FCBC - 2771

==Fate Can Be Cruel - 2771==
===January===
1 January to 31 March 2771
Thazi (Terran Hegemony)
On 4 January, General Rita Mitchell had stood in the repaired HPG station as the first message in 6 years was received and answered successfully. In recognition of the event, General Mitchell named Valerie Sample, Star League Department of Communications as her Director of Communications. The plant on Linden was undergoing an expansion in order to speed up production of much needed repair parts to restore the regions HPG network.
In General Mitchell's office was a new roster, this one contained a full list of the Blommestein Provinces HPG stations and their estimated time to repair or construction as relayed by the several survey teams roaming the region. Some were marked high priority, some not so much. Each was assigned to a repair team, she had 4 Teams available. High Priority systems had a Team assigned to it, the others had an estimated time to complete repairs once a Team began work. SLDF Combat Engineers were already at work on Blommestein and Puttalam laying the foundations and power plants for the HPG stations, once the actual HPG Team arrived, they would move to different worlds to prepare them.
HPG Restoration Report
Thazi (TH) - Repaired (Team 1)
Boulsi (TH) - Under Repair June 2771 (Team 2)
Pilon (TH) - Under Repair April 2771 (Team 3)
Azur (TH) - Under Repair, May 2771 (Team 4)
Wokha (TH) - Needs Repair July 2771 (Team 3)
Blommestein (OA)- Needs Construction, January 2772 (Team 1)
Ddraig (OA) - Needs Repair September 2771 (Team 2)
Ejeda (OA)- Needs Repair December 2771 (Team 2)
Waini Point (OA)- Needs Construction (14 months)
Zumbo (OA)- Needs Construction (14 Months)
Ambatomainty (OA) - Needs Repair December 2771 (Team 3)
Sorsk (OA) - Needs Repair April 2772 (Team 2)
Puttalam (OA) - Needs Construction January 2773 (Team 3)
Maripa (OA) - Needs Repair (3 Months)
Loikaw (OA) - Needs Construction (14 Months)
Mandeville (OA) - Needs Repair August 2772 (Team 2)
Zetang (OA) - Needs Construction (14 Months)
La Ligua (OA) - Needs Repair (4 Months)
Carmelita (OA) - Needs Repair (5 Months)
Quines (OA) - Needs Repair (2 Months)
Shira (OA) - Needs Repair October 2771 (Team 4)
Domeykp (OA) - Needs Construction (14 Months)
Feijo (OA) - Needs Construction (14 Months)
Alktral (OA) - Needs Repair (3 Months)
Linden (OA) - Operational
Ceiba (OA) - Needs Repair (3 Months)
Bossangoa (OA) - Needs Repair (3 Months)
Thazi Motors was now at 80% capacity on previous production lines and Peter Sajak had opened new lines for Demon and Chevalier Tank production. Production of the much needed raw material was ramping up nicely and was estimated to reach 100% of needs around April 2771.
Thazi Motors
Manticore - 2 Lines producing 20 per month currently each line (30 per month once 100% reached each line)
Alacorn MkVI Tank - 2 Lines producing 15 per month currently each line (20 per month once 100% reached each line)
Turhan Tank - 2 Lines producing 32 per month currently each line (40 per month once 100% reached each line)
Demon Tank - 2 Lines producing 18 per month currently each line (25 per month once 100% reached each line)
Chevalier Tank - 2 Lines producing 30 per month currently each line (40 per month once 100% reached each line)
True to his word, Lieutenant General Carter DeMars, Quartermaster Command had bribed, begged or outright stolen several more vehicles for reverse engineering. Peter Sajak knew he had his work cut out on several of the newly brought in vehicles for the technical hurdles were huge. He stood looking at the row of waiting vehicles, Thor Artillery, Padilla Arrow IV, Chaparrel Arrow IV, Thumper Artillery, Zephyr Hover Tank and Maxim Hover Tank. Hajera Spangler and Trevor Nixon, his weapons experts had already professed that building Arrow IV ammunition was impossible on Thazi due to the lack of advanced construction facilities. Both had argued for establishing a Factory on Azur to handle production of the Arrow IV ammunition and then they might as well build a Factory to manufacture the Artillery Vehicles themselves. They needed Azur's advanced industry, especially the more advanced microelectronics industries. After consulting with General Mitchell, Lieutenant General DeMars agreed.
