BeyHop Chpt 55

==Beyond Hope- Chapter 55 - Envy==
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===Visit from a Friend===
Helena Cameron (Drillson) ResisdenceKowloon, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3063
“Daphne. It’s been too long,” Helena greeted her friend.
“Okay I can forgive you for turning traitor on me,” Daphne smiled at Jonathan. “He’s adorable.”
“Told you the universe only allows for one childless cool aunt,” Helena chuckled. “Star League Council hasn’t been too rough on you while me and Liz were traveling.”
“Definitely kept me busy. But no. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Good. Please distract me from this stack of resumes I promised to review to expand my staff with more gossip.”
“Well I am seeing a guy now. It’s not serious yet. We have fun, scratch each other’s itches now and again, but I don’t hear wedding bells when I think about him.” Daphne smiled as she walked over to Helena’s desk and grabbed a file. “Nice. I could almost go lesbian for this one. She’s pretty, has excellent scores in Admin and Protocol. Boo, hiss. Mechwarrior in the AFFC.”
“That one… Is a maybe,” Helena grabbed the file back from Daphne. “And you’re not really distracting me.”
“No, I’m going to do something better. I’m going to help.” Daphne grabbed another file.
“Thanks,” Helena smiled.
“Anytime,” Daphne nodded.
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===Scheming between political factions===
Hilton's Head Island, North AmericaTerra, Sol System (Word of Blake Space)3063
“No one denies what happened on Venus is a tragedy, but the reports from ROM investigations point to the conclusion that the explosion that destroyed the primary air purification plant was the work of a nilhistic and clearly suicidal heretic,” Kernoff briefed the conclave.
“Outsiders? Really? It would have to be someone truly delusional to wipe out one of the least militant and least extreme congregations that make up the Word of Blake,” Blaine countered.
“The non-believers paint us all with the same brush: as dangerous, sadistic, and evil lunatics. They do not take the time to discern who is who,” Kernoff shook his head. “Also, consider what we are currently doing. We are accusing each other, and the more aggressive congregations are calling for blood when patience and a carefully measured response is called for.”
“Kernoff, I know that the non-Believers are using their various covert action agencies to put us under siege. I think it is well past time we start contemplating a more public response,” Cameron St. Jamais spoke up.
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===The faithful prepares for retribution===
Somewhere in the Inner Sphere that no longer appears on the maps but used to…
Precentor Pollux examined the rows and rows of new mechs. Each something never before seen except for one aspect. They were standardized designs.
The Word of Blake would not have an army that was a mishmash of hodgepodge designs when they launched their holy mission. Only the SLDF of old and Helena Cameron’s Navy had seen such commonality of design before.
“You are pleased.” Precentor Scytha stepped up next to him.
“I wish we could extend this to the Militia units as well, but that will have to come later. How goes our work at the Ruins of Gabriel and our other shipyards?”
“We are going to be able to put many former Terran Hegemony ships back into service and the Impavido will form the core of our short to mid term naval plans to create our standard unit there but we could use more time for our Cruiser and Carrier programs to progress further.”
“To buy us time we will make use of our assets in the Free Worlds League to procure some of their Eagle and Thera production.”
"That may be the wrong approach," she said. "Their designs are not logistically compatible, and the diplomatic damage could be catastrophic right as Our Blessed Order needs to be free to focus on opponents. It is never wise to add enemies before the previous ones are dispatched."
“That would indeed be preferable. But if we cannot get our own programs up to speed we will need to take a page from the Soviet’s book from the Second World War. Use them until they break down or battle damage claims them.”
"Precentor…that is a mistake," she stated baldly. "You are a ground commander, so maybe you do not grasp the difference between running a tank or 'mech until it falls apart, and trying to do that with ships.... Further, what you have just outlined erodes the position of Our Blessed Order in ways that will not simply vanish! Are you attempting to undermine The Order, sir?"
“I am attempting to find options that fit with our timeline.”
"The 'option' is time," she said. "Not stabbing potential allies in the back to steal warships that the Steiner-Davions may well have rendered obsolete."
