that the enemy forces were exhausted, even if the number of mercenary units under Lothian colors had been superior to what was expected.


However, less than half an hour of the emergence, just as the DropShips had formed and started to move itowards the distant capital planet, the alarms sounded – an emergence jump-point was detected almost on top of his forces.


What emerged was a WarShip, one that immediately launched four big spheroid DropShips, easily bigger than the only Overlord of the I Legio, and a continuous number of ASFs.


On all frequencies the same message was heard – 'This is Space Master Adam Ostergaard of the Taurian Navy. The Lothian League is under our protection. Surrender (pause) or be destroyed.'





TCS Zarantha Calderon Bridge


'Don't be stupid, power down…'


'You said something Ensign?'


'No Sir. Sir, they are accelerating in our direction!'


'So, you chose Death. So be it. All ships, open fire.'


The first ship hit was the Overlord Maximus, flagship of the Marion Hegemony Expeditionary Force. Stricken by 3 Naval Lasers 55, it lost power immediately, venting atmosphere from several places. It was quickly followed by two Unions, hit by several NAC/30 shells, while two Triumphs and another Union were hit by several Killer Whale, fired by the two Lee PW.






During this time, the 32 ASFs from the I Legio were targeted by 52 Heavy ASFs, a mix of Hell Duck, Vulcan 6N and Thunderbird D36b, all loaded with AAM. Even before they got in range, the Marian Fighters were all killed, each hit by two or more Arrow IV missiles, while the lighter ASFs, Sabre 27b and Dragonfly MM-3 stayed behind guarding the Taurian Fleet.





'This is not a battle, it is a massacre.'


'You are right, Ensign, but it was their choice, I asked then to surrender. They decided to attack.'


'Sir, the radio. They are asking to surrender.'


'Put me on.'


...


'Reduce the relative speed to zero and shutdown your engines. Prepare to be boarded. Any resistance will be dealt with deadly force.'


'Well, I see that our ground-ponders friends are going to be disappointed.'


'Navy Rules, Sir.'


'Navy Rules, indeed.'
 
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Chapter 80
Note.: This chapter is chronologically before chapter 79, this is what happens during the time the Taurian task-force is moving into the Lothian League.


In August 3053, a high-level Canopian delegation arrived in Taurus for negotiations following the evolution of the situation in the Free Worlds League, the Marian Hegemony with the aim of dealing with these peculiar situation and with the territory between both nations.
The fact that the Magistracy and the Concordat had an excellent relationship since before the beginning of Emma Centrella's reign, and had complementary objectives and very few conflicts of interest, eased the negotiations considerably.

By the end of September they had agreed on the following, the systems West of a line Liu's Memory - Fronc (including both) would fall under the sphere of influence of the Magistracy, while those East of said line would be for the Taurian Concordat.
Regarding the Marian Hegemony, it was decided that as soon as the Marian Armed Forces invaded the Lothian League (something that both nations took for granted), the MAF would invade the systems of Islington, Algenib, Mariu's Tears, Horatius and Ballalaba, while the remaining systems - Bacallieu, Pompey, Suetonius, Stafford, Alphard (the capital), Addhara and New Venice would be occupied by the TDF. As soon as the MAF had available forces, it would also clean Astrokaszy from the pirates present there.


The goal of the Concordat was to either add "its" worlds to the Lothian League while at the same time turning it into a client state or to create a Concordat enclave if negotiations with Lothian League were not to its liking, while all the Magistracy wanted was to eliminate a troublesome neighbor (and win several systems), taking advantage of the fact that the Free Worlds League was busy with a nasty civil war and couldn't do anything.


To allow for this decisive strike,, the Magistracy had to authorize the movement of a considerable number of Concordat forces through its territory, in order for them to arrive on time. This was taken into account in the new military alliance between both nations, which considerably expanded the treaty in force since the end of Andurien Crisis / Periphery Wars of the 3030s.
Among the forces sent by the Concordat were the 1st Battalion of the Revenants and the Reach Guards (the former Aurigan Royal Guards) as well as 3 other battalions of ''Mechs, all with combined arms support. Sending so many of the core Arano-Bassot forces was a move from they political enemies, hoping that they would suffer grave losses, and at same time let Coromodir with weak protection. That was swiftly counter-balanced by Kamea, contracting the St. Cyr Heavy Assault Group, that had just ended its contract with the Federated Commonwealth. An expensive move, no doubt, but in the end the defense of Coromodir was even increased.
Part of the agreements included the Concordat providing equipment and training to Magistracy technicians to develop, implement, and maintain a native HPG network.
The biggest surprise, however, was the Magistracy informing the Concordat that it had acquired two WarShips, the MCS Coranna and the MCS Kossandra. While the first was a Whirlwind class Destroyer the second was a Texas class Battleship. The problem was that although the MAF was able, at the limit, to maintain the MCS Coranna, the repair of the MCS Kossandra because of serious problems to the keel was far beyond the capabilities of Magistracy. Due to these problems, the Magistracy proposed to exchange the ship for two Concordat class Frigates and two Pinto class Corvettes as well as training personnel to maintain and crew them.
After deliberations ,the TDF Navy, always eager to get its hands on a bigger WarShip, agreed on the idea but only after a close inspection by Taurian technicians to know if they could do something out of it.
Of course, the Concordat was also very curious to know how the Magistracy managed to get its hands on such WarShips or the advanced 'Mechs they had recently deployed.



The answer was a fascinating story, that the Magistracy didn't share right now but the truth emerged years later. Some years ago, an exploration ship in Deep Periphery South of Magistracy, had found a system with a dead colony. In orbit, there were several JumpShips and two WarShips, while on the ground, nothing indicated that there had been a conflict. Taking the maximal protection (use of advanced Hazmat suits for everyone stepping on the planet), the exploration ship found out after investigation that all these were the remains of a ghost colony, clearly in the middle of expansion phase by the look of the infrastructure. Only after a hospital had been found, they were able to get a picture of what had happened. According to the records that were found, a native virus spread in the colony 5 years after they had landed. By the time they noticed the problem, it was already widespread and people were dying at a very high rate. The records ended with no indication of a cure or of any survivors.
As for the origin of the colonists, they seemed to be the survivors of a Second Exodus, calling themselves SLDF in Exile / Wolverines. The WarShips in orbit were the SLS Yukon (destroyer), now the MCS Coranna and the SLS Bismark (battleship), now the MCS Kossandra.
Due to the care needed to prevent the people involved in the removing of the hardware, to catch the lethal virus that had killed the colony, it took years to transfer the equipment and ships back to the Magistracy, something that at this moment, mid 3053, was in the final phase. Not only did they have about a regiment of advanced 'Mechs, including several models never seen before (among them the Bull Shark), but also a fully automated 'Mech factory, that had been transferred to the Magistracy and was currently working at full capacity.




