BoTH Chpt 41

==Blood on the Horizon - Chapter 41 -==
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===A one of a kind prize===
Location: Zenith point, Taurus, Taurian ConcordatDate: January 7, 3003
"Well, Major, are you ready to explore the universe?" Doctor Ford asked, a wide grin on his face as my five dropships began docking with the King Henry and IE's Star Lord. 
 
"Yeah," I replied after a moment of staring out the viewport. "I think I am."
 
"Just keep in mind that it is one of the things that is both fascinating and boring all at the same time," Ford's smiled died a bit. "There are many wonders among the stars, but there are horrors as well. Human Nature lends itself to self-destruction in many ways, and much of the history that we are tracking down is worlds that have been lost and burned over time."
"But there's always hope on the horizon, isn't there?" I asked. "After all, just as we tend towards self destruction, there are also those who are willing to push on forward, those who are willing to do what is right, to push forward for survival's sake and beyond."
 
"Aye," Ford nodded. "It's part of the reason that Interstellar Expeditions was founded. We believe and hope that there are remnants of the Star League out there, that there are peoples who have decided not to dissolve into the rampant wars that have been ongoing since the collapse of the Terran Hegemony."
 
"Well, who knows," I shrugged. "There's a lot of people, and we don't know what they've discovered in their time out there. There could be people that sent on an entirely different technological path."
 
"Possible, but unlikely," he replied. "But maybe we'll find out one day," then he turned as our biggest dropship began docking with both of the Leopard CVs, the giant ship then docking with the King Henry, leaving none of the bays on the Invader-Class Jumpship free. 
 
"Out of curiosity," Ford asked as he noted the name now scrawled on the side of the dropship. "Why did you rename her?"
 
"Apparently, it's traditional for you to rename a ship after she's been salvaged and recovered by a different nation or company." I shrugged. "That, and the dropship crews asked for a name change. I asked for a poll, and they all decided to rechristen her the Phoenix due to her being reborn."
 
"From the ashes of the old, something new rises," Doctor Ford murmured. "It is indeed fitting. Now, I believe it is time for the Messenger, Vagabond, and Troy to dock with the Event Horizon so that we can be on our way."
"Looks like," I watched as the King Henry winked out of existence to go clear and check the next system first. 
 
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<("Wardog, Hitman, System's clear, do not launch,")> Mother Goose broadcast, the slightly modified Leopard CV acting as an modernized AWACS system.
 
(("Copy that, remaining on standby,")) Blaze replied, his fighter remaining in the hanger as the doors closed.
 
After thirty minutes of waiting, the Event Horizon appeared in the system, the massive Star Lord hailing the King Henry and the other dropships as it finished its scans. 
 
<<"System seems clear,">> Major Hull's voice came through. <<"King Henry, Phoenix, were there any issues with the docking systems?">>
 
"Negative, jump was as smooth as any other," Captain Kaylee Frye replied, her brown hair tied up into a ponytail and some grease on her face from where she'd been assisting with maintenance. 
 
<<"Good,">> Hull sounded relieved. <<"I was worried we might have messed up some of the systems in the refits.">>
 
"No sir, both ships are working as good as ever." Kaylee grinned. 
 
<<"Good,">> Hull replied. <<"We're on contract for the next eight months, so let's keep it that way.">>
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===Gathering pieces of a lost Civilizations===
Date: February 14th, 3003
Location: Surface of planet in a Unnamed system.
"Well, there's certainly evidence that it was settled at some point," Ford smiled. "It seems that they were using internal combustion for most things, and had reverted to fission reactors for their power needs."
 
"Did you find what you were looking for?" I asked as I supervised the salvage and recovery of the small group of antique 'Mechs that had been left behind. Some of them had obvious battle damage, but the lance was relatively intact, and even if we had to work on them, we could probably modernize enough components to make them a useful addition to our current forces.
 
"Yes and no," he replied. "According to what records were left behind, this was only a small portion of the refugees that decided to stop here, mainly those who were more sickly and frail."
 
"How'd they go?" I asked, watching as an GRF-1A Griffin was loaded onto a recovery vehicle alongside an ARC-1A, a primitive variant of the Thunderbolt. 
 
"It seems that they eventually decided to leave and head back to the Concordat," he shrugged. "But given there are no records of their return…"
 
"It's entirely possible that they never made it," I agreed. "Were there any indications of which direction they headed?"
 
"Yes, actually; the refugees that continued on left documentation with those who stayed here in case they decided to follow in their footsteps."
 
"Well, we've got whatever useful salvage was left behind once we've loaded this up. So let me know when you're ready to head out and we'll move onto the next planet in the chain."
 
"Yes, the dropshuttles used here wouldn't be that useful to bring along." he glanced out at the nearby field littered with the antiquated technology. 
 
"You did go over them for data, right?" I asked.
 