“That is part of the difficulty. Who knows what else they will come up with and incorporate into their forces the longer we wait?”
"Think on this, where will those innovations be pointed first?" she asked. "The Clans occupy forty percent of the Federated Commonwealth, and their politics is one incident away from a declaration of war, maybe… We can find out what innovations don't work by watching them, and incorporate improved versions of the ones that do?"
“Yes. The SLDF relics that we are saddled with as well. We could use those to stage an incident along with some carefully selected personnel…”
"Precentor Pollux, stop now before you say something I will have to report to ROM," she hissed. "We follow the plan, because those are our orders. Tipping our hand, or taking frankly wasteful risks is not in that plan. I need more time, because I need more time. Because if we do not take that time, we lose and with us, the last hope for the Third Transfer."
“Though you must admit it would be helpful if we could push along some hatreds, both new and old, to buy us the time we need.”
"I leave that task to Precentor ROM and don't ask questions, and so should you. Focus on getting your army ready for the field. I focus on getting our navy ready, and by 'ready' I mean READY."
“Yes. My task is to ready the Shadow Divisions. I should focus on that. I plan on writing a whole new doctrine by the time I am done, so that none know what to expect.”
"Good." She folded her hands, "Peace of Blake be with you."
“Peace of Blake be with you.”
I must inform The Master. Pollux is eyeing irrational risks. Scytha mused silently as she walked away. It’s too important to let him cowboy us into a bad position so early.
On a display Pollux couldn't see, because it was linked to her optic nerve, she reviewed the latest schematic diagrams from Katherine Steiner-Davion's offices, in particular the modifications to the Fox and Avalon classes, as well as the 'secret' research by the FedCom's navy into gravitic manipulation techniques.
We'll have better by the time it matters, but I need that time! she throught fierstly 
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===Museums and Schools===
Kowloon, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3063
"...what do you mean I'm stuck here?" Her Honor Justice Giao Pham demanded. "I was drafted, the case is over!!"
"Your term isn't," Her Grace said bluntly. "It's five years before you can be relieved, Pham. I'm not inclined to waiver your term, given that in twenty years of service you have a grand total of three weeks surface time. You haven't completed your obligated service, so you're going to be sitting judge in the Western District courts until such time as your five years are over. Get comfy, rent a basement apartment or go live in Ia Drang, I don't care. But Monday, you're sitting on the bench hearing cases."
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll have to let my crew know so arrangements can be made for them to keep working and the lights to stay on with the business.” Giao was still clearly grumpy.
"I'll give you a few days, no, a week, and you can pro-rate your communications. I remember you were pretty good at finding and recruiting subordinates. So do your business, hand it over to your second for the duration, and be ready to get to work… if that's all?"
"I understand, Your Grace."
"Good. Next petition?"
Elizabeth was holding 'wandering court': meeting with people who had petitions or grievances at or near their homes.
Simon was quietly watching the process, sitting with his favorite babysitter, while Hannah was also being quiet.
"Your Grace…"
"The Duchess recognizes Rabbi Henry Levine… what is it?"
"Arrangements for this year's Elbar vigil, Your Grace… We're getting more response from offworld than expected, and the congregation is coming up short…"
"How short?"
"A few thousand Kroner, Your Grace…"
"Did the Assembly refuse your application?"
He nodded.
"Yeah, okay…" she reached into her pocket, pulled out a stylus and a book of Notes. "Accommodations for Pilgrims, is it?"
"Yes, Your Grace."
She filled out a check. "We can't have that. Not for that day…" She tabbed her portable desk, made a note, and then, "Here is one point seven million Kroner and the deed to a stretch of land I just finished purchasing. Build hotels there. It's a donation from me."
He looked stunned "Your Grace, I-"
"You wanted the usual fifteen thousand, I know. But I anticipate an increase in tourism and traffic, and your Temple is in one of the poorer areas of the Plateau or you wouldn't need the loan at all… So, I'm anticipating future problems and solving them now. Use reputable people to build it. It is a donation for your good works."