===February===
17 February, 2771 
Thazi (Terran Hegemony)
Martin Zuni returns to Thazi with the dependent of the 272nd Mechanized Infantry Division and those of the 126th Mechanized Infantry Division. General Rita Mitchell met the 6 Converted Mammoth Dropships as they settled onto the space port. She had not felt this much impatience in many years. But once she spotted her husband, Colonel Keith Mitchell (Reserve) guiding her now 11 year old son, Patrick Mitchell through the crowds, she felt tears freely streaming down her face as she broke into a run towards them. On reaching her family, she scooped Patrick into her arms and hugged him tight for a few seconds before allowing one arm to hold onto her husband. It had been almost 7 years since she had seen either. After 15 minutes, she had managed to calm herself and the reunited family moved to the awaiting ground car. Catching sight of Martin Zuni, General Rita Mitchell silently nodded at him in gratitude.
Once they reached her quarters, she had to explain everything to her family and introduced them to Amanda Cameron. Her husband, Colonel Keith Mitchell took the news with no small amount of shock, but Patrick Mitchell thought it was cool, and did not hesitate to entertain Amanda while the adults talked.
===April===
1 April to 31 June 2771
Thazi (Terran Hegemony)
It took until 3 May for all the vote results to come back in of the 22 systems of the Blommestein Province. Though the measure to join the Terran Hegemony passed in all the systems, on several systems, the vote was so close that protests broke out contesting the results. On Bossangoa, the vote to join the Terran Hegemony had come in at 80.6% and several protests turned into full blown riots by 21 April. With only 2 Battalions of local Militia, the largest protest which turned into a riot after the Militia panicked and several protesters were shot and killed and many more wounded by the Militia forces. This only inflamed the protests with even people who had voted to join the Terran Hegemony taking to the streets in protest. Things magnified when the Militia met the rock throwing with live ammunition in what became to be known as "The Mana Massacre" killing over 300 protesters and wounding almost 1,000.
It was not until 9 May that word of the situation on Bossangoa reached Linden and then rapidly General Mitchell on Thazi. Major General Johanssen, 173rd Mechanized Infantry Division did not wait on orders from General Mitchell and dispatched her 1731st Brigade to Bossangoa with orders to restore order and take the Militia into custody. Arriving on Bossangoa on 29 May, Lieutenant General John Lemustang, commander 1731st Brigade found the situation completely out of control. On 30 May, SLDF troops intervened against the Militia, who refused to disarm, causing a major firefight for half an hour before the Brigades Battlemech Battalion arrived on scene and ended the Militia's eagerness to fight. It took some fast talking by the on scene SLDF commander to prevent the civilian protesters from attempting to lynch the Militia prisoners.
On Sorsk and Puttalam, the votes were equally close at 81.2% and 81.7% voting for joining the Terran Hegemony. The few protests that occurred were peaceful, neither planet had an armed presence on it, not organized anyway. The first real problem occurred on Sorsk, on 17 April when supporters from each side clashed in a massive brawl which left several on each side dead and many more injured. By 8 May, things had really gone down the drain with most of those wanting to remain in the Outworlds Alliance fleeing the capital of Gorod Pionerskiy into the surrounding wilderness. Word reached Thazi and General Mitchell who immediately ordered the 8th Conventional RCT from Wokha to deploy to Sorsk. Arriving on 30 May, the 8th Conventional RCT quickly established order and began sending patrols into the wilderness to try and convince the scared civilians to return to the city.
Puttalam, on the other hand, with a single SLDF Infantry Regiment (Reserve) located on it, managed to remain peaceful, though everyone could sense the simmering anger of the protesters against joining the Terran Hegemony. Notified by the garrison commander, the ever roaming HPG relay ship assigned to the area notified General Mitchell of the potential for serious trouble. She dispatched the 359th Battlemech Division under newly promoted Major General Joanna Petrovsky to Puttalam. Their arrival kept the anger at a simmer but the top never blew.
