ALJ Chpt 39

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 39 - A Long Journey==
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13 February 2786
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
Word had finally reached Mackolla that each of the Great Houses had declared a claim as First Lord of the Star League. This was in turn met with sarcasm amongst the personnel of the 322nd Armor Division and attached units. Some half joked about the claims, some just shook their head at the knowledge of what was to come. There had already been sporadic fighting the previous year over former Terran Hegemony systems and along the Lyran/Combine borders. But everyone knew this was only going to escalate into something far worse.
Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell worried about having to send his command back to war. Gerald Mitchell worried about his Lockheed Galactic people and equipment not making it across the border safely. This was repeated in the minds of every member of the command. But steps were being taken.
"Major Jameson, Colonel Waiters told me you would be the best to go back to Morgan's Holdfast, so that is exactly where I am sending you. But it is not to collect the people. Instead, your command will protect Morgan's Holdfast as our fall back position if everything goes tits up. I am pulling two companies worth of Battlemechs, TDR-5Sb Thunderbolt Heavies to be exact, Royals. This should be enough to handle anything that comes your way, but I am adding a full Battalion each of Lightning and Turhans Combat Vehicles plus an artillery Battalion. This should give you some defensive staying power. I also am sending with you a full Infantry Regiment, Aerospace Group and both Engineer Battalions. Additional support will arrive, but I cannot say when yet." Lieutenant General Mitchell said
"Very good, sir, I doubt any of the pirate bands in the Dominions will be able to defeat us with that line up. I never saw any Artillery deployed with the pirates and very little Aerospace support. Most of the bands will have us outmanned in Infantry and Battlemechs, but most are pure junk for equipment and thugs for grunts, not professional soldiers." Major Jameson replied
"You will be outside of communication range, but that cannot be helped right now. As the situation develops more, either you will be recalled or additional forces will be sent to reinforce you. Most likely the latter. I expect this coming war to possibly be worse than either the Periphery or Hegemony fights and that is going to force some very hard decisions to be made. The Engineers will be constructing defensive positions, an airfield and space port. I was hoping for more time, but I have had to accelerate the time table." Lieutenant General Mitchell said
"Understood, sir. We will keep the planet safe for you, but there is bound to be a fight soon, we have been gone a long time and the tribute is past due. We might actually arrive to find another pirate band has moved in." Major Jameson replied
"Let's hope that is not the case and we find it how you left it. As for that, we will make it better than it was." Lieutenant General Mitchell said
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At the Olympic Recharge Station, Warrant Officer Bart Cooks watched the Aquilla Transport being slowly maneuvered into the station repair bay. Only this morning he had been ordered to do a down and dirty job of arming the Aquilla Transport by using whatever capital weapons they had on hand to be installed. Before deploying to Site 222, they had offloaded most of the weapons and ammunition they had brought with them from their time repairing SLDF warships. It was not much, but it would pack a punch. He had only begun to run the numbers after the last conversation with General Mitchell and knew he did not have time to do it right because of the words down and dirty.
The last ship they had salvaged for the SLDF had been a Whirlwind Class Destroyer so they had some weapons from that ship. He knew he would not have time to vastly upgrade the ships cooling system to handle a large heat load, so he had selected to install three Light Naval Gauss into the nose of the Aquilla after reinforcing the internal structure of that area. He had selected the location since the Aquilla would not be able to really maneuver during a combat action, it just did not have the speed. But it could point it's nose at a target and drive right in. Anything in front of it would take a serious pounding. He figured he could snake a couple miles of heavy duty power cable down the central maintenance pathway to handle the power demand. He wondered if he would have time to properly bore sight the guns before it was sent into harms way. His quick change would cut deeply into the ships cargo space. But it was the best he would be able to do.
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