ADO Chpt 33

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==Nautilus ExpeditionChapter 33 - Aurigan Dreams (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Return Trip Home===
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It doesn’t take too long for us to arrive back at Coromodir, just a month. Which should feel like a long time, but I’m getting familiar enough with interstellar travel to appreciate how short that is. We swapped between JumpShips at each jump point, saving a few days. Not a command circuit, but about as close as you are going to get out here in the Periphery.
Thankfully being on the Argo saves me from being bored. The ancient Star League DropShip has so many awesome features that those alone would keep me from getting bored, but with a cargo hold full of LosTech goodies, a multitude of SLDF technical manuals and a top secret Terran Hegemony core, I am spoiled for choice to keep myself occupied.
The Nighthawks keep me occupied for the majority of the trip while I make the occasional trip to the Mech Bay to keep up with how Yang and his people are doing with my new ‘Mech. I spend an insufficient amount of time in the sim pods, just enough to keep in practice and not enough to learn anything new. The SLDF technical manuals became my new reading material and I would read a copy on my noteputer before going to bed.
Of course, Lord Arano and the others don’t wait until landfall before we get to work. Need to know that I emphasized and was backed up by Lord Espinosa might have kept us from sending messages via HPG, but when we arrived at the zenith point of the Coromodir system, the Argo began to exchange messages with the capital. Even if the speed is slow due to the lightspeed lag, reports are being exchanged and preliminary planning is taking place.
Lord Arano receives reports on what we found from Lord Espinosa and Lord Karosa while I get to work communicating with Raju as my most senior and experienced MechWarrior. I have made some decisions on what to do regarding our share of the loot, but that is far from a final decision. And while Belinda is a more than competent MechWarrior with an accomplished career as the leader of her own mercenary unit, I want Raju’s opinion on what we should claim from Castle Nautilus.
My initial message is fairly short, just copying a list of what we found, what I’ve already claimed and my general thoughts on the matter. The messages don’t take too long as while it isn’t as instantaneous as being on the same planet, the messages are still traveling much faster than we are. And the travel time continues to get shorter as we get closer to the planet.
Nonetheless, Raju’s first response takes a while to arrive, reaching the Argo as I get up in the morning. I take the opportunity to watch the recorded message after breakfast in my quarters, inviting Kamea to join me. I could invite Belinda, but as well as I’ve been getting on with the Canopian recently, she just doesn’t have the same trust that I hold in Kamea and Raju. It isn’t anything wrong on her part, but she just doesn’t have the same loyalty to the Aurigan people that I, Kamea and Raju share.
“Hello, Elizabeth.” says the recording of Raju, “I’m glad to hear that you are safe and sound and nothing went wrong. Pass on my regard to Kamea and I hope she hasn’t caused you any trouble like she did on our last mission.”
“Is my reputation that bad?” mutters Kamea from beside me and I don’t respond as I focus on listening to Raju.
“You’ve certainly brought back quite the haul with you.” continues the veteran mercenary, “It is a shame that we can’t have all of it, but that is just the name of the job. In any case, you need to make some hard choices and I understand you have already made some of them so here is my advice. Decide what you want out of this job. Do you want to shore up some weaknesses of the Rimward Sentinels or do you want to double-down on its existing strengths?
“I understand your desire to grab as many of those Royal Assault ‘Mechs as you can and if you want my opinion, it is a viable option. In my judgement, it is a choice between specializing and generalizing. As a general rule, the Rimward Sentinels are a high tonnage unit with more than our fair share of heavy and assault weight machines, but lacking when it comes to lighter options. That has its weaknesses, but it also has its strengths.
“Going for assaults and heavies from Castle Nautilus will double-down on those strengths and weaknesses. It is a valid choice and one you seem to be going with though I cannot tell if that is because that’s what suits you best or because you don’t know better. That is the specializing option where the Rimward Sentinels embrace their existing nature.
“The other option that I see is becoming more generalist, less of a hammer of overwhelming force and more of a unit that can adapt to different situations. In that regard, the Griffins would make for good mobile brawlers and scouts while the Catapults could be used as fire support ‘Mechs. Even the Highlanders would act as a more mobile counterpart to our Atlases due to their jump jets.
“Those are the options as I see them. Going for the Assaults to double-down on our existing strengths or going for the lighter machines to mitigate our weaknesses. As for which choice is better, I cannot say. It depends on what you wish to turn the Rimward Sentinels into, Elizabeth. I’ll be waiting for your response and I’ll be at your service once you’ve made planetfall. And onto other matters-”
At that point, I pause the recording, just as Raju is about to cover what happened on Coromodir since I left.
“What do you think, Liz?” asks Kamea from beside me.