Boulsi, Pilon and Azur returned to the HPG network. Assigned Teams moved on to their next missions. Valerie Sample, Director of Communications managed to put together 2 more HPG repair teams that could tackle the easiest repairs, if assisted by SLDF Combat Engineers. She dispatched one to Ceiba and the other to Quines. She had then departed Linden for Azur, she needed to recruit much needed communication personnel to operate the ever expanding HPG Network and it had the greatest number of well educated people. Many of them born in the Terran Hegemony itself.
Rear Admiral Delvaney and SLS Salvation, Newgrange-Class Yardship had repaired the newly named SLS Blommestein, Vigilant Corvette and a skeleton crew piloted it to Thazi for proper crewing. They then began repairs on the 2 Liberty-Class Jumpships, which her survey teams had, much to Rear Admiral Delvaney's relief, needed major repairs but their jump cores were intact.
On Boulsi, Major General Heinrich Rommel had a firm grasp of the needs of the SLDF commands. Much to General Mitchell's irritation, he had placed, now Lieutenant General Paul Kilgorian in command of the 322nd Armored Division. Major General Rommel then enacted the plan to use the 322nd Armored Division as a advanced training command, also reconfiguring the 322nd Armored Division in the process. With General Mitchell's blessing, he ordered an Armored Regiment and Infantry Regiment to Alktral to join the 2 Infantry Regiments already there to form the 13th Conventional RCT under newly promoted Lieutenant General Quin Hill. He then dispatched an Armor Regiment to Shira, there they would join the 3 Infantry Regiments and form the 9th Conventional RCT under Lieutenant General William Glenclaus. His last Armor Regiment and 2 Infantry Regiments were dispatched to Puttalam to form the 14th Conventional RCT under Lieutenant General Vanessa Wright.
He then funneled newly graduating Armor and Infantry into the 322nd Armored Division. Equipped with Merkava Mk VIII tanks, he ordered each of the 3 Brigades to be identical with 2 Armor Regiments and 3 Infantry Regiments. For the next year, they would conduct extensive training in active operations at the Brigade and Division level before being eligible for deployment to the Line commands.
For General Rita Mitchell, it was a hectic time. She had drafted her husband, Colonel Keith Mitchell as her aide to help her in coordinating the ever expanding SLDF presence. It was getting too hard to manage from "home" so she had a large building built next door for the additional wall space. Her husband constantly updated the large boards with incoming information. General Mitchell sat back and looked over the now massive board outlining the various commands, their locations, readiness level. She had finally decided to attach a name to the SLDF forces in the region, the First Expeditionary Army.
First Expeditionary Army (General Rita Mitchell)
Army Command Regiment (Thazi) (BM Batt, HQ Batt, Inf Batt)
Royal Black Watch (Thazi) (100%)
322nd Armored Division (Pilon) (100%)
Special Forces Regiment (Thazi) (4 Batt) (75%)
1st Corps (Major General Nathan Baxter)
359th Battlemech Division (Puttalam) (90%)
272nd Mechanized Infantry Division (Thazi) (100%)
280th Mechanized Infantry Division (Blommestein) (90%)
29th Mechanized Infantry Division (Ambatomainty) (100%)
31st Infantry Division (Ejeda) (100%)
211th Hussar Regiment (Ddraig) (100%)
509th Battle Regiment (Mandeville) (100%)
201st Battle Regiment (Zumbo) (100%)
8th Conventional RCT (Sorsk) (100%)
10th Conventional RCT (Blommestein) (100%)
14th Conventional RCT (Puttalam) (100%)
2nd Corps (Major General Colin McGregor)
126th Mechanized Infantry Division (Feijo) (60%)
173rd Mechanized Infantry Division (Linden) (90%)
36th Infantry Division (Azur) (100%)
