Enter the Falcon (A Ngo story by Cannonshop)

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 25-05-2008, 15:17:51]]


Tech Salvage and Reclamation operation 22, Blackjack, Jade Falcon Liberation Zone, 3063/03/20...

"What am I looking at? it's an engine."  Soreyn asked, "You take it apart for re-claimable materials."

"This is not just an engine, Scientist.  It's a bloody work of art." Dunham,  the AsTech in charge of post-battle reclamation insisted, "I asked for you because I have not seen anything quite like it."

"Well, you have already begun dis-assembly-" Soreyn started.

"No, actually, I have not" Dunham insisted, "And that is the point."

"Ludicrous-it is missing the entire coolant hookup assembly!" Soreyn scoffed.

Dunham shook his head, "in spite of the obvious, this engine appears to have no separate cooling lines."

"Wait....no separate cooling lines?" Soreyn demanded. He leaned in on the opened body of the captured fighter.  There were quite a few things that were not only missing-but, even to his eyes, were clearly never installed in the first place.

"No pre-heater for the fuel, either."  Dunham said, rocking up on his toes.  Soreyn's elemental ancestry made the scientist tower over the Technician.  "No pre-heater, no intercooler.  The sheilding is too thin, too... I guess they would need it thin, since the fuel runs wrap around the coils and the chamber..." 

"Elegant..." Soreyn said admiringly, "Simple.  This hulk, it was doing four gravities during the battle?"

"About that.  She weighs eighty tonnes on the scale." Dunham agreed, "The starter is bigger than it needs to be for a normal engine, I suspect that makes up for the mass of the pre-heater and intercooler... but the damn thing still weighs less than its volume and output say it should, using a normal design."

"How much less?" Soreyn asked.

"about matches the mass and output of one of ours." Dunham said, "of course, if she runs out of fuel, she is definitely toast-residual heat will just shred the alloys..."  He frowned, "They probably have a longer power-down cycle, and the fighter needs to carry more fuel to make up for the systems
 it does not have..."


"Standard, or XL?" Soreyn pressed.

"XL, definitely." Dunham said, "At least, until it runs out of fuel."

"Finish your examination, detail each part as it is removed, and send the engine to the Lab."


Later...

Soreyn looked at the engine-test stand.  Many of the design choices were...odd.  Many of the material choices were downright primitive.

The engine's test, however, told the story- it was Elegant.  It was also horrifically simple to maintain.  "A Labourer could do it." he muttered.

Where were you made, and for whom?  He checked the instruments, and the chamber and coil temperatures were now 'safe' to cut off the fuel flow.

Simple...and cheap.  performance like a 320 rated XL engine with a similar thrust-to-weight, but you need a bigger fuel tank... rock-simple enough that even an under-educated laborer could work on it...  He stepped up to the stand, and read off the dataplate again.

Code: [Select]

For customer service inquiries:
Du'ong Aerospace, Box 334 Flower Road, Kowloon 12927a331L/4545e
Part No DJ-57E
Serial Number 116673A
LAAF stock Number (s)115(e) 552 09 1995 (Substitute/Ersatz)

"Substitute"  He sighed, "a substitute part..."


"It could also mean it is for issue to Militia or second-line units, or sale to Mercenaries."  Watch Star Commander Andolph's voice echoed in the lab.

"Mercenary sales would explain the presence of one of them in a fighter captured during a raid." Andolph continued, walking over, "I wanted to see what had AsTech Dunham in such an uproar for myself."

"It is simple, brutal, and mechanically quite elegant-inferior materials-wise, but elegant."  Soreyn said, "built with good materials, the weight would not change much-but it would definitely be easily put into production once we have the tooling worked out."

Andolph looked at the engine, and then, the scientist, "We may not have to design tooling to copy this-we may have that tooling soon."

"How soon?" Soreyn asked.

"About a year." Andolph said, "The dataplates on the rest of the 'ersatz' gear aboard the fighter indicated a single source.  Denying the Lyrans a source of such machines is, I have been told, one of the priorities of upcoming operations...where, incidentally, was this engine built?"

"Kowloon." Soreyn said, "at least, the manufacturer is there..."

"Excellent." 


Falcon Command centre, Sudeten, JFOZ...

"...have an identity for the sponsor of several raids, and it happens to coincide with a source for parts apparently quite favoured by Lucrewarriors."  Star Commander Lam was not particularly well thought of by his audience.  "In the last ten years, approximately nineteen raids by Mercenaries, mostly targeting industrial sites belonging prior to our arrival, to a 'Ngo industries', have been sponsored by that same corporation.  Recently, one such raid went, as they say, 'pear shaped', and Clan forces were able to secure a number of items indicating that the world Ngo Industries is headquartered on, is also a major producer of parts and weapons for Mercenary units hired by Ngo Industries." he rocked up onto the balls of his feet. peering at the assembled warriors.  "Shutting them down may prove advantageous to the Clan." he added.

"How so?" someone in the audience mocked.

"Lam, go ahead and step down, I will handle this."  Star Colonel Nathan Roshak was, on the other hand, respected.  "It should be obvious.  They pay Lucrewarriors to strike at resource targets, they supply them with weapons, they may supply them with intelligence.  They pay them, in defiance of their Lyran Overlords.  This recent attack occurred after an intercepted communique indicated that the head of Ngo Industries and Duchess of Kowloon was suspending 'provocative moves' against Clan interests.  The Communique was sent by Sharon Bryan, General...Sharon...Bryan, Margrave of the Melissia Theater, and well known political fool."

he triggered the holosuite.  "THIS is Elizabeth Ngo.  She is a civilian.  A civilian paying Mercenaries to fight Warriors and destroy civilian sites."  He changed the image.  "Ngo Industries is known to be a manufacturer of machine-tools.  NOT weapons...well, not until now, at any rate.  Kowloon is a second-rate inhabited rock that used to be a border world of the Rim Worlds Republic, known mainly for their relative anonymity and lack of anything significant...which is, on the balance, rather odd, since ComStar saw fit to station an entire Division there." he smirked, "The rather under-performing two hundered twenty-second division...but back to her.  She's defective, Trothkin, a defective right down to her genes-according to our friends, she is a stage one Cholmanns patient."