"Thank you."
"Mind that I'll be visiting," she said. "So I expect you to use the funding wisely." The unspoken do not disappoint me was all in her tone of voice.
The next petitioner was a dispute over grazing rights that had escalated to the point that men on both sides were currently in jail.
"Any 'pardons' or paroles are contingent on you two forming some agreement and adhering to it, otherwise the sentences stand," she finally ruled. "You have sixty hours to agree to a compromise and have it witnessed as a legal document. Your men will be paroled, if the agreement is violated by either side, both men return to jail to finish their original sentences… And if someone dies? Well, that's for the Courts to decide. But I pledge I won't intervene if that happens. This is your second chance, folks, so use it. Or let your sons stay in the lockup."
***
Jane studied it with her sensors. "It's… laid out weird," she finally said.
"We're trying something extreme," Nathan Silvermann261 agreed.
"Where are the reaction nozzles?"
"One of the things we're playing with-it doesn't have reaction engines, it uses gravity polarizer shifts and inertial dampening for reactionless flight… including landings."
"Seems dangerous."
"It's a test-bed for the technology, to see how far we can really push it."
"I don't like it," her remote shook her head. "It looks… wrong."
“You’re still thinking in older, traditional layout terms. It’s not evolutionary, it’s revolutionary. We need you to help model the expected performance. Conventional computers choked on the data and refused to give us any result. But you've got access to a Nirasaki 400 computer, which won't go into 'choking out from insufficient RAM' just trying to model the data."
“I’ll see what the data says. Maybe it’ll start making sense in the sims. And if the models do come back with the right results, then we can start talking about building.”
"Thank you, how much is this going to cost?" Maxine Silvermann311 asked, shooting her husband a glare. "Because if Nathan is asking this as a favor he knows better, only a contract based on consent is valid, and a contract requires an exchange of value!"
“Honey, what would you price my time at?” Jane asked Bianh.
Bianh came over, and had a look. "One hundred eighty seven board feet of clear lumber, or you can negotiate for one thousand hours of maintenance and dock space at the Silvermann yards, parts included for this."
“Well, that’s our opening offer. I’m feeling generous though, so if you want to haggle I’m game,” Jane smiled.
"We can offer the yard work, if there’s space," Nathan temporized. His wife elbowed him in the ribs. "And fifty board meters of clear oak in one centimeter by two centimeters by two meter slabs."
“That would make for a lovely desk or new kitchen table,” Jane smiled. “Make it sixty, we have a bedframe we need to make too, and you’ve got a deal.”
The Rockjack yard-owner glanced nervously at his wife.
"Fifty five of the oak, and forty pounds of beef, vacuum frozen," Mrs. Silvermann offered.
“Shame I can’t taste your stir fry,” Jane smiled at Bianh. “That will suffice. Thank you.”
"My wife lacks taste buds," Bianh stated. "But the children will appreciate the red meat. You have a deal."
The contracts were readied, reviewed, and signed within the hour.
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===Breakthough in Propultion ===
Kowloon Coast Guard Residential QuartersKowloon, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3063
"Holy shit," Jane Cameron said as she played with the simulation. "This thing is going to be fast. Not 'breaking light barrier' fast, but damned quick, quick enough to be a real competitor against the Ferry services."
“Will we have to worry about time dilation?”
"Oh yeah," Jane nodded. "Yes indeed."
“As long as it isn’t so much I have to worry about my children being old and gray because I took a trip to the outer system and back.”
"No more than a few days for such a… a short… trip," Jane mused. "No wonder the computers they were using to model this were choking. Based on what we know from Kate's people, and from Arthur's work? This pushes some boundaries in performance, including geometric acceleration curves, leave it running long enough,and it'll exert mass."
Phoebe came into the living room carrying Jocasta, barely.
“Thank you, Phoebe. I know, she’s growing so fast,” Jane smiled as she collected Jocasta.
Phoebe signed, <Not a problem. Happy to help.>
Phoebe looked at the simulation. <One.>
"What?"
<Wait one, Lenny needs to see.> She hurried from the living room.