9th Hussar Regiment (Ceiba) (100%)
277th Dragoon Regiment (Zetang) (100%)
238th Striker Regiment (Domeyko) (100%)
247th Heavy Assault Regiment (Alktral) (100%)
9th Conventional RCT (Shira) (100%)
13th Conventional RCT (Alktral) (100%)
21st Independent Squadron (Vice Admiral Tanisha Tanaka)
SLS Windego, Whirlwind Destroyer (Azur)
55th Reconnaissance Division (Rear Admiral Paula Bannock)
SLS Sneak, Bug-Eye Surveillance Ship (Thazi)
SLS Blommestein, Vigilant Corvette (Thazi)
5 Scout Jumpships (4 w/HPG, 1 will be returned service 2772)
88th Cruiser Division (Rear Admiral Barbara Coltrain)
SLS Rhodon, Luxor Heavy Cruiser (Feijo)
SLS Hatchet, Kimagure Pursuit Cruiser (Feijo)
SLS Dragonfly, Riga Frigate (Linden)
SLS Yangtze River, Vincent Corvette (Linden)
SLS Trinity River, Vincent Corvette (Linden)
SLS Halthom, Vincent Corvette (Linden)
89th Cruiser Division (Rear Admiral Vincent Zeibler)
SLS Conroy, Avatar Heavy Cruiser (Puttalam)
SLS Shield, Avatar Heavy Cruiser (Puttalam)
SLS Independence, Samarkand II Aerospace Carrier (Ambatomainty)
SLS Solomon, Essex II Destroyer (Ambatomainty)
SLS Cartagena, Essex II Destroyer (Blommestein)
SLS Buccaneer, Essex II Destroyer (Blommestein)
90th Support Division (Rear Admiral Trisha Delvaney)
SLS Salvation, Newgrange Yardship (Blommestein)
SLS Borneo, Volga Transport (Blommestein)
SLS Dark Brawler, Dart Light Cruiser (Thazi)
SLS Thazi, Dart Light Cruiser (Training Ship) (Thazi)
SLS Mighty Lift, Potemkin Transport (Thazi)
5 Leviathan Jumpships
Independent Ships
SLS Tirpitz, Black Lion II Battlecruiser (Thazi)
===July to September===
1 July to 31 September 2771
Terran Hegemony (Periphery)
Lieutenant General DeMars, Quartermaster Command, was like a dog with a bone, pestering General Rita Mitchell about the difficulty in maintaining or replacing the Battlemechs and Aerospace Fighters of the First Expeditionary Army. At every meeting, he brought the subject up and would not let it go. Three times a week, General Mitchell had to listen to Lieutenant General DeMars hammer away on the subject. Worse, Major General Rommel just sat back with a semi smirk on his face watching the exchanges between the two officers. He had come to like Lieutenant General DeMars, who moved heaven and earth to make sure his Training Command had everything they needed. Now that the Terran Hegemony controlled a vast swath of systems, Lieutenant General DeMars had worked tirelessly on determining what each system could provide and manufacture for the SLDF. Uniforms, boots, basic equipment slowly began to flow into warehouses, first from industries on Thazi, Boulsi, and Pilon, but now from other systems too.
Finally, General Rita Mitchell caved. "You win General DeMars. But don't expect this to happen overnight. We are talking about a multiyear operation here. Logistically, it will be to the extreme limits of our capabilities. From our previous intel, we know the expected garrisons on both Rimworlds Outposts. But those reports are years old. So, now you get to put together the complete supply needs for this operation you have been beating me over the head with the last couple of months. Now, get moving on figuring out what it is going to take to accomplish the mission."
When Lieutenant General DeMars had rapidly left to begin his part, General Rita Mitchell looked at Major General Rommel and said "Heinrich, you have been no help at all. You just sit there with that stupid smirk on your face, saying nothing at all."
"Nothing for me to say, Rita. You know the issues as well as he does, same as me. We have the force's available to use, that it is now feasible. I know you well enough that I am sure you have a plan already worked out that all you have to do is dust it off and make a few adjustments." General Rommel said.