That drew a gasp.  For genetically engineered people, the "Gene disease" was almost an affront on its own-incurable, untreatable, recessive, and deadly.  Thousands of otherwise viable embryos were disposed of every year because of it-better disposal, than seizures, agony, and madness followed by a screaming death.  Someone choosing to Live with such an illness was almost unthinkable...almost, because, after all, she's a spheroid.

"WE have been offered the honour of removing that stain from the universe, and securing materiel to replace what her hirelings have stolen and denied us."  Roshak said,  "It is not so great an honour, as leading the charge into the very heart of the Lyran Alliance would be, but reports indicate that the planet is a rich one, at least, it has become rich, with many industrial sites that can take the pressure off of our infrastructure."

"..a com-guard division? there will be nothing left!..." someone muttered.

Roshak shook his head, "alas, it is not to be-the 222nd division is currently involved in operations...elsewhere, and likely will be until some time in 3065...which is why we are gathered here-without that division, Kowloon only needs a Cluster to take, according to Watch sources."

Roshak shook his head, "alas, it is not to be-the 222nd division is currently involved in operations...elsewhere, and likely will be until some time in 3065...which is why we are gathered here-without that division, Kowloon only needs a Cluster to take, according to Watch sources."

Hmmm.. Someone is in for a shock!!

SOMEONE is not reading their history books, or burned them.  Otherwise they'd know how much a PITA Kowloon was to the Rim Worlds, the SLDF forces sent to put them down prior to the Amaris Coup, and then how 'warmly' they greeted Kerensky when he came back through on his way to Terra.

This looks like the updated and retconned version of the original story "..and every Mother's son will suffer", written by Cannonshop on the 28th of January , 2003.

That old story started at 18 May 3063, and involves Jade Falcon interested in invading Kowloon to "convince" Elizabeth not to be too hateful of the clans.

I did like the original version despite some... smal flaws. However, I think the new one will be more exciting, after looking at the remakes of the older "A question of Labour"Arc.

I look forward to seeing how this pans out.

If the Falcons only send a Cluster, they'll get eaten.

They won't go down easy, and they'll cause a bit of indigestion, but they're food nonetheless.

The BIG question is fallout.   What lessons are learned, and by whom?  The salvage from the JF Cluster might also be useful to Ngo Industries engineers.

It might be interesting to see if they bring As-tech Dunham along.  Knowing the general JF attitude, they'd want someone like him along to assess salvage and evaluate anything else they find.....Bondsman Dunham DOES have a certain ring about it, does it not?  The Warriors?  Kowloon has plenty of trees.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 25-05-2008, 16:28:05]]

 
Government House of Assembly, Nha Tranh, 3063/10/06

"...embargoed. our exports are still being allowed out, but we're being frozen out on imports, and it's been more than a year this has gone on, Duchess."  Speaker Lin Pak was in his second term, "WHY did you have to say that in an interview?"

Elizabeth Ngo sighed, "Look, it was hasty-hell, I tried to have it retracted before the signal got out!" she began, "Unfortunately, ABC's got a heck of a lot of pull through Comstar for some reason-the damn thing was broadcast the same damn day."

"Well, I've got some more 'good' news for you, then." Lin said, "This morning, by HPG telex, we were informed that 'the lyran alliance no longer requires munitions manufactured on Kowloon'.  They also attached a duty-tax retroactive."  He swept the assembly, "They're trying to bankrupt us."

"No, we're simply on our own." Liz said.

"You'd better hope they forget about what you said..." Lin told her, "Otherwise, come the end of this, the LAAF might come looking for all of us."

Elizabeth stood up straighter, "We will deal with that IF it happens.  Speaker, Assemblymen, I want to invoke Chapter nine of the Constitutional Articles, embargo and extortion are acts of war."

the room erupted in frantic discussion, Liz picked up the Gavel from the Speaker's podium.  She pounded it one-two-three "ORDER!!"

The noise died down.  "I'm not calling for a Vote of Secession-settle down Mianh!" she bellowed, "I'm simply calling for a vote-the undercurrent of that message is that we're on our own, and won't get a scrap of help from the LAAF in the event of an emergency-that's something we're all-too-familiar with.  I want to begin reserve mobilization, get equipment out of stockpile and ready for operations, scrape the rust off of local commands, and begin emergency plans implementation, in the event that we might need to use it."

She handed the gavel back to the Speaker.  Lin Pak had been expecting this from the moment Liz showed him the documents before the session.

"The Duchess has placed a motion before the Assembly for consideration." he intoned formally.  "The Assembly must be free to debate."

Liz nodded, stood, and walked with dignity out of the room.

"The motion has been placed, is there a second?" Lin asked.

Harold Freid, (Social Democrat, Hue) stood up, "I will second the motion for debate, so that we can kill this foolishness once and for all.  No world can stand on its own, especially in these times.  With all the work, our Militia would not stop even a tiny portion of one of these 'clans'.  Kowloon MUST NOT provoke further retaliation from the Lyrans."

"Who stands for the Ducal position?" Lin asked.

Rebecca Huyn (Secessionist party, Xiao Loc) stood, "I will stand in favour of the Ducal position, Your Honour." she turned, "For Decades we have been ignored, mocked, insulted, and abused by the Lyran government.  NOW, they withold officially what they witheld by mere inaction.  We do not NEED them, it is time to go our own way, and this civil war among the Steiner-Davions is the key to that-let the foreign fools batter themselves to wreckage without involving us."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 25-05-2008, 16:49:30]]


 
outside...

Admiral Cho and Colonel Mosovich met Liz outside the Assembly chambers.  "Well, that should be entertaining, too bad we can't watch." Mosovich commented.

Liz nodded, "Evelyn, I want you up in your district." she said, "Win or lose, those people look to you more often than they do Heinrich."

"Heinie's got the job." Mosovich said.

