ALJ Chpt 74

frameless|right|300px|link=A Long Journey
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==Chapter 74 - A Long Journey==
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14 June 2787
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
Newhart Industries Thorin factory finally arrived at the Zenith Jump Point and made their landings on 13 June. It had been a six-month journey and they counted their blessings having passed thru the same space that the Combine had launched their invasion into. Even after being expanded, the Mackolla space port was having difficulty handling all the Dropships that need to unload. Gerald Mitchell had not been expecting this many people and managed to locate an officer wearing the rank of Lieutenant General among the mass of uniformed people milling about.
"Excuse me, but did someone hire you as corporate security?" Gerald Mitchell asked
"I damn sure hope not. I am looking for Lieutenant General Mitchell, know where I can find him?" The Lieutenant General replied
"My son, I will have a jeep take you over to him. I assume all these troops belong to you?" Gerald Mitchell asked
"They do, we are enlisting with Lieutenant General Mitchell. Came from Terra, courtesy of Major General Hayes. Appreciate the jeep though." The Lieutenant General said
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Thirty minutes later, Lieutenant General Paul Jefferson was in front of General Samuel Mitchell in his small headquarters.
"Lieutenant General Paul Jefferson reporting for duty, sir. I have with me 3,684 personnel waiting to enlist with you, courtesy of Major General Hayes. She also sent you a present on one of the Jumbo Dropships." Lieutenant General Jefferson said
"Well, consider yourselves all recruited. Please, have a seat, General. You thirsty or get you anything?" General Mitchell asked
"No, sir, I am fine. I noticed your aide but no one else in the outer offices." Lieutenant General Jefferson replied
"It is the one area I am lacking, a decent staff. My original staff have been sent to the field commands. When we left, I had lower ranking officers and needed them to command the units, not sit in an office, but we are now getting way too large for me to handle, actually have been too large from the start." General Mitchell admitted
"I can help there if you would like. I was XO of the 48th Infantry Division and I even have half my staff with me plus staff troops from Corp level to other Divisions. I remember your recruitment drive to join General Kerensky in 2784, pretty slick move that was now that I know the truth. Guess you just couldn't come out and say "Hey, come with me and maybe avoid a war that will pale to the one we just fought"." Lieutenant General Jefferson replied
"I could have, but we would have arrived with not a single piece of equipment, instead, I arrived with almost two Divisions worth of troops and equipment. Not quite but real close anyway. Consider yourself and staff hired. It is something that has been hurting us, but I did not have an easy way around it. Thank you." General Mitchell said
"If I may, sir, are we mercenary or are we joining the AFFS or what?" Lieutenant General Jefferson asked
"We are still operating in a sort of gray area. In December, I had a meeting on New Avalon, but I honestly do not know if that got settled. We inform High Command of what we are doing, they are supposed to be helping us with equipment purchases more, I got the go on recruiting and training my own troops in the SLDF way, but we are still not officially on the AFFS roles. The AFFS pays half our payroll expenses, but we own all our equipment, including SLS Second Chance, Vigilant Corvette. They want to classify us as Planetary Guard, but I honestly think they have no clue what to do with us. Though I really think they started off pushing us down the Company Store Road so they could get all our equipment at no cost to them in a decade, but with a little help from my father, who has formed quite the business empire, that prospect is looking very unlikely, so they are adjusting their long-term strategy. To what end, that I have no clue." General Mitchell said
"Your right, that is one big gray area. So, we are sort of AFFS, but not AFFS. Mercenary in that we own all the equipment and are responsible for everything, but not mercenary in that we do not hire to the highest bidder." Lieutenant General Jefferson replied
"You nailed it. Like I said, they don't know what to do with us. I am sure they know that I will resist any attempt to break us up, we are too large a force to fit into the AFFS structure. Granted we could fill out three of the AFFS units, Battlemech Regiment, two Armor Regiments, two Infantry Regiments and Aero Wing with units left over, but I am not inclined to let that happen. I am an armor officer by training and enjoy it, I like the fact that my 322nd Armor Division, when fully deployed as intended does not have to fear facing a Battlemech Regiment. Few Battlemechs can handle having a full platoon targeting each of them. Plus, I was pretty adamant when we first arrived about protecting Mackolla, which is my home. Not born here but raised here. But I am honor bound to defend the Federated Suns from any invasion, which has just occurred, but no orders have arrived yet." General Mitchell said
"Then we need to get too busy, those orders could arrive any day now. Now, as to the troops that I brought with me, I have a list of skills. I think Major General Hayes had a hand in the recruitment, it was pretty selective." Lieutenant General Jefferson replied pulling out a small pad.
-MechWarrior - 148
-Aerospace Pilot - 62
-Armor Crew - 932
-Infantry - 1,859
-Space Crew - 437
-Staff - 246
"That is very selective indeed, Space Crew and Infantry are some our critical needs. Though just recently we got a large batch of crews, so we now lack ships for them to drive, but we are working to change that problem." General Mitchell explained
"We couldn't miss that big ass warship in the repair yard, that belong to us?" Jefferson asked
"No. That belongs to the AFFS Navy, we found it, got paid for it and are now repairing and upgrading it for them. That money we can use to outfit the troops you brought and other recruits. I have some serious wish lists from all my commanders that makes my head hurt just looking at." Mitchell told him.
"That is what a staff is for. I have a Colonel who is a whiz at logistics work." Jefferson observed
"He is welcome to it, but it has to be within reason, we don't have the Star League bankrolling us any longer, this is all hard-earned money, our money and until my father's little empire is putting out equipment, we are forced to buy off the market. Though AFFS Quartermaster Command said we would get the AFFS discount price, and they would assist us in getting what we want to purchase." General Mitchell said
"Then we need to restrict ourselves to those in the Federated Suns with war breaking out all over. That will shorten the list some and cut out the real exotic stuff." Jefferson replied
"Well, you can tell him he has two billion to spend, stay inside of those boundaries." Mitchell said
"I think we can put together a decent purchase for that amount." Jefferson replied with a smile and then stood up "Care to go get a look at what Major General Hayes sent you?"
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An hour later, they had detoured by the industrial area so that Lieutenant General Jefferson could see the, hopefully, soon industrial might being put back together, they stood just inside the Jumbo Dropship's cargo bay door while General Mitchell stared at two dozen pristine Dragoon Battlmechs strapped down, that had been carefully "hidden" behind stacks of cargo containers. "She pulled me into a private meeting before we departed, gave me this data stick to give to you plus this handwritten letter to hand deliver to you. She said to tell you that needed to be viewed and read in private sir. Eyes only."
General Mitchell accepted both and put them in his pocket for later viewing. "I only faced those damned Dragoons once, but I heard several Battlemech commanders wish they had some for themselves. Said they were easy to work on and the four variants were so much easier to supply as they all used so many common parts. Let's go meet all the new people, well new to my command. Things are looking up."
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