Strat-3 Chpt-8

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==Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 3 - A Light In The Black - Chapter 8==
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===This where the fun begins===
Overriding…
…Amanda's plan had taken going straight to Foster after an inspection of what passed for 'marine combat equipment' among the Cameron Fleet's SLDF marine personnel.
They barely had a few vac-rated Nighthawks Power Armor, and in Seron's view, that wasn't going to ever be enough. Not after dozens of boarding actions against other ships, stations, and in drills. There'd been no time to get Protomechs or their personnel allocated, but he was able to get a few NCO's and some 'in the crate' Aeries through the supply chain, and the "Sam Specials" Nighthawk XXs that were being phased out, along with a platoon's worth of what had proven so effective in the past.
"Delrane, you're taking a squad onto the Vincent, Keep your new people alive. Renda, you have the other three squads in platoon one, Station board and search, don't get fancy on your dive." he turned to the rest. "Alpha Company's second and third platoons will be with me, we're going across to that Lola. If we are fortunate, we will find it has been abandoned 'with the lights on', if we are not, we may find ourselves dead. Most of you have trained for this at some point, but look to your fireteam and squad leaders, because they have been selected among veterans from the Evanescent's marine teams, or survivors of Illusive. Boarding boats are being prepped, each of your squad leaders has the loadout lists, this will be, until we discover otherwise, a 'hot' boarding. Expect fear. Expect discomfort, expect resistance….and focus on Victory. Ready, BREAK!!"
The boarding teams spread out to their waiting shuttles, some carrying pallets with mag-clamps.
<"Mister Seron??">
"Hello, Stacey." Seron said, "Do you have our tac-links coming up?"
<"Yes. I know human limits are…how do you keep this all straight?">
"Mostly practice and learning what data NOT to prioritize on the display." he confessed. "I expect things will be…complicated on your end, we are conducting three simultaneous boarding operations with full datalinks, while the ship is technically in a combat posture."
<“I may not have an ATACs but I am still an incredibly sophisticated AI. If I could not divide my attention that many directions at once we’d need to have words with a long dead manufacturer.”>
Seron chuckled, "I did not mean to undersell your own abilities, Stacey, we have done this with as many as five boardings against actively evading foes simultaneously, only having Captain Roberts' AI to help coordinate. You are, I trust, much more powerful, as is only correct…and you are not trying to also run, jump, and fight in corridors while doing it."
<”I do have a combat rated remote. But no you’re right I need to learn to let go and delegate in all things.”>
He smiled as Augmented Reality vision spread across his perceptions, "Stacey, relax and be who you are, when I was serving as an Elemental Infantryman, the level of coordination and augmentation we have been using, was the sort of thing discussed in barracks as 'cheating' or being unavailable. I have somehow landed in a service where practical devices that coordinate boarding troops are encouraged, There are times when you worry about crutches, and there are times when you remember that only winners get to play in the championship."
<”I know. I do find myself growing fond of you humans more than I thought I would after everything I have seen. So do please take care to come back in one piece.”>
"From the perspective of the person whose fire-support and extraction you authorize, I am quite glad to hear that you like us." He grinned, "I am doing my best to make sure everyone comes back in one piece with all their parts attached."
<”We AIs do like expressing our displeasure in the terrajoule range. So if I need to provide firesupport it will be quite a spectacular show.”>
"One best experienced from far away." he agreed, as he climbed into the compartment of the boarding shuttle and ran a status check on the embarked marines before sitting down.
<”Here is where the monotony before the fun begins.”>
"With luck, we will not find new horrors to break the monotony." Seron intoned.
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===Lost Ship===
Blackwasp 15 flew escort on the recon flight out, and back. It also made a close pass on the target, scanning the hull for numbers, paint trace, and battle damage.
The imagery from the automated fighter was sent through analysis while the Marine teams were still getting their ground briefing and assignments.
The Lola III's hull paint, and registration numbers were visible enough to piece together.
SLS David R. Ray DDG-13421
There was a file, in both SLDF and Snow Raven archives. The ship was listed as lost during the march on Terra, with the last assignment being the Kerensky-loyalist 7th Fleet..
"That's a long way from here." Larry commented.
"Six months at the shortest." Amanda agreed, "That ship was on the wrong side of the Inner Sphere from here."
”Which means the suspect list of who could have even sent it to this part of space is incredibly short.” Stacey mused.
“Explain.” Larry Nichols took advantage of a teachable moment.
“It could be left over from Kerensky’s campaign against the OWA. That seems most likely but is speculation. Next most likely possibility is he sent it out here to make contact with the SLDF forces that would go on to form the Sons of Plunder, but that is really a variation of option 1. The next most likely candidate is the Communications Bureau, or Comstar as they liked to call themselves at the time. They got a hold of a great many ships from all sides thanks to their records left behind by Kerensky and even loyalist ships sometimes had to be left behind due to being in poor material condition but it is unclear what their motives would be for sending such a vessel out here. The variation is the splinter faction Word of Blake. We have observed a number of vessels in the possession of the Sons of Plunder that were typical of the Word of Blake as well. This hints at a disturbing connection between the two. That the Sons of Plunder did not swallow up the Outworlds Alliance it does provide some evidence that the connection was made post schism and likely some time during the Jihad.”
“Why post schism and Jihad?” Larry was continuing his impromptu test.
“The Third Succession War would have been a golden opportunity. We know that Comstar had yardships during that time. They could have easily used that advantage to bring the Sons of Plunder up to a level of operational readiness that conquering large swaths of the Outworlds Alliance, perhaps even either the Draconis Combine or Federated Suns, would have been quite easy for them as no one had the Warships to counter the Sons of Plunder’s advantage in that regard and even ASF forces were quite depleted so delivering a nuke that way was highly unlikely. No. The Sons of Plunder were pushed back by the Federated Commonwealth in 3047. So the material condition of their fleet had to be poor or they would have been able to hold back even the AFFC’s best. When one side has properly supported Warships and the other does not, the fight tends to not go well for the side that does not. Having a large, powerful nation with warships on side would have been very desirable for Comstar, especially in a largely now unassailable position for anyone, but Comstar.”
"They're closing…" 
No gunfire issued from the Destroyer, as the shuttles closed to position.
"Either nerves of steel or-"
"Rust." Samuel had come up from Engineering. "There's rust on the airlock surfaces-oxidation."
"Bad seals would just be a blowout. Those would have to have been sitting like that with a microleaks for centuries...oh."
"Derelict with some systems up?"
"Have to have at least internal heating and cooling for the vapor to condense and oxidize around the lock seals." Sam nodded. "So there's still internal power, given the size of the fuel on those…I'd say either minimal power or they slaved extra bladders from cargo."
"Odds of any crew?" Amanda asked.
"Dunno. I would say 'no', but a Lola hull would be a fantastic burrow once you got the crew out."
"Seron, be advised, we think it may actually still be inhabited, but not crewed." Amanda intoned.
"Understood, Captain."
"Why wouldn't they use the station?"
Sam shook his head, "Station could be compromised, there's rigging for solar collectors, but no solar collectors. That's a spun-balloon station, maybe they run out of room?"
"We'll find out in five minutes."
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