ALJ Chpt 36

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 36 - A Long Journey==
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29 January 2786
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
The return of one of the Tramp Jumpships carrying three Snowden stations along with an Aquilla Transport was met with quite the fanfare. Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell, Gerald Mitchell and several others took a shuttle up to view the first salvaged items from Site 222. After a quick rundown given by Warrant Officer Bart Cooks, there was a small tug of war and multiple questions being asked.
"I want to sell that operational Snowden, it would bring in about five Billion and solve a ton of problems with cash for quite awhile." Gerald Mitchell said
"It would do that dad, but, the way you rip thru money, I bet it wouldn't last out the year and you would be wanting more. I thought you said you didn't want to buy raw ore from Governor Nelson's mining operations? That Snowden would let you start mining the belts out here and avoid buying from him. But right now, I want to hear about more about that Aquilla. What exactly can we do with it?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Not a whole lot, sir. It cannot carry Dropships, though we could modify it to do just that. The range of 15LY is half the range of a standard Jumpship, but it also has a 3 day recharge time. It was designed to recharge off a reactor, so the core is not as fragile as modern cores. In some ways, it is faster than the standard Jumpships that are recharging using sails. It's main advantage is that it can move in system." Warrant Officer Cooks said
"Doesn't sound like too much of a disadvantage to me. Can it be armed?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Yes, would take some work to do it, probably a new reactor setup for the increase power usage and reinforce the power cables. I would need to know what you have in mind before I advise further, sir." Warrant Officer Cooks replied.
"System defense ships. Could they handle the weapons systems to be used in that fashion?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"In theory, I do not se why they couldn't be armed with capital weapons. But they are slow as hell, safe thrust is a single G, max is 2g. Every Dropship made will leave it far behind and any real warship will eat it for lunch." Warrant Officer Cooks said
"Okay, but it could be armed to deter an attack, say by a non-warship armed force?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Yes, sir, I would have to use the Olympic station, probably beef up the internal structure quite a bit. I would really like to have the detailed design specs before attempting it though." Warrant Officer Cooks replied
Lieutenant General Mitchell looked at his father who said "That would mean buying the license from Boeing Interstellar, which means expensive even for a design that had not been built in centuries. So, now are we selling that Snowden or are you going to sell another Monolith Jumpship?"
"What are the odds we can find any more abandoned Snowden Stations?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"There are probably a few out there, but it would be more luck than anything, they are moveable after all and I do not see why anyone would leave them behind." Warrant Officer Cooks answered
"I really do not want to sell the last Monolith if it can be avoided. It is up you, Pop." Lieutenant General Mitchell said
"Then we sell it. It hurts us short term, but also gives us a ton of freedom to make moves that will pay off big time in the long term." Gerald Mitchell replied, his mind already calculating what he could do with the massive influx of capital.
"What about the other two Snowden you have, what are the plans for them?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Major Flores wants to mount that core grinder in one of them, the other we are going to clean up and then use it as a mobile station to house folks working out at Site 222. It has already been modified that way for some reason, so it just needs a deep cleaning and maintenance check out. Site 222 is going to be a multi-year operation anyway." Warrant Officer Cooks explained
"It is looking that way. What about the two warships?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"The New Syrtis Carrier we could bring back next trip. She's banged up but she can move. The Athena is a total loss in my professional opinion, keel is broke clean thru and she has a off center bend. Fixing her would require a full on shipyard and literally tear her apart and rebuild from scratch. So unless you have shipyard in your back pocket, she is a loss and fit to be scrapped totally. But they are not the only warships there, there are also six Trackers, not really warships, but they are armed somewhat. We even have the cores from them, carefully packaged, not sure why. We are making an attempt at putting one back together as we speak. Intel ships originally, that is why the sensors identified them as Merchant Jumpships, even carries two Dropships, they were designed just for that purpose back in the day." Warrant Officer Cooks replied
"Now that is the way a new year is supposed to start off. You said armed somewhat, what does that mean exactly?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Single naval laser and two Barracuda launcher. A few anti-fighter weapons. Nothing to scare an actual warship but enough to deter something not a warship from being too aggressive. She will sting a Dropship real good." Warrant Officer Cooks replied
"But her weapons could be beefed up?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Yes, sir, we could do that pretty easy, she already has a beefy internal structure for her size. Would just take some yard time and weapons to make it happen." Warrant Officer Cooks replied
"Thank you for the information, this news changes things quite a bit. Pop, let's head back to the planet, I need firm dirt under my feet." Lieutenant General Mitchell said but his eye caught something out of the corner of his eye. "What have we here?"
They all turned to look out the massive observation window as a Lee Class Heavy Transport Dropship was emerging from one of the repair bays of the Olympus Recharge Station. After six months of repair and salvaging parts of other Lee Dropships, it had been returned to full service.
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