Jane and Bianh exchanged looks until Lenora came in. "All right… all right!! What's… Oh, COOL!!"
“Phoebe thought you’d appreciate it,” Jane said.
"So they're making a Holovid version of Doctor Mechbender? Who's playing Hauptmann Thoms?"
“Hmmm… Should we tell her?” Jane asked Bianh.
"Mom, it's obvious, right?? They got you to help with the CGI and special effects, because that's the Silver Streak dropship from the Doctor ‘Mechbender comics!" Lenny asserted.
"Those little comics you keep downloading?" Bianh asked
"Yeah, they're great!! So who hired ya to make it, is it a movie? A serial?" Lenora's eyes lit as she asked, "Will we get to meet the actors?"
“No, we will not be meeting any actors. But we will be getting approximately 55 board feet of clear oak for my work.”
"OH! So it's an Animation, like those cartoons from the Combine then??" she was practically squealing. "This is so cool, the guys on the fan boards are not gonna believe this!"
Jane caught Phoebe's half-covert expression, and realized her deaf daughter had already figured out what Lenora clearly wasn't grasping.
“So what do you think? Table or Desk? And if there’s enough left, a bedframe for Jocasta?” Jane was clearly still drawing out the reveal.
Sam wandered in. "Hey mom, Mom… Lenny… Oh, you're working."
"Samuel, do you recognize this?"
"Uh, animation from one of Lenny's comics," he said. "The… ah… 'Mechbender series, right?"
"YES!!!" Lenny barely kept from hitting her head on the ceiling. "It's so COOL!!"
"Right. Not my bag… Ah, Mom, I need some help with my letter of application to Giap Island?"
"You're unimpressed?" Bianh asked.
"No, it's cool, sure, but that stuff's fiction. I kinda try to stay grounded, real world stuff…" His expression froze at a gesture from Phoebe that Lenora didn't see. "NO way…"
“Until it isn’t,” Jane smiled.
"It's real? Someone is actually building it?" Samuel asked slowly. "Somebody is actually trying to make the Silver Streak real?"
“It’s still just a simulation but the theoretical data all holds up. So all that’s left is to build it and see if it works for real,” Jane nodded.
“You know Lenore is going to blab about this all over school?” Bianh said.
“Let her,” Jane smiled.
"Huh… okay… so I'll apply next year instead," Sam decided.
“Somebody wants to be Hauptman Thoms…” Jane teased.
"Not me. If I wanted to be anyone from that comic, it would be Blackwell," Sam stated. "He gets to do all the fun stuff, especially when they finally catch Doctor ‘Mechbender in his secret lair in the second-"
"I knew it. Lenora's not the only fan," Dean said, drawn to the commotion. Dean was still in his skinsuit, with his tool-belt. "Moms, they finished the job early, so I'm unemployed again. Do I have to go to school this week?"
"YES!" both Jane and Bianh said almost simultaneously.
“Aw, man. School’s such a drag…” Dean moaned.
"Which is why you have to go. If you're out of work and off an apprenticeship, you go to school," Jane explained.
"I'll start applying then…"
“You still go until you get a job,” Jane declared.
"You could try applying with the people who hired mom to do the sim," Sam suggested.
"Who is it?" Dean asked.
"Mister Silvermann," Bianh said. "And he won't be ready to start work on this until next month, so you still have to go until then. Even if he hires you."
“So unfair…” Dean walked off to his room with a sulk.
Phoebe excused herself, and hurried after.
“Teenagers,” Sophie said drawing everyone’s attention to the fact she had been sitting on the couch reading quietly the whole time.
"Could I apply there?" Lenora had digested what everyone was saying. "Please?"
"Not until you get your grades up to level, young lady," Bianh said bluntly. "We let Dean do it because he keeps his grades up and does his homework. Until you can prove you're reliable for that, you're staying in school and NOT applying for an apprenticeship."
“The Silvermanns have a reputable firm with high standards. So I’m certain if you show them you can work hard by getting your grades up, they’ll look favorably on them when the time comes,” Jane nodded.
