GblaRCS Chpt 64

==Guided by the light of a (Red) Cameron Star - Chapter 64 -==
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"NHCOMNET, your only choice for interstellar communications if you think wearing monastic robes and chanting HPG instruction manuals is just freaking weird (and also that ComStar charges too much)."
Newspaper advertising campaign by NHCOMNET - 2875CE''
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===Plotting in the shadows===
ComStar Headquarters, Hilton Head Island – Terra, ComStar Space – 2845
As she made her way earlier through the literal corridors of power, heading towards the most secure briefing room in the complex, Janice Laidlaw, Head of ROM, was gratified at how not a single one of the functionaries she passed had the guts to look her in the eyes. Even the Primus himself inspired less fear, although she supposed that he was supposed to inspire devotion instead as the late Jerome Blake's representative on Terra so that was okay.
Considered by far the most fanatically loyal of the supporters of Primus Raymond Karpov if you asked anyone in ComStar if they thought she had ever disagreed with any of his policies they would reply honestly that they doubted it.
They were however wrong. As she observed the Primus himself and the rest of the First Circuit sat in their chairs facing the holovid display Laidlaw still thought the white monastic robes Karpov had insisted on replacing the old jumpsuit uniforms for everyone looked really stupid, and she was annoyed that he had dismissed her argument that all ROM personnel that might suddenly find themselves having to engage in unarmed combat, or to give chase on foot, needed less restrictive garments for their everyday wear.
The supposedly unassailable logic of his counterpoint that, 'Buddhist Monks seem to be able to do kung fu just fine in robes' had particularly rankled with her. Though as ever her cool demeanor and impassive expression meant that he didn't realize she was mentally rolling her eyes.
Had the man ever tried wearing a shoulder-holster under these damn robes? Well, had he? All that loose fabric was a pain in the ass and while you could always hide various weapons up your sleeves running necessitated hiking up the robes like a damn ballgown or you'd trip over.
Thank Blake, he had at least signed off on anyone even tangentially involved in undercover work being exempt from the dress code so that they didn't end up looking out-of-place wearing normal clothes due to unfamiliarity with wearing them. It was difficult enough training the guys to swing their arms normally with a pistol stuffed under their armpit but after a few years of wearing the robes day-in day-out ComStar personnel would be so used to them their body-language would look awkward if they suddenly found themselves in say a T-Shirt and Jeans instead. Spies need to look inconspicuous, not shifty or out-of-place.
The old cliché was that the ideal agent was a man that would have trouble getting the attention of the hostess to order a drink at the bar.
Sartorial disagreements aside Laidlaw had willingly, nay enthusiastically, implemented Karpov's Organizational Edict 3056, the proposal for what later became Operation Holy Shroud. She had ruthlessly purged ComStar of any opposition to his policies and rule, had arranged the assassination of Michelle Dupreas, her predecessor as Head of ROM in order to prevent a possible schism in the order, and had made ROM feared from one side of the Inner Sphere to the other.
Unfortunately those annoying little bastards on Niops, which admittedly lay just outside the Inner Sphere, seemed yet to have gotten the memo. In fact, their recent capture of a ROM agent on Alphard, followed by their public outing of her identity as same, would have easily been enough to bring down the ire of ComStar on their heads without all their other transgressions, but as it was 'Niops delenda est' had already started to become Primus Karpov's catchphrase.
Having the operative captured, and worse captured alive, had been bad enough for both ROM and Laidlaw herself, and the public statement of outrage issued by the Niops Association was embarrassing, but the quiet diplomatic note hand delivered to Precentor Hednesford by the captain of the next Association ship to visit the system was worse.
It said that if ROM ever caught one of the agents Niops had embedded within ComStar then the Association would happily swap their prisoner for them in a civilized exchange of captured personnel on neutral ground.
Now Karpov had ROM's counterintelligence branch, Mu/Delta, annoying the crap out of the entire organization looking for infiltrators, despite her telling him they were most probably just yanking his chain.
Whoever was in charge of Niops Intelligence they were clearly an epic troll. When they had previously uncovered a spy working for SAFE they had apparently interrogated him and then after putting him in front of the cameras to humiliate them put him on the next ship heading for the Free Worlds League saying that a good angler always throws back the little fish they catch.
