TOCR-9

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==Meeting of a Concern Leadership - The Outer Colonies Region==
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My contact from Cyclops Station sent me another data-packet, an attached note indicating that she is now on the run from unknown forces.- Starling
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== Conversation Between Chairwoman and saKhan ==
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Extracts from: Transcript of meeting between:Chairwoman Helena Stark & saKahn Mary MroczkiewiczAlso in attendance: Director David Wolfsbane (Ministry of Intelligence)Office of the ChairwomanCouncil ChambersSan Carlos, Port StanleyDecember 7th, 3065
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MROCZKIEWICZ: You wanted to see me?
STARK: Yes, thank you for coming so soon.
MROCZKIEWICZ: Only a fool would refuse a summons from the Chairwoman.
STARK: Mary, I ask you here as a friend, not a fellow member of the Council.
MROCZKIEWICZ: Yet we are meeting in your office?
STARK: Jasper makes the best coffee in San Carlos, you know that.
MROCZKIEWICZ: True. Do I even need to ask what this is about?
WOLFSBANE: Did you really think we wouldn't notice what you've been doing? The ships you took from the boneyard? The new BattleMechs you've been building?
MROCZKIEWICZ: Which we are allowed to do under the Federalization Treaty.
STARK: And the shipyard?
MROCZKIEWICZ: It provides much need jobs and boosts the local economy.
WOLFSBANE: Your population base is at the very least 20% over what you said it was.
MROCZKIEWICZ: Are you going to chastise us for what we get up to in the privacy of our own homes?
STARK: Mary, we know you're using the Iron Wombs more and more. In the past we've turned a blind eye because, well, you wanted to preserve the genetic legacy of those who never made it this far, and you made it freely available to those who couldn't conceive naturally...
WOLFSBANE: But now you're using it to breed an entire army.
MROCZKIEWICZ: Clause 5 allows us to take any actions we deem necessary to maintain planetary security. After a lengthy debate, we decided that we needed a larger army, and that requires a far larger population base, so we used the Iron Wombs and our genetic database to double our birthrate, placing the children either with their genetic parents or with foster-families. We are not, nor would we ever, indoctrinating children from birth to be soldiers. Call us what you will, but we are NOT the Disciples of Nicholas!
STARK: I never said you were. Mary, I've known you for over twenty years; you're my friend and I trust you. And speaking as your friend, I have to tell you that the Council is split almost evenly on this matter. Bob's worried that your shipyard will take work away from Newport News, and he's called in enough markers to get Jo, Gideon, and Pun on his side. I've managed to talk Holly, Li, and Hank into helping me counter him, but Silvester is fence sitting. If Bob can get him on side, he'll push for Quentin to be given the casting vote, and none of us know him well enough to say which way he'll go.
MROCZKIEWICZ: I can understand Jo and Pun siding with Bob; their worlds have always looked to New Jersey for leadership, but Gideon surprises me.
WOLFSBANE: Vision has a growing merchant fleet; Newport News has offered them a discount on new and refurbished ships, and Clarke Station is booked up for the next year and a half.
MROCZKIEWICZ: I thought Bob might object, but I never thought he would resort to outright bribery.
STARK: Not bribery; politics. Gideon is facing stiff opposition back home, and needs something to show the coalition supporting him that he's doing the best he can for their world. It's perfectly understandable that he want to be in Bob's good books.
MROCZKIEWICZ: If... [something said that microphone was unable to pick up] If I was to offer him a better deal, do you think Gideon would change his vote in my favor?
STARK: That's hard to say...
WOLFSBANE: Yes. There's no love-loss between Gideon and Bob. In fact, they two can barely remain civil. But right now Bob has something Gideon needs, so he's calling the tune. But you offer him the chance to bring Bob don a peg or two, and he'll take it.
MROCZKIEWICZ: Vision still has the Crystal Peak factory mothballed, yes?
WOLFSBANE: It would need a lot of time and money to make it operational again, but yes.
MROCZKIEWICZ: If we were to offer them the same deal on the ships, and agree to buy Crystal Peak?
STARK: That...would depend. Would you intend to relocate the factory to Rorke's Drift? Or leave it where it is? Because once word gets out that we're planning to replace our older equipment with new-builds, Crystal Peak is going to be a prime asset. Everyone knows that Fox Bay has the capacity but not the manpower, and Vision has the highest unemployment out of all the Colonies.
MROCZKIEWICZ: Moving it would be the logical choice, but I see where you are coming from. What if we were to offer to modernise it for, say, a 50% share?
STARK: I'd say you'd have better luck asking for a third. Gideon's a nice guy, but unlike you, he had to pander to the electorate.
MROCZKIEWICZ: I was elected.
WOLFSBANE: You were the Brotherhood's candidate in all but name; there was no way you were going to lose that election. Please, don't insult our intelligence by claiming otherwise. I for one take great pride in knowing things others would rather I didn't.
STARK: Probably why none of your marriages never lasted. Now look, Mary, even if you get Gideon on side, Bob still has enough votes on the Council to cause trouble. I understand why you are doing the things you are doing, but in secret? It reminds people of the Usurper...
