ASO Chpt 5

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==HomecomingChapter 5 - Aurigan Sentinels (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Arrival Home and Preparations Begins===
Nadir Jump Point, Coromodir
Aurigan Reach, Aurigan Coalition
18th August, 3020
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By the time we reach Coalition territory, it is already August and once we have finally jumped into the Coromodir system, half of the month has already gone by. We ended up spending the rest of April and almost all of May in the Fable system, taking stock and getting ready to return home with our loot.
Captain Teodore ended up convincing Captain Veronika Abraham of the Cardenia Claremont to stick around. Apparently, the recommendation of the Starclaimed Spinner’s captain combined with just how much of a haul I had found was enough for her and her crew to sign up, adding a third Invader-class JumpShip to my burgeoning mercenary unit. While the rest of the expedition continued to sort out the finds at the facility and load things into the DropShips, the Cardenia Claremont jumped to a neighboring system with the Starclaimed Spinner so that the latter could stock up on fresh supplies for our return trip.
 
Barring the twin issues of money and manpower, everything has gone rather well. The loot from the expedition has been exceptional and beyond my wildest dreams, enough to found a couple combined arms regiments and then some. Not to mention that between the Myrmidon, Tomb-Maker, and the Mammoth-class, we have enough cargo space for everything. We were even able to bring the tooling factory with us despite the difficulties of packing it up without breaking or damaging anything.
It was a nightmare to load it up into the Myrmidon, but I have no doubts that it will be worth it. We could have left in early May if we were willing to ditch the factory, but the ability to manufacture precise Star League-grade tooling is worth the extra hassle. I just need to find a company willing to sell or license the schematics or go to the effort of designing my own. The latter of which isn’t impossible between the memory core and the fact that the Myrmidon, just like her sistership, carries a small database of BattleMech technical specifications.
It isn’t anything too major, just schematics on the ‘Mechs in service of the SLDF. Not that it really counts as a proper limitation, but it is no New Dallas memory core, just something that every major power should already have access to.
And speaking of the Myrmidon, it has the SLDF-grade machine shop like the Argo and unlike the tooling factory, I have been able to put it to work on the trip home. By feeding it some of the raw materials we found, I've had the Myrmidon producing spare parts for the 'Mechs that we found. I’m not producing true LosTech, but for some of the ‘Mechs that are no longer in production, their parts might as well be LosTech.
Unfortunately, the Myrmidon’s machine shop isn’t nearly as impressive as the tooling factory. Where the latter can build both components and the machinery needed to make said components, the machine shop can only do the former and its smaller size limits just what it can make in terms of scale. The tooling factory is capable of producing ship-scale parts if provided with the necessary schematics, but the Myrmidon will be doing no such thing.
Which opens up options for me in the future. Not only will it make salvaging damaged 'Mechs easier in any successful jobs, but we can produce fresh factory-grade parts in exchange for C-Bills, favors or just goodwill. Helping restore a noble family’s 'Mech to a fully functional condition is nothing to scoff at given the power of the aristocracy in the neo-feudal system and just how undesirable being Dispossessed is. I don’t buy into the idea that it is a fate worse than death like some, but that take isn’t exactly an unpopular opinion in the days of the Third Succession War.
 
Speaking of which, it should be winding down now between the Federated Commonwealth Accords in a couple of years and the Concord of Kapteyn another couple of years after that. The raids won’t stop, but I have found myself thrown into this mess as the end of an era is about to roll around the corner. If things go according to plan, the Succession Wars will be over by the start of the next decade and the status quo of the last century and a half will be no more. Of course, nobody, but me knows about that.
Unfortunately, it isn’t all sunshine and roses as I have more immediate problems than what may or may not be happening in the upcoming years. I have literal megatons of hardware, but my manpower and finances to run them are severely lacking. Between the supplies we found, our limited payroll and the fact that almost everything is still in mothball, my current expenses are fairly low, but that won’t last if I start putting my hardware into service.
I inherited five million C-Bills from Dad, but that small fortune isn’t close to what I need. It might be enough to let me expand my fledgling mercenary unit into its true potential, but I’ll be tapped out by then and without C-Bills, my hard work will be undone almost instantly. I’ve spoken with Commodore Geary, Captain Zola, Captain Arkos, and Captain Teodore and between their words and what I can read up, I’ll be needing double-digit millions on a monthly basis.
A good contract will make up for that, but I will need to get one of those first. Not to mention that I’ll need a war chest for any surprise expenses that pop up unexpectedly or to make up for a poor contract. Hopefully, I can secure a decent contract within the Aurigan Coalition and I have options to build myself a war chest in a hurry. I can secure loans by using some of my hardware as collateral and LosTech, of which I currently have plenty, always fetches a premium in this era.
Whatever I do, I will have to move quickly because I’ll be on a time limit too as the powers that be won’t just let me build up in peace. ComStar will want to destroy what I’ve found, the Successor States will want to claim my loot for themselves and even the Canopians and Taurians will be wanting a piece of my pie.
I hope the NAIS will be interested in purchasing some genuine LosTech to reverse engineer.
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===Greetings from Home===
“I can’t believe you actually have a battleship." says Moana in her recorded message as the Myrmidon burns towards Coromodir, "I know your message said you had one and everyone was questioning me about you over it, but It wasn't exactly believable. Sorry for not replying sooner, but my bosses didn't want me messaging you until you were in the system.
"I'm glad to see you survived your trip. When you vanished for a few months after your last message said you were jumping for an abandoned system, we just sort of assumed you had died or something. Speaking of which, you might have some legal issues to sort out and we really need to talk about those notes you left me in case you died. Because I looked at them thinking you had gotten yourself killed."
 
