ADO Chpt 15

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==Rise and BreakChapter 15 - Aurigan Dreams (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Elevation to Nobility===
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“I’m going to make you a noble, Colonel Nora.” declares High Lord Arano happily as I meet with him, Lord Espinosa and Kamea to discuss what comes after Axylus.
What?
“I beg your pardon,” I say mostly out of a reflex for politeness as I try to process that very unexpected statement.
“I’ve spent almost half my life trying to find out the Argo’s secrets and thanks to you, I not only have the Argo, but a treasure trove of data aboard it.” says Lord Arano, “You backed up your talk of loyalty with action and I am going to reward your deeds with a title.”
“But making me a noble…,” I half-heartedly protest, still stunned by this unexpected turn of events.
“You’ve earnt it,” insists Lord Arano, “A Baron would be too much, but I can certainly make you a regular Lady and I could swing Baronet though that would be pushing things. Any preference on what sort of holding you like to be granted, Colonel Nora?”
“Lord Arano, I have no freaking idea,” I answer, “I know ‘Mechs and I’m starting to get a handle on being a mercenary, but I know squat all about being a noble beyond the basics that they teach in school.”
“Colonel Nora has a point, Tamati,” says Lord Espinosa, sounding amused, “You have just sprung this on her and even if you hadn’t, she lacks experience in such matters. Unlike everyone else in the room, she has grown up without a noble’s education and is unknowledgeable about such things.”
“I suppose I was being a bit overeager,” admits Lord Arano, “Kamea, you will teach Lady Nora about being a noble. It would be a test of your skills as my heir and the two of you already get along well from what both you and Santiago have relayed to me.”
“Of course, Father,” answers Kamea.
“Now with that tangent out of the way, perhaps we could focus on what we will be doing next and the involvement of Colonel Nora and her Rimward Sentinels,” says Lord Espinosa, “Such as, are we going to stick to the original plan of crushing the regional pirates or are we going to act upon the data we retrieved from the Argo?”
“My initial desire is to make use of the Argo’s secrets, but I have not studied the situation,” says Lord Arano, “I presume that you have made use of your return trip to study the contents of the data archive.”
“I have,” answers Lord Espinosa, “For now, I say that we focus on our diplomatic efforts and leveraging our success at Axylus whilst letting the Rimward Sentinels finish their training. Colonel Nora has proven to be a talented rising star, but we don’t want to push her too far, too fast. Especially if you intend to ennoble her and make her adjust to that on top of being a MechWarrior and mercenary colonel.”
“I agree with Lord Espinosa,” I say quickly, “I’m still learning to be a proper MechWarrior and how to properly lead the Sentinels. Learning to be a noble on top of that…I’m not going to have time for anything else. And if you don’t mind me asking, what are these diplomatic efforts?”
“Tamati?” inquires Lord Espinosa as he looks at Lord Arano.
“Colonel Nora has proven herself and we are bringing her into our inner circle,” says Lord Arano, “She can be trusted with this information and I can’t see her doing much harm with it. To answer your question, Colonel Nora, the Aurigan Coalition has entered talks with some of our spinward neighbours. Nominally Taurian-claimed worlds, Qalzi, Katinka, Aea and Artru are all independent in practice with the last official Taurian presence being on Qalzi over half a century ago. They have seen the prosperity and stability that the Aurigan Coalition has brought within our border and they expressed a shared interest in joining us as opposed to forming their own association.”
“Artru and Aea are backwaters,” says Lord Espinosa, picking up where Lord Arano left off, “Artru is a frozen wasteland with close to a million and a half living in orbital stations. It has a meaningful mining presence there to make it worth having, but only a token amount of staff live on the surface, just enough to keep the mining equipment running. Most of the work takes place shuttling the extracted raw materials to the stations in orbit and then transporting those resources to other worlds.
“Aea is focused around the local HPG Compound, which ComStar only maintains to provide a link to its Explorer Corps headquarters on Hellespont. It has the majority of its two million inhabitants living in the settlement built around the HPG with the rest living on farms scattered about the planet. It exports some food, but the only reason that Aea is inhabited is the HPG Compound.
“Katinka is more of a valuable world and if it wasn't for the fact that it got hit hard during the fall of the Star League, it would be a prime colony. Its ecosystem still hasn’t recovered and is unlikely to do so in a timely manner without terraforming, but Katinka can boast around a hundred million people and is self-sufficient with mining exports and agricultural self-sufficiency.