“I don’t know.” I answer as I lean back in my seat, “I just don’t know. I’m not qualified for this and lack the experience or training to make decisions like this. I trust Raju and what he says makes sense, but he could be completely wrong and I wouldn’t know it because I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Are you okay?” asks Kamea, her voice concerned as she reaches out to me, pausing just short of actually touching me.
“Yeah, I’m just out of my depths.” I reply, “I don’t have imposter syndrome or anything. I know that beyond my initial inheritance, I’ve earnt my successes and rewards so I know I’m not a fraud. But at the same time, I know that I am not ready for all of my responsibilities and I am only getting away with it due to being a big fish in a small pond in our part of the Periphery. Look, I was just a promising Mech Tech less than a year ago. Now I'm a landowning noble, and have begun training as a MechWarrior and the forces at my command will definitely be multi-regimental by the end of this job if they don’t already count as such. So I’m okay, but I also don’t know what the best answer is and I’m not going to pretend that I do unless I’m putting a public face on.”
“Do you want my advice?” inquires the Arano heiress.
“I might as well while I’m soliciting opinions.” I answer.
“The Sentinels have been a hammer since the start.” says Kamea, “We were built upon the back of Assault and Heavy weight machines of war, relying upon superior equipment to make up for a lack of skill and organization. And it has worked for us. So I would like to keep our hammer intact and expand upon it. We have over a company’s worth of Assault ‘Mechs and we can potentially expand upon that to a battalion of Assault ‘Mechs or something close to it. That’s my take on the situation. We embrace brute force and overwhelming power so let’s double down on that.”
“That's what my instincts tell me to go for as well.” I say, “The higher tonnage equals being better to my subconscious even if I know that isn’t always true. ust be my Lyran heritage showing.”
“Your mother is from the Commonwealth, right?” inquires Kamea.
“Yeah, my old man was a Feddie and Mum is from Skye.” I answer, “Hence the red hair and green eyes.”
“You know, I don’t believe I have met your family yet.” says Kamea thoughtfully, “And I don’t think you’ve met mine.”
“I spend a lot of time with your father.” I protest, “And you’ve met Moana at a couple of celebrations.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t met my mother and I haven’t met the rest of your family yet.” argues Kamea.
“I met Lady Arano a couple of times at the same ceremonies that you’ve met Moana.” I argue back.
“It doesn’t count.” says Kamea, “We should do something about that.”
“We can’t just arrange a family dinner.” I point out.
“But I can bring you to meet Mother and you can bring me to meet your family.” says Kamea confidently.
“I suppose.” I reluctantly agree before pausing as something occurs to me. “I just realized I don’t know the current living arrangements of my family. They were living in our old home, but when Moana and I both became baronesses. I remember Mum and Moana discussing them moving in with her since Mo would be living in a city and she would be spending more time on-planet. It wasn’t like they could keep their old lives with a couple of nobles in the family. Too exposed and too many bootlickers would be coming after them to get at Mo and me.”
“We’ll arrange something then.” declares Kamea, “You’ll meet Mother and I get to go and meet your family.”
“Sure.” I say, wondering how Mum, Dad and my sisters would react to the heiress to the Coalition coming to visit.
I suppose it would depend on how well they are adapting to Mo and I being baronesses. They might be cool with Kamea showing up or they might freak out at someone of her stature coming to visit them. I suspect that Mum will be the former while Dad will be the latter. Mum had her adventures in her past and she has gotten pregnant with a noble’s kid before meanwhile Dad is just an office jockey who lived a quiet, normal life until this year.
Poor Dad. Mo and I have completely upended things for him.
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===Outlining what to do with the Spoils===
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“I take it that you have decided upon your share?” Lord Arano asks me as we have a meeting in the Arano Palace.
This meeting is larger than normal as both Lord Karosas and Raju are joining us as we discuss divvying up the loot from Castle Nautilus. And they are waiting on me because of my first choice on my share of the prize.
“I have.” I say as Kamea pulls out the printed copies of our choices, “The Rimward Sentinels have been a hammer since the start and having discussed the matter with my command staff, I have decided to keep things that way.”
“You’ll be taking the Assault ‘Mechs then.” comments Lord Espinosa dryly.
“Not all of them,” I reply as Kamea passes out the copies to the others, “just ten of each. Along with two lances of Catapults for the rest of my ‘Mechs. The fire support fills a previously missing niche in the Sentinels and unlike with the Griffins or Black Knights, I don’t need to worry about sourcing replacement endo-steel parts. Ferro-fibrous armor can be replaced with standard armor, LosTech weapons can be replaced with regular weapons, double heat sinks can be replaced with single heat sinks and if the engine is wrecked, so is the ‘Mech. Endo-steel can’t just be as easily replaced as everything else.”
“Understandable choices given your circumstances.” says Lord Arano.
“At least you didn’t take all of the Assault ‘Mechs.” mutters Lord Karosas, “Even if a lance isn’t much.”