What the Magistracy got from the dead Wolverine colony apart the hardware, was a treasure trove of information. The stories of the Exodus, the Pentagon Civil War, Operation Klondike, the creation of the Clans, the Trial of Annihilation of Clan Wolverine, and their Second Exodus to the doomed colony near the Magistracy, where the last ones had died. Also several technical datacores with information on iron wombs, advanced weapons like the Enhanced ER PPC and ER Medium Laser that until now were only produced by the Concordat and several advanced designs like the already mentioned Bull Shark, or the Pulverizer, Stag I and II, Mercury II and Wolverine II. But the most important information was the location of the Clans Homeworlds and the full maps of the Exodus Road, the original one and the reverse one taken by the Wolverines during they return to the Inner Sphere and beyond. That information was shared with the Concordat, in exchange for support in several projects, including terraforming and help in building/upgrading strategic (civil and military) industrial complexes. It was decided between both nations that this information would not to be shared with other, at least not for the time being.


Jean-Luc also wanted access to that information and to more designs. While thanks to being part of the Concordat elite, he was granted access to much of it, he couldn't get access to others as the Canopian protected their advanced automated factory, that apparently was even more advanced than the late SL ones that the VMI and CHI had. Even after negotiating with Emma Centrella and in exchange for sending technicians to help creating a battle-amour factory in Canopus and providing production rights of the Dragonfly MM-3 and 3R, Jean-Luc only got the blueprints and production rights for the Mercury II, but no data on the automated advanced factory . On the plus side, the Canopians also shared the full specs of the Nighthawk Mk.XXII (not the XXI or XXX, the ones with stealth armor, if they had access to it, these were MIM only) in exchange for helping building a factory to produce them.
 
Chapter 81
Parents being parents, one of the biggest problems for Jean-Luc and Kamea was that Sara was currently serving in the first battalion of the Revenants - part of the expeditionary force that was invading the Marian Hegemony. Both had taken risks on the battlefield and the 1st battalion was one of the best equipped and full of veterans but they were still worried.


Not wanting to show any preferential treatment, the solution they found was to make use of the fact that this was also the battalion where traditionally Jean-Luc's companies tested their new models.
Thus, a Lance was added, officially for testing new models that would be chosen for production, unofficially with secret instructions to stay close to Sara's unit. This experienced unit had at its disposal 2 Jenner JR9-TC3X (DHS, endo-steel, Ferro-Fibrous, 1x experimental SRM4 Streak and CASE), 2 Locust LCT-2ERX (DHS, Ferro-Fibrous, 2xERML and 2SL) as well as 2 Dragonfly MM-3R1 (equal to MM-3R, but with capacity for an Arrow IV AAM or AGM). The experimental lance had 'Mechs that could keep up with Sara's Toro II but this was obviously only mere coincidence.






Meanwhile, Jean-Luc had ordered his best technicians to analyze the Mercury II blueprints in detail, with special attention to the plug-and-play components and everything that eased replacements.






Without much surprise for Kamea and Jean-Luc, while the other forces of the TDF received Pocket WarShips support and the one that was already on its way to the Lothian League even had a WarShip, the forces of the Reach, targeting Addhara and New Venice didn't get any support. The political enemies of the family were working at full force. Even if the Marian Hegemony didn't have any kind of real navy, Kamea didn't want to take any risk and she made available two (relatively) old Union PW, which belonged to the defenses of the Reach, weakening them.


The only advantage in a way was that the opponents of the family were burning political favors at great speed, and would force Edward to soon take a position, which could put them into a unfavorable position.



While the TDF was performing its operation against the Marian Hegemony, the entire fleet of the Concordat had planned, for reasons that would be obvious to anyone, to conduct very visible exercises near the borders
 
Chapter 82
Note: At this time and in this AU, the MHAF only has the I, II and III Legio – all veteran forces, the IV, V and VI have not been created so far. Their remaining forces are militia, poorly armed, equipped and trained, when compared to the Inner Sphere, Taurian Concordat or Magistracy of Canopus regular units.






May 12, 3054


New Venice


Marian Hegemony







Contrary to the cautious estimates made when deciding to launch the offensive, the Marian Hegemony forces didn't have Pocket WarShips. They didn't have any real forces with few Aerospace Fighters or 'Mechs,the majority of the defenses being composed of several mechanized units with material outdated by the MAF / TDF standards. Even if it was a good training exercise in deploying units far away someone would have to answer for this totally wrong estimates.






In the New Venice system, the TDF forces landed unopposed, not a single ASF having challenged the approach.


Four days after landing, the 1st Battalion of the Revenants was advancing towards the world capital, facing only sporadic attacks from the few surviving MHAF forces present, a mix of the III Legio and local militia, the majority of the defenders having already been destroyed.


Outdated material or not, the III Legio units, unlike the local militia, were competent enough to have to be taken seriously during the offensive. The day before, the heiress of the Aurigan Reach had been wounded in an attack by Gladius Hover Tanks and was resting in a field hospital. Attacking by surprise from a well-camouflaged position, that somehow had escaped detection from the ASFs flying high (this is what happens when you get too lenient and contemptuous of your opponent), the fast hovers had spread confusion in the scouting elements of the Aurigan unit and only the fact that two lances were present instead of one had allowed the Revenants to get the upper hand in this encounter. Hit several times in the head by rocket salvos, Sara Arana-Bassot's Toro II had fallen with the pilot injured. The ambush had however cost the defenders dearly, since only one Gladius had escaped.










Note: due to the fact that the Marian Hegemony in this AU did not have access to AC/10 (in OTL they were imported from Taurian Concordat), the Gladius are equipped with rockets and / or SRMs.










The landing on Alphard had been lightly contested with a dozen ASFs trying to prevent it. Obviously without much success, since they had to fight one WarShip and close to a hundred ASFs all of them carrying much more advanced technology.






With Sean O'Reilly captured on Lothario together with his eldest son only 14, the regency was in charge of Livia O'Reilly.Until now her job had been to manage Alphard Trading Corporation, however she tried her best to defend what remained of the Hegemony with her ordering the II Legio stationed on the capital world, while the remaining systems were defended by the III Legio and militia forces. But since the Marian Hegemony only trusted in might, she had to deal with among others the Prefect of the II Legion, which had been left in charge of the II Legio and all units on Alphard by Sean O'Reilly.


This Ron Brown was very aggressive and was only used to fight in the nearby Periphery without understanding the changes he was facing with the advanced weapons and numerical superiority enjoyed by the TDF. This is why he decided to contest the landing of the TDF forces, without regard for Livia O'Reilly's advice, that it would be better to disperse, given that the invaders had WarShips support and a clear command of the air following the destruction of the airfields, which at this time had only atmospheric fighters, and of all the MHAF ASFs in space, executed by Naval Lasers, in a clear demonstration of force that didn't reach the Prefect mind.