That was at least a complement to ROM in that Niops kept the ComStar agent they caught later as a trophy, but in doing so that would have probably made SAFE even more annoyed into the bargain.
Stood off to one side observing while the First Circuit sat at a curved table with noteputers in front of them and water jugs within reach Laidlaw idly wondered whether the rumours that Precentor Procyon went naked under their robes for comfort were true and whether or not she could get away with tripping them at some point to find out.
The theory that Precentor Dieron wore a hair shirt had already been disproven by her agents, it was just a minor skin complaint that had them scratching like that all the time, one that they could have treated with a commonly available pharmaceutical if not for them being allergic to it alas.
As the previous holographic image being projected changed to show the front page of a recent edition of the Donegal Spectator, a reasonably well-regarded newspaper within the Lyran Commonwealth, Raymond Karpov seemed to mutter something obscene under his breath before pointing up at it with fury. "It's bad enough that half the newspapers and current affairs magazines in the Inner Sphere put that damn picture on the cover, but when I switched on CNN we were showing it too" he complained, turning to glare at Precentor Caph, Judy Cheny, the woman his predecessor Conrad Toyama had appointed to run the ComStar News Network and who still did.
If they had just deposed Karl Von Strang it would have been bad enough, the man's family name itself was enough to induce a feeling of visceral hatred to multitudes, let alone the rumors of what the Barony of Strang had been up to since Nico founded their little empire, but their detour to Star's End to disable the infamous pirate shipyard and free thousands of slaves made the whole enterprise seem like a crusade by the armies of righteousness against the forces of evil.
Frankly it put decades of carefully managed PR campaigns by ComStar to improve their image to shame, Laidlaw considered as the image changed again to show some of the liberated slaves disembarking a Niops SLDF dropship on Icar. A Steiner controlled world situated only one jump from Star's End, one with the population and infrastructure sufficient to be able to cope with their sudden arrival, the Duke of Icar couldn't really refuse to take them under the circumstances, particularly what with all the press scrutiny and the Niops Association itself announcing that it would be donating ten million C-Bills to a fund to help the freed slaves establish themselves on their new home.
Whether they were given prior warning by Niops or not, certainly a possibility given their previous contacts, the Roman Catholic Church got involved very quickly, organizing several charity organizations within the Lyran Commonwealth they had ties with to offer additional assistance.
The next image projected was of the Duke of Icar himself and his wife at a refugee center set up just outside their capital city, the nobles handing out new clothes and toys to women and children, some of whom had been forced into becoming brothel slaves by the Belt Pirates. Not known to be a kind-hearted, generous man by nature according to ROM's file on him, he probably figured that if he was going to be stuck with all these extra mouths to feed anyway then he might at least profit from the situation in some fashion by getting in some good publicity that would also raise his profile on the national stage.
When Archon Marcus Steiner had subsequently issued a statement that the Lyran Commonwealth would match the financial donation made by Niops by reducing the taxes owed by Icar to the central government that year by the same amount, enabling the planetary government to use the money to assist the former slaves instead, that was then taken as an endorsement of the whole enterprise by Tharkad.
"I'm sorry Primus" Cheny replied awkwardly, looking at the screen. "But we couldn't not broadcast these pictures what with everyone else doing it. It would have only played into the hands of those that accuse CNN of being extremely selective on what news we choose to report" she explained her position. "The fact is that they're all great pictures that draw the reader, or viewer, into the news story and it's the sort-of feel-good story that's sorely lacking in the modern era. Star League remnant dispatches SLDF to overthrow Amaris Empire loyalist, pulverise pirates and free slaves just makes people happier than hearing that yet another star system has had to be abandoned because the economy is in the toilet."
Karpov narrowed his eyes at her. "I, I mean we, don't want Niops getting this kind of positive coverage" he growled before turning back to look at the image of the massive bronze statue of Stefan Amaris with ropes around it being pulled down by dozens of soldiers wearing SLDF olive drab, their determined yet triumphant expressions as they hauled on the lines making it look even more inspiring even if the headline itself, 'SLDF defeats Amaris Empire (better late than never)' wasn't necessarily quite as congratulatory as the Niops Association might have wished for.
Still, they probably preferred the Donegal Spectator's take on the story to the irreverent comedic article the Skye Galaxy Examiner ran, the one which riffed on the centenarian SLDF General Jenna Romanov finding a tattered and forgotten to-do list down the back of her couch and remembered she was supposed to overthrow Nico Von Strang way back in the 2780's but must have gotten sidetracked.