Oh. That might be a problem. In the event that I got myself killed or otherwise died, I left some notes for Moana that contained some of my meta-knowledge in them. Just the important stuff so someone could carry on in my stead. If Moana thought I had died and decided to read those notes.
Well, I certainly have some explaining to do. Hopefully, Moana is smart enough to be discreet about this. I don’t need people thinking I’m insane or to overplay my hand too early when it comes to my otherworldly knowledge.
“Liz, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, we need to have a face to face talk,” continues Moana in the recording, “We can talk about other stuff then. In the meantime, I still need time to process the flaming mess that you dropped on everyone’s heads and see how things play out. See you soon.”
 
Great, Moana is keeping me at bay. It grates, but I can’t blame her given the circumstances. My sister needs to worry about the whole family now that Dad is gone and if that means letting me deal with everything on my own, then she’ll make that hard choice. Especially since from her perspective, I might have gone insane whilst upending the local balance of power hard enough that the support of a single baronetess won’t make a difference to my fate.
 
Speaking of which, High Lord Tamati Arano has already reached out to me to no one’s surprise considering that my return hasn't been discreet since we jumped back into Coalition space. No doubt that the local head honcho wishes to speak with me. Not to mention that I have dozens of other important figures in the Reach attempting to contact me for one reason or another, but none of them are as important to me as Moana or High Lord Arano.
Back to the matter at hand, High Lord Arano has requested a meeting with me once I’ve arrived back at Coromodir VI. We’ve had some limited correspondence, but after ascertaining my loyalty and good intentions, High Lord Arano has elected to wait until we can have a face to face meeting before discussing things further. Like Moana.
“Um, Boss,” says Vance, distracting me from my thoughts as he pokes his head around the corner.
“Just call me Elizabeth.” I reply as I look over at him, “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing, just wanting to see how you are holding up now that we’ve reached your home system.” replies Vance as he walks into my quarters aboard the Myrmidon, “Things going according to the plan?”
“They’re going about as well as they can right now,” I answer, “Still a lot of variables up in the air, but things look hopeful. I might have a family issue or two to deal with, but that’s personal stuff not anything the unit needs to worry about. That should go fine though nothing has been promised yet.”
“Still going for the two combined arms regiments?” inquires Vance.
“It works with what we have, sticking a combined arms battalion on each Fortress,” I reply, “I can promise you command of a ‘Mech Company. Anything beyond that will depend on what sort of recruits we get. I wouldn’t mind giving you a combined arms battalion to command, but I don’t want to promise it in case we get too many people better suited for it.”
“Don’t worry, I get it,” replies Vance as he gives me a grateful look, “Seriously, I would be happy with just having command of a lance. Heck, even just having a new ride is a big step up from being Dispossessed, you know.”
“Not really, I never had a ‘Mech of my own before,” I tell him, “I might have had MechWarrior training, but I am last in line for the family ‘Mechs on both sides of the family. Being a MechWarrior has always been my dream, but the realistic goal I worked towards was being a ‘Mech Tech.”
“Having a WarShip is a big way up from that.” says Vance.
“It is, but I was never going to settle for mediocrity,” I reply, “I have a position working on the family ‘Mech reserved for me and I had offers from both the Espinosa Refit Yards and the NAIS.”
“The NAIS?” repeats Vance as he stares at me and I am reminded that he and his family are Feddies even if they are mercenaries, “For real?”
“Yep,” I confirm, “Wanted me for some top secret project that I wouldn’t be told about until I entered the Suns. I considered it, but honestly? I’m not sure I would have gone for it if it meant leaving my home behind. It might not be the best trait for a mercenary, but I’m something of a patriot. The Reach is my home and the Aurigan people are my people.”
 
“I’ve noticed,” says Vance, “Think that is going to work out for us?”
“We’ll be glorified house regulars, but it will work out,” I answer after a moment, “The poor state of the ACM is due to politics and lack of domestic production. We are disproportionately rich for our size even if we don’t compare up to any of the big powers so we don’t need to worry about the Coalition running out of C-Bills. The biggest concerns will be political rather than financial and even then, I doubt we will have much to worry about once a new status quo has settled.”
“I’ll trust your judgement as the local,” replies Vance, “Thanks for the chat, boss. You don’t mind if I spread this around?”
“Not at all.”
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==Author's Chapter Notes==
;Word from the Author: This chapter is mostly summarizing stuff before getting into the local politics. The way I currently have things planned out, this arc will cover Elizabeth getting her local backing and beginning to put together her mercenary unit in truth. The next arc will be the first mission, but that’s still a little while off.
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