“Qalzi is another valuable world. It is on the colder side of things and a bit heavy on the gravity, but otherwise a pleasant Terran-like world to live on. Like Katinka, it is self-sufficient in terms of local food production and exports raw materials, but it has the advantage of an undamaged ecosystem.”
“Bringing those four systems into the Aurigan Coalition would bring the total number to twenty-two,” says Lord Arano, “Aea and Artru might be small, but the latter can be quite profitable while Qalzi and Katinka have the potential to grow into bustling colonies if given the right investment and protection from raiders. The initial talks have gone well and I have been able to leverage word of your success at Axylus into a show of what the Aurigan Coalition can do. If I give you a noble title and make it known that you intend to take further contracts against the pirates plaguing the region, it would go a long way to sealing the deal.”
“What about Outpost Castle Nautilus?” I ask, recalling that particular LosTech find very vividly as I turn to face Lord Espinosa, “You found out about that right?”
“I made sure to check for any local sites,” answers Lord Espinosa, “I do acknowledge that the ongoing negotiations might cause trouble with looting it or vice versa. Nonetheless, we cannot ignore an untouched Castle Brian, especially not one right on our doorstep.”
“We can afford to put it to one side for now,” says Lord Arano, “We cannot afford to derail these negotiations, even for a prize as grand as this one. We will sort something out once Artru and the others have been brought into the fold, even if it means giving up some of what we find to the locals.”
“Putting Castle Nautilus aside, there are other prizes that we can claim, including more than a few locally,” says Lord Espinosa as he pulls out his noteputer, “Kimi is a single jump away and it contains a few sites that have yet to be looted according to my research and may hold a significant amount of valuables. Within the Coalition proper, I have found a couple of minor SLDF bases that have yet to be discovered on Smithon and there may be a warehouse of decommissioned Griffins at the spaceport on Panzyr.”
“Decommissioned Griffins?” repeats a baffled Kamea as she looks around the room at the rest of us, “Who decommissions a ‘Mech?”
“The Star League Defense Force,” I answer, “They had the ‘Mechs to spare and could afford to retire older ‘Mechs to make way for new ones.”
“I have sent messengers to both House Decimis and House Karosas,” continues Lord Espinosa, “If there is anything to the information, we will gain favour with both Pierre-Louis and Simon in addition to strengthening the Aurigan Coalition with whatever we find.”
“What about Cate’s Hold?” asks Kamea, “That place is supposed to have Star League caches. Did you find anything on them?”
“We have a list of several SLDF locations on Cate’s Hold,” I answer cautiously as I shoot a look at her father, “A few are known to be uncovered, but several are not. However, it is part of the Magistracy of Canopus and there may be diplomatic concerns involved.”
“Colonel Nora is correct, Kamea,” agrees Lord Arano, “We cannot afford to attack one of our neighbours. We cannot fight either the Confederation or the Concordat and Canopus is the only nation that recognizes the Coalition as a nation.”
“Since we are on the subject of not invading our neighbors and picking fights we cannot win, I should mention that there is a potentially untouched SLDF depot on Hurik. Unfortunately, it is in Capellan space and while it has the potential to be a valuable find, we cannot risk the attention it would provoke.”
“There are some caches located in independent systems in the Frontier,” I add as just like Lord Espinosa, I made sure to familiarize myself with possible LosTech in the region, “A supply depot on the abandoned world of Amnesty, something called Project Triage in orbit around Tarragona, a Bug ‘Mech factory on Detroit and a small fleet of mothballed Dictator-class DropShips in an uninhabited system close to the Magistracy. We also have an additional two Outpost Castles in the Frontier, one on Omen called Penguin and the second on Bonavista called Scorpiones.
“I haven’t found any records of them being uncovered, but someone might have found them without tipping their hand or maybe the SLDF did something with them. There is a period of almost two decades between the departure of Kerensky and the last recorded logs aboard the Argo.”
“Mothballed DropShips?” inquires Kamea, “Forget getting rid of ‘Mechs, who turns their nose up at a DropShip?”
