ASO Chpt 3

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==ExpeditionChapter 3 - Aurigan Sentinels (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Star of the Star League===
Zenith Jump Point, Fable System
Capellan March, Federated Suns
April 1st, 3020
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After three months of exhausting travel, we finally arrived at the Fable system. I'll have two months to work with as Dad paid the Cardenia Claremont's captain close to a million C-Bills to stick around until the start of June. Hopefully, that will be long enough to find the secret SLDF asteroid base in the system and uncover whatever secrets it holds.
If it isn't, well, I don't want to think about that.
To my surprise, the habitable planet of the system is still just that. Records on Fable's past indicate that the place was temporarily colonized during the First Succession War and for the entirety of the Second Succession War before dropping off the map sometime during the Third Succession War.
Atmospheric pressure is within standard deviations and the air is still breathable. The planet has plenty of water with water covering almost sixty percent of the surface. Totally colonizable by any reasonable measures. Maybe the wildlife is too nasty or there are some regular natural disasters that make local living a pain? In any case, it doesn't matter. The expedition is here for the asteroid belt, not the former colony or the world it was on.
 
The Starclaimed Spinner ends up spending two weeks and a quarter of our time combing the asteroid field for anything out of place. While it takes many close calls, we do eventually find the right asteroid, a massive one with a remarkably stable rotation. Yet it is the singular man-made structure on the surface that marks it out as the right one, a half-buried fusion reactor with a control room on the surface of the asteroid.
There isn't anywhere nearby for the Buccaneer-class DropShip to set down, but thankfully the Starclaimed Spinner isn't the standard variant of the class. In addition to being modified to carry a mixture of passengers and cargo, they also have a small craft hangar bay that contains a shuttle. Dad clearly thought ahead when planning this whole affair. He was always smart like that.
The shuttle can only carry eight people in its passenger bay, which means I can only take seven others with me. Four of Dad's-no, four of my best spacers plus Captain Arkos and a couple of her Vixens. Spacers for technical stuff while the Vixens can provide security and heavy lifting. While the Starclaimed Spinner remains in orbit, the shuttle sets down nearby the pair of structures and my team of eight ventures out.
 
Having nothing, but a space suit to protect me is nerve wracking. It is the only way to reach the control room, but having just a single layer to protect me from the harsh elements of space, well, it is a new experience that I am not at all eager to repeat.
 
"Definitely SLDF." says Captain Arkos as she points to the structure, "See that? That's the Star League star."
I follow the Canopian woman's hand, spotting the big Cameron star. It has faded with age and exposure, but nobody with a proper education could fail to recognize it for what it is. If I didn't know I have the right place already, this certainly confirms it.
 
"I'll take point," says Captain Arkos, her tone brooking no argument, "There might be booby traps or security systems and me and my girls will have the best chance of spotting them."
Thankfully, there is nothing of the sort despite Captain Arkos' worries and while the control room's doors lack power, one of the spacers is able to get us inside with some engineering tools and a bit of jury-rigging. It ends up taking more than a few minutes of waiting on my part, but we finally got access to the control room for the reactor.
 
Speaking of which, it isn't completely offline as a trickle of power is still being supplied to the control room, which is full of equipment and consoles related to fusion engineering. Part of me wants to go looking through everything, but that would take hours beyond what my suit can give. Instead, I look around for something to…ah-hah! Found it!
Spotting the slot for a memory chip, I have found what I am looking for. I may not have a memory chip of my own to use, but Dad's did have a valid SLDF ID code of some high-ranking senior officer. Hopefully, that should work.
I bring up the log-in screen before entering the code into the keypad. The blue light blinks blearily for a few seconds before switching to green for a split second. Then rumbling begins, startling all of us, surprising a yelp out of me while Captain Arkos and her Vixens bring up their guns in the case of there being trouble.
But nothing happens apart from the loud rumbling and the ground vibrating.
 
"Back to the shuttle!" orders Captain Arkos and I hesitate.
 
I don't want to argue with the highly experienced veteran, but I also don't want to cut and run. Thankfully, I am saved by a call from Starclaimed Spinner's captain.
 
<<"Uh, boss,">> calls the man, <<"You're not gonna believe this…">>
 
"What is it?" I reply into the radio.
 