Although the II Legio had numerical superiority over the Taurian forces that had just landed, the difference in technology and even in mass, both in normal average and because of the use by the TDF of a Company worth of Assault 'Mechs was much larger than the MHAF thought.


Adding artillery, including Arrow IV, Battle Armors and ASFs with air-to-ground weapons, made the battle for Alphard a fast, brutal and incredibly one-sided one.


At the end of the day, the Marian Hegemony capital was in the hands of the TDF, with the rest of the reigning family captured as they tried to escape.






In Pompey, the local commander of the III Legio, seeing that the invaders (the Reach Guards) were mostly composed of Griffins decided to move as quickly as possible to a close combat option, guessing that the PPCs and LRMs of the invaders would have great difficulty in reaching his lighter, but faster 'Mechs at such short distance.


Unfortunately for the defenders, the TDF Griffin's were the TC variant, with Enhanced ER PPCs with no minimum range, and two extra Medium Lasers. Instead of fighting the invaders to their advantage, the III Legio was massacred.






In the other systems, the invasion went better than planned - the defenders being fewer in numbers, with bad equipment equipped and virtually no air support.


Within one week, the Marian Hegemony had been totally occupied.






Following the discovery of some advanced systems among the captured equipment of the I Legio in Lothario, ongoing investigations were trying to find out from whom the MHAF had acquired them.
 
Chapter 83
While the purely military part of the campaign had gone better than expected for both the TDF and the MAF, including the important yet often overlooked transportation and logistics component, the intelligence part had been a disaster.


The only good news was that the mistakes had all lead to an overestimation of the capabilities of the MHAF. An in-depth analysis in both the TMI and the MIM showed that because none of them considered the Marian Hegemony a serious danger , the offices in charge of this nation were either composed of second choice operatives and analysts, or the dumping place for the most incompetent agents. Curious that both nations suffered from the same bias and had used the same place to deposit the trouble cases.






Following the invasion, the Magistracy of Canopus sent both civil and military personnel to ensure a smooth transition from pure military occupation to being a part of the Magistracy.


For the Taurian Concordat, the next step was to negotiate with the Lothian League the 'offer' of the systems that the TDF had won


While Dame Lorelei Logan was satisfied that the invasion of her Realm had failed and that a troublesome neighbor was no more, the truth was that she did not have the needed resources to absorb the systems that the Concordat 'offered' her.


To do so, she would have to hire more mercenaries (something her exhausted treasure did not allow) or accept the Concordat proposal that the TDF forces could be used for that, keeping those systems de facto under the military control by the Concordat, even though they nominally belonged to the Lothian League.


Of course, if she did not accept the Concordat proposal, the risk was to have the Concordat indefinitely as her neighbor, a nation much more powerful than the now defunct Marian Hegemony, and which had justly demonstrated the ability and willingness to invade and conquer small nations.


On the other hand, even if the Concordat had absorbed, peacefully and apparently in agreement with the local rulers, the Aurigan Reach, it also had invested heavily in the new territory, and the old rulers were still in power locally, which was a sign that the Concordat was an honest partner even if bigger nations had no morale when it comes with dealing with smaller ones.


But, in the present situation, Lorelei knew that she herself had asked the Concordat to intervene, begged was a more precise term, because the alternative was to have her kingdom conquered by the much more aggressive Marian Hegemony. The presence of the Concordat in this region of space was entirely her fault. And to be honest, the terms were not bad at all when compared to the alternatives : to replace the HPG network with one controlled by the Concordat, to have a military base in Alphard and preferential trade agreements. In return, they would provide help in defending the nation and fighting local pirates. The Concordat also planned to build a dockyard in Alphard, which would be of vital importance to local JumpShips, as none existed nearby.


However, Dame Lorelei Logan knew that this was the first step into becoming a Taurian protectorate and that she might have exchanged an obvious danger for a more pernicious one.






In August 3054 the Federated Commonwealth executed the Galahad 3054 exercises. The bulk of the maneuvers were, as expected, on the border with the Draconis Combine, although the other borders were not left without demonstrations of force. These large scale operations involved more troops than all those available in the combined TDF and MAF. Of particular importance was the number of WarShips involved, including for the first time some of their new models. At least one of the new ones, a big one, probably a Battle Cruiser or a Heavy Cruiser, got some problems, and needed assistance. 4 Mako class Corvettes were also detected, which indicated that either the Federated Commonwealth had recovered two more, or more likely that they had a shipyard producing them (be it an unknown one or an existing one).


Obviously, getting that information became another one of the top priorities of the TMI, a TMI that was becoming overextended.


In the FWL civil war, with both sides exhausted, the tempo of the operations slowed, but the number of sabotages and assassinate attempts grew.






While starting later and while not considered a strategic program like in the Concordat, the Federated Commonwealth also had a program to revisit abandoned or dead worlds inside their frontiers. For that, they had bought, at discount prices, several Magellan JumpShips from the Earth government, that having severely reduced the explorer missions, had a surplus of these. These were obviously sold without the HPG system (promptly replaced by one of FC manufacture) but with the LF battery still present.


So far, the results were three worlds rediscovered, two worlds that had their residual population that has regressed to primitive levels.


But in a system relatively near New Avalon, they found a world, very much alive and with advanced technology. The only problem being that the local population was aligned with the Word of Blake. The explorer ship, one of the Magellan JumpShips, barely escaped from capture, thanks to the use of the LF battery, and spread the word , which gave way to a quickly organized invasion by the AFFC. Thanks to the relatively proximity to New Avalon, first class units, like the Davion Assault Guards RCT, were available.


Supported by several lesser regiments and at least four Pocket WarShips, the invading force landed in September 4, 3054, after dealing with the ASFs defending the system. Luckily for the invading forces, the Word of Blake already facing the needs of the civil war in the Free Worlds League wasn't able to help Versailles with real WarShips or Pocket ones and the forces in place were also minimal, mostly a cadre of trainees and the respective instructors.


What the FC found after securing the world, in mid October, was that they had captured a severely damaged Star League Royal grade massive 'Mech factory with everything needed on world to supply it.
 
Chapter 84
The conclusion of the team that had examined the MCS Coranna / SLS Bismark was that repairing the WarShip, while possible, was more of a complete rebuild than a repair / refit.


Still, the Black Navy of the Concordat was much interested in the ship, reasoning that a rebuild of this size, while expensive and time consuming, would bring immense information and experience in maintaining, and even building large WarShips.


In the end, the 'purchase' of the WarShip from the Canopians was approved, and it was transferred to Bolthole, where it would be rebuilt.


Meanwhile, the troops that had participated in the conquest of Marian Hegemony were coming home, being replaced by second-line forces, since the mission now was more a peacekeeping one, under the Lothian League flag.