"You have me there. I do have a plan worked out. Roughly, going from memory here, nothing happens until we establish a forward operating base. Drachenfield. It is 4 months travel from here, 16 jumps, 500LY. That is our forward operating base. Outpost #7 is another 450LY from there. Two Combat forces, one hit's Outpost #7 and the other hits Outpost #11. Our intel is several years outdated, reports that Outpost #7 was just a little larger than Outpost #4. That gives us a rough estimate of what kind of cargo capacity we need to strip the place. Outpost #11 is the unknown, I have seen Battlemech Factories before, and they are huge, massive complexes. We are talking hundreds of thousands of tons of equipment that will need to be brought back." General Mitchell said
"Why worry about stripping the entire factory? Peter Sajak has worked wonders expanding Thazi Motors and reverse engineering his production lines. We strip what we can carry, bring it back here, and worse case we reverse engineer the production equipment for expansion. That will at least reduce our shipping needs and time on target." General Rommel replied
"We are still talking about a lot of shipping being away for several years." General Mitchell said
"Hell Rita, then talk to Rear Admiral Delvaney, find out how hard it would be to upgrade the Linden yards to full production capability. I know they can manufacture jump cores, I have seen the reports. We need standard Jumpships and Cargo Dropships." General Rommel said
"That costs a ton of money. Money we do not have." General Mitchell countered
"Says who? Last time I looked; you control the printing presses out here. We started this entire ball rolling on pure faith alone. Hell, have Valerie Sample start charging for message traffic as the HPG's start coming back online. I have seen the HPG traffic reports from Thazi to Boulsi to Pilon and such from non-SLDF sources and it is steadily rising. As additional stations come back online, that traffic is going to increase even more. Get with Martin Zuni and Martha Pruitt, I bet they can come up with some money-making ideas. Think outside the box." General Rommel said
"Now I have to get a damned degree in Economics." General Mitchell replied with a smirk.
"So find someone to do the job for you. Call it the Department of Finance or Economic Development, or whatever. You’re the Regent out here, you cannot always be thinking military, now you have 26 systems and almost 500 million people now depending on you. You now have to think civilian economy along with military needs. You have to grow the civilian economy in order to provide the tax revenue to support the military side of the house. Employment is a huge thing, I have watched the changes in the overall happiness on Thazi, Boulsi and Pilon the last few years and the people are way happier now that they have jobs, money coming in and such. You have 26 Governors now, get with them, elect an advisory board or something. It is time to step out of the box and broaden those horizons. You too hands on Rita, appoint folks who know what they are doing to positions that can take the load off your shoulders some." General Rommel explained.
"Okay, Heinrich. Message received, loud and clear. Let's go get some lunch and discuss my plan to take those Outposts, something I know about." General Mitchell said
Over lunch, the plan was refined until both were satisfied and confident in its success.
Operation Robber Baron
Drachenfield - Forward Operating Base
11th Conventional RCT - Garrison, forming on Boulsi
SLS Salvation - Newgrange Yardship
SLS Borneo - Volga Transport
SLS Dark Brawler - Dart Light Cruiser
Outpost #7
2721st Brigade (Reinforced) (3 Mech Inf Reg, 1 BM Regiment)
SLS Shield - Avatar Heavy Cruiser
SLS Solomon - Essex II Destroyer
3 Leviathan Jumpships
24 Mammoth Dropships (16 Passenger, 8 Cargo)
Outpost #11
2722nd Brigade (Reinforced) (3 Mech Inf Reg, 1 BM Regiment)
509th Battle Regiment
SLS Conroy - Avatar Heavy Cruiser
SLS Independence - Samarkand II Aerospace Carrier
SLS Cartagena - Essex II Destroyer
SLS Buccaneer - Essex II Destroyer
SLS Mighty Lift - Potmekin Transport
2 Leviathan Jumpships
40 Mammoth Dropships (24 Passaneger, 16 Cargo)
The Combat Commands would all travel aboard their own Star Lord-Class JumpShip Transports. Intel had given them a rough idea of possible civilian population counts and the plan tried to account for the massive evacuations. January 1, 2772 was selected as the departure date, it would take a few months to gather the different commands. Each force would also include a full Combat Engineer Regiment to assist in stripping the factory complexes.