<<"Whatever you did down there, all of a sudden a part of one face just…cracked open.">> replies the man, sounding eager of all things as far as I can tell, <<"Fortunately a lot of the smaller rocks appear to just be compacted debris from a couple centuries of impacts. The door actually worked just fine, it just had to brush off the dust first. With that said, it's almost a kilometer wide. I don't know how the hell the SLDF managed to build the damn thing, but it's holding steady and doesn't look like it'll collapse on us. Are we going in?">>
"As soon as we get back aboard the Spinner," I tell him, now sharing his eagerness, "I don't want to miss this anymore than you do."
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===Find of the Century===
As the Starclaimed Spinner slowly flies in, it is hard to see anything, even from the bridge. Thankfully that changes when the captain orders all of the DropShip's exterior lights active, revealing just what I have found. An internal spacedock, built into the interior walls of the asteroid in a massive feat of engineering that only the Star League could feasibly pull off.
While some of the bays are empty, three of them contain JumpShips. I recognize two of them as Invader-class JumpShips like the Cardenia Claremont that brought me here, but the third one is different and noticeably bigger compared to the two Invaders.
 
"That's a Star Lord," mutters one of the shocked bridge crew, "An honest to Blake Star Lord-class JumpShip."
 
"You don't see those everyday," says the captain before glancing at me, "Six collars on that one, boss, and they are rare. Not as rare as a Monolith, but you don't see a Star Lord outside of military service in this age."
 
I nod my acknowledgement as we come up upon the DropShips next, where there are ten different vessels to be found. The first group is the smallest of the DropShips, half a dozen of the same design. They're spheroids and look to be the right shape to be a Union or Danais, but they are too big to be one of those designs. They can't be Seekers because those were only invented after the Succession Wars had started. Could they be…?
"Those are Fortresses," says one of the bridge crew, "Allah, I never thought I would see so many at once."
Fortress-class DropShips. A nice assault ship capable of carrying a combined arms battalion and has its own inbuilt artillery. One would be a boon and a good centre piece for any assault force. Six of them is enough for two combined arms regiments, each with a 'Mech battalion, an armored battalion and an infantry battalion.
 
Next up is a pair of Mules as I have witnessed enough of its type coming and going from Cordia City's spaceport to recognize them. While not as rare as the Fortresses and arguably not as valuable, Mules are useful for carrying out supplies and would be useful for both military and civilian shipping.
 
I'm not as familiar with the second to last design, but I do recognize the Mammoth-class as its design is too distinctive to miss. A single one of those can carry more than four Mules put together though if I remember, it has a lot more upkeep and maintenance requirements.
It is the last DropShip that confuses me, because what on Earth is the Argo of all ships doing here? It should still be crash-landed on Axylus, in disrepair and overrun with pirates. Why is it here in the Fable system at this secret SLDF asteroid base? A mystery to ponder at another time. If the Argo is here for the taking, I won't say no to claiming that wondrous piece of LosTech for myself.
 
I'm about to suggest that we find a suitable docking spot when the captain suddenly chokes up and goes wide-eyed. I follow his gaze and try to figure out what has them so spooked when the captain gestures with a shaking hand.
"Sweet Christmas." whispers the captain in a mixture of shock and awe, "That is a goddamn WarShip."
I follow his hand, pointing further back into the spacedock and then I gulp and go wide-eyed myself. What I had thought to be part of the dock's structure due to its sheer size is actually a goddamn WarShip at the very end of the docks. The SLS Tomb-Maker going by the white letters emblazoned on the side of the ship. Thank God that it is currently offline, but holy cow. That is a WarShip. An honest-to-God WarShip. I want to say that it isn't a small one either, but I honestly don't know enough about WarShips to say that with any authority.
 
Nobody except ComStar and the Clans have WarShips these days and the former keep theirs secret while the latter are secret themselves. No, the Taurians have the TCS New Vandenberg or whatever that white elephant is actually called.
 
