ASO Chpt 16

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==Chapter 16 - First Mission - Aurigan Sentinels (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Aftermath of Battle===
Axylus, Alloway System
Aurigan Frontier, Rimward Periphery
20th February, 3020
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I lay in bed in one of the Med Bays aboard the Myrmidon, having been brought there alongside half of Paladin Company after the battle. My body still hurts, but not as much as it did before though I wonder how much of that is due to painkillers I am on and how much is due to actual recovery.
 
The Cleavers have fled and while their JumpShip has yet to leave, both of their Leopards are docked with it with their remaining ‘Mechs aboard. With the battle decided and neither of us willing to press further, we’ve been politely ignoring each other until one of us is ready to leave.
 
Part of my desire for payback is tampered by the fact that Jenelle didn’t die with her Orion. While Yang has confirmed my suspicions that her ‘Mech would only be good for spare parts, we were able to retrieve her from the cockpit before the flames could claim it. The docs say that she won’t be fit to pilot a ‘Mech for several months, but Jenelle is alive and with that, we didn’t lose anyone today.
 
I know that ‘kill the meat, save the metal’ is a common saying in the thirty-first century, but I still have enough twenty-first century in me that I am happy to hear that Jenelle survived even if her ‘Mech is a write-off. It might just be my privilege and warped perspective speaking, but we have plenty of spare ‘Mechs.
 
Jenelle isn’t the only one injured. I’m on bedrest for the next couple of weeks and four other members of Paladin Company will be spending at least the rest of February in the MedBays. And most of our ‘Mechs are in need of repairs that go beyond replacing armor and ammo. Beyond the loss of Jenelle’s Orion, multiple ‘Mechs took structural damage with a couple even needing to replace a missing limb. In the case of the one-armed Warhammer, that job won’t be finished until we get back home as we lack the replacement PPC to stick in the rebuilt limb.
 
Despite the battle with the Cleavers, the mission is definitely an overall success. One pirate group has been crushed, another has lost a lance of ‘Mechs and I have snatched up a failing mercenary unit for my Sentinels. Doctor Murad was able to get the Argo up and running as I knew she would, which means we can return to Coromodir in triumph.
 
Then there is the payment. While the details of our contact don’t include additional payment for engaging in battle, they do include salvage rights. Having successfully retrieved the Argo, our liaison officer Baron Gallo felt that the mission had been completed enough to start dividing up the loot.
 
Under the terms that I assigned, the salvage is placed into a prize court where after value is determined, I receive thirty percent of the salvage while the remainder goes to House Arano and House Espinosa to divide up as they see fit. While I get the first claim on ten percent of the salvage, the remaining twenty percent that I get is determined by my employers, which in this case means my liaison officer.
 
Many employers out there would assign a monetary value to each piece of salvage, we do things differently down here in the Rimward Periphery. A completely wrecked vehicle or cored out ‘Mech gets assigned a value of one while a partially destroyed one gets assigned a value of two while a mostly intact war machine is assigned a value of three. Any loose components from something that got away is considered to have a value of one such as the weapons on the arm of a ‘Mech that got away, but lost its limb.
 
“Liz,” says Moana as she walks up to my bed, “I’ve heard you finished discussing salvage with Baron Gallo. I would have come sooner, but I’ve been busy.”
“Don’t worry, I understand,” I reply since as the captain of Paladin Company, Moana is handling the day-to-day running of the company, something which is taking up a lot of her time right now for obvious reasons, “I suppose you would like to know what we’ve got.”
 
“It would be appreciated,” says Moana, “Especially if it impacts Paladin Company since that is the sort of stuff I need to know to do my job properly.”
 
“I doubt it will in this case,” I tell her, “Regardless of who gets what, all of the salvage is still being loaded into Myrmidon’s cargo bay and all work on Paladin Company’s ‘Mechs takes priority over anything else.”
 
“So what are we getting?” inquires Moana, relaxing a bit now that she is asking out of curiosity rather than business.
 
“In exchange for letting me recruit Coranni’s Crew and their hardware uncontested, I’ve conceded all claims to Blackmane’s Leopard,” I answer, “Which still works out in our favor as we are also getting a Leopard in addition to a lance of ‘Mechs and a flight of ASFs. With that, I only got to claim a single piece in my priority salvage so I snagged the Thunderbolt that Blackmane piloted. I figured it would be useful for spare parts since we’ll be getting half a dozen Thunderbolts from the Bulls next month. As for the rest, the baron understandably gave me the vehicles and kept the rest of the ‘Mechs.”
 
Neither of us need that logic explained to us. Beyond the common logic of ‘Mechs being more valuable than vehicles, that is especially the case for the Aurigan Coalition and especially so when the vehicles in question are a Vedette and a couple of Scorpions. The ACM can always buy more of those from Quikscell, but ‘Mechs are much harder to get your hands on, peculiarly so when no native ‘Mech production like the Reach.
 
Not to mention that between the salvage you could put together a working Centurion and Locust while the Archer is repairable if you can get your hands on the right parts. Though it says something that between the two Centurions and the pair of Locusts in the salvage pile that you can only get one working ‘Mech from each. That’s the Succession Wars for you, I guess.
 
That said, I’m not going to complain about the ACM getting three new ‘Mechs since that is still to the benefit of the Aurigan people. Just with recruiting Coranni and her people, I’m getting the better deal out of this and that is before my sneaky plan gets taken into account.
 