As the image changed to a recording of Baron Karl Von Strang at a spaceport on Apollo taking from a local news feed, the man being marched down the ramp of an SLDF dropship in chains to be handed over to the authorities in what used to be the capital of the Rim Worlds Republic but was now merely a Lyran regional capital, Karpov now turned to glare at Laidlaw. "How did we not know in advance about this?" he wanted to know. "I thought we had people inside these mercenary regiments Niops hired?"
"We have an informant of our own within Bolton's Rangers, and thanks to the Taurian TMI having inadequate comms security we know everything they do that their agent within the Blackhearts sends back to them" Laidlaw responded, trying not to sound too defensive. "However, since only the most very senior officers in the two units apparently knew where they were actually going before they set out from Niops, and given there was no opportunity for either our asset or the one belonging to the Taurians to access an HPG to get word out while the mission was underway, the first we heard about it was after it was complete."
"Have we at least learned anything we can use to our advantage from our asset?" Precentor New Earth inquired.
Laidlaw nodded. "Well for one thing we know for certain that despite their public claim that the warship involved skirted the Lyran Commonwealth externally to get to Von Strang's World, that in reality it took a shortcut straight through their territory rather than taking the long way around" she replied. "A gross violation of Lyran sovereignty and a clear violation of their national borders."
"I assume we intend to surreptitiously inform the Archon of this?" Precentor New Earth inquired.
"Yes, but unfortunately as regards Marcus Steiner we know from our sources on Tharkad that they assume that this was in fact the case already and under the circumstances he is disinterested in making waves" Laidlaw replied. "He has already praised Niops in the press for handing Karl Von Strang to the Lyran authorities to face justice for his transgressions against the Commonwealth, this being thought likely because he doesn't want a want a public diplomatic spat raising questions as to why his own government never did anything about either Von Strang or the Belt Pirates at Star's End themselves."
Precentor New Earth frowned. "In that case how is this information to our advantage?" they queried, confused.
Laidlaw looked to Karpov seeking permission to answer which he gave with a nod. "Because we have good reason to expect that Marcus Steiner won't be around too much longer."
"We expect there to be another attempt on his life soon" Karpov announced.
"Another attempt?"
"ROM became aware of a scheme last year to try and infect him with a particularly virulent strain of meningitis while he was touring planets near the front lines with the Free Worlds League. It failed because he was suddenly called away from Loric to deal with a counterattack by Gerald Marik but the plotters are expected to try again very soon."
Most of the First Circuit looked aghast. "We're not involved are we?" Cheny asked suspiciously, looking to Laidlaw. As one of the holdovers from Toyama's day Cheny wasn't quite as comfortable with some of the methods ROM employed under Karpov's rule and this showed occasionally.
"No, it's not a ComStar operation, we're just not planning to interfere, mostly because we believe that under the leadership of Marcus Steiner, as opposed to his likely successor, the Lyran Commonwealth has a chance to deal a mortal blow to the League." Karpov told them. "Atreus is still trying to recover from all the systems, and particularly all the regiments lost during the Interdiction, even if their civilian economy managed to spring back faster than expected making them strategically brittle for at least a few more years."
"Strategically brittle?" Precentor Dieron queried, scratching at their neck where the collar of their robes rubbed against their skin.
"Insufficient reserves to plug the gap if Tharkad actually manages to convert more of their industrial might into effective military strength" Laidlaw explained. "Honestly, all it would take is for a few of their inepter generals to suffer an accident or contract some malady at the right, or wrong, time and a less tactically incompetent LCAF could easily have the Free Worlds League by the throat once again" she said. "The Capellans ran out of steam for their own push into the League, having the Federated Suns tearing strips off them on the other front prevented them taking real advantage of Marik weakness, but the Lyrans can soak up the damage they're taking from the Combine and still throw men and material at Atreus."
"Marcus Steiner is no strategic genius to be sure, but he's competent by Lyran standards, and competent Lyrans are almost as much of a threat to the status quo of the Inner Sphere as a Coordinator on Luthien who prioritised expanding the civilian economy over short-term military needs would be" Karpov opined. "We're not going to dirty our hands by removing him from the equation ourselves but sitting back and letting someone else do it isn't intervention on our part, it's merely letting the chips fall as they may."