Sara Arano-Bassot, had returned earlier, courtesy of a semi-Command Circuit, landed on Coromodir in September 3054.


Thanks to the best Canopians specialists in cosmetic surgery, the scars she had gained in the campaign, were eliminated without a trace.


The Taurian population and the political opponents of the Arano-Bassot had also noted that they had been the only noble family to send private forces for this campaign. The population did approve of it while the political opponents of the family took good note of this campaign which fueled even more their anger and their arguments against the Reach.






While Jean-Luc stayed 'at home', dealing with the expansion of industrial capabilities in Coromodir V, Sara went with her mother to Taurus, part of her training to one day replace her as regent of the Reach province.


By mere luck, or perhaps not, Edward's eldest son Anthony (call me Tony) Calderon, who by this time was doing his military service in the Concordat Navy, and who was also being trained to replace his father, was at home. Both youngsters found the other fascinating, and conversations between the two were constant.






In September 3054, the MAF executed the long awaited 'cleanup' at Astrokaszy. If on the one hand it did not employ WarShips, as for the moment it only had one, at both nadir and zenith jump points appeared simultaneously JumpShips loaded with combat DropShips that started launching shuttles with marines and ASFs,


This time MIM had done its homework, and a JumpShip also appeared at the most common pirate point and relatively close to Astrokaszy III, immediately launching DropShips to capture the JumpShips stationed in that area.






Even before the first troops set foot on the planet, the mission was already a success, with 7 JumpShips captured, 4 Invaders, 2 Merchants and a Tramp, and 2 DropShips, both Jumbo class, showing that they too could conduct efficient space operations.


Shervanis City had close to a battalion of 'Mechs defending it, but the defense was short-lived. The MAF had indeed learned, and had sent a combined force, supporting their advanced 'Mechs (including 4 Bull Shark Assault ones) with artillery, armored vehicles, infantry and ASFs, All of them well-trained and equipped forces, very different from the pirates and near-pirates who opposed them.


At the end of September, having achieved its objectives, the MAF withdrew from the system. .If in space they had captured only two DropShips, in Shervanis City they had captured ten more, taking with them eight in lift-off condition and destroying the last two before leaving. Between the material captured and the pirate groups destroyed or fleeing, it was a major blow to the pirates in this area, the survivors left for less hostile areas.


Meanwhile, similar, albeit smaller operations had taken place in the space between the Taurian Concordat and the Magistracy of Canopus, with all systems known or suspected of harboring pirates receiving 'visits' from the MAF or the TDF. August and September 3054 was a bad time for pirates in this part of the Periphery.






When news came out in October 3054 that communications with the Greater Valkyrate and the Oberon Confederation had been lost, everyone thought that the Federated Commonwealth or the Draconis Combine had also eliminated these pirate dens, even though the Oberon Confederation was a more or less legitimate kingdom by this time.


Only Jean-Luc, when he got the news, knew what was coming.
 
Chapter 85
Four months after the loss of contact with the Great Valkyrate and Oberon Confederacy, I was looking at the reports about modified Portable PPCs for use with battle-armor and preliminary research reports on miniaturized gauss rifles also for battle armor, when I was 'asked' to participate in a war council with the leaders of both the Taurian Concordat and Magistracy of Canopus and their close advisors.


In the old days, that would have included fast traveling to Taurus via command circuit. Now, thanks to the military HPG network created just for that, it was a matter of going to the secure office in the palace where our end of said network was.


Thanks to the infiltration of the rear / administrative echelons of the AFFC, pioneered by the Reach Intelligence and largely expanded by the TMI and MIM, we had a good idea of what was happening inside the Federated Commonwealth, military wise.


This program focused on infiltrating / compromising secretaries and / or data operators with security clearances high enough to deal with confidential / sensible data, but low enough to be virtually invisible, as they were so many of them in the administration making everything work.


Even if the relationships between both nations had been getting better in the past decades, the Federated Commonwealth was still the principal focus of the TMI.


Not that the spy game had gone completely one-sided. Several agents had been caught inside the Federated Commonwealth and been traded quietly for MIIO / LIC ones caught inside the Concordat. For obvious reasons, both nations preferred a quiet and civilized resolution of these problems.


According to our reports, some unknown forces had started invading the Federated Commonwealth from the North, near the Free Rasalhague Republic. Because the FRR served as a buffer state between the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, the best forces of the AFFC were not deployed in that area, nor any WarShip, at least according to the reports of our intelligence services. The invaders were using unknown equipment, but from the videos that our intelligence got their hands on, they were identified as the Jade Falcons, one of the Clans, the descendants of the SLDF, reported in the Wolverine data files.


At the same time, we got news through the Magistracy and Concordat offices in Outreach that the KungsArmé had placed several contracts for mercenaries, paying better than they normally did, and indicating high risk missions.


To me, that indicated that the FRR was also invaded and I expressed that opinion. However while the majority agreed with my statement, we didn't have any confirmation so far. Nor any information if the Combine was also invaded as I suspected if everything went like in OTL.






Like I thought already a few months ago, the invasion of the Inner Sphere by the Clans had started.


Because of the data found on the Wolverines planet, both Periphery nations knew that this was an invasion by the descendants of the SLDF that had departed with Kerensky. A force that both nations didn't particularly like. Hated would be more exact. Both considered hilarious that this time the war was fought on the territories of the Inner Sphere nations and not on theirs.


Edward Calderon and Emma Centrella both decided that because the invasion was on the other side of the Inner Sphere and on Inner Sphere territory, they would for now wait and see. Evidently, defense preparations and expanding the budget were approved, but no information was shared with the Inner Sphere nations under threat. But knowing that the Clanners ultimate objective was the control all the Human Sphere and that if they conquered the Inner Sphere, they would come to the Periphery after, they already knew that some measure of collaboration with the Inner House would be needed to be necessary, but later. For now, both sides could exhaust themselves.


In the FWL, a bomb attack killed Thomas Marik and several of his supporters, creating chaos in his faction.


The Wolf's Dragoons called all their units home, activating the escape clauses of their contracts, without explanations to anyone.


Both the TMI and the MIM detected movements of troops inside the FC, in direction of the invasion area, but considerable forces were still kept on the common border with the Draconis Combine. For now, no movement of WarShips reported, but access to that information was (still) very limited.


The aid from VMI / CHI to MMM to help them built the NightHawk factory provided both companies with insights in ways to help and improve the construction and design of the related but slightly inferior Colibri PA(L) design series.


One of the things that caused concerns in both Periphery nations was the number and types of WarShips the invading Clans had. Unlike the powers of the Inner Sphere, they had several Battleships, including several of the Texas and Mckenna classes, something that no-one had with the exception of the ex-SLS Bismark that was starting to be analyzed in Bolthole, but that would probably take a decade or so before being declared operational. Obviously if everything went right with the refit / update.
 
