TBntG-3 Chpt 32

=The Bull and the Genie=
==Chapter 32 - Book III - The Clan Invasion==
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==Guided Tours==
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===Shipyard Inspection===
Orbital Shipyard - Taurus System, Taurian Concordat
Star Colonel Richard Gilmore of the Snow Ravens wasn't happy. There was a war to be fought, but he and his other Clan fellows had been sent to assist with IFF codes for the Spheroids.
 
And, by order of Frederick, "Keep his eyes open." 
 
Aff, Khan. He carefully did not say that. The other Khans and SaKhans were not forgiving of that particular nickname, although "Merchant Prince" was becoming popular among the Diamond Sharks. 
 
As well it should. The amount of mechs, fighters, and dropships Frederick had produced out of the Occupation Zone was incredible. If they were second-line equipment, he had a lot of it, and Richard had seen too many Clan mechs taken down by more numerous albeit less advanced mechs to mock that…and in engagements with the UMC, his units, staffed by freebirths, Solhama, and recruits had…
 
Done as well as some of our units. Better if I'm being honest. 
 
But now I am here, at Taurus, to speak to their engineers about integrating our systems for the Trial of Annihilation. 
 
"I'm Engineer Wilkes," a cheerful man said, ignoring Richard's wince at the contraction. "I'm here to show y'all around before the big brass gets here. So if you'll follow me to the observation pod?"
 
"Aff," Richard said. I wonder what tier production line looks like… But why are they showing it to me. The little pod boosted from the ship that had brought them, a UMC corvette, and headed towards a cloud of objects.
 
"This is our primary construction and assembly area for Warships." Wilkes said. "Designed by Davions, but we have a priest come by and exorcise them before launch. We gotta couple of secondary yards in system, but this is the main one, as big as our other primary yards in the UMC."
 
What? He had no idea what they'd need with a priest, but suddenly…
 
"That is… I have never seen yards like this." A voice spoke.
 
Richard stared and realized what it was. There wasn't a single slipway—there were lines of construction bays, far too close to each other but… each one was of a different design.
 
"What is this?" he asked.
 
"Well, we looked at how the SLDF did things, and they were rich. So, we had some guys from the Lyrans and some of our guys and…" He gestured with pride. "Four slipways, an assembly line. Frame assembly, primary components, Transit and Jump drive, weapons armor and and anciliaries. Then we fly it out and finish installation of other units in free space, while we're testing out the big components. Each slipway can be running 24/7, and none of the equipment is ever idle, not like an old SLDF bay, where a lot of stuff is just stuck waiting for something else to get done. There you can see, slipway complex 3 is already transferring." 
 
He called up the image and Richard stared. The far slipway had a corvette exiting it, looking complete, although there was a gaggle of pods around it. Behind it, each slipway was now taking a new ship, from one without armor or weapons, replacing the departing corvette, to a skeletal frame that was being assembled in the first slip. 
 
Part of it was offensive. SLDF ships had been built with care, to last decades. But…
 
"What are your price and time savings?" he asked. 
 
"We can complete a ship in 60 percent of the time and for 75 percent of the cost of doing it the old way." 
 
You didn't have to—no, you did. They weren't showing them this for the IFF integration plan, it was another reason. 
 
Nine slip complexes. Four component slips, which means that presuming full capacity, they are currently assembling thirty-six hulls. 
 
Founder!
 
Three of the lines were holding larger ships. 
 
"What are those?"
 
"Heavy common hulls. 960,000 tons," Wilkes said with a cheerful grin. "We never could get million plus jump cores working, not without too many failures. Buships is working on it, but the UMC and Protector agreed, to build what we can. So, we have a common frame and jump core. Transit engines, weapons, armor, everything else is built according to the subclass."
 
"And what subclasses would those be?" Richard congratulated himself on his voice. Twelve battlecruiser class hulls!
 
Eh, I'm not up on all the designs. I mean, line cruiser, fast cruiser, fast CV, heavy CV, troop carrier… But the admiralty is ready to see you, so let's head to the orbital management facility!" 
 
