WCGW Chpt 90

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==Chapter 90 - What Could Go Wrong==
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6 April 3042
Inner End (Federated Commonwealth)
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Once the mass of personnel were dismissed from the formation, the real work had begun. Much to his surprise, Leftenant Colonel Mitchell learned that they actually had Mechwarriors now, having been introduced to Major Woodall briefly. Those Mechwarriors were put to work along with the several hundred techs unloading the Mule Dropship, which was carrying the salvaged Battlemechs. Thirty minutes after the influx of personnel entered the Mule Cargo Dropship, the first STC-2C Striker Assault 'Mech lumbered down the ramp. Without any sort of storage facilities, the Battlemechs were being lined up along on the Tarmac of the Space Port. This brought a protest from Space Port Control, that was quickly silenced when the furious manager on duty jumped out of his ground car screaming and cursing only to have First Prince Hanse Davion turn around to face him. It was as though some magical spell had been cast upon the manager who seemed to lose his voice suddenly.
"We recovered 36 of these STC-2C Striker Battlemechs and 72 WSP-1A Wasp Battlemechs. In addition, the first pirate group had some interesting Battlemechs. One, a Thunderbolt variant no one had ever heard of, has some advanced features. The data tag said..." There was a pause as Leftenant Colonel Mitchell dug in his various pockets until he found the folded papers "TDR-5Sb. My lead tech said it has an Endo-Steel structure, CASE, ER PPC and the normal machine guns were replaced with small pulse lasers, oh and double heat sinks. I am infantry so forgive my ignorance. They also had several advanced Thugs, but they were damaged during the fight, heavily. The Behemoth up in orbit carries most of our salvage. The list if pretty extensive. But if you really want to hear it, I can read it off." 
"Please, by all means, read the list my boy." Quintus Allard said with a smile, he was comfortably sitting in a chair brought from one of the barracks lounges.
Leftenant Colonel Mitchell nodded and began reading off the list.
108 Armored Personnel Carrier (MG), Small, Hover
108 Armored Personnel Carrier (MG), Small, Track
108 Armored Personnel Carrier (MG), Small, Wheel
72 Merkava MK VIII, Main Battle Tank, Track
36 Burke, Fire Support, Tank, Track
36 LTV-4, Tank, Hover
72 Condor Cavalry, Tank, Hover
108 Turhan, Tank, Wheel
12 Prometheus Combat Support, Tank, Track
36 Ballista, Artillery, Track
216 Sherpa, Cargo, Wheel
108 Sherpa, Fuel, Wheel
24 Sherpa, Kitchen, Wheel
24 Sherpa, MASH, Wheel
24 Sherpa, HQ, Wheel
36 Striker, Battlemech, Heavy
72 Wasp, Battlemech, Light
24 Wayland Mobile Base, Track
36 Vlar 300 Fusion, Crated, New
36 GM 180 Fusion, Crated, New
12 GM 150 Fusion, Crated, New
12 Pitban 320 Fusion, Crated, New
24 GM 120 Fusion, Crated, New
3,000 Automatic Rifle, Crated, New
18,000 Magazine Rifle, Crated, New
9,000 Automatic Pistol, Crated, New
27,000 Magazine Pistol, Crated, New
24,000 Uniform, Camouflage, Crated, New
12,000 Boot, Pair, Crated, New
9,000 Helmet, Combat, Crated, New
36 HellStar PPC, Crated, New
36 Chalker Model 25 PPC, Crated, New
36 Holly-10 LRM-10 Launcher, Crated, New
36 Defiance B3L Large Laser, Crated, New
108 Hellion-b II Medium Laser, Crated, New
108 Class-5 Pontiac Autocannon, Crated, New
216 Amdecker 300 Large Laser, Crated, New
288 Ramsey-65 Machine Gun, Crated, New
144 Diverse Optics Type 2 Medium Laser, Crated, New 
72 Bical SRM-2 Launcher, Crated, New
36 GM Whirlwind Class 5 Autocannon, Crated, New
72 Defiance B3M Medium Laser, Crated, New
72 Holly-15 LRM-15 Launcher, Crated, New
72 Holly-2 SRM-4 Launcher, Crated, New
620 SureFire MiniGun, Crated, New