Chapter 86
Notes: Much of this information was obtained much later. In this AU, the Overlord A3 has 2 AR-10 tubes, not 1 AR-10 and 1 Kraken. Kraken Missile does not exist at this time (invented in 3057 OTL), and there is no collaboration between the FC and the DC. To simplify things, even if Hanse Davion is still alive, the Fox class maintain that name.






In April 3055 the first local counterattack of the Federated Commonwealth against the Clans was launched.


In the Derf system, recently occupied by the Jade Falcon Galaxy, two WarShips, the FCS Ian Davion (Fox Class) and the FCS Lisa Steiner (Mako Class) appeared at a pirate jump point, and immediately moved towards the only habitable planet, around which the JFS Hawk Eye (Aegis Class) orbited.


Before they reached weapons range, the FCS Ian Davion launched its DropShips - 2 Overlord A3 pocket WarShips and 3 Vengeance CV.


Immediately, the DropShips and the Fox Corvette launched all their ASFs, a staggering flight of 144 Fighters (12 from the Fox, 12 from the Overlords and 120 from the Vengeances).


The JFS Hawk Eye launched all its ASFs in response, a tiny group by comparison of 20 Fighters. They stayed with the WarShip, while another 64 Fighters rose from the planet. When both groups merged, they advanced on the AFFC ASFs, with the WarShip slightly behind.


The lighter and more agile Federated Commonwealth units focused on the Falcon Fighters while the heavier targeted the WarShip that identifying them as the most immediate and dangerous forces started to launch Barracudas against them, while launching White Sharks at the advancing pocket WarShips, that began also returning fire.


At extreme range, both WarShips started to exchange shots, while the surviving heavy ASFs made their first attack pass on the JFS Hawk Eye, which lead to a nasty surprise for the Falcons as several of the ASFs were loaded with Alamos and the Heavy Cruiser did not survive more than a dozen nuclear impacts.


But it didn't die alone, the FCS Strong Arm (Overlord A3) took several hits that destroyed it, the FCS Lisa Steiner received heavy damage and the FCS Ian Davion only light one.


Freed from their nuclear payload, the Stukas helped the Seydlitzs in eliminating the remaining Omni Fighters, losing 76 of them against the 84 from the Clans. To these you had to add the 12 destroyed by the Barracudas fired by the Jade Falcon WarShip, making the losses of the Federated Commonwealth go up to 88 ASFs, one Pocket WarShip destroyed, one Corvette heavily damaged and another slightly damaged, against one Heavy Cruiser and 84 Fighters. Advantage in raw numbers and nuclear weapons count, after all.


Shortly after, several JumpShips appeared at the same pirate jump point, carrying the Davion Heavy Guards RCT, the 1st Kell Hounds Regiment and the 10th Lyran Guards RCT, all units fully upgraded with SLDF and Royal tech.


The counter attack against the Clans had begun.






Enraged by the use of nukes, the Falcons didn't offer safcon and disregarded zellbrigen, because they considered the AFFC forces dezgra.


This is why they launched an immediate and furious attack on the disembarking forces. So enraged were they that the picket units deployed to protect the landing zones couldn't do their job and were so quickly obliterated that they couldn't warn the 10th​ Lyran Guards that was caught still disembarking. The Jade Falcons further pressed their surprise advantage by combining their speed, with EW masking their approach and Battle Armors riding the Omnis as taxis directly into battle.






The final result of the attack was that the 10th​ ceased to exist as a viable force with only 10% of its members surviving, including the Archon-Prince that was seriously wounded when he ejected his Victor VTR-9D.


Unfortunately for the Falcons, that not only put then in range of the Guards DropShips weapons, but also gave time to the other two units to unload and catch then from behind.


In the furious melee that followed, no quarter was given or asked from both sides and ended with only two Clan 'Mechs surrendering- more or less, both on them doing so only when knocked to the ground with a gun pointed at their cockpit.


Both the Heavy Guards and the Kell Hounds took heavy damage and would need months to be considered operational again. On the plus side, they had captured a lot of Clan salvage, including DropShips.


For the first time too, the Soldier Battle Armor was used in great numbers, the Federated model was a copy (illegal of course) of the Taurian Jack design. With a fixed jump pack that let it jump 60m and a fixed LMG on the left arm to deal with infantry, its main weapon was either a Single Shot SRM-2 or a scaled-up pulse rifle, the first useful against 'Mechs, the second against Battle Armors.


The comparison with the Clan Battle Armor showed that it was inferior in all ways, but it was still better than not using any. Its biggest problem was that the pulse rifle lacked enough penetration power against the Clan Battle Armors.
 
Chapter 87
By 3055 in all aspects, the FWL had fragmented into several small nations. Marik and Stewart were perhaps the largest group, controlled by what remained of the Marik family and the increasingly junior Word of Blake partners, the latter much weakened after losing almost their entire fleet of WarShips and their industrial capacity on Versailles. Regulus and Oriente, although independent, remained allied against Marik-Stewart for the sake of survival.


Andurien at this time was trying to remain independent, hoping that no one would look too much in her direction, and was trying, although without much success, to re-establish the alliance with the Magistracy.


The rest was in an undeclared state of war in which the larger groups tried to force the smaller ones to go along with them.


In late April 3055, Sun-Tzu Liao seized power in the Capellan Confederation after a coup that killed Roman Liao, Tzeng Shang and Kali Liao.


Even though Sun-Tzu blamed outside forces for the coup (without mentioning any name), an exchange of information between TMI, MIM and MIIO confirmed that the coup had been orchestrated by Sun-Tzu or forces loyal to him.


On May 14th​, 3055, I received a message from Edward Calderon, informing me that he had received an invitation from Jaime Wolf, to a meeting of leaders in Outreach, for which Command Circuits had been established. Edward, had invited Emma Centrella. They would meet in Coromodir before traveling together in Taurus One, a highly modified Lee. Edward expected me to join them there too as he wanted my presence as a consultant in the industrial and military areas, and due to the fact that I was probably the only one in the area that "knew" the leaders of the Wolf's Dragoons well (sort of).


Edward had brought his eldest son Antony and Emma had brought Danai, her heir-designate. Kamea even though she was not going to participate in the trip to Outreach, managed, easily from what I observed, to include Sara, much to her and Antony's delight.






During the trip I had several conversations with Edward and Emma, in which I tried to convey what I knew about the Wolf's Dragoons' relationship with the Clans in the form of theories that unfortunately sounded a lot like most of the rumors about them that could be heard in the Inner Sphere


As we arrived in Outreach, the presence of several WarShips immediately caught our attention with an impressive fleet in system made of 1 Aegis, 1 Congress, 2 Lolla III, 1 Sovetskii Soyuz and 1 Vincent. Apparently Jaime had recovered his WarShip fleet and made its existence public.