"Just one more question… How many other shipyards are there?"
 
"Well, that's classified. But not many. No more than…eight, nine, maybe twenty or so minor yards?"
 
The pod was very quiet.
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===Intelligence from behind enemy lines===
Office of the Protector - City of Samantha, Taurus, Taurian Concordat 
"Protector, I know you can declassify things on your own authority, but would you mind explaining why you…" Admiral Davies looked like he was about to start tearing his hair out.
 
"Well, sooner or later, we'll deal with the Black Dragons, right?"
 
"Yes. And then we have to deal with the Clans, so why are we giving them a look at our strategic production sites?"
 
"Because I want them to have a look. Just like the Primus is giving them a look at the Titan yards."
 
"Why?"
 
"Because there's only one thing better than a war won, it's a war you don't have to fight. The clans aren't stupid, Admiral, but they are. From everything we know, very prone to group think and don't like to have their assumptions challenged." Edward handed his guest a drink. "The Snow Ravens are one of the pragmatic clans, and I want it rubbed in their face, that we can't just bury them in mechs—we can bury them in cruisers." 
 
"And yet you didn't tell them about our battleships."
 
"No. I want peace, but I'm not stupid. But ideally they'll see the writing on the wall and come to terms."
 
"And what terms are those?" The Admiral paused. "Forgive me, sir, that's not a military question." 
 
"But it is a fair one. Continued clan control over any Federated Commonwealth worlds is a no-go, although the Draconis Combine remains up in the air, since there's unlikely to be any successor government that will control anything like the old territory. Put bluntly, a number of Clan possessions are actually quite happy with the Wolves and Bears and depending on how nasty the local Combine bigwig was, even the Jade Falcons. I don't like to presume military victory, but once we secure it, the Combine is going to be a mess."
 
"If there's anything left," Davies said. "We need that IFF working, and I'm surprised the Clans were willing to give us the specs on their area anti-missile systems."
 
"Blame "Khan" Frederick. He and the Snow Ravens saw the need and put the system together." 
 
Davies nodded, glancing at the screen showing the design. A big dropship, with ER Lasers tied into an advanced targeting system. The Clan's anti-artillery system, writ large. 
 
And a reminder that they're not stupid. The time it would take to tool up for the new design meant at least some UMC ships would be depending on Clan escorts, who they were at war with, to protect them from attacks from the Combine, that they were allied with. Strange War. 
 
"We'll need them," Davies said. "That's another thing I wanted to tell you sir, beyond ranting at your casual dropping of our secrets."
 
"Yes?"
 
"ROM got this imagery, out of Luthien." He called it up and there was a production line, hundreds of fighters being built. 
 
Edward frowned. "That's rather a lot. New facility?"
 
"New facility. And it's easy to build fighters if they don't have any guns. Each fighter there is actually a manned torpedo. Enough fuel to get away from a carrier ship and make a run on an enemy…and a 300kt warhead."
 
Edward hissed. "Even with their economy…"
 
"They can build a lot. Once we go in, we have to be prepared for massive "missile" attacks." 
 
"How many would drive their attacks home?" Edward shook his head. "I can't see—"
 
"Oh, that's the nice thing. According to our intel, they have an hours life support. Enough time to reach their target, not enough time to be recovered."
 
"Lovely," Edward said. 
 
"The good news, is that only a losing enemy pulls off something this desperate."
 
"That may be where you're wrong, Admiral."
"Sir?"
 
"That they think they're losing."
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Later, after Davies left, Edward looked out. Samantha was bright and booming, new suburbs being built. As obscene as it sounded, war had been good for the economy.
But all wars end. And then those shipyards will churn out civilian ships, enough to knit humanity across the stars. And maybe, just maybe, this war will be the last war. 
 
Edward shook his head. He was too much of a historian to believe that. But maybe, just maybe, this war could be the last war in his or his children's lifetime. That wasn't too much to ask. 
 
Was it?
 
He turned and headed to bed. Tomorrow he was dedicating the first battleship to be built in Taurian Yards since the Reunification War.
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Book 3 - 32