Laidlaw looked from one face to the other, weighing up what each of the First Circuit was thinking. It wasn't that any of them were morally opposed to the Machiavellian scheming and sheer ruthlessness of ComStar under the reign of Primus Karpov to any notable degree, all those present had signed off on Holy Shroud after all, an operation which had involved the assassination of hundreds of scientists right across the Inner Sphere, but perhaps they might be a little more squeamish when it came to the deaths of much better known, important individuals where they knew their name and what they looked like.
"Merely curiosity on my part, but who wants him dead?" Precentor Bryant asked.
"A multitude of people I'm sure, including the Captain-General of the Free Worlds League, the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine, at least one spurned lover he abandoned in favour of marrying Melissa Lin, and a Social General or two no doubt, but I assume you're asking who is ultimately responsible for the current plot against his life?" Laidlaw replied, amused.
"Yes. Obviously"
"Cui bono? Directly I mean" Laidlaw answered the question with a question. "Who benefits the most directly?" she translated the Latin phrase.
"Their heir. Which would presumably be Claudius Steiner, the Archon's younger brother given that Marcus himself has no children and hasn't appointed a successor. Is he really so power-hungry and ruthless that he would have his own brother killed?"
"Ruthless? According to what we know of the man there are indications that he's positively deranged" Karpov interjected.
"The Steiner genetic curse?" Precentor Dieron theorised.
"We're not sure, the family does have a history of Dobrowski Depression-A Syndrome, but it would only be speculation to pin the man's issues on that without proper study" Laidlaw responded. "We do know that many of the soldiers under his command in the Second Lyran Guards regard Lieutenant-General Steiner as being, what was the phrase our operative said they used? Oh yes, one assault mech short of a full scout lance."
"How has he not been stripped of command then?" Precentor Alpha-Centauri wanted to know. "I know he's the Archon's younger brother but surely nepotism only gets you so far."
"Because despite his, let's call them idiosyncrasies, he still scores better in evaluation tests overall than the majority of other LCAF senior officers do" Laidlaw explained, seeming to find that fact amusing judging from her expression. "His habit of favouring the employment of aggressive tactics in the field obtain better results than the overly cautious tendencies of many a Lyran General focused mainly on self-preservation and personal aggrandisement."
"So, being crazy works for him?"
"Within the military ecosystem he finds himself in, yes" Laidlaw replied. "It's doubtful that he will prosper so well if plunged into the byzantine mess that is civilian government within the Lyran Commonwealth however, which is exactly what the Primus is counting on."
"Lacking oversight or restraint we expect Claudius to cause total havoc" Karpov concurred, smiling, a smug expression on his face. "Of more relevance to our ongoing issues with Niops the man's volatility primes him to overreact to any perceived slight, one such potential slight being if some minor periphery power thought that they could send warships into Lyran territory at whim without facing any consequences for their gall."
"With some nudging in the right direction of course" Laidlaw added conspiratorially.
"A few whispers in the right ears and suddenly we have the makings of a massive diplomatic spat" Karpov said happily. "Moreover, this also potentially offers an opportunity to reduce the number of Jamerson-Ulikov Water Purifiers ending up on the market" he suggested. "As you are all fully aware we feared their widespread introduction would act to counter the economic malaise that has befallen the Inner Sphere, as worlds which are otherwise resource rich but lack for fresh water become depopulated. Fortunately for us Water Pure Industries, the company currently in the best position to put them into mass production, and which we know has reached out to Niops for technical assistance, is located within the Commonwealth and a schism between Niops and Tharkad could well stymie any such agreement."
"Surely they're not the only firm looking into manufacturing them?" Precentor Procyon asked doubtfully.
Laidlaw shook her head. "No, but they're the second largest such company in the Inner Sphere and currently the one with the deepest pockets having the capital to hand to ready build entirely new factories if required. The only firm which is larger is Curtiss Hydroponics based in the Free Worlds League and for their part Curtiss is not only entirely disinterested in manufacturing the J-U system themselves they're also actually using their political influence on Atreus to try and limit the spread of the technology into the League entirely."
"Why?"