"You're the one that can do it." Liz countered, "If they pass the Article Nine motion, I'll make it permanent, but in the meantime, I need my best officers getting things ready."

Mosovich sighed, and shook her head, "Chuck's not going to like being dragged back into a uniform." she told the Duchess.

"Charles Vanh can damn well not like it while he's wearing his uniform." Liz countered, "I don't like it either. but if you don't get the rest of them mobilized, the only defense your end's going to have, is Heinrich and his sad parade of 'mechwarrior leftovers."

Cho cleared her throat. "and the coast guard." the Admiral pointed out.

Liz looked at her, "No, the Coast Guard is going to be busy.  I want stockpiles pre-set and disaster plans in motion, including but not limited to alternate basing for our air wing, established and camouflaged with decoys per war-plan Blue."

"War Plan Blue? War against the Lyran Government?" Cho asked.

"If they find out what we have, and compound that with what I called Katherine and how they've reacted to 'neutrals' so far in this war? YES. War Plan Blue." Liz said, "I know you know what to do, since you wrote the damn thing.  Hopefully, it'll all be just a series of drills..."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 26-05-2008, 06:12:10]]



Empty, Blue Giant system one jump from Kowloon (30LY galactic north) 3064/01/29

The final package from Source 123 on Kowloon had arrived, and, been dissected by the Falcon Watch. Now, only the final mission Briefing, and, a recharging of the ship's Lithium-Fusion battery remained to be completed.
Shel was a Technician. She was, in fact, a fairly low-ranking Technician-Caste. This, at least, was how she thought of herself, when she bothered thinking about it at all.
On the outside, however, she was a well-regarded (at least, inside the community) Operative of the Clan Watch, which made her a "Lower" sub-Caste Warrior- sandwiched somewhere between a Clan Police, and, a Solahma Infantryman in social status. She considered herself to be "Part of the Equipment", this worked well for her.
Shel was "special", though- as part of the mission, it was decided that there had to be someone capable of conducting Information Warfare. Shel, you see, was what 20th Century slang called "a Hacker", a code-breaking computer-using, virtual reality electronic systems infiltrating machine. Right now, though, she was just Cargo, along with half a ton of sensitive detection equipment mounted in a reinforced wheeled vehicle on a drop-pallet loaded on a Mark VII-C assault-landing shuttle. Until the landing, Shel would continue to be Cargo- her job was on the ground, where enemy databases waited to be open, their information sifted, to enhance the effectiveness of the raiding force.
Star Commander Peter, the commander of the force's complement of Salamander Battle armour, didn't like Shel- when he thought of her at all. She dressed like a technician and often forgot to groom herself properly. He especially didn't like the Falcon Watch insignia on her Freebirth-Dress uniform, or, the way she didn't seem to answer his questions with solid realities. But, what he hated more than her appearance, her origins, or, her behaviour, was the simulations she programmed for the Real warriors on-board, as a means of "Keeping Sharp.:"
At just a hair under 1.25 Meters, Shel could have almost passed for an Aerofighter Pilot.
Almost.
"Stravag, come here." Star Captain Peter said, from the open personnel door in the launch bay. Shel looked up from her console- whereon, she was writing a new Datarodent keyed to Inner Sphere computer architecture. Nobody else, even Star Commodore Von Jankmon, called her "Stravag" as if it were her name. "Sir." she said, closing the file, standing, and, obediently approaching.
The Star Commander did not look angry-for once, and Shel felt a chill run down her spine. Peter's grin became a feral smile. "Stravag, I've reviewed your training records- you have missed Physical Fitness training for three weeks straight. Further, I took the liberty of inspecting your Quarters, and, I have noted that you are missing certain issue items- why did you fail to draw a sidearm, which is required for Warriors, even Stravags like you, in a Combat Zone? I do not mind if you wish to behave like a Surat-Technician, but, Discipline must be maintained, Quiaff?" he then proceeded to strike her across the face. Shel rolled with the blow, which bloodied her nose. "Aff, Star Commander." she replied meekly. The huge man looked momentarily confused-her meekness in response was...disturbing.
"Explain yourself." he said, finally deciding on a direction.
Shel drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and, wiped the blood from her nose on the sleeve of her coveralls, before answering. "Star Commander, the failure to draw sufficient uniform and personal gear came from the weight-limitations imposed by this mission, as the on-site agent, I determined that bringing enough equipment in my specialty was of more importance, than having the uniform issue for a permanent duty station. I did not draw a sidearm for the same reason, since the equipment that I use is taking up the extra space, and, having a pistol is only useful against individual light infantry, while there simply is not enough room in the electronics van to carry a rifle, or, to use one, sir." She'd practiced the response very carefully over the last month in transit- the truth was, her 'Warrior' status was applied to her solely because of her status as a Watch operative in the field.
Shel barely qualified at all with her Weapon in basic training, and, her habits- like staying up for days working on a problem, left her body starved of nourishment and excercise.
She didn't Feel like a Warrior, and, her job, by both the Star Commander, and, her own, reckoning, was not the Job of a Warrior. Dammit, I am a Technician promoted beyond their abilities, and we both know it... why are you hassling me? she thought angrily.
Peter's smirk was back- he did not, apparently, have a problem with her answer thus far, but, he was also, visibly, waiting to spring a trap.
"That explains the lack of a proper issue- it is too late to correct that, Stravag, but, there is still the issue of your not conducting proper Physical Fitness Training, and, your borderline results in your last Test... I am going to do you a favour, because I do not like you, but, the Star Captain believes that we need you. You will report to the Gymnasium on the Grav Deck in one hour's time, where I will assist you in Physical Fitness Training and basic hand-to-hand maintenance training. Until then, you are dismissed."
Shel went back to her Console, and, sat down, staring at the quiet, blanked, screen. Crap... Pete the Psycho is going to beat the Frell out of me for a few hours, because he found a way to do it that his Star Captain can not punish him for... sometimes, I wish I had not cracked into that Comstar HPG buffer...
Shel reopened the Program file, and, began de-bugging.