Bianh regarded her, "Those are the terms. You won't get my endorsement if you don't start doing better in your classes, and the Silvermanns don’t run some labor shop that’ll take anyone without at least that much."
“Deal,” Lenora smiled then scurried off to her room.
"We'll see," Bianh muttered. "I hope she doesn't forget this time."
“She has a real goal now. So I think she’ll do better.”
“And that tone says that’s our cue to leave our Moms alone, come on Samuel,” Sophie said.
Jane heard Sophie ask him "You're really going to delay your application?"
"Yeah. This is big stuff…" The rest went out of permissible range and Jane automatically filtered it out to let them speak in the same privacy they'd have with human parents.
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===Proposals===
Spider Moon Naval Shipyard - OfficesKowloon, Federated Commonwealth (Lyran State)3063
"...engineering requirements aren't that hard, I don't think. We can't get the efficiencies of the Nirasaki processor architecture, but we have sufficient energy and raw materials to brute force an equivalent." 
Helena was listening to a proposal from a working group from the Winter system. 
"An 'equivalent'?" she asked.
"Parallel architecture, it's going to be huge. It'll weigh a lot, at least for the first few iterations," Bakker explained. "What we're intending to do, is use a computer, to design a computer, that designs computers, hopefully it will find things we missed, or help develop a new architecture we can build off of, but using existing tech, we can match the power and speed of a Nirasaki 400…for a mass of around ten thousand tons."
“At least it is somewhere to start. Time frame?” Helena asked.
Bakker eyed his partner, Mister Shelby.
Shelby looked abashed at the ground.
"What is it?"
"We built it. Mortgaged everything. That's how we know we can do it," Shelby muttered. "But we're broke now. Steve wants to sell out. I think we can go further."
“How much do you need?” Helena asked.
"Too much," Bakker said, shooting his partner a glare. "Elian here wants to do something that's going to pass a billion C-bills, which is too much. No bank is going to float that loan, not even the Ngos are that crazy. I'm willing to sell out for-"
"Shut up Bakker," Shelby said. "Madame Cameron, with one billion C-bills, we can produce a better version. A lot better version. The first prototype of Skynet is a trinary computing interface, that means it runs on alternating current, positive, negative, neutral. It's fast, it's blistering fast, and it's almost innovative. My partner put his family holdings up for the prototype but he's got cold feet, this is going to be a revolution, you get it? Nobody's done this kind of work since Nirasaki went out of business under Amaris. I'm not aiming to replicate their work, I think we can do better."
“That’s the end goal I’m after. I have someone very interested in a person-portable system that meets or exceeds Nirasaki 400 performance without overheating. But I’m not looking to get deep into a sunk cost fallacy.”
"Let me show you Skynet then, and you can decide if you want to buy in," Shelby told her. "If you do, I won't stand in Bakker's way if he tries to sell you his shares, but I want to keep mine, this is going to be as big as the first microprocessors."
“It helps that you’ve already built your prototype system, so okay, pitch me,” Helena nodded.
"If you visit our offices on Winter Fourteen Station, I can give you an introduction. That's a trip, and if you see it, you'll get the idea" Shelby told her. "Far better than I can pitch-I'm not a business man, ma'am, I'm an engineer. Bakker's the business guy, and he wants out."
“All right. I’ll book something as soon as I can confer with my calendar,” Helena nodded.
With that, the two men left her office.
Helena mused over their appearance, and some of their statements. “Bertha-Do a quick check on Steve Bakker and Elian Shelby, would you?"
"What about?"
"How broke are they? And a standard security screen too."
"Ooh…this is not good," Bertha said. "Bakker's got bad loans, and there's a credit warrant in the Commonwealth for defaults. He's like sixty days from being arrested."
"And Shelby?"
"Still checking… huh?"
"What?"
"He's got a listing as a new-hire at one of the port sandwich shops. But no address, not here, not the station… He's also got nothing but the business address at Winter Fourteen, which is about to be foreclosed for nonpayment."