"Because they manufacture the rival TriFil system which isn't nearly as efficient but their monopoly of supply has made them very wealthy" Laidlaw explained. "As far as their shareholders are concerned the nuclear destruction of much of Brownsville in 2811 that destroyed the factories where the Jamerson-Ulikov was manufactured was the best thing that ever happened to them" she continued. "They're so concerned about the spread of the new, or rather recovered purification tech that our sources indicate they might even contemplate taking direct action."
Judy Cheny leaned forward. "Direct action?" she queried.
"Outright sabotage" Laidlaw replied flatly. "We might want to consider being of some assistance to them in this matter, behind the scenes of course. We have several teams that were involved in Holy Shroud currently stood idle that have a proven record in the arena of deniable direct action."
"Meaning that if something went wrong all the fingers would be pointed at Curtiss Hydroponics not ComStar" Karpov said, smiling. "Given that SAFE is hardly the premier Intelligence Agency within the Inner Sphere, our ability to operate more freely within the Free Worlds League than elsewhere will likely help us here don't you think, Precentor ROM?" he checked with Laidlaw.
"Our experience during Holy Shroud would certainly say so" Laidlaw confirmed. "At one point I was concerned that Loki might uncover who was actually responsible for the sabotage of the Lyran research into Ferro-Fibrous armour technology, but SAFE never came close to capturing any of our people despite them being more paranoid about ComStar to start with than their opposite numbers in other states tend to be."
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===Trouble and Brewing of a Threat===
"Perhaps we should dispatch some of these highly skilled veteran operatives of yours out to Paran to find out what exactly is going on out there with them" Precentor Alpha-Centauri suggested. "There are all sorts of wild rumours circling about the place, including that the Star League Expeditionary Brigade ship which ended up there back in 2819 was actually working for the Niops Association."
"Yes, I've been wondering about that one myself" Karpov interjected, looking to Laidlaw.
"It's… possible" Laidlaw replied without commitment, "but I'm afraid our intelligence gathering operation out there in the periphery has always been a mere shadow of its Inner Sphere counterpart" she continued apologetically. "We know that the Paran Free System seemed unusually receptive to taking in refugees from Von Strang's World, I suppose I should call it Erin now, and there are some interesting references to the SLS Pioneer there receiving a shipment of spare parts and ammunition a few years after they arrived which might have been the Niops Association providing assistance to their associates on the far side of the Inner Sphere."
"Surely on the balance of probabilities it must have been Niops, outside of the Great Houses or ourselves who else would have that sort of thing to hand to give them?" Karpov asked rhetorically.
"You may be right, Primus." Laidlaw conceded. "I must confess that the official story according to the authorities on Paran that parties unknown appeared there one day offering to sell naval autocannon ammunition and thruster assemblies compatible with an Avatar Class Heavy Cruiser and were happy to accept payment in fruit seems… a somewhat dubious tale"
"Fruit?" Karpov repeated nonplussed.
"It was the major export of Paran before the Amaris War, lots of tropical islands dotted with tropical fruit plantations apparently" Laidlaw explained. "It would have been the only thing they probably could have offered in trade but honestly who would accept bananas and coconuts when the Lyran Commonwealth isn't far away and would have paid in cold hard cash."
"I'd have to agree" Precentor Dieron concurred. "Before we introduced the C-Bill the Lyran kroner was considered the most secure currency in the Inner Sphere, one that was accepted far outside their borders. It's not like the choice was between fruit and Capellan Yuan, if it had been then the fruit might have seemed a better deal I suppose" he joked, even managing to obtain a slight chuckle from the Primus who was still rolling his eyes at the notion of anyone paying for rare and therefore expensive military equipment with a few mangos or whatever.
The whole notion was so ridiculous that not only was it clearly untrue whoever was responsible wanted everyone to know it was just a cover story for whatever was really going on.
Frankly the whole thing stank of Niops being behind it in Karpov's opinion. The only question to his mind now was whether the government of Paran as a whole knew they were a pawn in the Association's game, or if only the Expeditionary Brigade personnel operating the warship knew who they were working for.
Conrad Toyama, Karpov's predecessor as Primus, had theorised in his later years if the former SLDF people at Paran were affiliated to his personal bête noire, the so-called 'United Tribes' who had plagued the Draconis Combine for a year or so before vanishing never to be seen again. There had never been any indication of that being the case however and most analysts considered it more plausible that the 'Tribes' were a reconnaissance force dispatched by Kerensky's SLDF to investigate the current state of the Inner Sphere.