MROCZKIEWICZ: Friend or not, Chairwoman or not, if you ever compare my people to that...man, ever again, I will kill you where you stand.
STARK: No comparison was intended, I assure you, and I apologies if you felt it was. But my point remains; historically speaking, secret military build up has always come before a war of conquest. Call it human nature, if you will.
MROCZKIEWICZ: When my ancestors arrived in this region of space, they freely shared the advances in technology that had been made after the Exodus. We also offered the Iron Wombs and the same limited genetic modifications we now use as standard, but you turned us down. We are as dedicated to the ideals of the Star League as anyone else, but we are living with a death sentence hanging over our heads. Do you think the Clans have forgotten what happened? Do you think that they would simply let us be, if they found out about us? There are two and a quarter billion people on Rorke's Drift, Foster's World, Redemption and Ticonderoga that would be hunted down an exterminated. And let's not forget the people on the other worlds who have Wolverine blood running through their veins, no matter how diluted.
WOLFSBANE: Yes, the Clans are a threat, but what do you suggest we do about it?
MROCZKIEWICZ: We do everything we can to remain hidden, and make sure our defenses are as strong as they can be. I want to know that if the Clans come to kill my people, my children, that they will break like a wave against the shore. For that we need two things; information and money.
STARK: Money I can get you; we've always used our higher technology base and large merchant fleet to become the dominant economic power in this region of space. This has allowed us to maintain a relatively low domestic tax level; far lower than our economy could support. Even a minor increase in income or corporate tax would bring in a sizeable disposable income.
WOLFSBANE: That leaves information, which is my bulwark.
MROCZKIEWICZ: Yes. You're going to have to deploy some of those surveillance ships you have hidden away to the boarders on the Inner Sphere. Not close enough to attract any attention; just enough to get a clearer picture of what's going on. We can fit them with our latest generation of transmitters, allowing them to send at least some information back home without the HPG chain.
STARK: Risky, but I'm willing to allow it. Make sure the crews understand that they can not allow themselves or their ships to be captured. I know it's a lot to ask of people...
MROCZKIEWICZ: I can supply the crews, if needed. My people understand that sometimes a few must lay down their lives for the good of the many.
WOLFSBANE: That's the information side of things taken care of. The question now is, what do we do with it?
MROCZKIEWICZ: There are dozens of destroyer and frigate hulls in the Hamunaptra system, and I know that the University of Rosalyn has at least two complete computer systems from the Star Leagues M-5 program. We could, with all three shipyards now operational, convert some of those hulls into Caspar Drones. Along with orbital and ground-side defenses, we could make our worlds all but impenetrable to hostile attack.
STARK: The Star League looked into giving us a Space Defense System so they could cut the fleet presence out here, but even they felt it was prohibitively expensive. Even if we did raise taxes, we'd never be able to afford anything like what you're talking about!
MROCZKIEWICZ: If built from scratch, yes, a full SDS program is well beyond our capabilities. But if we use the ships in the boneyard, we should be able to cut costs drastically. Crystal Peak has aerospace production lines that can be tasked with building drone-fighters just as easily as their manned equivalent, and with the M-5 system, we can fit dozens of them into a retrofitted hull. We have already identified a Baron class Destroyer that we would like to use as a test-bed, at our expense, of cause.
STARK: Of cause.
MROCZKIEWICZ: Let us work on the prototype, at least long enough for us to determine if the program has potential. I would be more than willing to keep the Council informed of any and all progress, and I will make our preliminary reports and proposals available right now. We are not an aggressive people, Helena; we just want to be safe.
STARK: We all want to be safe, Mary, but there are ways and means.
WOLFSBANE: Indeed. But for now, I think we have enough to be getting on with. I for one have to oversee the reactivation of some ships.
MROCZKIEWICZ: And I have another meeting with Holly about an Endowment for one of her precious universities. [sound of chairs moving] until next time?
STARK: Next time. [footsteps followed by the sound of a door closing] Thoughts?
WOLFSBANE: About what I expected. The people of Rorke's Drift are paranoid, but harmless if just left alone. And her ideas do hold some merit; we could use better information on the state of the Inner Sphere. I think some of the Council members have become so accustom to how safe and comfortable we are out here that they forget that it wouldn't take that much for it all to come crashing down. Our ancestors found these worlds. The Star League found them. The Wolverines found them. We have to assume that someone, somewhere, in either the Inner Sphere or Clan space has a map that marks our exact location. The only thing that has kept us safe from all that has followed the fall of the Star League is that no one has with such a map has considered it worth the chance that there was something out here that would make such a journey worth the cost and risk.
STARK: You make it sound like we're Ancient Romans, ignoring the sound of he barbarians at the gates.
WOLFSBANE: Maybe we are. All I know is that we have technology and knowledge that may well have been completely lost to the rest of humanity. Given what we know of the Succession Wars, is it too hard to believe that someone might consider that a prize worth fighting over?
STARK: Okay, okay; I give in. Send your ships to the edges of the Inner Sphere. I just pray that they find nothing that makes us regret such an act.
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