“The Dictator-class is an older model, the predecessor to the Overlord-class,” I answer, having looked up the relevant information after having similar thoughts myself, “My best guess is that the SLDF mothballed the Dictators when they replaced them with Overlords and they either got forgotten about or Kerenksy didn’t consider them worth the effort when he was packing for the Exodus.”
“Which gives us a few more options,” says Lord Espinosa, “This Project Triage might be an unknown and the factory on Detroit is likely ruined beyond use, but Amnesty is worth investigating and those DropShips would be a boon to the Coalition.”
“Provided we can spare the JumpShips to ferry them to the Reach and we can find sufficient crew for them,” says Lord Arano, “Colonel Nora, what do you know about the Dictator-class?”
“Smaller and lighter Overlord basically,” I answer, “It can carry a battalion of ‘Mechs, but its cargo bay is more than tens times larger. Slighter on crew with thirty-nine to the Overlord’s forty-three. I’m not sure about the armament and armor off the top of my head, but I expect them to be roughly comparable with the Overlord having a slight edge.”
“I’ll have some trustworthy people check it out.” says Lord Espinosa, “If those DropShips are still there, we can begin to train up some people to crew them and arrange for them to be brought to Coromodir.”
“That would be helpful, Santiago,” says Lord Arano, “And with that, I do believe we have a plan of action. Colonel Nora, you will focus on getting yourself and the Rimward Sentinels into shape. Kamea, you will help Colonel Nora become a MechWarrior and a member of the Aurigan nobility. I shall continue to lead the negotiations while Santiago will look into securing the SLDF sites within the Reach and the Frontier.
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=== Taking the Deal ===
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“I’ll take the deal.” says Coranni in our second meeting, “About as good as we are going to get in this situation. We looked over the terms that your people showed us and you don’t seem to be screwing us over as far either I or Angela can tell.”
“I don’t want to exploit you.” I tell her bluntly, “You have experienced MechWarriors and ASFs pilots who come with their own machines and you have your own DropShip. A Leopard might not be much by DropShip standards, but it is still a DropShip. Paying you your worth in C-Bills and treating you with respect is hardly something I am unwilling to do. Besides, swindling you now would hurt my reputation in the long run once word got around and it would hardly engender any sort of loyalty.”
“Angela figured it was a mutually beneficial sort of deal.” says Coranni, “She said it made sense in your position if you were being smart and not greedy.”
“I’m rich enough that I’m not overly worried about making more C-Bills.” I answer, “My concern is securing a future for the Aurigan Coalition. Speaking of which, the Aurigan Coalition, my home state, will be my preferred employer and the Rimward Sentinels will be associated with its government. We even got the heir presumptive working for us.”
“Angela and Bao both said that was fine.” replies Coranni, “Your people aren’t a big name like the Great Houses or the Canopians, but you aren’t nobodies either and neither are you pirates. I can live with that and so can my Crew.”
“Good to hear,” I say, “We’ll write up the formal contracts for each of your people and inform the local ComStar compound of the new circumstances. You’ll be traveling back to Coromodir with us, where the rest of our unit is both acting as part of the garrison and training up their newer recruits. Maybe even look into getting some parts to repair that Crusader of yours. Shouldn’t be too hard with how common parts for it and how easy that type of ‘Mech is to retain.”
“We had trouble affording replacement parts to rebuild it,” says Coranni, perking up at my words, “but you have enough C-Bills to afford it.”
“If it means getting another Heavy ‘Mech in my ranks, I’m willing to take a look at doing it.” I tell her, making no promises until I have some actual financial estimates in front of me.
“I would be really grateful if you did.” says Coranni, “My current ride isn’t bad, but my Crusader is my ‘Mech. Being able to pilot it again…”
I don’t mention that I am more interested in her unit’s DropShips and her trained ASFs pilots. Experienced MechWarriors with their own rides are nice, but they aren’t what I need right now. But Coranni doesn’t need to know that and I don’t see any benefit to telling her that.
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==Author's Chapter Notes==
;Word from the Author: This chapter is mostly (entirely) dialogue, but it is important dialogue. Elizabeth is getting made into minor nobility for her actions while the Aurigans are planning their next moves. Nautilus is getting put on the backfoot to the negotiations to bring in the last four worlds of the canonical Aurigan Coalition. Said negotiations did take place in canon and around this time frame even if we don’t have any precise dates though thanks to the butterflies of Elizabeth’s actions, things will be going somewhat differently this time around.
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