ALJ Chpt 6

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 6 - A Long Journey==
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1 March 2784
Terra (Terran Hegemony)
Colonel Colin Blaine got the notification that the 322nd Armored Division had been ordered to bring it's equipment to the various marshaling areas. So, it has now begun, he thought as he made note of the marshaling areas selected. With the North American areas literally swamped, he selected a marshaling area in Germany for their equipment to be assembled and inventoried. They could also park their Dropships at a nearby space port. He also made arrangements for the equipment from the 457th heavy Tank Regiment and 306th Hussar Regiment to be moved to the same marshaling area. 
Germany had been selected as a marshaling location for equipment staying behind, to be packed away in mothballs for use by the SLDF troops staying with Major General Hayes. He had done this several times since General Kerensky's speech, so he knew it would not raise any alarms. He considered these moves as some of the easiest he would have to manage during the buildup of both Exodus'. During the last weekly briefings he had suggested a recovery effort for any ships at Epsilon Indi and he had been surprised that it was so quickly approved. Orders had gone out to Commodore Patricia Mitchell and her squadron yesterday.
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2 March 2784
Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell had been surprised at the speed of the demobilization order, even if he did expect it to happen. It was the orders to move to Germany that caught his eye, why Germany, he wondered, the worst is that it would make it that much harder to do any recruiting. But he had given to order to load up everything and it was being carried out quickly and efficiently, like he knew it would be. A slight noise caused him to turn around and saw Major Jeffery Engles standing there with a worried look on his face.
"Major Engles, is there a problem I need to know about?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Yes, sir. It concerns the coming demobilization inventory. Major General Gregory, well he sort of stole some stuff and it has been stashed aboard the four Mammoth Dropships the last ten years. Stored inside large cargo containers marked empty." Major Engles said
Lieutenant General Mitchell groaned as he said softly "Exactly what did the good General steal that I might have to explain?"
"A total of 40 SL-26 Samurai Aerospace Fighters, they were recovered on Mizar, he edited the inventory count so the fighters would never be accounted for. But now, well you need to know because this could be a major problem sir." Major Engles replied
Lieutenant General Mitchell looked up but with a gleam in his eye "You don't say? That is both a blessing and a problem I would say, in more ways than not. is there anything else the good General Gregory might have packed away for a rainy day I need to know about?"
"Not that I know about, sir. Are we really going thru with this plan of yours?" Major Engles asked
"Having second thoughts, Jeffery?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"No sir, I am just curious how far we are going to take this." Major Engles replied
"Well, Jeffery, I plan to do exactly what General Kerensky is doing, and that is to take anything and everything that I can to make sure my home and soon to be OUR home is as safe as I can for as long as I can. Does that answer your question?" Lieutenant General Mitchell said
"Very well, sir. Then the order of the day is to scrounge up anything that can be of use to us. Is that correct, sir?" Major Engles asked
"That is the order of the day, but with one secondary order. Do not get caught, do not raise red flags and be real slick about it." Lieutenant General Mitchell said with a wink
"I inform Master Sergeant Caldwell, I will just let him work his magic." Major Engles said
Master Sergeant Harold Caldwell was a near legend in the 322nd Armored Division when it came to scrounging need parts or equipment. It seemed as though he was owed a favor or had the dirt on just about anyone he needed to deal with when he had to locate something the 322nd needed. He was the 322nd's Master Mechanic and had a full company of techs, not assigned to any particular task, that were the absolute best at their job, able to work near miracles putting machines back into action.
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3 March 2784
"We are secure and ready for jump, Ma'am."
"Very well, Chief. Comm, signal the squadron that we initiate jump to Bryant in fifteen minutes. Navigation, start the count down if you will." Commodore Patricia Mitchell ordered
The order to proceed to Epsilon Indi for recovery operations had come as a surprise, but she was grateful for them, there were too many naval officers asking to come aboard the SLS Second Chance, Vigilant Class Corvette to have a look around. She had been expecting orders to surrender her at any moment they sat in the Terra system. This at least got her squadron away from prying eyes. Over the years, Naval Command had seen fit to modify her little squadron by quite a bit.
83rd Fleet Recovery and Salvage Squadron
SLS Second Chance, Vigilant Corvette 
SLS Bucking Horse, Star Lord Jumpship
Tug One, Elephant Dropship
Tug Two, Elephant Dropship
Refueler One, Aqueduct Liquid Cargo Dropship
SLS Bronco Buster, Star Lord Jumpship
SLS Blazer, Titan Fighter Carrier Dropship (12 Ironsides IRN-SD1X, 6 Hellcat HCT-213R)
SLS Defender, Pentagon Dropship
SLS Stellar Flame, Tramp Jumpship
SLS Hull 1142, Mammoth Dropship
SLS Hull 1276, Mammoth Dropship 
SLS Hull 1211, Mammoth Dropship
SLS Stellar Nova, Tramp Jumpship
Monarch Dropshp
SLS Blazing Star, Tramp Jumpship
SLS Stellar Fury, Tramp Jumpship
-Ship Crew - 733
-Marine - 159
-Aerospace - 18
-Aero Tech - 18
-EVA/Salvage/Repair - 250
The Titan and Pentagon had been excellent additions even if the Titan had come equipped with one of the most hated fighters in the SLDF, the IRN-SD1 Ironsides. But over the years, they had tinkered and modified the Aerospace Fighter into something much more useful, something bound to get her into trouble someday. They had yanked the all the weapons off the frame, replaced them with three ER Large lasers in the nose and a medium pulse laser in the tail, enlarged the fuel capacity to 8 tons, seated an additional 10 Double heat sinks into the frame and then bumped the armor by another 2 tons. Just making the modifications to the twelve Ironsides had taken over 2 years of hard work after a full year of trial and error getting it all right and all the bugs worked out. Modifying the weapons computer had been the hardest to overcome.
The Monarch Passenger Dropship, totally out of the norm, had brought with it 250 of the greatest masters of EVA/Salvage/Repair Specialists she had ever seen. They had volunteered to join the Fleet Recovery and Salvage Squadrons in 2776, having been based at a number of SLDF naval bases by various shipyards as "Tiger Teams" to support the thousands of SLDF ships but cut off from their companies by the war. They had literally "joined" the SLDF over the years of service, many sported Warrant Officer rank that had been awarded to them by General Kerensky. She had watched them work miracles in the field with little outside support, doing it all via EVA operations.
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*Download Link for MegaMek File of the IDR-SD1L Ironsides refit
*Download Link for Record Sheet of the IDR-SD1L Ironsides refit
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