“Only relative to what we found at Castle Nautilus.” says Lord Espinosa, “You wouldn’t normally be calling a lance of Assault ‘Mechs not much.”
“You know what I mean, Santiago.” replies Lord Karosas.
“To keep this meeting on track, I believe you have decided upon the rest of your choices, Colonel Nora?” says Lord Arano, asking a question he already knows the answer to as he has it right in front of him.
“I have.” I reply, “All of the Alacorns, a company of the Von Luckners Heavy Tanks, and twenty-eight Goblins Infantry Tanks for my vehicle selection. The infantry selection is-”
“We have a copy of what you chose right here.” interrupts Lord Karosas, “We don’t need to go over all of it.”
“In that case, we should discuss the immediate future of the Rimward Sentinels.” says Lord Arano.
“We aren’t going to be fit for combat operations, Father.” says Kamea, “We might be able to pull off another retrieval operation, but combat is off the table. We are going to undergo another period of expansion and reorganization since we just got a regiment’s worth of equipment and we’re looking at getting a few of our older ‘Mechs back online. The Stinger and Locust parts we ordered from TTI just arrived in-system and as per our agreement, the Argo will let us get the other ‘Mechs in storage back into shape.”
“Kamea is right.” adds Raju, “We won’t be in a position to launch any offensive combat operations for the foreseeable future. We can do our part to fight off any raids, but for the next month or so, we’ll be reorganizing.”
“Furthermore, Elizabeth has enough on her plate.” continues Kamea, her voice becoming harsher, “She has enough trouble dealing with all of the responsibilities you keep giving her so until she gets a handle on things. It would be inappropriate for you to send her off pirate hunting even if she is dutiful enough to go ahead and do it without complaint.”
“Everything else aside, we will be doing a big reorganization.” I say before anyone can react to Kamea’s minor outburst, “We were already oversized for a single regiment, but if we incorporate all of our new equipment from Castle Nautilus, we will definitely be looking at splitting up into at least two or three regiments. I’ll have to appoint colonels and start calling myself a general.”
“It wouldn’t be inappropriate with the amount of military forces at your disposal.” says Lord Espinosa, “Even as they currently are, your forces are more than comparable to any House Guard.”
“Speaking of which, that is something we should address.” says Lord Karosas, “While I cannot deny that recent developments are to the benefit of the Coalition, they have disrupted its internal power balance. We are all getting another company of ‘Mechs to add to our House Guard and Pierre-Louis is going to add two companies. We have a mercenary unit that has military forces equivalent to two or three House Guards when the Coalition has previously hired companies at the largest.
“One of the ideas that the Aurigan Coalition was balanced upon was that each Founding House would have a relatively equal amount of military power at their disposal. Now that is no longer true and the largest concentration of military might in the Reach will soon lay outside any of the Founding Houses if it doesn’t already.”
“It is something that will need to be addressed, Simon, and I am doing what I can.” says Lord Arano, “Unfortunately, there is no quick and obvious solution for me to take.”
“Neither can I just ignore these opportunities to strengthen the Coalition.” adds Lord Espinosa.
“We could slow down enough to avoid upsetting the balance-” Lord Karosa starts to reply.
“And in doing so, we risk letting them slip through our grasp.” interrupts Lord Espinosa, earning himself a glower from Lord Karosas.
“It is a careful balance where there is no clear way to keep everything in check.” says Lord Arano quickly, “I trust that the Founding Council won’t do anything stupid and if one of the Founding Houses tries to step out of line, I can use the Rimward Sentinels against them. Isn’t that right, Colonel Nora?”
“That is correct.” I agree while Kamea glares at her father, “If any of the Founding Houses try to act militarily against the Aurigan Coalition, I will happily deal with them.”
“And with that, I believe we should call this meeting to a close.” says Lord Arano, silencing Kamea with a look as the Arano heiress opens her mouth to speak, “Its nominal purpose has been achieved and a couple of other valid points have been raised. No need to keep going whilst tempers are high so we’ll just call it a day before anybody says or does anything regrettable.”
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==Author's Chapter Notes==
;Word from the Author: So while it is possible for the Rimward Sentinels to round out, they started out as a heavyweight hammer and so they will remain a heavyweight hammer. A score of assault mechs and two lances of Catapults because unlike the Black Knights, Griffins, and Spiders, they don’t have parts that make them logistically difficult once the battle damage begins to add up.Beyond that, the Rimward Sentinels are getting big enough that they will have to become a multi-regimental formation. Which means a period of reorganization that will take up the seventh arc alongside some character development. Now we haven't reached the seventh arc yet as while Castle Nautilus might be dealt with, I have a couple of industrial/financial things to cover and I need to do two or three character development scenes. So another couple of updates left in this story arc.
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