"Nothing worth noting," Ford shrugged. "And while there are many people who could write an entire archeological thesis on this colony alone, I intend to document this location and allow other expeditions to complete a full overview."
 
"You're the boss," I replied. "We're just the hired security."
 
"We'll move on and see what lies ahead." he confirmed. 
 
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The next few systems and worlds were both the same and different from the first one that had a settlement on it.
 
On the next world, the people had receded to a pre-industrial revolution civilization level, and seemed to be largely agrarian, so we landed to check out the few older dropshuttles and dropships before leaving the world as we found it. 
 
The second world, was devoid of life, and scattered craters and signs of nuclear weapon usage indicated what had happened there, even before recovering a few records.
"Seems that the refugees didn't quite all get along," was all that Doctor Ford had to say on the subject, even as we left the still intact nuclear weapons behind while collecting a few older Aerospace fighters to add to our collection of older war material. 
 
Then, we came to a system that peaked all of our interests.
 
"That, is a fleet of Jumpships," Doctor Ford stated the obvious, the scattered Jumpships in various states of disrepair, but many of them still looking relatively intact. 
 
"Captain," I glanced at Kaylee. "What do you recognize out of the fleet there?"
"Well, there's a handful of Aquillas, some other ships that I don't recognize and what looks to be a pair of Leviathan Jumpships out there."
 
I looked at Doctor Ford, an inquisitive eyebrow raised as he gave a small nod.
 
"Captain, keep Hitman on overwatch, we're heading down to the planet, I want you to see if there's any way to get the Leviathans back up and running, even if you have to strip parts from the rest of the fleet to get it up and running."
 
"You just had to ask," she grinned. "This is the sort of thing that I live for."
 
"Eight Dropships will increase our capacity by a lot," I replied. "And sixteen collars would be a dramatic improvement that would open us up to some really good contracts."
 
"We'll see what we can scrape together," Kaylee replied, disappearing off to find some engineers. 
 
"Now we just have to see what it's like below," I turned to the Interstellar Expeditions expedition head. 
 
"Indeed, this does appear to be where they stopped to settle," he agreed. "Let us hope that there's more to this than there was before."
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===Paths of our Children Take===
LocationAbandoned World, Codenamed EidolonDate: May 21st, 3003
"Well, it looks like they had a decent civilization here," I stomped around in my 'Hammer, Doctor Ford riding in my jump seat as he looked over the scans that my Star League Era computer was running with my sensor suite. 
 
"Stop here," he indicated a specific part of the city that we were walking through. "There's a bit of power coming through there."
 
"That's definitely the government center," I shrugged. "Might as well begin checking it out."
 
We dismounted and walked into the center, the dark building made darker by the lack of power to most of the building. 
 
"Where were the readings coming from?" I asked as I shined a light around the area. 
 
"They were on the second floor," he found a set of stairs leading up. "But we may want to have more people begin searching," his flashlight came to a stop upon a bare skeleton. "I have a feeling we'll need to comb over everything."
 
"I'll have them bring over over the reactor we stripped from one of the antiques," I replied. "We just stripped the Wolverine, so we should be able to use that to get some power going to the surrounding buildings."
 
"Good," he smiled. "Hopefully we'll be able to shed some… Illumination on the subject."
 
I chuckled at the joke. 
 
"You must have kids," I said after a moment. "I remember when I used to tease my kids with awful jokes like that."
 
"Both are grown up and serving in the Federated Suns military," he replied. "While I wished for them to follow in my footsteps, this isn't quite what I meant."
 
"You served?" I asked.
 
"Qualified as a Mechwarrior," Ford shrugged. "But that never appealed to me, so I served in the logistical corps. My son, on the other hand, decided to become what I did not, and is making good use of the family's Blackjack."
 
"And your other kid?" I asked.
 
"She's jump infantry," he shook his head. "She always did love the adrenaline rush of doing the impossible or dangerous," he smiled. "But they still find ways to send me letters, despite my travels, and I'm so proud of what they've decided to do in life. I just wish that their mother was still alive to witness it." 
 
"Well," I patted the other man on the back. "If they ever want a job after their service is up, and don't decide to go with IE, they'll have a place here in the Marksman."
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About an hour or so after we put in the call, one of our flatbeds drove up, the primitive 265 Fusion engine fueled up and ready to go as we hooked it into the power grid that was underneath our feet. 
 
"This should provide the surrounding buildings with enough power to function," the Civil-turned combat engineer explained as he finished hooking up the massive power conduits. "We'll have power as long as she stays fueled up. Now, we could provide power to the rest of the city, but we'd need two or three 200 rated reactors to power the whole thing."
 
"We should only need one section at a time," Doctor Ford thanked the engineer before turning to the city center. "Now, let's see what awaits us in the belly of the beast."
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Chapter 41