ALJ Chpt 64

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 64 - A Long Journey==
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17 November 2786
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
"You have got to see this, Patty, it about gave me a damned heart attack when we first opened the door." Colin Blaine said as he reached for the door of the shipping container.
When it opened even Commodore Patricia Mitchell took a step back from the humanoid figure. "What the hell, I have never seen anything like it." She asked as she reached out and touched the smooth armor plating.
"Damned if I know. I am afraid to even unload the containers out here to get a good count. All the years in the SLDF Quartermaster Corps and I never even heard of anything like this or seen anything remotely close to this cross my desk. There are bound to be manuals packed in somewhere, but damned if I want to expose this to anyone but us right now. It is unknown tech as far as I am concerned and if the First Prince even gets a whiff that something the Federated Suns had ever seen before is here, well he is going to come calling with a fleet." Colin Blaine replied
"Lock it back down until Sammy is back. He will know what to do. I will make sure guards are posted around the clock. Now, are you sure that Mule contained Alamos?" Commodore Patricia Mitchell asked
"The Chief was pretty sure of it. I told them to lock the Dropship back down and get it somewhere out of the way. At least now that Monolith is free to do other tasks versus sitting here with three Mules attached." Colin Blaine replied
"Well if they are Alamo's, that is a massive force multiplier for our Aerospace Fighters. If we break them out and can locate the arming codes for them. Put a few of those into a Warship and it is going to be hurting some. But they need to be stored somewhere very secure. A Mule can carry quite a few of them." Commodore Patricia Mitchell said
"You really going on that deep space mission?" Colin Blaine asked
"Damned straight I am. It's what I always wanted to do, explore the unknown in deep space. The SLDF didn't let me, but I got the chance to do it now and I am going to take it. Just waiting on Sammy to get back before I even think about heading out." Commodore Patricia Mitchell replied with a smile.
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Cephei (Unclaimed)
It took almost three days to tear open a corner of the door large enough for a man to get thru. A combination of cutting torches, jackhammers, pneumatic jacks and just plain old sledge hammers. One of the engineers was the first to slip inside followed by Captain Harvey Barclay and then a few more engineers. The first one shined his flashlight at the floor surface and said "Plain old rock that has been grooved for traction." He played the light around the walls and ceiling as he spoke "Actually looks natural, probably is."
"Well, let's go exploring." Captain Harvey Barclay said as he started down the large tunnel.
"Sir, we have no clue what we are even going to find down here." Sergeant Oscar Bolivar said
"I have my sidearm, all of you have yours. We will be careful." Captain Barclay replied as he continued walking.
"Lord save us from officers." Sergeant Bolivar said quietly as he gestured the others forward.
They walked for 30 minutes and traveled at least two miles before they reached a massive cavern. Their flashlights could not reach the ceiling or either wall. The slowly made their way deeper on a downward slope until they reached a large structure. The walls did not look like stone but metal. Captain Barclay tapped his flashlight on the wall and then reach out to touch it. "Its metal, possibly even Ferro Carbide armor. This thing is massive. Sergeant we need more light down here, let's get those floodlights down here and setup so we can figure this out."
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19 November 2786
Cephei (Unclaimed)
It had taken all the previous day to work the floodlights into place and then rig up a portable power supply. Sergeant Bolivar was nervous about bringing down one of the portable generators since it was gas powered. But they were finally ready to go. "Hit it, Sergeant, and let's get a good look at what we found."
Sergeant Bolivar hit the power switch and six powerful floodlights turned on bathing an area of two hundred meters in bright light. They knew about the structure they had found first, but fifty meters opposite the first structure was another structure just like it. They could even make out other structures deeper into the cavern and more behind the first two structures. Each was at least fifty meters wide by fifty meters tall by one hundred meters long. Captain Barclay had brought one of his own engineers down who used a special test rig on the wall of the first structure. "Ferro Carbide Armor confirmed. What the hell would you store inside a huge block of Ferro Carbide?"
"The bigger question is, how many of these massive armored buildings are there. The main door on this one was set back a solid foot from the outer edge. The armor plating we use on a McKenna is what, four inches thick." Captain Barclay said
"In some areas. Incredibly strong stuff. The only thing better is Lamellor Ferro-Carbide Armor and it is a total bitch to work with. Stupidly expensive too."
"Well, we will figure out how to get inside once we finish exploring this damned site." Captain Barclay replied
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20 November 2786
The entire cavern was suddenly illuminated by massive overhead lights when an engineer found a small unlocked control room that still had power to it's computer systems. The systems came out of a deep sleep and began rebooting. Displays slowly came back to life, blurry until someone wiped the dust off them. One display said "Naval Missile Storage Depot #3". Captain Barclay was the fourth person to arrive at the small control room and found the other three blocking his view of whatever display they were staring at so he pushed them aside to see.
Inventory
-Barracuda - 5,450
-White Shark - 3,000
-Killer Whale - 2,400
-Alamo - 4,250
-Santa Ana - 800
-Peacemaker - 100
 
"Holy shit, the smoking lamp is definitely out." Captain Barclay said as he took in what he was looking at before shifting his eyes to another display. "Well, seems some systems failed." He pointed to a screen that showed 85% humidity levels in each of the listed bunkers, as he thought of them now, he saw that there were one hundred bunkers listed as he scrolled down the list.
"Humidity kills electronics, good bet those missiles are dead but still very dangerous. I am sure it would take a Flag Officer to even access this sort of site. Which we do not have." Captain Barclay said
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