FCBR-2 Chpt 4

==Fate Can Be Cruel Year 2815==
===Chapter 4===
5th May, 2815
Azur (Hegemony)
"YUREKA!!!!!!!" The collective yell from the sealed lab startled the scientists that happened to be walking in the hallway outside. They all called this particular lab, The Dungeon, and the elderly geeks inside as the, Ghouls. It was completely sealed off from the rest of the massive campus, with it's own power supply. It did not have a single electronic connection to the rest of the campus, only water and sewage pipes connected it to the rest of the campus.
A couple of brave young scientist's remained in the hallway listening to the whoops and shouts from inside. They were startled when the door suddenly opened and a very old woman in a powered wheelchair exited. "Move it, kids. I need to announce the birth of my baby!"
12th May, 2815
General Brian Calloway stood looking at the massive banks of computing power, (this is where I poured 25 Billion C-Bills in research), he silently thought. After a few minutes, he turned to face a beaming Professor Catherine Glimp, now 102 years old, but with a mind as sharp as ever. "You mind telling me exactly what you called me here for Catherine? It looks the same as it did a year ago on my last visit. Only it has quite a few more blinking lights."
"We did it. Your looking at the most advanced computer ever built. We used a bunch of code from the old SLDF Caspar program, it is a Semi-Autonomous Quantum Computer. I named her Amber after my daughter, struck down many years ago by Amaris' thugs. You feed her the data you have and the expected result and she will work that problem until it is solved. For our initial test, we fed in all the information we had from Trevor Nixon's research on a better medium laser, the one that was been giving him fits all these years, it took her 3 hours, but she managed to increase range by 33% for a small amount of heat buildup and shrink his prototype to one ton instead of the ton and a half he came up with. Once she had solved that one, we fed her the information on the small laser and she managed to double it's range in less than an hour. She remembered her previous solution and applied it to the next problem.
The 3rd test, and final one before I called you, was a harder test. We took the information from the Star League Data Core that the researchers used for the LBX Autocannon program. What took them 20 years to perfect enough for a prototype, Amber managed to come up with a almost exact duplicate of their work in 6 months time. I told you we would never build another functional Autonomous computer system like the old Caspar's. But I never said I would not build the smartest computer to ever exist." Professor Catherine Glimp said with a massive smile
"How many problems can she work at the same time?" General Brian Calloway asked
"In theory, as many as you program into her. The more you add, the longer a answer arrives, she has to split her time, so to speak. All theory of course, we have not given her more than a single problem to work, yet." Professor Glimp said
"Well get ready, because we have a few problems that we need worked out and none of them can really wait." General Brian Galloway said
25th May, 2815
Patrick Mitchell (CEO Mitchell Vehicles), Tani Peterson (Hegemony Security Communications) and Hector Serena (Hegemony HPG Systems) had been summoned to bring all of their research to Azur immediately. Now they all stood and watched as the elderly computer geeks fed the computer all of their research data. Patrick Mitchell's data on the super jump, Tani Peterson's data on the Black Box technology and Hector Serena's data on HPG research.
"This will take about a week to get fully fed to her. No telling how long an answer might come back. We will let you all know when she comes up with an answer." Professor Glimp told the gathered group
"Let's leave these brilliant folks to their work shall we?" General Brian Calloway said gesturing towards the door, it was not a question.
Overview
The past 15 years had seen many events occur. The Federated Suns had managed to push the Draconis Combine back to their pre-war border. Hegemony researchers had managed improve the LBX Autocannons adding the LBX2, LBX5, LBX20 to their arsenal. They had also managed to improve the Ultra adding in the Ultra 2, Ultra 10 and Ultra 20 to their arsenal. The Streak missile systems had added the Streak 4 and Streak 6 to the arsenal. The new ER Medium Laser and ER Small Laser were entering prototype testing.