If this WarShip is still functional, it is the greatest treasure here whilst also putting a massive target on my back from ComStar and whoever else wants to destroy or steal it. And there will be a lot of others beyond ComStar who will want this WarShip.
God.
The next few hours are exhausting and mildly harrowing as the Starclaimed Spinner sets down in one of the empty docking cradles and both my team and much of the Starclaimed Spinner's crew get to work. The crew of the Buccaneer-class DropShip might have only been hired for this expedition, but they don't want to miss out on this find of the century. Not to mention their captain is mentioning the possibility of signing up with me on a more permanent basis as is Captain Arkos.
Despite the lack of atmosphere and two and half centuries of disuse, the depot is in remarkably good shape as expected of Star League engineering. The machinery and computers all appear to be functional and it isn't long before some of my techs find the main reactor and bring it to life. I have my own spot of fortune as the group I am with stumbles across the main control room.
With the power restored and the ID code being sufficient to login, it is just a matter of looking through the unfamiliar layout and files to find the data I am looking for. Thankfully, I have enough smarts and computer skills in the old noggin to make my way through the computer systems. With help from a few techs, it only takes a few minutes to bring up both the map of the facility and an inventory of its contents.
Of course, we'll need to confirm everything manually to make sure that the physical contents of the facility match up with the electronic records, but at least I'll have an idea of what we are looking at.
Six Fortress-class DropShips, two Mule-class Cargo DropShips, one Mammoth-class Cargo DropShip and finally, huh, there is an Argo-class DropShip, but this one is the Myrmidon not the Argo. That rings a few bells. I remember reading about how that one wasn't finished and got disassembled for parts during the First Succession War. I'm not complaining that it is here, but it is an example of my meta-knowledge not lining up with reality and that is concerning.
Okay, two Invader-class JumpShips, one Star Lord-class JumpShip and, oh, one McKenna-class Battleship called the SLS Tomb-Maker. A McKenna. Neither of my lifetimes are familiar with the WarShips of the SLDF, but I'm fairly certain that the McKenna is one of the big WarShips. At the very least it is a worthy peer to the Texas-class if not better.
 
And I have one. If I can get it working, it will put the Aurigan Coalition on the map. I just need to stop it from suffering the same fate as the SLS Tripitz and make sure it is a deterrent for attacks, not bait for them. Still, an honest-to-God WarShip and a battleship to the boot.
Okay, what else is here. Three squadrons of Sparrowhawks Aerospace Fighters, all of them being the standard variant. A squadron of Lightnings, a squadron of Hellcats and a squadron of Stingrays, all of them also standard variants. Finally, a squadron of Stukas and they are, wait, they are not the standard Stuka. The half a dozen heavy ASFs here are all the Royal STU-K5b. Which if I remember things correctly, they will be a real boon, especially if I stick some aces in them.
Combat vehicles are up next. Two companies of Chevalier Light Tanks and I have never heard of those before. A company of Lightnings, which are different to the ASF of the same name as these tanks are hovercraft. Two companies of VTOLs, one consisting of Cyrano Gunships and the other Nightshades. Next is the company of Padilla Heavy Artillery Tanks and if I recall things correctly, they have Arrow IVs.
What else? Two companies of Manticore Heavy Tanks and a company of Merkava Heavy Tanks, all Mk VIIIs. Merkavas. Those are Terran Hegemony tanks from the Age of War and early models of them were being built in other me's time, back in the 21st Century. Lastly, a company of Alacorn Heavy Tanks and all of them are Mk VIs. That's the primary variant of them, equipped with three Gauss Rifles. Nice.
 
Then we have the last of the warmachines in the depot, the BattleMechs. A single company of Light 'Mechs, all OTT-7J Ostscouts and they make for a solid scout. Like a Spider except they have nice electronics and an ejection seat whilst trading a Medium Laser for an extra ton of armor. Next is a company of GRF-1N Griffin, which are solid skirmishers, but nothing truly special. Bad luck that there are no Royal variants or LosTech in their designs.
Ooh, three companies of heavy 'Mechs. One company each of ON1-K Orions, WHM-6R Warhammers, and CPLT-C1 Catapults. No Royals or LosTech amongst them unfortunately. Last, but certainly not least, two companies of Assault 'Mechs. First up is the dozen HGN-732 Highlanders and while this version doesn't have any Double-Heat Sinks, it does have a Gauss Rifle as its primary weapon unlike the downgraded variants of the Succession Wars. The second company is made up of the AS7-D Atlas Assault 'Mechs. A shame that it isn't the Royal Atlas, but I know a certain world in the Reach that has some tucked away.
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==Author's Chapter Notes==
;Word from the Author: We finally reach the depot and all of its LosTech goodies. Ten DropShips, three JumpShips and a WarShip along with seven squadrons of ASFs, ten companies of tanks and seven companies of BattleMechs. There is some other stuff including spare parts, ammo and other assorted minor stuff that isn't spelled out in the CYOA, but I'll be including here in the story such as infantry kits, some [exoskeleton]]s and a few IndustrialMechs. Not to mention that the memory core in the facility hasn't been brought up yet.
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