Despite arriving during the brief period of relative peace between the First and Succession Wars, these scouts would have found the Inner Sphere, and the former Terran Hegemony in particular, utterly wrecked by the fighting. WMD had been thrown around like confetti for much of the time they were absent, and Karpov could only assume their reaction was to head back to Kerensky to tell him the Star League was a lost cause and that if they came back the lunatics running the Successor States would likely greet them with thermonuclear fire.
A few analysts within ROM had suggested the Tribes were another Niops operation but most of them sincerely doubted it. It would have made far more sense for them to poke around in one of their less capable warships, the Congress class frigate for example, rather than risk exposing the fact they possessed a pair of such rare and extremely useful vessels as the Riga II.
And where would Niops get hold of the things anyway? Very few people still held to the theory that the Association was affiliated to Kerensky, some kind of Trojan Horse for a future SLDF return, they just weren't low-key enough in their foreign policy for that to be plausible. Maybe if they had continued to hunker down in their home system, quietly vacuuming up old SLDF caches or whatever, but they were clearly building their own little empire out there and judging by the whole telescope thing the 'astrocracy', as ROM had christened the dominant faction in their elected civilian government was evidently running things not the military.
Unless those dropship-sized orbital telescopes they were placing everywhere in their domain were actually massive naval lasers of course, as the conspiracy theorists contended. That was always the problem when dealing with Niops, far too many unknowns for comfort, unfortunately once shorn of their ability to simply read the mail of anyone they were spying upon ROM was not the intelligence-gathering juggernaut of internal ComStar legend.
Having one of their agents caught red-handed while trying to infilitrate a government run facility on Alphard was not exactly a ringing endorsement of ROM's ground game, or HUMINT as Laidlaw always referred to it.
"Perhaps you could share your thoughts regarding the Cosara negotiations with the group" Karpov suggested, looking to his spymaster who would probably benefit from raising her stock with the First Circuit a little right now. "I certainly found your thoughts on the matter we discussed earlier intriguing."
"As you wish, Primus" Laidlaw replied, offering him a slight bow in deference knowing that he liked that sort of thing. "ROM has become aware of preliminary negotiations between Niops and the defence company Cosara Weaponries on Northwind to purchase a license to produce the Crab medium battlemech" she announced. "This is intriguing for a number of reasons, starting with the timing, specifically why now?"
"Because the Federated Suns pushed the Capellan Confederation off the planet recently perhaps?" Judy Cheny as Precentor Caph suggested. Northwind lay only one jump from Caph so her knowledge and understanding of the regional situation made sense.
"Quite so" Laidlaw confirmed. "In fact the Niops Association reached out to the government of the Federated Suns and told them in no uncertain terms that the only reason they never contacted Cosara before seeking such a license was their distaste for putting money into the hands of the Capellans, who they referred to as, and I quote them directly, 'a tyrannical police state which practices chattel slavery in all but name'."
Cheny shrugged. "Well, they're not wrong." he said, reaching for a glass of water. "But I'm not sure the Confederation would appreciate being categorised that way."
"I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it at all which is why we intend to let it slip to Sian, along with a few remarks about how the Niops Association is acting like a vulture picking over the scraps of Northwind along with their Davion friends" Karpov responded.
"Are they friends?" Precentor Dieron asked.
"They're amiable at least, enough so that we can possibly persuade not only the Capellans, but also the Combine, that Niops is perhaps a little too close to their Davion enemies." Laidlaw stated. "The FedSuns previously allowed Federated Boeing Interstellar and General Motors to sell the Association production licenses, for a couple of dropship types and a medium mech respectively, the latter of which is also relevant to the current Cosara negotiations."
"How so?"
"Because we believe it indicates a desire by Niops to follow in the footsteps of the Terran Hegemony in a less praiseworthy form" Laidlaw responded. "We once believed that choosing to purchase a license to produce the Blackjack was a decision driven by financial concerns, it's not a very good machine so they got it dirt cheap, but in light of them seeking the Crab we're reevaluating our view. It seems that unlike the Blackjack which is being made at their factory on Alphard to equip militia units the Crab will be produced at a new factory to be built in the Niops system itself for the regular military only."
