ALJ Chpt 11

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 11 - A Long Journey==
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29 August 2784
Klathandu (Federated Suns)
"ETA to Mackolla is 157 days, if nothing impedes our progress forward." Commodore Patricia Mitchell said
"Pick a point about halfway and see if we can arrange a grounding for a week R&R. We are going to need some ground time and also air out the damned Dropships. Speaking of that, what do those recovered Dropships hold?" Lieutenant General Samuel Mitchell replied
"I will try to make the arrangements, better make it a month, no way are we going to get permission to ground all our Dropships, the AFFS will think it's a damned invasion. We will have to shuttle everyone over to those Jumbos and then down to the surface. I think it is best to power thru and get to our destination. As for the Lees, that is your dept, several busted up Aerospace Fighters, some Battlemechs and vehicles. We buried the crews on Epsilon Indi. Only way your getting on them is in a pressure suit. They are fully vented to vacuum." Commodore Patricia Mitchell said
Lieutenant General Mitchell shuddered at the thought of being in a pressure suit, even the emergency procedures everyone trained for when boarding space vessels gave him the shivers. "I will leave that to the crazy folks, pretty sure if I mention it to some mech jocks or those techs they would not hesitate to get an inventory together."
"There you go. I am surprised you haven't asked about the four massive units that are not Dropships." Commodore Mitchell said
"It has been on my mind but other things came first, what are they?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Bastion Defense Stations in their transport mode. We have two of them, ready to assemble where ever we decide. The real deal, not the watered down ones that are sold to the Houses. These are armed with capital weapons. Dual Barracudas, dual White Sharks, those are missiles, backed up by four Naval Laser 55s in each arc. Large naval comm scanner and they have a boosted armor rating with four hundred fifty tons of Improved Ferro Aluminum. Not so good against a real effort against multiple warships, but against a solo warship, well it is going to have a problem. They can be moved around as we need to, we get to Mackolla we can decide how to position them. They also can carry thirty-six to forty-eight Aerospace Fighters and no warship wants to face that kind of swarm, not willingly." Commodore Patricia Mitchell said
"So they can keep Mackolla safe?" Lieutenant General Mitchell asked
"Not by themselves, but they are a big speed bump to anyone's plans for an easy take over. Two of my Mammoths are loaded with replacement Capital Weapons and a few thousand tons of normal weapons and a few hundred missile reloads. The third Mammoth is loaded with replacement armor, double heat sinks, some replacement reactors, a few thousand tons of steel plate and standard replacement parts for various ship types. Each of my Tramps have over thousand tons of manufacturing equipment to field fabricate just about any part except a Jump Core in their cargo bays. We just have to get the raw material to work with. Which is what the steel plate is for. We managed to get the manufacturing equipment when the Tiger Team joined us. But back to the capital weapons we have, we can construct ground based SDS with them, gonna need a lot more to cover the entire planet though. You experienced ground based SDS during the war, so you know it can be quite effective if set up correctly, though no one here has any knowledge of that sort of thing that I know of." Commodore Mitchell said
"But they are a start down the right path. Got it. I'm gonna shuttle over to my ship and see if any of the techs are brave enough to go inventory those Dropships." Lieutenant General Mitchell replied
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30 August 2784
It had taken about ten minutes to find quite a few volunteers to go aboard the Lee Dropships, even in pressure suits. Master Sergeant Caldwell volunteered to lead the teams that would board the Lees. Master Sergeant Caldwell was the first to board one of the Lee Armor/Infantry Transport and his first act was to peer thru a hole in the armor into open space. "Lord, keep us safe. Everyone be real careful of sharp objects, always in pairs, watch your buddies carefully."
He moved very carefully from brace to brace, avoiding anything that might snag his pressure suit as the various teams spread out to inventory the five Lee Dropships. He patted the insignia of the 34th Royal BattleMech Division and said softly, "Stupid, but brave lads. Rest in peace all of you."
It took a full six hours for all the teams to complete their inventories of the five Lee Dropships. After getting safely back on board the Star Lord Jumpship, Master Sergeant Caldwell gathered the inventories and moved to locate Lieutenant General Mitchell to deliver the report. He found him on the grav deck sipping a coffee.
"Damn Royals really do get the good stuff, sir. We have some sweet toys on those Lee Dropships. But it is going to be a total bitch to move them off the Dropship, into a cargo bay and then loaded onto a functional Dropship for transport to a surface. But here we go from the top.
12 Mongoose, MON-66b
12 Hussar, HSR-200-Db
12 Talon, TLN-5W
36 Crab, CRB-27b
36 Thunderbolt, TDR-5Sb
4 Spartan, SPT-N2
2 Stuka, STU-K5b
1 Sabre, SB-27b
1 Sabre, SB-28
1 Hellcat II, HCT-213C
1 Zero, ZRO-116b
72 Von Luckner Royal
4 UTR-588 Recovery Vehicle
2 Mobile HQ (HPG)
2 MASH
56 Goblin (SLDF)
1390 Mauser 960 (Rifles)
4,627 Tons of assorted ammunition, armor, spare parts
I have no clue why there are so many different Aerospace Fighters, but the going theory is they were badly damaged and landed on the first Dropship they could find. The flyboy techs say none can fly until they get some serious loving. About half the Battlemechs have some armor damage but the Mech techs say it is easily fixable. Same goes for the tanks, but only about half need work past buffing out some scratches. I peeked at one of those Goblins and I gotta say, they are sweet machines. They also need some loving on their armor, but not much. But I will say this, we better keep these under some deep dark secret of the Feddies are gonna want to take them away from us. We are talking top of the line equipment here boss." Master Sergeant Caldwell reported
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*Bastion System Defense Station (Royal) - MegaMek File
*Bastion System Defense Station (Royal) - Record Sheet PDF
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