ALJ Chpt 16

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 16 - A Long Journey==
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12 April 2785
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
"Tell her what you told me, Colin." Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell said. They had taken a shuttle up to the Olympus Recharge Station to see his sister.
"Before we left Terra, General Kerensky ordered a crap ton of cargo containers to be loaded onto one of our Mammoth Dropships. I figured they were just additional supplies, made my job much easier as I was able to just slip my trucks in with his. Anyway, my trucks carried training aids recovered from storage sites. Along with a complete copy of every training manual ever written by the Star League Defense Force. MechWarrior, Aerospace Pilot, Armor, Infantry, Technician, Spacer, everything to train folks the SLDF way, but also about eight thousand tons of machinery the RRU folks yanked out of a blasted ammunition factory. I couldn't get my hands on any machinery to make weapons.
The first container I had popped open contained machinery to manufacture Endo-Steel, since Endo-Steel has to be manufactured in space this is your domain. I researched this particular model and it is rated for ten tons per month, doesn't sound like much to me but some is better than nothing I guess. It will have to be assembled of course, it is brand new and spread across 18 shipping containers. Not real heavy, but bulky as hell. I figure this was part of a shipment he had loaded somewhere else and we only got part of it. Hence our visit to you." Colonel Colin Blaine said
"Okay, I guess that is easy enough to handle. Gonna need to find somewhere to put it, I guess worst case is we put it on one of the Bastions, they have some decent sized cargo bays, we control those, but not the Olympic Recharge Station. Since your both here, we might as well discuss my issues and I have quite a few. First, we are going to need a bunch of money fairly soon. Soon as in a year or two. The problem is we can service my Vigilant but nothing else. The closest shipyards that can handle our ships are a 6 month one way trip, then 3-6 months during service and another 6 months back to us. Short explanation is we lose a single ship for two years just getting it serviced. I don't even have enough ships to even begin to create some sort of rotation schedule for that kind of time frame. Two, I might have a way to generate a cash flow, but it will require money to even get it started, money we do not have. Three, it goes back to the first issue which is servicing, the only ship we would be able to service here is the Merchant. That means we need three ships and three crews to equal a single Star Lord, that is going to be a problem. But the bigger problem is even selling a Star Lord does not get us enough money to buy three Merchants. Only enough for two Merchants. See my dilemma?" Commodore Patricia Mitchell said
"Your just full of good news. Why does every problem seem to have a price tag attached that we cannot afford?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked but not expecting an answer which he got anyway.
"Well, because you sort of negotiated a kinda bad deal. If we had joined the AFFS full time, this would all be there problem to deal with. Of course, I know your reasons, understand those reasons and even agree with them, but it was still a bad deal. You could have bargained for the Feddies to pay for all maintenance for our ships, loan us replacement ships while ours are being serviced. But, I guess the First Prince would have demanded something major in return for those kind of concessions. Of course, he is probably just waiting for all our maintenance costs to bankrupt us so he can absorb us totally." Commodore Mitchell replied
"Yes, he would have, and I am sure it would have been your Vigilant. I am sure we can ring him up and ask what that will get us. I am also pretty sure that is exactly what he is waiting on." Lieutenant General Mitchell said with a smirk
"Pass, I like having a way to fight back if I really have to." Commodore Mitchell replied as she lightly punched her brother on the upper arm.
"Okay back on topic. Money, what is your idea on what we do about it?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Sell one of the Monolith Jumpships to the Feddies. It is new enough that we should get almost full price for it. Then again, we might more than full price since General Kerensky sucked every one he could lay his hands on they are pretty rare still. Right now they are asking 1.6 Billion for a new one. If we can get that much, it gives us a decent start point that could last us a year or two if we don't get a good revenue stream going." Commodore Mitchell replied
"That is a ton of cash." Lieutenant General Mitchell said with a slight whistle
"That we can very easily plow right extremely quick if we are not careful. So, with that being said, back to my cash generation idea. Chief Kellog, my chief engineer, says he knows the SLDF stashed captured rebel Jumpships....." Commodore Mitchell said before being cut off by her brother.
"Then let's go get them, we can sell them off and not have to sell one of our good ships." Lieutenant General Mitchell said rapidly.
"Sammy, how about letting me finish before you go ape shit. now, as I was saying, the SLDF stashed rebel Jumpships AND then cracked the cores with explosives so they could NEVER move again." Commodore Mitchell finished
"Then how is that a cash generator if we cannot bring them back to sell?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"If we had a core grinder, we would rip the jump core out, grind it into small pebbles, soak them in special chemicals and then sell that off. A jump core is most of the weight of a Jumpship, so we will use an Invader as an example. An Invader weighs in at 152,000 tons, but the jump core weighs roughly 144,000 tons. That only leaves about 8,000 tons for everything else. I do not know the exact science of making a jump core, but every collar added adds another 100 Million roughly to the cost of the core. But it has no effect on the 144,000 tons worth of jump core. That 144,000 tons is worth roughly 288 Million. Now, hauling 144,000 tons is no easy feat, your talking four Mammoth Dropships for that single jump core once we grind it up. A core grinder would set us back about 100 Million since it is specially hardened to grind up cores. Plus it has to be installed in something large but portable. Then we have to be on station for several months doing the work. That means we have to protect it while it does the work. It is a logistical nightmare, but a profitable one." Commodore Mitchell explained
"Yes, but it still costs a ton of money we do not have. It always comes back to that problem. Even if we did have the money, we are not totally free to do as we wish." Lieutenant General Mitchell said
"Okay, this is getting depressing. How about we all head back down and pay a visit to the folks, maybe dad will have an idea out of this jam we are in." Commodore Patricia Mitchell replied
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