The SLDF base at Fable had many different pieces of equipment in its storage rooms and amongst them were a couple of Advanced Electronic Codebreakers that belonged to Intelligence Command. While I had given one to Rosebella Arkos as the head of my special ops, I had retained the other specifically out of hoping to find myself in a situation like this. Things weren’t exactly how I wanted them, but they were close enough. I just had to get access to the secondary drive of the Argo’s nav computer. Download what was there and get a copy of that map containing all of those SLDF sites. I could even give a copy to High Lord Arano, claiming that I had gone looking due to my familiarity with the Myrmidon.
 
While I will be spending the next couple of weeks in the infirmary, we won’t get back to Coromodir until early April so I have time to enact my plan. Part of me feels uneasy at the deceit, but I quash that part every time it rears its head. The value of that treasure map is simply too great for me to risk it not getting found or just leaving the matter up to my liege lord. I have the meta-knowledge needed to save the Coalition and so I will make use of it.
 
“There is another reason why I came to see you,” says Moana, “I’ve been coordinating with Angela Hawkins to start integrating Coranni’s Crew into our ranks and I recognized her. I mean I didn’t at first, but she seemed familiar so I spoke so I looked into her. It turns out that she is the estranged daughter of Sebastian Hawkins, owner and CEO of Ragnarok Engineering.”
 
“Is this the same Ragnarok Engineering that makes Sleipnirs and Vargrs?” I inquire as I frown at this new formation, “The same one that I’ve been investing in?”
 
“That’s the one,” confirms Moana as she gives me a knowing look, “I wasn’t sure so I spoke with Kamea and Victoria and once they knew what to look for, they easily recognized her. I don’t know what she is doing out here.”
 
“I’ll need to speak with her then,” I muse darkly, “Coranni too. I want to give them a chance, but if they are going to keep important secrets like this, then I’ll have to make it clear that this sort of behaviour isn’t acceptable. Do you have any idea if this will be a problem for us or not? Depending on how they are estranged, Hawkins might be pleased if we bring his daughter back or he might be upset with us for working with her.”
 
“No idea, but I’ll speak with Kamea and Victoria,” replies Moana, “They might have more insight into the relationship.”
===Put out Feelers for the new comers===
Axylus, Alloway System
Aurigan Frontier, Rimward Periphery
21st February, 3020
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“You wanted to see me, Countess Nora?” inquires Coranni as the dark-skinned woman joins me in the MedBay at my request.
 
“Yes, I did,” I answer and I pause before adding, “And I think it should be General Nora not Countess because you answer to me as one of the Aurigan Sentinels? I’m not sure to be perfectly honest. I’ll have to ask one of the others what the proper protocol is.”
 
“I just call nobles by their titles when I’m unsure,” says Coranni, “Less chance of them being offended or feeling disrespected.”
 
“That’s a fair point,” I agree before deciding to get to the meat of the matter, “Do you know why I’ve called you here?”
 
“It wasn’t mentioned, but it has to do with me joining your unit, doesn’t it?” replies Coranni.
 
“That’s part of it,” I admit, “But it is mainly due to…I want to say you kept a big secret from me, but I’m not sure you realize the significance of what you failed to mention.”
 
“I told you every important thing I could think of,” protests Coranni, tensing up.
 
“Angela Hawkins is the estranged daughter of Sebastian Hawkins, CEO of Ragnarok Engineering and a major player in Aurigan politics.” I inform her bluntly, “You may not have realized this, but that sort of thing is something that will have an impact on our unit as Angela’s father is the sort of man who can cause trouble for us.”
 
“Ah, Angela never said anything about all that,” admits Coranni defensively, “She just said that she didn’t get along with her father since her mother died and we left it at that. It would have been rude to press further.”
 
“Alright, I can see that,” I concede, “Any other surprises that I should know about?”
 
“The Shira brothers have no family apart from each other and no dark past that I am aware of,” answers Coranni, “The Tennison sisters are daughters of a noble in the Outworlds Alliance, but he’s one of those pacifist types and really far away so he shouldn’t be a problem. My father is a big-shot back home, but Ur Cruinne is too primitive to exert any influence off-world or even beyond our town for that matter. I’m not actually sure about the Naga’s crew. There are a lot of them and I don’t spend much time with them. Maybe I should.”
 
“Thank you for your honesty, Coranni,” I tell her, “I’m going to speak with Angela now.”
 
“Is she in trouble?” asks Coranni sharply.
 
“No, I just need to know what the relationship between her and her father is and how to handle it going forward,” I answer and I let out a sigh, “As I said, Sebastian Hawkins could cause some trouble for us if he wanted to so I need to know how likely that is and if so, what form the trouble would likely take.”
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==Author's Chapter Commentary==
; A Word from the Author: And now we get back to politics and logistics. I decide to have Jenelle survive because I don’t want to kill her off this early and as a reference to the player character in the HBS game always surviving the destruction of their ‘Mech. Beyond that, I have changed Angela’s background a bit for this version of the story.Originally, she was supposed to be the daughter of a Lyran CEO who got trapped in the Rimward Periphery after a misjump, but that doesn’t really work here. Without Phantom Mech, there is no Morgan Kell and without Morgan Kell, there is no incentive to go to the Lyran Commonwealth. And without Elizabeth going to the Commonwealth, there is no way to tie Angela’s background into the story so I changed things to make her the estranged daughter of an Aurigan CEO. One whose corporation has already come up in the story.
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