Not since the marriage of Hanse and Melissa in 3028 had so many leaders (and their heirs) been gathered in a single system, even if the success rate was not of 100% as no one was there from the Free Worlds League or its remains and Sun-Tzu couldn't leave his realm and hadn't sent any representatives.


What changed from my memories was the presence of Natasha Kerensky, Morgan Kell (with Phelan, meaning something didn't go as planned for Clan Wolf) and of Joan Stark, the ruler of Earth. Adding to her mystery and even if her presence was logical, she didn't bring any relatives.






I had the feeling that this was going to be quite different from what I remembered.






By their expressions, it was clear that Hanse (and family) and also Theodore knew, or at least suspected, the origins of the Wolf's Dragoons. Of everyone present, only Joan Stark and the Rasalhague representatives displayed any signs of surprise when Jaime Wolf admitted his past connection to the Clans.


The reason for the call was made quickly clear and the Dragoons were finally taking a stand, and that was to fight the Clans. The reason for the timing, was that during the last DCMS counterattack in Luzerne, the DCA had destroyed a Black Lion (CSJ Streaking Mist) and severely damaged a Texas, the CSJ Veiled Huntress, which was carrying the ilKhan, Leo Showers, who although he survived had been wounded in the attack.


While admitting that the losses had been high, Theodore did not go into details.


Because of this attack, and in light of the defeat the Falcons had suffered, in which they had also lost a WarShip, Showers had ordered a grand council of the Clans to better plan the invasion, and activate more Clans. Since Showers had decided to held it in Strana Mechty, the invasion was paused, making this meeting in Outreach possible.


The sharing of information showed that in the case of both Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, the invasion had been considerably less successful than what I remembered. For the Free Rasalhague Republic, it was about the same.


When Jaime Wolf proposed training the heirs in the ways of the Clans, both Hanse and Theodore immediately refused the offer, Hanse saying that the role of the Wolf's Dragoons, was to set up a program to train the armed forces of the present states and to give whatever information they had on the Clans, a proposal which was immediately supported by all the leaders present.


At first Jaime and Natasha refused to share any information but Hanse and Melissa, told them that unless this information was shared, they would have no other choice but to consider the Dragoons as hostile. A declaration that was supported by all the present leaders.


As both groups confronted each other, Joan Stark commented, that a good deal of this information could be obtained on the battlefield anyway, from captured enemy equipment. It would just take longer and cost more lives. After a short pause, Jaime nodded and against his will accepted to release the data-cores with Clan tech the Dragoons had but informed them not to expect miracles, it would take years to convert factories to the more advanced Clan technology.






Surprising everyone, Joan informed those present that the EDF (Earth Defense Force) would send 10 brigades, each one equivalent to 1 RCT, to help defend the FRR, and that it would accept orders for military equipment from the invaded nations, concluding that if the ultimate goal of the Clans was to conquer Earth, it was better to begin the defense now, and not only when they appeared on the Sol system.


After a quick consultation between the two, Edward and Emma, also agreed to accept orders to buy military hardware, provided that both nations also received the Dragoons' /Clan data cores and Dragoons' anti-Clan training, but at the moment neither offered military forces. In fairness, none of the invaded nations had asked for forces from them. I received orders from Edward to crank up the production of both VMI and CHI to their maximum.
 
Chapter 88
One point that came up quickly was the location of the Clans Homeworlds. At first, when Jaime admitted that they no longer had that information, due to it having been purged from their navigational computers in the last contact in 3019, this news was met with astonishment and a general drop in mood, until, shortly afterwards, Emma Centrella informed that the Magistracy and the Concordat had not only the location of said worlds, but also the route used.


This announcement was met with astonishment by all the presents and an almost growling 'Wolverines' from the side where Natasha was standing.


The fact that the distance was about 1,000 light years, and that in spite of this the Clans had mounted an invasion, caused general astonishment, quickly followed by variants of 'how do they plan to maintain a supply train of that length?' from various sides.


Immediately, both the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine started talking about the possibility of raids along that long supply line. Reality quickly kicked in, however, and the fact that the number of available WarShips was minuscule put a damper on those plans. It was a good idea, but not for the next few years. Until that, raids would be conducted using advanced JumpShips with LF batteries and Assault and CV DropShips.


For the moment, and since the vast majority of the WarShips used by the Clans were of SLDF origin with weak defenses against ASFs, (if not retrofitted) what was needed was large numbers of Heavy Fighters and Alamos to bring them down. Everybody knew that without eliminating this threat first, any attempt to liberate occupied worlds or defeat an invasion that included one or more WarShips was doomed to fail.


Because of this, among the hardware produced, the first to be ordered in large numbers, were like in most factories the much needed Aerospace Fighters. For the Concordat, it was Thunderbirds and Hell Ducks Heavy ASFs. Questions as to whether the Concordat or Earth were opened to selling WarShips were answered with a quick 'at the moment no' from both nations.


During breaks in negotiations and planning, the Dragoons several Clan OmniMechs that they were capable of producing although in small numbers. Since most of those present were or had been 'MechWarriors, the interest was evident, and everyone wanted to try out the advanced war machines the Clans were using.






Other events that draw a lot of attentions were the mock battle sessions between those present. With so many elite 'MechWarriors present, the level of battles was amazing, and even though I expected it, I quickly discovered that I was among the weakest present. Okay, I was better than Victor, Hohiro and Ragnar, but all the rest were better than me. And in the case of those I beat, I had the suspicion that it was more due to the fact that I had much more experience, than talent. Particularly hard to swallow was the string of defeats against Natasha - the damn woman was by now 82 years old, ffs. How someone of that age could still be so lethal in a 'Mech was almost incomprehensible. And she did that while still driving her Warhammer, an upgraded one, but still, not using a Dire Wolf.


Initially I thought Hanse couldn't pilot a 'Mech due to his poor health, but apparently he had recently received a heart transplant, something that had been successfully kept secret until now, and was active enough again that the doctors allowed him pilot his BattleMaster from time to time.


In another class of simulations, the Toro II that Sara was using was of particular interest to Daniel Allard and Phelan Kell, both excellent pilots of Wolfhounds. The Toro II was, after all, basically an advanced Wolfhound with Jump Jets, thanks to a lighter chassis, which used Endo-Steel. This ended with the Kell Hounds placing an order for several.


Another series of divergences from the universe I knew was that Justin Allard still drove Yen-Lo-Wang, even if it was the modernized version, with Gauss Rifle, pulse lasers and experimental triple-strength myomer. Kai, while a very good 'MechWarrior, was not at the same level of Natasha, and piloted a Pillager 3Z.