"Terra always kept the best equipment for its own use, making sure that the Hegemony-born soldiers of its Royal Divisions had mechs that outclassed those of not only other member states of the Star League but also the non-Royal SLDF units." Karpov noted.
"The Blackjack and the Crab are both medium mechs but not all medium mechs are born equal" Laidlaw said, smirking. "Our belief is that Niops wants to make sure that its vassals don't have the hardware needed to secede at some point, so the militias get palmed off with utter crap like the Blackjack for their primary battlemech, and the obsolescent Ballista for artillery, while Niops itself has the Crab and the Thor SPG" she said. "Given their proven ability to manufacture, if not necessarily mass produce, Hegemony lostech we're assuming that the Crab in Niops service will be the CRB-27 or even CRB-27b model with all the advanced electronics lacking from the downgraded CRB-20 produced currently at Northwind."
"Is there much difference?"
"The Star League thought highly enough of the CRB-27 to want to make it the standard medium battlemech of the SLDF" Laidlaw told them, "and to give you a better idea of the situation even the monkey-model CRB-20 is probably better than the Blackjack" she continued, directly quoting one of her staff that always gave the impression of being a battlemech nerd that used to make models of the things as a kid and presumably knew what he was talking about.
Precentor Bryant frowned. "Is this part of a military buildup by Niops do you think?" he asked.
"Perhaps but given the age of many of their machines it could just be that a higher proportion of them are worn out than we hitherto believed" Laidaw suggested another explanation. "You've got to remember that despite Niops sitting out the Succession Wars some of the battlemechs that arrived there with the 295th had likely fought their way right through the Second Periphery Rising and then the Amaris Civil War so it's not like they were factory fresh with zero miles on the clock. We know they previously bought a license to hand-build Thug assaults from Earthwerks, maybe to gradually replace a few old wrecks that were getting expensive to keep running, but if their fleet of mediums is getting long-in-the-tooth, or if they've just got so many different types that maintaining then all is a logistical nightmare that they're hoping to remedy, then replacing that many machines would need mass production. A few technicians in what is essentially a garage workshop, if admittedly a highly advanced one in the form of their Project Workshop facilities, simply isn't up to it."
Laidlaw smiled. "For all the hyperbole about Star League military equipment being sturdy to the point of being apocalypse proof that isn't nearly as true for the more complicated electronic systems as it is for the fusion engines, for example" she said. "We do know from our sources that Niops has a near-fetish for high-tech force-multipliers, likely because they know they can't possibly compete with the armed forces of the Great Houses numerically, and components in things like Guardian ECM systems, Beagle Active Probes or even just basic communication suites do wear out just like battlemech joints and they're a lot harder to fix with a hammer."
Karpov meshed his fingers in front of him. "I imagine we can expect this new factory of theirs at Niops itself to take about as much time to build as the one they constructed previously on Alphard" he surmised. "If not longer because it sounds like this Crab is a more technologically advanced and complex machine than the bucket of bolts they're foisting on the planetary militias of their vassals."
"A reasonable assumption Primus" Laidlaw agreed. "It's also possible that supplying the needs and wants of their new mercenary lackeys will overstretch their production of certain materials, such as the Ferro-Fibrous armour needed for the CRB-27, and lead to a production bottleneck."
The Primus practically spat at the mention of the armor, all that time and effort spent preventing the Lyrans from bringing it back into production and now Niops was giving it out to Blake-damned mercenaries even if they refrained from sales to the Successor States. "I assume we know more about these 'Company Store' arrangements now thanks to our agent within Bolton's Rangers?"
"Yes Primus" Laidlaw confirmed. "As well as part of their remuneration coming in the form of lostech equipment while directly in the employ of Niops it has also been posited that in return for the mercenaries continuing to base themselves there once their contracts are up they might be able to still access the store while working for other parties in the future" she told the First Circuit. "There would be certain caveats to such an agreement naturally, for example, take a contract with someone Niops expressly doesn't like, the Capellans for example, no Ferro-Fibrous for you."
"And presumably the mercenaries based on a Niops Hegemony world would be expected to help defend it?" Precentor Procyon surmised.
"Yes, maybe an arrangement where one battalion in a regiment had to stay behind while the other two were free to go fight for the Marik's or whoever" Laidlaw replied. "I can see the Free Worlds League, the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth being highly supportive of such a system if it meant they occasionally got to hire mercenaries with more advanced weaponry than the norm."
