ALJ Chpt 26

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
==Chapter 26 - A Long Journey==
----
14 October 2785
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
Gerald Mitchell was happy to have his daughter Patricia seeming almost human after several months of seeing a psychologist to help with her trauma. She still had her down moments, but they were becoming more and more rare as the days went along. He had listened in on quite a few of the therapy sessions and shuddered as he listened to Patricia tell all that she had seen and done during the long war. He had not told her about the recent encounter with the Caspar Drone nor the imminent return of her people to Site 222 to refuel and perform repairs on those very Caspar's. He did not think he would tell her about her brothers request to sell off another Monolith Jumpship so that they could purchase outright the last active slip of Lockheed Galactic over Thorin along with all their employees over Thorin and move them to Mackolla. It lacked any sort of production ability having been long ago converted to a maintenance slip only, but it would allow them to repair and maintain ships all the way up to 1 Million tons. The war had pushed them so deep into debt that it would be a fire sell price, enough to pay off their creditors and not much else. But they had to move fast while the fire was burning hot. With this purchase, they would solve so many problem before they even became problems.
The best news was that he had gotten word that the Core Grinder was enroute with an estimated arrival of mid December. It had overall been a good month so far for the civilian side of the house as he thought of it, roughly 500 experienced but unemployed shipyard workers had been hired and were making their way to Mackolla via a variety of routes. Once everything was in place, Mackolla Aerospace Services would be ready to start turning a profit. He had spoken to some of the engineers from Patricia's people and they had assured him that they could manufacture just about anything if given what they needed in single item or extremely small batches but they could not mass produce them. Their manufacturing and milling equipment was not designed for that sort of task. They had a vast computer library containing design and manufacturing specifications on all manner of replacement parts found on black water ships and Dropships. While crude compared to a real factory or shipyard, it could and did get the job done. Much of their manufacturing equipment had been pulled from a Newgrange Yardship before it had been scuttled by being pushed into a star. A hair under 8,000 tons of manufacturing and milling equipment.
But there were three items on the list of Site 222 that he really wanted to get his hands on, the Snowden Mining Stations. They were worth a fortune all by their lonesome, a single one going for FIVE BILLION, those three could easily kick start all the companies and allow him to really expand rapidly. It would take decades to develop Mackolla's population and industry into a high tech world, but the quickest way was to import the skilled workers and the industrial base needed. He wanted to do just that, but also with a small amount of caution. There was no buffer zone between Mackolla and those that might prey upon them and he had no desire to make Mackolla a target any more than it already was. It was not the various Houses they had to worry about, for they were all quite far away, but pirates, that was a completely different matter. He knew Sammy was pretty sure he could keep Mackolla safe, but Mackolla Aerospace Services was not ground based, but way out in space itself. 
At the Zenith Jump Point, Major Paulina Flores oversaw the loading of her ships for the return to Site 222. The Aqueduct Dropships was loaded with fuel, water, liquid oxygen and helium. One Mammoth was going loaded with replacement parts and supplies, both Elephant Tugs, the Monarch carrying the Tiger Team and their Titan for close CAP. All four Tramp Jumpships would be making the trip with their onboard manufacturing equipment. While survey crews worked the derelict ships she wanted most of the Tiger Team to return the Caspar's to fighting trim, once they were back fully online and combat capable, they would have a secure working environment for a long time. 
She still had thirty one personnel that refused to go anywhere there were active Caspar Drones and no amount of convincing was going to change their minds on the matter. She had assigned those refusing to other vessels and other tasks that did not involve going to Site 222.
----
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
26