Vanh North Range Cabin, Golden Lake District, Kowloon, same day...

"...now mind what the DI's tell you, boy."  Charles Vanh clapped his son on the shoulders.

"I will, dad.  I'll see you in a few weeks." Eddie promised, tossing his go-bag over the saddle. "Dad, you're sure you want me to take Ezekiel?"

Charles nodded, "Yeah.  I'm sure.  Until the new axle's here, I can't let you take the truck, and I'm damned if you're going to report to your first Active tour on some old nag.  I'll come down with Evelyn to pick him up in a bit, Crofter'll put him up at their stables, it's been taken care of."

"Okay, this is it..." Eddie mounted the horse.  "I kind of wonder why I'm reporting all the way over in Nha Tranh, though..."

"Simple, Edward, it's where your orders say to go." Charles told him.

Eddie spurred the horse,and rode east toward flatrock pass.

Damnfool politicians. Charles mused sourly.  He'd heard about the debates. Asleep at the ****** wheel.

And here we see yet more proof that the JF's are idiots.

Loyalty works both ways....you can treat your "Lesser" citizens like crap, abuse the hell out of them, and find all sorts of petty excuses to make their lives hell.....just don't expect them to walk across the street to piss on you, should you find yourself on fire.

Shel isn't a "Warrior".  Everyone knows that.  To allow Peter to abuse her in the name of "Training" not only shows Peter's unsuitability as a Human being, it points clearly to systemic breakdown in the JF's chain of command and overall culture.  a true "Superior Being" doesn't need to abuse subordinates to feel good about themselves.  All he's doing is begging for payback.  Shel isn't a warrior, she's not likely to challenge him to a circle of equals.  Especially as her body type most closely resembles an aerospace pilot phenotype...Vs an ELEMENTAL?!  Right.  Though if I was Peter, I'd not be going out of my way to abuse an information warfare specialist/hacker when my life depends on a suit of  very electronically heavy power armor.

Even if she decides not to kill him, there are just so many ways she can get some payback.  If she decides to act, he's dead....just a matter of time.

OTOH since they are in the same chain of command there is nothing in the regs that will prevent the Star Captain from expressing his displeasure in turn by deciding that all the minutia of running a unit needs to be done right now, and Star Commander Peter needs to be put in charge of it.  After all (whatever) hours major suit maintenance might just come due during operations IF they run long, better get that out of the way, Star Commander.  See to it personally.  And since you are so generous with helping Warrior Shel get current with her qualifications you should take that in hand for all the Cluster's personnel.  Getting the suit maintenance done in time is already going to require double shifts?  Better fill out the paperwork to draw stims from the medtechs while out of combat and get cracking Star Commander, you do not wish to miss the drop, do you?  }:D

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 26-05-2008, 18:08:55]]


 
Ton Son Nhut, Lower Western District, Kowloon...

Commodore Li walked out to the edge of the cliff.  Before and below, the Tundra of the lower West stretched before her, millions of acres of eroded, frostland scrub.  In this summer weather, most of it was a swampy wetland where a man could freeze to death in the constant wind if he were unlucky enough to fall in.

"The decoy bases are finished." she sighed, "I sure hope we don't have to use this place."

The lifts, hoists, and construction tools were gone.  she turned, and looked into the cavern. 

Other than the paint, it was roughly unchanged from the days when the Amaris Dragoons stationed fighters here.

Preparing for War-Plan Blue was the Coast Guard's responsibility. the overhanging rock and the sheer cliff face hid covert landing-strip, repair shops, and stockpiles of munitions and other necessary gear.  The normal staff only maintained a small search-and-rescue operation on the top of the mesa.  Most of their work came from the miners in the valleys below, but there were also timbering accidents, and, of course, the fools who decide they want to live in the very proctological ass end of the planet.

Blue changed a few priorities.  When she arrived to activate the airbase, the fighter-slips were empty.  Now, they were filled, and Coast Guard Aviators were now in the barracks areas, with full ground-support staff and the passive-detection relay post was now staffed and manned.  four hundered men, all told... she shook her head.

Dammit, I don't want to do this for real...


Li hated visiting Ton Son Nhut.  The miserable damned place was cold, and overcast even in summer...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 26-05-2008, 19:04:40]]


 
JFS Jade Roc...

She forced herself back to her feet.  It was difficult, she could barely tell where the floor was.  Shel braced for the next impact-and it did not come.

"Star Commander, I think that is enough."  Star Captain Morgan Icaza stood a head taller than Peter did.  Shel had seen the Cluster's top infantryman, but only in passing.  In his excercise clothing, he was even more intimidating.  "Let her out."

"I have not finish-" Peter began, Icaza moved in a blink-and her tormentor hit the side of the excercise cage.  "I gave you an order." Icaza's voice never rose above conversational tones, "Let. Her. Go.  Sparring with a weak opponent only shows your weakness, Star Commander.  Especially a small opponent of lesser status.  You are embarassing every Elemental on this ship."

Peter stood up..."You can go, Stra-I mean, Shel..." 

Icaza did not even give her a glance, "Shel, if I find out you have neglected your physical training again, I will let Star Commander Peter Malthus do whatever you can not stop him from doing to you because you neglected your physical fitness."

She climbed out of the ring.  "Close the cage.  Peter, I need to spar, you volunteered."  He cocked an eyebrow, "Unless you object?"

"No...No. Let us...'spar'." Peter said.


The hatch hissed closed.  Peter opened with a series of jabs, "you really meant that, quineg?" he asked.

Icaza blocked his jabs, and delivered a body-blow, "Of course I meant it, Peter.  I never make threats I have no intention of carrying out..." He sidestepped Peter's roundhouse and turned the sidestep into a back-kick that knocked the Star Commander against the matted wall, "...however, beating her senseless as the first move hardly preserves her usefulness.  Roshak says she is useful, so she probably is." Peter used the wall's leverage to rebound-kick at Icaza's knee-the kick missed, contacting the larger man's thigh. 