300 Tons Acbar 55 Ferro-Fibrous
800 Tons PanzerSlab Standard Armor
1500 Tons Durallex Standard Armor 
500 Tons BAR 10 Armor 
400 Single Heat Sinks, Crated, New
7,000 Tons Assorted Spare Parts
1 Thunderbolt, TDR-5Sb
2 Thug, THG-11Eb (damaged)
1 Archer, ARC-2R
2 Wolverine, WVR-6R (damaged)
4 Firestarter, FS9-A (damaged)
3 Enforcer, ENF-4R
1 Whitworth, WTH-1S
2 Merlin, MLN-1A
2 Merchant Class Jumpships
1 Lion Combined Arms Dropship (damaged)
1 Union Mech Transport Dropship
1 Danais Cargo Dropship
113 Captured Pirates
228 Freed Captives
First Prince Hanse Davion said "Quintus, you get two cases. Colonel Mitchell, that is a most impressive list of recovered items. Quintus tells me that we get first right on whatever your going to sell. Have you decided what you will be keeping?"
"In a very basic way, Highness. I am going to have to modify my options now that we seem to have grown quite a bit." Leftenant Colonel Mitchell replied
"I assume your contract granted you full salvage rights for the captured material from the Pirates, so those are off the table. Unless your willing to discuss terms." First Prince Hanse Davion said
"Highness, I am always willing to discuss terms." Leftenant Colonel Mitchell replied
"That Lion Dropship. The Dragoons have quite a few of them. What do you want for it?" First Prince Hanse Davion said
"To be honest Highness, I had not thought about it. I have quite a list of equipment and specialists I need to get before our next operation. Not even sure what that all will cost yet." Leftenant Colonel Mitchell replied
"Give Quintus your list and any other needs you might have. I am sure that we can pull a few strings and get you what you need a little faster than any purchasing channels you will have to go thru. I assume that Titan Dropship you have up in orbit is not for sale?" First Prince Hanse Davion asked
"Completely Highness. I am not letting that go. However, we might be able to work out a deal of some sort for copies of the ships engineering diagrams, design specifications, repair manuals and all the other information we recovered. Maybe you can get someone to put if back into production." Leftenant Colonel Mitchell replied
First Prince Hanse Davion turned to a nearby aide "Locate Miss Pompery and bring her to me please." The aide took off at a run. First Prince Hanse Davion turned back to Leftenant Colonel Mitchell "Miss Pompery is a Project Lead from Challenge Systems. She oversees several special projects for the Federated Suns. This is her expertise. I will let her determine if that will be enough. Lets take this conversation inside where we can get something to eat, and we will speak over dinner. I want to hear about this operation you just had."
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Two hours later, dinner was complete, and First Prince Hanse Davion burst out laughing as Leftenant Colonel Mitchell retold the story about the SLDF Combat Rations. He slapped the table as he wiped a few tears from his eyes "Billions spent on making combat rations taste good and last a long time, and not even the vaunted Star League could come up with a cure. Thank you, Colonel Mitchell, I needed a good laugh." 
"Very good story lad. Where is that stubborn Sergeant Crenshaw anyway?" Quintus Allard asked
"Probably keeping a very low-profile, sir." Leftenant Colonel Mitchell replied
"I highly doubt it. Hanse, I gave that boy my best stink eye, the one that usually melts Field Marshals, and it bounced right off that kid. It's been a long time since anyone defied me." Quintus Allard said while he scanned the large dining facility trying to spot Sergeant Crenshaw.
"Maybe I should draft him back into service. Have him follow you around and tell you NO when your up to no good." First Prince Hanse Davion said with a laugh
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