Livingston Naval Base had finally been completed. It now housed the Hegemony Fleet when not deployed and also Hegemony Industries massive construction yards. The DoME engineers had been released to other projects and were currently undergoing refresher training on basic Terraforming.
Rover had undergone installation of many Atmospheric Processors and over the last 12 years since their installation, Rover's atmosphere could be compared to Terra's. Work was already beginning to clean up the acidic fresh water and to make the soil receptive to Terran crops.
The Hegemony Navy's construction program was fully underway and half way to completion. Just in time as the manufacturing techniques and equipment were finally at the point where the various manufacturers could begin their massive retooling projects while they finalized their upgraded designs.
Operation Long Sight had reached Epsilon Pegasus in May 2800. There they had discovered a large base partially over grown by the local fauna, but most important, they had discovered a large orbital repair facility that had been constructed inside the excavated core of Columbus's small moon. When word had reached Thazi in late September 2800, a proper garrison was quickly ordered to Columbus Station. Admiral Tanisha Tanaka had ordered the SLS De Ruyter, Sovetskii Soyuz LF Heavy Cruiser brought out of mothballs and assigned her to the Columbus Station as a permanent guard.
1st June, 2815
Zetang (Hegemony)
Admiral Connor Shick, newly appointed commander of the Planning and Strategy Sub Command, knew he was about to cause a huge uproar very soon. He had warned Fleet Admiral Tanisha Tanaka of what he was going to ram down folks throats if she gave him the command. He had even given her copies of his After Action Reports to read along with the scathing memo's from various senior officers back on Terra. She had read them right in front of him and simply stated, "We have to change with the times, from what I read your tactics seem to work and reduced casualties along with reduced overall damage allowing your ships to remain combat effective much longer. If the blood gets too messy, hand out the mops."
He had gone to work with a vengeance, typing up the new changes to how the Navy would fight. He had already put in a request for a massive number of Marine Combat Suits and Aerospace Pilot suits. He had a secret weapon to help fend off arguments against the coming changes, he had over 1,200 former crew who had already seen the new tactic in action, who over the last 20+ years had been transferred all over the Fleet. They took their knowledge with them. He had been approached several times each year since their arrival out here by various ships officers wanting to know if the stories were true. 
He slowly read the new guidelines looking for anything he might have missed.
...New Battle Guide Lines...
ALL Hegemony ships entering combat will do so in an airless state and all crew will be in fully pressurized suits. This new tactic has been battle tested and shown to both reduce casualties, but also allows a ship to remain combat effective even while sustaining battle damage that would normally knock a ship from combat using previous tactics.
New training norms will follow, but it is recommended that all crew practice wearing the suits as much as possible. To help crew acclimatize to the new procedures, until directed otherwise, all ships will conduct all jumps in full pressure suits and in an airless status as though jumping into battle conditions. See attached After Action Reports for further information on the new tactics set forth in this operational guideline.
Signed
Admiral Conner Shick
Commander Planning and Strategy
He called for his aide and when she appeared he handed her the order "Send this out to all ships and I want a reply that they got it and understand it."
Epsilon Pegasus
(Columbus Station)
Lieutenant General Brandon Janees, commander 1st Brigade Combat Team, had been in command for 3 years, the 1st Brigade Combat Team had been quickly formed in early 2801 and assigned as the garrison for Columbus Station. Consisting of a Battlemech Regiment, Armor Regiment, 3 Infantry Regiments and a Ground Aero Wing, the unit had meshed well over the years of duty together and he had been pleasantly surprised on taking command how much time they actually spent in the field conducting training missions instead of patrolling the immediate area of Columbus Station itself.
He kept up to date on all the intel Hegemony Security brought in from the surrounding area so that he could be prepared for anything. They had noted an uptick on Pirate raids on the Combine border not far from where he stood. He silently hoped they tried something, and if they did, what it would cost him to get the SLS De Ruyter, Sovetskii Soyuz-Class LF Heavy Cruiser to stand back and let some of them make to the ground.
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