"It is an insult to have her in the uniform." Peter stated, "By the founder, Morgan! she lacks Aggression even!"

Morgan snapped a low jab that whuffled Peter's breath, "I know." he said, "She passed her trial of position, but her former commander had to order her to test."  He delivered an uppercut, "Do you know how hard it is, to pass your trial of position without so much as blooding your opponent?"

Peter aborted his next move, and hopped back, "What?" he asked.

"She defeated her opponent-in her Trial, without leaving a mark on him....well, nothing permanent, anyway.  Subdued him, Peter.  It is a LOT easier to kill someone or cripple, than it is to subdue without injury."

Peter goggled, and while he goggled, Morgan stepped in and laid a fist across his face.  "I have not done it." Morgan added, and delivered a finisher.

"Yeild!" Peter gasped, and sat up.  "You are serious?"

"Statistically, it is harder to just barely pass a first ToP against experienced warriors, than it is to pass at the top one percent." Morgan advised him, "Statistically, this means that if you, in your clunky way, had found her aggression, she probably would have mopped the floor with you, or we would have had her useless in the infirmary instead of useful in her little van of tricks.  I say that, because she is extremely intelligent, in her way, and if you managed to overcome her squeamishness with brute force, she would probably find some way to damage you in ways not easy to fix."

Morgan gave him a hand to his feet, "in either case, Peter, lay off the Star Colonel's pet Stravag Witch for the time being.  We lack technicians with the right training to elevate to her job, and what she does is...degrading for Warriors as well as outside either of our skill-sets."

"I hope the enemy is as considerate." Peter said.

"I doubt they will be.  However, we use the tools and weapons we are given by the Clan." Morgan said, "You need to work on your speed."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 26-05-2008, 20:19:13]]

 
Elizabeth House, Nha Tranh...

"...dear god, woman, what is wrong with you?"  a pair of Constables and Coast Guard Leutenant Amy White were in Elizabeth's living room.  White had her son, Patrick.

"He wouldn't stop..." Liz said hollowly.

"Well, you're ****** lucky you didn't kill him." White scolded angrily, "That's it, Your Grace, as of right now, I'm invoking the Child Protective Services Law of 3062, which you signed."

Liz looked at the Leutenant dully, "What?"

"Per the Law, I am removing this child, from this home, and your custody pending a hearing that you probably won't win, if you even bother to contest it." White said.

"Just take him." Liz said.  The constables looked at her in astonishment.  "Take him away, I can't stand the sight of him." she added.

White's anger showed through, "OBVIOUSLY...jesus, how can you do such a good job with the bloody planet, and..." she struggled for words.

"Foster him out." Liz said, "That's covered under the law, right?"

"It is." White agreed, "You have any relatives on your mother's side-someone we can turn him over to that is outside your jurisdiction?"

Elizabeth plopped onto her couch.  "The Russells...I have an uncle named Russell, he's a general in the LAAF, I think he can take the boy..."

"Fine, Social Services will contact him on your dime, in the meantime, your parental rights are under suspension. We'll keep it out of the press if you don't make a fuss about not seeing him unsupervised."

"Deal." Liz said dully.

"and get some ****** Help.  there are counseling services available!"

Wow, just.... wow. This is a far cry from the old Ngo story cycle, where it is only hinted that she loathes Patrick's existence.

This is... guess the post traumatic sociopathic tendencies got the better of Elizabeth on this one.

Liz is scary, I didn't get into the old Ngoverse story more or less until Amanda arc's never seeing well crazy Liz in action, now I have, she scares me, she scares me a lot.

This version of Liz is much more screwed in the head than the original version of Liz ever was. This version of Elizabeth Ngo should be locked in a rubber room, where she can safely do no harm.

The original Ngo stories were lost three board crashes ago, around early 2004.

One thing I recall about the earlier Ngo stories is that the world of Kowloon was never the "ancestral home" of the Ngos until after Elizabeth Ngo's foreclosure which took place in 3062, using about 7 regiments of combined arms, some of which remain to garrison the planet.

In this retcon, Elizabeth establishes her authority on Kowloon earlier, and instead of bringing a lot of forces to hold the planet, she comes in with lesser forces, but instead uses the time to millitarise Kowloon.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 27-05-2008, 09:10:16]]

 
Vin Drin Lap shipyard...

The hull had begun its life sixty years ago as an ocean-going oil and natural gas exploration rig.  The hull was far overbuilt for the job, with six centimeter thick welded hull plates made of a titanium-osmium stainless steel,  and now, five years into modification, it was even MORE overbuilt for the job.  Armour was added to the hull sides and deck, not so much for protection from weapons, as to protect it from its new payload.

Ten hours from now, it would be ready to begin sea trials.  "Big investment." Lin Pak commented.  Admiral Cho nodded, "big investment." she agreed,  "Helo deck, six eight inch guns, twelve six inch guns, two reactors..."

"inch guns? I thought we procured Sniper and Thumper artillery pieces-" Pak said.

"Speaker, you have neither much imagination, nor much knowledge of Naval history." Cho told him, "203mm guns are 'eight inch', and 155's are sixes.  You're looking at better than a Battalion's worth of artillery, using ground unit terms, with enough ammunition to sustain bombardments without resupply for days."

"Very Expensive." Pak added, "You probably won't get another."

She looked at him, "We'll see." she said, "Things continue like they are, ships like this might end up being how your Assembly stays in office."  she returned the salute of a sailor, "With exports pretty much cut off..."

Pak shrugged. "Let's hope you don't have to use it-it's a big target for aerospace, and it doesn't submerge."

Cho nodded, "I know that, we accounted for air-strikes in the design."  she said, "The biggest expense was the air-defense systems."

"I saw the procurements on those.  As a former jet-jock, I'm a little bit skeptical." Pak reminded her.

Cho sighed.  "So, Lin, when are you going to tell me why the Assembly voted down the Planetary Emergency provision?"

Pak scowled, "That's closed-session material, you know the rules."

"Off the record, then, just between us." she pressed.

They reached the bow.