“I see. Deep dive them then. Something’s not right here. I’m either being honeypotted into a vulnerable position for abduction or being set up for my money to be swindled.”
The deep dive showed that the two men have spent a truly colossal amount of money in the last five and a half years on fabrication and raw materials, to the point that Bakker ran through a fairly generous inheritance, and Shelby… Well, the man didn't start with much to begin with, beyond a stack of papers on machine language and theories about machine intelligence from his time as a student at UW Donegal… With his degree suspended due to lack of payments.
The man dropped out when he and his 'partner' started this. Both men had extensive social records in the Commonwealth database, but only Bakker had a criminal record…for assault and battery of a previous lover.
"Bakker is bad news," Bertha concluded. "He's got a pattern."
“Yeah. Shelby seems a bit sketchy too but there’s just enough there he might be the real deal. Wouldn’t be the first computer science major to drop out but still manage something important.”
Bertha grimaced. "Sketchy isn't the half of it." She said, "There's a pattern here…I'd say buy out Bakker now, as in 'right now', while he's separated from his 'partner' buy him out."
“Muhammed, fetch him please. Bertha. How would you feel about a field trip?”
"I have my toothbrush packed, it's been boring staying here," Bertha said. "Do I get to bring my toys?"
“Anything you think you’ll need to see to your safety and to get to the bottom of whatever Shelby has at Winter 14. No way in hell am I putting myself in an exposed spot like that with this many red flags.”
Bertha had an extended giggle fit while Muhammed went to fetch Bakker.
Muhammed returned with Bakker after a few moments.
“Mister Bakker. We did some poking. Seems you’ve got a fair few problems,” Helena started.
"Look, I just want out of this, okay? Shelby's a dreamer and it didn't pan out. So yeah, I exaggerated. The problem is, it works, but it isn't useful. Only Elian can even figure out how to program the damned thing, and nobody's interested in a supercomputer they can't program!"
“I see. Well, then today’s your lucky day. I’m going to help solve some of your problems by buying you out like you want.”
The price he asked was a fraction of a fraction of what she expected, basically just enough to cover his current debts and buy a ticket on a liner for Donegal.
It was less than he'd started with.
“Pleasure doing business with you, Mister Bakker.” Helena smiled as she added just a little extra to the check.
Bertha seemed… uneasy. "Boss?"
“I know.”
"Uhm, no, I was going to ask you if I can borrow Muhammed, Ihaveafeelinganditmightbereallyurgent."
“Oh. Yeah. I’ll be fine without you two since I’m in my office and Jakob is next door.”
"Come on! It's important, Muhammed! And bring your fancy sticks!"
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===Ambush in Alley===
Bertha followed her gut feeling, using the record referents to speed the two of them through the corridors of this part of Spider Moon.
“Care to explain?” Muhammed asked.
"Bakker wanted out fast," Bertha said. "Too fast."
“Someone’s looking to either collect or silence and he knows it.” Muhammed surmised.
"Yep… not there… there!!” She darted toward a narrow alley between long-term storage crate structures. A dark alley, is a dark alley, and every place mankind settles, there’s a sort of sargasso for the financially unfortunate.
Three men were beating Elian Shelby with pipes and bats.
Muhammed moved fast. The first of the three didn’t even register that someone was approaching at speed until Muhammed’s strike landed on his temple, sending the man to the deck in a bizarre ragdoll fashion due to the lower gravity of Spider Moon.
The second and third started pivoting, now aware that someone was on them.
Muhammed stepped away from the third man but used the momentum to catch the second in an upward strike right to the chin.
There was an audible crunch.
The third was drawing his pipe back for an attack as the second was reeling and Muhammed stepped in, grappled the swinging arm and jabbed the man’s throat.
A roundhouse kick to the second put him on the deck instead of staggering around, coughing up blood.
Bertha pulled a personal medikit from her shoulder bag, and a comm unit.
“Dispatch, I need police and medical to my location. Be advised, one detainee is in need of a tracheotomy. Yes, I know how to do one.” Bertha was only slightly annoyed with her glance at Muhammed.
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