In this reality, the Dragoons offered no OmniMechs, and Victor and Hohiro, kpet on using their Victor (9D) and Grand Dragon (5K).


Theodore, still used the Command version of the BattleMaster that he had started using during the War of 3039.






In the following meetings the industrial capacity of the Clans was analyzed, as well as the size of their fleets, both WarShips and transports. Much depended on the number of Clans participating in the invasion. Too many, and it would be almost impossible to contain or defeat them. On the other hand, their transport capacity was likely to be the hard limit of what they could do, and even though the Dragoons' information was more than 30 years out of date, it was a good starting point, and everything indicated that it would be impossible for more than 10 Clans to invade at the same time. And that number would put a big strain on their supply lines. If political differences and natural distrust were added to this, it was estimated that no more than 7 Clans would participate in a renovated full-scale invasion. We would soon find out if these predictions were right and by how much.






It quickly became apparent that both the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine were receiving information from multiple occupied systems. As this could only be possible via Black Boxes, after a short exchange of opinions with Edward, I put on the table the 'request' for this technology to be shared with the other nations present. Something, which evidently, Joan Stark immediately supported.


Both nations didn't agree to that and this topic was put under the table.






Business was quite profitable. Even if quantity discounts were negotiated, by my estimates, both VMI and CHI would make a lot of money, and so would Kamea and I, indirectly. For example, any 'Mech that had Extended Range weapons and even upgrade kits were ordered in large numbers, with the payment/credit mechanisms being decided between the nations' leaders. As for battle-armor, orders exceeded by far the production capacity, and for the next few years, the Concordat and Magistracy military factories would be operating at full capacity to keep up with the demand.






Without surprise, the St. Ives Compact declared that it would support the Federated Commonwealth with equipment and troops within its means. Edward and Emma, while not providing troops, agreed to provide equipment to all invaded nations. In return, in addition to orders that would keep their factories busy for years and bring immense wealth to both nations,they would receive sample or even transfer of Clan tech, not only from the Wolf's Dragoons but also from the nations with whom they established contracts, including production rights of current designs they wanted to be produced in the Periphery to expand the number of designs available for production.
 
Well this is one of the more interesting what ifs i have seen come out of that cyoa. Parlayed into a massively improved situation for everyone and I assume the MC grandkids will be ruling the Concordat. The clans are probable fucked here. Even not set up for the invasion the IS are advanced enough the clans are in for a brutal war they probable cant win without self destructing from. The invading clans will get so mauled they will be jumped by other clans with absorption bids. If the IS can get it to that point the invasion will stall out as the clans tear themselves apart.

And your people and the Concordat can sit back and watch its enemies bleed themselves dry and pay piles of money for material... Roll that into better factories and expanding colonization and the Taurians should be expanding quickly. While hopefully the FedCom and Combine are being turned into wastelands by tamtruming clanners...
 
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Thanks. I tried to do a different story. Several pet peeves have been addressed - The always crazy Concordat, the supreme importance of Comstar up to the Jihad, the hidden army of WoB, etc.
Using the Concordat let me also fully use the HBS game set, something difficult if I go to one of the Inner Houses. Also, i can evolve my personage while maintaining the 'normal' Lore almost intact during much of the time - most of the changes are in the Periphery, and Lore looks little for that area.

Clans - yes they are fucked - right now, the IS is building warships, has no problems in nuke warships, and the armies are at SLDf (not Royal) level, evolving to Royal. Another thing that I want to address in the next chapters is the capability of the IS to develop and build Clan-level systems. Yes, is going to take time, but unlike the 'standard' game set, is evidently possible.
 
Always good to see a concordat that are not literal bulls to angry and stupid to be more than acceptable targets. They would have been another great house if not for the star league and should have been able to rebuild instead of degrading and obsessing over old wounds till its all they are.

The clans are functionally a closed system that cant deal with outside anything well. They by their very nature cant use modern warfare because industrial scale anything breaks their culture. New ideas break their culture. The mere idea they are not the best ever and the scavenger lords can equal or beat them will cause them to tantrum. Of course real problem is how much of the IS burns before the clans break...

Well good thing the periphery can stand back and laugh as the houses and degenerate remains of the sldf smite each other. Already it is far more sensible than canon and i bet by time they come back it will be in the teeth of hardened defensive lines that will eat entire galaxies in nuclear fire and chew them up in holding actions. With actual RCT's fighting not targets to get kicked over.
 
Chapter 89
The rest of the meeting in Outreach dealt with information sharing protocols regarding the Clans between the nations involved and an informal truce, due to Takashi being the ruler of the Draconis Combine and not Theodore, it was not possible to sign a formal one.


As soon as the truce was decided, the best regiments from both the Federated Commonwealth and Draconis Combine, that were still facing each other, started to move from their garrison locations, almost all at the respective borders, to the new priority conflict – The Clans.


Unfortunately for the Federated Commonwealth, both the Capellan Confederation and what was left of the Free Worlds League these days, did not participate in the Outreach meeting, and so, no truce deal with these nations was found. So, the AFFC still needed to maintain a considerable amount of forces on those borders.


Back in Coromodir (again via Command Circuit), I wasted no time in sharing the technical data from the Wolf's Dragoons database.
The consensus among both VMI and CHI technicians was that it would be necessary to create the tools first and then build from scratch new factories and assembly lines capable of producing Clan tech.
Not only were the precision and tolerance levels more demanding than the best we did today (for the Royal or Wolverine tech) but many of the components made greater use of rare components, which were difficult to obtain.
Fortunately for the Concordat, because of the much expanded mining program in space, we had wider access to most of them than other nations. That was at least the analysis of my specialists.
The general opinion, was that it would be advisable, to prioritize building weapons first and only after that 'Mechs, ASFs and vehicles.


Even in our best estimates, it would take at least 5 years for the first models to roll off of the assembly lines. As for the 'Mechs/ASFs/vehicles, it would take at least 10 years before the first ones could be produced.
And that was for VMI and CHI. Estimates for other companies indicated that more time would be needed.


In the meantime Edward had opened the purse strings. Due to the Clan Invasion Crisis, (and thanks to the large number of orders placed by both the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, that in turn represented an increase in tax revenues for the state) the defense budget was greatly expanded. 10 new brigades were created and the number of WarShips and Lee DropShips ordered was greatly increased.
A Concordat brigade was similar to a Federated Commonwealth reinforced RCT, although the integration/distribution of forces was somewhat different, with the brigade having a larger artillery and air defense component and also a lot more Battle Armor and PA(L). PA(L) were something that only the TDF and MAF deployed on the battlefield, Earth and WoB never moved past the Infiltrator custom-build units, and the other nations didn't produce PA(L).