"Off the record?  no talking out of school, now..."  He sighed, "The United party and the Social Democrats voted as a block with the Lyran Loyalty party...they think things will get back to normal soon."  He looked out across the shipyard, "It was a straight line party vote."

"Where did you come down, Lin?" Cho asked.

"Me?" he looked over at her.  "I'm a Social Democrat, what do you think?"

"I Hope you think further than keeping your own ass in that chair." Cho said sourly.

"Come on, Mary, you damn well know I've been covering your collective asses over War Plan Blue preparations." He said, "But a Provision Nine out of the Assembly is percieved as step one in a Secession move and you know it-the public isn't ready for that kind of move."  He put his hands in his pockets, "Hell, most of the Assembly isn't ready."

"We would have been readier if you'd intervened six months ago." Cho stated.

"Maybe-and maybe not." Lin said, "I know for damned and sure that Camranh wouldn't be willing to go along with it, most of my province is a mix of Social Democrat and Lyran Loyalist-hell, we're the only area on the damn planet that speaks German at home!" he sighed, "If only she'd chosen War Plan Green, That would motivate 'em..."

"The Clans are four jumps away." Cho reminded him, "A Clan attack is pretty improbable."

"Yeah, but a provision nine centered on preparing War Plan Green would get the public behind it a lot more easily than preparing to fight Adam Steiner's heroes."  Lin Pak told her, "Even the Immigrant community would be frothing to support it."

Cho grimaced, "Did you tell Elizabeth that? She thinks the Public might object to preparing for such an unlikely event..."

Pak sighed, and tossed a coin into the foul-looking water, "I've considered it." he said, "On the other hand, I've also considered that she might use it as a lever to justify another move toward Secession."

Cho shook her head, "Elizabeth Ngo is many things, Lin, she's certainly unbalanced at times, she's wrathful, a little bit brutal, she has abandonment issues...she is NOT a traitor, however."  She also tossed a coin in,  "She's been on this militarization kick because she thinks the Clans are going to stomp Sharon Bryan flat, and the Alliance is going to need the men and the gear...she was furious when they dropped the contracts because she's convinced the Margrave on Melissia is deliberately throwing the next fight for political reasons."

Lin looked at Cho, "Then, I'd suggest you impress on her the idea that when she blasts off with tainted rhetoric attacking the leadership of the Alliance, she needs to tone down the criticism and boost the Patriotism angle."  He said.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 27-05-2008, 22:21:52]]

 
3064/02/14, JFS Emerald Roc, Blue Giant system, 1 jump from Kowloon...

"...more briefings! I swear I will need a medtech to glue my eyes open..."

Star Colonel Roshak shot the muttering warrior a warning glare.  Dammit, I hope she remembered to groom today!

The lights in the briefing area dimmed, and Shel mounted the podium.  "Good afternoon-and it is Afternoon at the target." she announced, "For the past few weeks, the duty cycles on this ship have been adjusting our circadian rythms to the conditions of the target planet.  Over the last two weeks, you have recieved briefings and instruction on the environment, biology, and unique natural hazards of the target world-I know this has been as uncomfortable and boring for you, as it has been for those of us tasked with aiding your preparation.  What we are going to do today, is examine the particular strategic hazards of Kowloon.  In particular, we are going to update you on what the Watch believes to be their military capabilities-up until recently, the data has been wrong."

THAT drew comments around the room.  for the last ten years, the Falcon Watch had been engaging in a campaign to convince the rest of the warrior caste of its reliability.  An admission of failure was something new.

A holoimage appeared.  "This, is an airfield." she said, "obviously.  Please note that data collected by sources no more than three months ago, it did not exist..."  she brought up another image.  A long, broad shape appeared.  She sharpened the detail, and this drew interested looks.  "This, we believe to be a bombardment platform, I believe it to be capable of movement, but my superiors in the Watch believe it is a stationary emplacement, or perhaps a cargo platform transporting those guns you see to a ground fortification-yes, Star Commander June?"

"Why do you disagree with those Analysts above you in the Watch?" June asked, "Should you not accept their word?"

"An Excellent Question, Please show me patience..." Shel changed the image.  "This is a personnel holo of 'admiral' Mary Cho, Mary Cho is the acknowledged leader of their maritime militia forces, and a known advocate of Amphibious and Maritime warfare doctrines, please activate the briefing file 'Coast Guard', page 348 to page 360.  I have highlighted the necessary information on her military background..." Shel shifted, "Admiral Cho is a fairly powerful and influential figure, locally, with a great deal of pull in their legislature.  She would not pursue funding for a static defense platform, nor would she easily submit to having resources under her sub-department diverted to supporting such a platform."

The next image was actually quite familiar to many of the Warriors-it was a sensor-scan image of a fission reactor.  "Spectrography of the steam indicates the presence of metals commonly used in the twentieth and twenty-first century for cooling breeder-reactors.  Plutonium Breeders are required for two purposes-one military, one civil." Shel announced, "Prior Watch operations focused only on apparent military capability.  An informant to our civil branch obtained knowledge that the Kowloonese use a closed-cycle fission reactor economy, particularly in outlying cities like this one-the image is the municipal power plant at Da Nang, near the north eastern coast of the heavily populated southern continent."  She placed her hands on the podium, and leaned forward, "The presence of a Plutonium Breeder strongly indicates the ability to manufacture nuclear devices. There are a number of these reactors spread across both primary continents in the eastern hemisphere, and non-breeding fission reactors are commonly found on large, ocean-going vessels used for bulk commerce between the two large continents in that hemisphere."  She paused while the Warriors muttered and discussed among themselves for several minutes.

 Nathan Roshak spoke up, "What do they do with the waste? Even a closed-cycle system leaves toxic waste, and if the briefing document you filed is correct, these reactors have been going since Amaris was in control of the planet."

