ALJ Chpt 52

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 52 - A Long Journey==
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1 August 2786
New Earth (Terran Hegemony)
Helen Froy, owner CEO of Froy Industries, watched her workers dismantle their remaining production lines and carefully pack them into shipping containers. Her mind wandered as she watched, this was an end of an era, but the beginning of a new era for Froy Industries, one where she would rebuild and hopefully even expand it. She had informed her vendors of her company's move to Mackolla and Smythe Mining and Metals had hardly hesitated in choosing to move with her company. Excellent Electronics had taken a week to decide to move but Trimble Precision Machinery still had not made a decision on moving. She really hoped they would but she knew they had to make the decision on their own.
Her main concern was safety for her assets and personnel on the move to Mackolla, it was a long trip and would pass into areas bound to be war zones very soon. It was also a concern to the hired Jumpship and Dropship captains, and they were charging a premium for the risk involved. But if there was anything the Hegemony seemed to have in abundance were veteran former SLDF troops who had chosen to remain behind but also had not joined any House or gone mercenary. If they were not part of a planets militia, they had very little in the way of equipment. Her head of security had hired quite a few right after General Kerensky bailed on them. She had told her head of security to hire more, many more to safeguard them during their journey and possibly on their new home. 
Word of the mass hirings for security spread like wildfire across New Earth and within two days of posting the openings her head of security was flooded with applications. Hundreds of applications, it was not so much a lack of work, it was more about getting out while the getting was good. Most had spent a decade at war and did not relish being in another one quite so soon. One hundred and twenty applications were submitted by surviving members of the 3367th Special Forces Battalion (Demobilized) which had been hiring themselves out locally as private security in squad sized elements.
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Keid (Terran Hegemony)
Kevin Saro, CEO of Saro Company, was not dumb and could see the writing on the wall. The Terran Hegemony Government was totally inept and incapable of even the simplest decisions, much less actually defending the Terran Hegemony from the predation that was already underway. Having barely survived the last war, he did not relish being caught in the coming war. He had heard rumors of a Federated Suns outfit buying up defunct companies within the Hegemony and now he had learned that Froy Industries had actually made the offer for a buyout in order to evacuate her company from the coming war. The Mitchell Vehicles shipyards over Mars were still being repaired and construction of Essex II Class Destroyers had been suspended, which his company supplied the transit drives for, so his production was totally idled. They had seen a massive spike in production after the war as the SLDF cycled their Essex II Destroyers in for long overdue repairs and replacements, but that had ended when Kerensky and the majority of the SLDF had left.
He ordered his employees to dismantle everything and started making transportation arrangements. He was not going to sit around and wait for an offer, he was going to uproot his company himself and arrive on Mackolla with everything. Worst case, he would rebuild anew and seek out customers on his own. At least Mackolla was a long ways from where he suspected the fighting to take place, like where he was currently sitting.
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