After making up her mind, General Rita Mitchell met with Martin Zuni and Martha Pruitt. Once they had all settled into chairs, she began speaking.
"Martin, I am sorry I never got with you sooner. But thank you for recovering my family and the families of my troops. It means the world to me." General Mitchell said
"No thanks are needed, General. I was holding up my end of the bargain." Martin Zuni said and then felt the hard elbow of Martha Pruitt in his ribs
"What Martin meant to say, is it was his pleasure. You have been more than honest and well above fair with us. But, I am sure that is not exactly what you wanted to see us about." Martha Pruitt replied.
"Not entirely. I have been reminded that I need to start thinking more about building up the economy out here and I need ideas." General Mitchell said.
"Me and Martha have been discussing that also. We now have 6 Merchant Jumpships, 12 Invader Jumpships, 1 Star Lord Jumpship and 4 Liberty Jumpships in ZaP Shipping. If we could get 12 of those converted Jumbo Dropships, I would like to mate them up with the Merchant Jumpships, people are going to start moving around out here and I think we can make a ton of money providing that service. Even charging an easy 200 dollars per jump. The Liberty and the Invaders will continue hauling bulk cargo, but we are massively short on Cargo Dropships." Martin said
"The Cargo Dropship situation will get worse soon, but I am working on a solution to that. You convinced the Liberty captains to join up with you?" General Mitchell replied
"I already knew 2 of them, they convinced the other 2 to throw in with us. Long term 10 year contract. Now that Azur is with us, a bunch of civilian goods will be ready to flow from there. But here again, the lack of Cargo Dropships and now you say it is going to get worse. I hope you figure this out soon." Matrin said
In August, General Mitchell had spoken with Rear Admiral Delvaney about the Jumpship and Dropship problems. When she had asked about upgrading the Linden yards to complete manufacturing specs, she learned that it would actually be quite simple to accomplish. Rear Admiral Delvaney then revealed that the massive 2.5M ton shipyard located at the Nadir Jump Point here at Thazi was actually a fully capable shipyard. Both it and the modified Olympus Station could manufacture the needed equipment to transform the Linden yards into fully functional shipyard with production abilities. As long as they stuck to non Warship construction. Capitol Grade weaponry and the massive transit drives were beyond their current capabilities.
September, saw Ddraig, Wokha, Ceiba and Quines returning to the ever growing HPG network. Those Teams then moved to their next assigments. It was slow but steady work in returning the HPG stations. Progress was progress.
Late September, while taking a very rare day off, General Rita Mitchell sat on the small porch with her husband, Colonel Keith Mitchell while they watched Amanda Cameron play chase with Patrick Mitchell across the large backyard. "Keith, have you had any word from your family?"
''
"Yes. It was not really good news either. Amaris is a real piece of crap. I don't have to explain that me and the greater family don't get along very well. Old uncle he bull, head of the family, Delbert Mitchell never approved of my joining the SLDF instead of taking my place within the family business. But I still used to get semi regular messages from cousin Francine. HPG traffic is heavily censored but I can read between the lines." Keith Mitchell said
"I remember. I don't think he liked me very much either." Rita Mitchell replied
"He liked you, he just hated the fact that you would not give up your Pillager for the Shootist or Galahad. Every duel you ever won grated on his nerves that you piloted a Pillager." Keith said.
===October to December===
1 October to 31 December 2771
Terran Hegemony (Periphery)
Lieutenant General DeMars, Quartermaster Command, briefed the gathered officers on Operation Robber Baron. He had run the calculations of needed supplies, using the years old intel reports, multiple times. He had pushed for this operation to be launched and he was not about to fail. Using the known tonnage totals of the factory recovered on Outpost #4, and after some lengthy talks with Peter Sajak, he had done some rough calculations on the number of Mammoth Dropships that would be needed to transport the factories from Outposts #7 and #11.