Shel took a moment, checking her notes, "The Watch is not certain, however there are areas that are avoided, according to civilian sources, including this canyon system..." she brought up a topographical, "and this wasteland in the far south."  Another map appeared.  "Sattelite recce shows that there are irregular heat-plumes in both areas, but the ground is so saturated with metallic clutter that a true reading is nearly impossible at those ranges.  The first is  a zone called 'minsky's folly', it is, apparently, named after a bandit leader whose men starved after being lost-no doubt an urban legend of some sort locally.  The other is near the mining area called Ton Son Nhut, in the tundra zone of the southern continent, near the antarctic circle."

She brought up another image.  "This, is a tank battalion on excercises.  Watch."

The tiny vehicles moved in formations, and fired weapons.  "They are engaging in force-on-force training" she added, "note that they are using live fire training systems."  a few smaller blobs moved about, "The infantry is also using live-fire training.  I believe they may be employing a MILES system to train for energy weapons, but..."   One of the smaller blobs suddenly stopped and seemed to spread.  "They are using dye-pack rounds for the ballistics and, apparently, missile systems.  That trainee soldier died."  Another image, enhanced and expanded, showed a sattelite's eye view of a wounded man being tended by a field medic.  "This is training." Shel told them, "this training incident was at night, our Peephole sattelites were able to view the entire operation."

It panned back, showing that the wounded soldier was not the only one.  "According to a sympathizer among their merchant classes, the Kowloon militia experiences roughly five percent casualties on these excercises-that is not simulated casualties, it is how many men experience real wounds, or real death."

Morgan Icaza raised his hand.  "How often do they practice these excercises?" he asked.

"Monthly." Shel asserted, "at least, monthly since November of last year, when the 222nd Com Guards were shifted to Main Street."

Nathan did a quick calculation based on the size of the training engagement.  the numbers were...disturbing.  They kill a lot of men in those training excercises.  "How does this stack up to Standard Lyran practice?" he asked.

Shel sighed, "According to Watch reports and interrogation results from captures, a Lyran formation may lose as many as three men in a simulated combat excercise-they use simulation almost exclusively."

Morgan spoke up again, "How do they maintain their manpower with those losses-a planet like that usually does not have more than a Regiment all told..."

Shel shrugged, "I do not know, Star Captain Morgan Icaza.  I can speculate, but there is a limit to what I can confirm without being on the planet itself."

Nathan spoke up, "Speculate, then."

"Kowloon was a problem for the Rim Worlds Republic." she began, "Star League units were required to put down uprisings there three times before the Amaris Coup made keeping the population in line a moot point."  She changed the imagery, "This is what Lyran forces found when they 'conquered' the planet.  The bodies, are those of Rim Worlds officials, lynched by their subjects in the absence of military power to keep the popular anger in check."

She changed the image.  On the screen, a small woman spoke to a man bound to a chair, Shel stopped the action, "This is Elizabeth Ngo in thirty-fifty four, the man is a Governor-in-Regency named Condit, officially there to act on behalf of the Federated Commonwealth in place of her father.  Observe."

The girl spoke at length, accusing the man of theft, atrocity, fraud, and treason.  She stood up, put on a smock, drew a handgun, and shot him. 

"This is what she did to his 'business partner'." Shel continued, switching the scene.

The assembled warriors watched as the same girl, with the assistance of two men, crucified a third on the gates of what appeared to be a factory.  "This man was guilty of stealing the wages of employees, as well as collusion with Pirates." Shel said, "He is, in fact, quite guilty of both, the Watch had him on the short list for a visit from a Solahma unit, for termination."

"where did the video come from?" Morgan asked, "I doubt we had an agent in place-"

"Television signals. Both executions were carried live." Shel stated.  "Both are, under most common interpretations of the Lyran Legal system, quite illegal in themselves-violation of a prisoner's human rights or somesuch nonsense."

"What have these, admittedly admirable, executions to do with their military strength?" Star Commander Peter Malthus asked.

Shel switched images.  "This is an image of the militia recruiting station three weeks later-when it opened." she said.  "That line, those are people signing up."

Morgan Icaza leaned back, "THAT is a hell of a lot of people." he said.

Shel nodded, "Indeed.  THIS, is the parking lot of the Groves Industriplex as imaged two weeks ago, and the screen to my right, is what it looked like almost a year ago-after the Melissia Theater command cancelled ordinance orders."

"They are still active?" Nathan inquired-it made it easier for his 'pet witch' if he used the technique.

"Still active, note that the loading dock fills, then empties as the images run."

"THAT is a hell of a lot of ammunition." Morgan observed, "Where is it going?"

Shel sighed, "We do not know.  I suspect it is going to caches on-planet.  Most of the commerce to Kowloon has been suspended for the last year and a half after Duchess Ngo made some unfortunate comments about the Archon and her Brother."

She shifted the image again.  "This is, we believe, a motor pool for an artillery unit, though it may be merely a holding area for undelivered merchandise ordered by someone off-world."

Star Captain Nigel Von Jankmon blinked his owlish eyes, "A lot of targets." he commented, "What about their airpower?"

Shel brought up specification graphics, "We have confirmed the presence of copied SL-15 series fighters, we lack hard numbers on quantity, but given the technical level observed, they can not have many, and the copies are...probably what the technicians call 'monkey model' units."  she changed the image again, "This, we know from previously captured documents, is the ASF squadron pre-thirty-fifty-four, they apparently are still in service."

"those are Seydlitz." the Aerofighter pilot commented, "not exactly the demons of the skies, one-shot lighters with your choice of a single large laser, or a handful of smaller ones."

she nodded, "and this is the really...interesting one.  Supposedly nobody has them short of the Free Worlds League border.  Like the SL-15's, they may be Mercenary aircraft, or may be monkey-model copies."  A fighter with forward-swept wings passed through cloud cover.  "It appears to be recent, so they do not have many of them."

"F-90." Von Jankmon stated, "Rare birds in this end of space.  I think the Blood Spirits might have a few from a Brian cache."

The fighter passed out of the recorder's field of view.

"Lots of low-quality troops, trained perhaps a bit too hard, and certainly hastily." Peter Malthus said, "a veritable wealth of targets...fighters that are either too new, or too untested, or too rare, and likely short on spares..."