The result of a program whose objective was to build the cheapest WarShip possible, the Type 055 - Orca, was something never seen before even if it failed to be cheap in its final, approved version.
The first proposal was a very small ship, 75K Tons, with 2 NL35 and 2 Barracuda tubes. No DropShip Booms, very spartan, with a cost a little over a Monolith.


Evidently, the Concordat Navy although interested in the design, proposed many modifications. The main one was that against any opposition present, it had neither the ability to evade nor the means to defend against anything more than an Assault DropShips, it didn't even have defenses against ASF's.
From interaction to interaction, we came to the time of the Clan Invasion. No longer a small, low priority, low budget pet project, that never passed the concept/ design phase. With the need for a very long range / autonomy warship / raider arose to attack the Clans' very long supply line to their Homeworlds, the latest version was no longer an economical WarShip, due to its use of an LF battery, but met all the requirements for a raider.


With 80K Tons, a LF battery, 2 NL55, (one on the Forward Left and one on the Forward Right bays) and 2 Killer Whale tubes (each with 24 missiles) on the Nose, it was also able to carry two DropShips and had an autonomy of 2 years. Being so small, it had intra-system engines adapted from those used in Starlifter DropShips (50K tons+) which gave it anemic mobility when compared to any WarShips, ASF or most military DropShips, but far superior to any Jumpship.
If it encountered any opposition, the doctrine was that it would use the LF to execute a jump and flee the area, avoiding combat. Without opposition, it was more than capable of destroying any Clan resupply convoy.
With all these modifications, it cost almost 9 billions of C-Bills, but it was the only WarShip / Raider capable of operating deep on the Exodus Road without support (not counting the two DropShips it could carry) for an extended period.
Four were ordered, and received top priority for construction. Taurians, being Taurians, several of the Killer Whale missiles have 'special ordnance', aka are nuke tipped (Peacemakers with a 500 kiloton warhead).


While expensive, it was surprisingly fast to build, because with the exception of the compact K-F drive and LF battery, that were unique, everything else was off-the-shelf components, already in mass production.






Because of the disintegration of the Free Worlds League and the internal wars that was damaging much of the military-industrial infrastructure / complex, several companies that until recently only existed inside the League, started to look to create branches or even migrate to other nations, or risk the fate of so many that have been destroyed during the first and second succession wars. One of these companies was Irian Technologies. Unlike many others, that looked to the Capellan Confederation, the Magistracy or the Federated Commonwealth, Irian Technologies started negotiations with Kamea Arano to create a branch in Coromodir V, the place that offered the best tax and incentives inside the Concordat and also already had a comprehensive secondary industry and infrastructure capable of supporting said industrial complexes.
 
Any kind of raider will devastate the clan shipping and given how stretched and... ill conceived most all clans handle it losing even one convoy could cripple a clans invasion attempt probably. Though do the ships not carry any standard weapons? Not even a dozen medium lasers? Also by time they can even get built and crews worked up and actually get to their target zones probable looking at 2 years before they start operations. Irian coming to them is not a good sign for the FWL. Good for the Taurian if they can keep the corporate culture under control.
 
Add at least a year to travel from the Concordat to the exodus Road. Well, maybe less, if the ships execute double jumps all the way.
Yep, the initial design is for a warship as cheap as possible so, no secondary weapons. But, carrying two dropships, noting stops then to be military ones, CV, Assault, or Pocket Warship ones.
Everything takes time - at least two years for the first to be operational, indeed.
Until that, only raiding by the very few warships that Earth, FC, or DC can free (if any) or more probably, by LF Magellan's.
Probably, the second generation of the Orcas gets some non-capital weapons.
 
If double jumping will they be able to fill both batteries at same time or will they have to risk breaking something because they dont grok surge protectors? Combat droppers are good but they will need to resupply eventually or need material for repairs and they will be far from home and cant trust either the Combine or Fedcom to not try something. 80k goes very fast as well so not sure they even have any kind of deep cargo bays to play deep raider either. Eh can just roll with it and see what happens. Going to be a long fight without fiat keeping things orderly.
 
Data File

Class/Model/Name: Type 55 Orca
Tech: Inner Sphere / 3132
Vessel Type: WarShip
Rules: Level 3, Custom design
Rules Set: AeroTech2

Mass: 80,000 tons
K-F Drive System: (Unknown)
Length: 260 meters
Sail Diameter: 825 meters
Power Plant: Standard
Safe Thrust: 1
Maximum Thrust: 2
Armor Type: Standard
Armament:
2 Killer Whale
2 NL55
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class/Model/Name: Type 55 Orca
Mass: 80,000 tons

Equipment: Mass
Power Plant, Drive & Control: 4,800.00
Thrust: Safe Thrust: 1
Maximum Thrust: 2
Kearny-Fuchida Hyperdrive: Compact (Integrity = 3) 36,200.00
Lithium Fusion Battery 800.00
Jump Sail: (Integrity = 3) 34.00
Structural Integrity: 50 4,000.00
Total Heat Sinks: 210 Single 68.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 7,475.00
Bridge, Controls, Radar, Computer & Attitude Thrusters: 200.00
Fire Control Computers: .00
Food & Water: (727 days supply) 240.00
Armor Type: Standard (94 total armor pts) 79.50
Capital Scale Armor Pts
Location: L / R
Fore: 20
Fore-Left/Right: 15/15
Aft-Left/Right: 15/15
Aft: 14

Cargo:
Bay 1: Cargo (1) with 4 doors 10,574.50

DropShip Capacity: 2 Docking Hardpoints 2,000.00
Grav Deck #1: (95-meter diameter) 50.00
Life Boats: 12 (7 tons each) 84.00

Crew and Passengers:
11 Officers (11 minimum) 110.00
51 Crew (50 minimum) 357.00
4 Gunners (4 minimum) 28.00
Weapons and Equipment Loc SRV MRV LRV ERV Heat Mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Killer Whale(48 msls) Nose 8 8 8 8 40 2,700.00
1 NL55 FL/R 6 6 6 6 170 2,200.00
1 Lot Spare Parts (10.00%) 8,000.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS: Heat: 210 80,000.00
Tons Left: .00

Calculated Factors:
Total Cost: 8,979,899,824 C-Bills
Battle Value: 12,879
Cost per BV: 697,251.33
Weapon Value: 4,952 (Ratio = .38)
Damage Factors: SRV = 174; MRV = 174; LRV = 137; ERV = 55
Maintenance: Maintenance Point Value (MPV) = 65,496
(41,426 Structure, 16,520 Life Support, 7,550 Weapons)
Support Points (SP) = 75,515 (115% of MPV)
BattleForce2: Not applicable
 
Ok that does look decent. 10k cargo should be decent enough for spare parts, ammo, and general supplies and its got enough guns as long as it does not meet any real oppostion it can just gut transports. Though if one accidently jumps to close to a enemy warship... What system you use to make it?
 
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