"To minimize the supply needs, all Combat troops will make the journey to their destinations aboard the Passenger Mammoths, transferring to their Combat Dropships just prior to the target. Plus it will be much more comfortable. The Cargo Mammoths will be loaded with additional supplies for the trip back. Using the intel on what Outpost #7 and #11 had, even though a few years old, I think I have the numbers calculated that even if the Passenger Mammoths are fully loaded, supply should not be an issue like it was for Outpost #4. This time we are prepared for the recovery of civilians.
''Potemkin-Class Transport, SLS Mighty Lift, will transport all the Combat personnel to Drachenfield. Just prior to arrival, they will transfer to Combat Dropships. Establish the forward operating base before proceeding to their respective targets. It will take 4 months to reach Drachenfield. Another month to get the forward operating base established. Another 4 months to Outpost #7, 4 months on site recovering the factory there and 4 months back to Drachenfield. By the time Outpost #7 is back at Drachenfield, the Outpost #11 force should be arriving at their target. One year to get there, 6 months on site recovering the factory and a year back to Drachenfield.
I currently have it planned that upon return to Drachenfield, Outpost #7 and any civilians will be immediately returned to Thazi. The ships will reload supplies, go through a quick maintenance cycle and return to Drachenfield to link back up with the returning Outpost #11 force. Everyone then returns to Thazi. I calculate the entire mission duration at 3 years. It will not be an easy mission, but I have run the numbers multiple times and they all work out. Questions?"
"You have the supply angle figured out General DeMars, how about communication?" General Mitchell asked.
"Sir, that is your call. From my understanding, you currently have four Scout Jumpships acting as HPG relay ships filling in gaps in the current network. We could establish a relay to Drachenfield, but I do not think we have the shipping available to run a relay beyond Drachenfield, not in the time frame we have available to us. But I did make some inquiries and Linden is undergoing a refit of their yards and should be able to begin construction of the HPG Scout Jumpship at a rate of 1 ship every 2 months per shipyard. Rear Admiral Delvaney's people have even gone so far as to design a HPG Merchant Jumpship. Seems they are some eager beavers, they spared no expense and equipped it with LF Batteries also. It only carry's a single Dropship, and it's onboard cargo is only 100 tons, which is just enough for 3 months of onboard supply. Which is enough when running relay within our borders, but hardly enough for an extended mission. It would have to use the Dropship for supplies. As such, I did not take communications into account, I do not feel it is feasible at this time and beyond our capabilities." General DeMars replied
Turning to Rear Admiral Delvaney, General Mitchell said "You forget to tell me about this, Admiral?"
Rear Admiral Delvaney just shrugged "You told me to handle things when you promoted me. I have not built any yet, but I did let the kids play with the design equipment. The LF Batteries really add to their survivability if they encounter hostiles or rapid deployment is needed."
"Don't build any until I green light that please. Lieutenant General DeMars, you have done some outstanding work. Now, off the briefing, how goes the Azur Factory?" General Mitchell asked
"The foundation is in place and fabrication of the actual structures is starting. Peter Sajak estimates a year before he would feel comfortable starting any kind of production. He is comfortable they have the Thor Artillery reverse engineer plans ready for production, but the Arrow IV vehicles are much more complicated. But since you opened the door to off mission discussion, I have a few ideas on the civilian economy. I know you have been asking around to various people." Lieutenant General DeMars said
"Oh, well I am open to anything. What do you have in mind?" General Mitchell asked
"Well, it will cost some money, but I figure not much. The people out here are going to need vehicles. Since you have previously stressed secrecy so we cannot buy military hardware on the open market, I assume this applies to civilian equipment also. Buy the production rights for some of the civilian vehicles, maybe mining equipment and the tooling for them to be built out here. That provides jobs, cuts down massively on the transportation headaches. Plus, in an emergency, they can be converted to possibly military production. We have a lot of worlds with serious water on them, maybe purchase the rights to produce actual ships or watercraft. Take here on Thazi, we have vast oceans, currently the few fishermen are restricted close to shore, just think if we could move out into deeper water. Those are my thoughts anyway." Lieutenant General DeMars explained
"I will give the idea's some thought. If you think of any others, please, let me know." General Mitchell replied.
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