"Sure, but the Capellans and the Combine won't like it one bit" Precentor Procyon noted. "That's something we can also work with."
"Indeed" Karpov responded. "We know that Niops has told the Coordinator directly that they will never treat amicably with Luthien while there are units of the DCMS such as the Second Sword of Light regiment who actually seem proud of having obeyed orders to commit warcrimes."
Precentor New Earth looked puzzled. "I don't know what that refers to I'm afraid."
"The Second Sword of Light paint the flag of Kentares on their mechs" Laidlaw explained earning a grimace from the precentor. The Kentares Massacre had horrified Jerome Blake himself to the point that he had not only allowed ComStar to take a step back from its usual strict neutrality to condemn it but he had later promoted Nolan Mordiki of the Kentares HPG station, ComStar's hero of the hour for getting the word out, to the First Circuit for his moral courage in taking a stand at the risk of his own life.
"Naturally enough, the Coordinator objected to being spoke to that way, although naturally the Davion First Prince approved which is another reason why we expect New Avalon to agree to any deal struck between Niops and Cosara." Laidlaw added. "This is not to say that Niops does not criticise all the Great Houses for having annexed worlds of the former Terran Hegemony, they just divide the Successor States into two distinct categories, these being '******' and 'complete ******' to quote their General Romanov in a statement she once made to a reporter from the Federal New service."
Cheny laughed. "Again, well, they're not wrong." she repeated herself guaranteeing that Karpov was going to have her investigated as a potential Niops asset and even if cleared she certainly wasn't going to survive the next purge.
"I don't think any of you take the threat Niops represents to ComStar as seriously as the situation demands!" Karpov suddenly exclaimed causing most of the First Circuit to flinch. "Holy Shroud will have been a complete failure if we allow them to undo our good works and they continue to threaten our monopoly on HPG communication" he snarled. "I want them gone, excised from the Inner Sphere, if I ever so much as see one more story on CNN that praises them so much as one iota I will be very unhappy, am I understood?" he continued, glaring directly at Cheny who looked suitably terrified.
Mentally putting together a list of scapegoats with ROM she could blame for any failures within her own organisation Janice Laidlaw only felt relieved that she wasn't the one being singled out. Meanwhile, the rest of the First Circuit fervently wished that Karpov's old friend Michelle Dupreas was still around to rein him in somewhat because right now he looked like he was on the verge of either foaming at the mouth or having a stroke.
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==Chapter Notes==
*;Notes from the Author : Janice Laidlaw, successor to Michelle Dupreas as head of ROM, was the right hand of Primus Raymond Karpov during his reforms of ComStar to make it even more of a quasi-religion than Conrad Toyama had, and the person that ran Operation Holy Shroud Karpov's plan to put the permanently lost in lostech. Given what happened to Dupreas the First Circuit isn't likely to argue with anything Karpov says.With Karpov at the helm, and Laidlaw acting as his loyal minion and enforcer, ComStar truly became the dark shadowmaster pulling the strings behind the scenes it was throughout the next couple of centuries, with the big change here being that they have to deal with the damn Niops Association going around shining a bright light into the Dark Ages they're trying to create.For certain parties, such as Curtiss Hydroponics, the reintroduction of the Jamerson-Ulikov Water Purifier is not good news.Icar is a fairly well developed lyran controlled system situated only one jump from Star's End, dropping the slaves liberated from the latter onto the former (making them the local duke's problem) was the solution Niops came up with. The crew of the SLS Pioneer at Paran paying for naval autocannon and spare parts with fruit really happened of course (the 295th/331stSLDF temporarily based at Camelot Command needed food) but it does sound a little dubious let's be fair.In canon Marcus Steiner contracted meningitis while visiting some planets near the front lines, eventually dying from it leading to Claudius Steiner becoming Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth. Unfortunately for the Commonwealth Caligula Claudius was, quite frankly, totally unhinged. The CRB-27 Crab would have likely become the standard medium mech of the SLDF if not for the Amaris War. The factory where it was made on Northwind was largely destroyed during the First Succession War but Cosara Weaponries was still able to manage a downgraded version, the CRB-20 that was produced for the Capellan Confederation until the Federated Suns took over Northwind in the early 2840s.
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Chapter 64