WCGW Chpt 156

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==Chapter 156 - What Could Go Wrong==
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9th February, 3044
Pilon (Former Outworlds System)
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Captain Nathan Davis slowly crawled down the access "tube" following the mass of computer cables running the length of it. He was deep under the massive base, almost 50 meters by his estimate. It was pitch black if he turned off the light he carried. After another 30 minutes of crawling and snaking his way thru the mass of cables, he finally reached a room measuring 10 meters by 10 meters. He played his light around the room before halting on the object in the center of the room, computer cables and certainly power cables emerged from every wall of the room, and all plugged into the huge computer core. Slowly, he exited the tunnel and climbed down the small ladder attached to the wall. He shined his light on the rooms ceiling and could see clearly a large hatch. But where the hell was that up there in relation to down here, he thought.
"Harry, you still read me?" Captain Nathan Davis called over his radio.
<<"Barely, but I can here you.">> Chief Warrant Officer Harry Caldwell replied
"There is a large door or hatch in the ceiling over the main computer core. So there has to be one up there somewhere." Captain Davis said
<<"Damned if we can find it. Your deep under us. How far did you travel?">> Chief Caldwell asked
"About 150 to 200 meters. Almost a straight line from the entry once I reached the bottom of that shaft." Captain Davis said
<<"That should put you under the second Mech hangar. Just inside the entrance. There is nothing in that area. Wait a second.">> Chief Caldwell replied
Chief Warrant Officer Harry Caldwell shined his own light in the immediate area, focusing on the large workbench setup there. He shined the light to the opposite side of the large entrance where a duplicate workbench was bolted directly to the floor. He shined the light on the suspect workbench, it was not bolted to the floor, instead it was welded to thick sheet of steel. It even had lifting bolts at each corner. He waved a team of techs over and pointed.
"Get one of the recovery vehicles down here and drag that workbench out of here.", Chief Warrant Officer Caldwell said
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Three hours later, the base main computer core was carefully winched up from the room deep below. The technicians carefully lowered it to a waiting truck and carefully secured it. "Take that straight to Intrusive, leave it on the truck and get it strapped into place." Captain Nathan Davis ordered
"Well, at least we have an idea where to look back on Thazi. You think you can bring that back to life, Davis?" Chief Caldwell asked
"Damn sure hope so. No telling what we will find on there. Either way, I have two cores to play with. Make sure the techs take extreme care when they are pulling all the computer cables out of the tunnels. No telling what all will need to be replaced on Thazi." Captain Davis replied
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They had been working for two weeks already on dismantling the SLDF base and everyone felt that they had barely made a dent in the amount of work to be done. Mech hangar one had already been totally emptied, even the simple storage cages had been taken apart and removed. The bases power plant was halfway dismantled, every bolt was being carefully bagged and noted. Teams were carefully crawling along the extensive tunnel system removing every power cable, computer cable and even the cable locks holding them to the tunnel walls and ceilings were being removed. Even the thousands of light fixtures and switches were being carefully removed and packed up for shipment back to Thazi.
Not all work was being conducted on the planet's surface. Major General David Mitchell studied the first mining station they had located in the systems asteroid belt. Beside him, Chief Warrant Officer Vincent Zuniga and Paul Orlean also studied the mining station. Hellcat Aerospace Fighters were currently on their way to check out another possible station 67,000 kilometers away. 
"KF Boom looks intact. I don't see any obvious battle damage from here. Only way to tell is to board her." Paul Orlean said
"If we can bring her back to Thazi, I damned sure am not selling her cheap." Major General Mitchell said
"Why sell it? Hell, you already have a mining company, make use of it." Paul Orlean replied
"Not a single person with us has a clue about asteroid mining, plus Thazi does not have any asteroid belt to mine." Major General Mitchell said
"So, hire people. It is not like it is some unheard-of skill. Heck, not too far from here is folks at Mica. They damn sure know how to mine asteroids. Even Taurus Majoris Metals hired folks from Mica for that line of work. Your going to have to offer employment bonus and such to get them, probably have to relocate thier families too." Paul Orlean replied
"Security." Major General Mitchell simply said
"Who the hell are they going to talk to? There is no HPG station out here and if their families are out here too, no need for them to leave. If you stick to the security thing, your never going to get ahead." Paul Orlean replied
"He's right, Sir. Plus, each of those stations have pressurized repair bays. Those could come in handy. You know the FedCom is going to build Titan Fighter Carrier Dropship in the Olympus Station's bays, so that means fighting for space for repairs and such. Granted, most repairs can also be accomplished on the surface just as easily. I say we keep the damned things. Park them in Wokha and mine the hell out of the place." Chief Zuniga said, entering the conversation.
"First, let's find out if it is worth moving." Major General Mitchell replied
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