Nathan cleared his throat, "What about Battlemechs?" he asked.

Shel brightened, "They have a shortage.  probably less than one hundered, and all very old, inferior models."

He sighed slowly.  "We are going to be killing a lot of tanks, then...if those 'training excercises' are any indication.  Do they have Battlearmour?"

Morgan and Peter both perked up for a moment.  Shel shook her head, "Not that we can tell.  They might have only brought the suits out under cloud-cover dense enough to block detection from space, but that is vanishingly unlikely.  Lots of conventional infantry, lots of vehicles, lots of artillery-none of it remarkably powerful and much of what they have is out-dated even by Spheroid standards."

"run the sequence of the training simulation again, please." Morgan said.  Nathan gave him a look, the huge Elemental seemed both relaxed, and interested as the holoimagers brought up the entire mock-battle.

"I wonder, are they training to fight the Com-Guard, or the Lyrans?" he asked aloud, "because you will note the forces highlighted in blue are using base-four configuration, and the one in red is operating in base-six. The base-four unit is heavier, and employing close-order formation, the base six unit is lighter, perhaps an average of sixty tonnes, and uses the Com-Guards' formations and tactics-fighting a mobile war against a static defense...no, against a 'wall of steel' offense."

Nathan stared at the imagery for a few more minutes.  "They are training to fight the Lyrans." he said.  "I think they intend to revolt-or they expect the LAAF to come and enforce the Laws regarding the size of Planetary Militias."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 28-05-2008, 07:18:15]]

 
JFS Emerald Roc, Nathan Roshak's quarters...

"...may have secessionist leanings." Shel said reluctantly, "But her patterns do not indicate it." 

Nathan Roshak, Morgan Icaza, and Nigel Von Jankmon were all in the room, drinking coffee and going over what Shel had presented in the briefing four hours earlier.

"Pattern?" Morgan asked casually, "explain?"

Shel drew in a breath, "Elizabeth Ngo stumped for two and a half years at every border outpost along the Liberated Zone, she was trolling for contracts to supply additional and supplemental arms to anyone who might have to fight us."

"Typical Lyran business practices." Nathan observed, "what makes hers so special?"

"She was selling, according to Lyran standards...at cost." Shel said, "Now, either she can manufacture below cost, or..." Shel realized they were not getting it- "She was bidding below the cut-down.  She would be taking a huge hit financially if she had gotten those contracts...particularly worlds like Chahar that have had less support from the LAAF quartermaster than one might expect given their strategic position."

"I take it that for the most part, her efforts were somewhat unsuccessful." Nathan observed, "Otherwise, there would be more disruption caused by embargoing her world than the LAAF could comfortably afford."

Shel shrugged, "She managed to obtain contracts to supply spares and such to a few second line formations, and a few mercenary units, but for the most part, her efforts were probably more expensive than the profit she, herself, realized from the transactions.  Based on what the Watch has been able to obtain, in spite of her political outsider status and obvious inability to shut-up, she is a hard-core Lyran Patriot,  a Hardliner with regards to the Clans, and really, she should be Sharon Bryan's best friend in the supply chain."

"She is not." Morgan said, "Interesting-and her men are practicing to fight the Lyrans..."

Nathan sighed, "So, Shel, why are her men training to fight the Lyrans, and which Lyrans are they intent on fighting?" he asked.

Shel frowned.  "Based on the radio traffic intercepted and decoded, I can not give you an honest and accurate assessment." She said, "Based on speculation, and the political situation, the Kowloonese have no doubt heard about the Archon's choice of action toward units that want to stay neutral in the dispute.  They expect to be attacked because they have not lined up behind the Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion."

Nigel chuckled...

"what?" Morgan asked, looking at the aerofighter pilot.  Von Jankmon returned his gaze, "and That explains the commerce embargo." he stated, "Lyrans think like Merchants, they would use an economic attack to subdue a foe they wish to absorb as a first tactic.  It also weakens the target of the embargo's ability to fight off a military move."

"Only, we are going to be the military that moves, and not the Lyrans..." Nathan Roshak said quietly, "Which will push them further into the Lyran camp...no wonder the Falcon High Command has been ordering delays."

"Let them be isolated, let their abandonment issues surface and reinforce, then strike?" Morgan said inquisitively, "Nathan, what did you do to piss off the Khan?"

Nathan Roshak was thinking, "Wha-Oh, No, Morgan, I do not think this was intended to be a suicide mission." He said, "So far as I am aware, we are rather expected to achieve victory.  Certainly the physical equipment list we have on the target indicates we can...Shel, how long after we were sent here before hard information on their training techniques was acquired?"

Shel drew in a deep breath, "about one month ago.  It was forwarded to me three days ago, after being filtered by the Watch."

Nathan nodded, "We are waiting for reinforcements, Trothkin...only nobody either on Sudeten, or here, is willing to admit the fact that we are..." he mused further, "Or, we are awaiting a change of orders. Samantha Clees is not stupid,  nor is Marthe Pryde, nor are they wasteful, or glory-hounding fools.  I would suspect that eight months ago, this world looked, through the eyes of the Watch, a bit like a fruit just at the right point in ripening, waiting to fall into our hands..."

"That fruit turns out to have lots of thorns on it." Morgan observed.

"Indeed."

"That fruit turns out to have lots of thorns on it." Morgan observed.

"Indeed."

Thorns HELL.  It's wrapped in razor wire, dipped in neurotoxins, and has a few blocks of C4 strapped to it.  Try to grab that fruit and all you get is a bucket of mush, that used to be the fruit and your hand.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 28-05-2008, 21:59:14]]


3064, 02 16 1700 Hours, Da Nang Aerodrome...

Duk Win leaned into the ejection seat, and slowly fed fuel through the engine.  The tên sát nhân's 320 rating engine barked and grunted, as the heavy fighter rolled down the runway under its own power.  Today's test was just a pre-delivery run, so he eased the blended lifting body shape on a long take-off run.

"All systems green." He stated.

"Du'ong Aerospace Fifteen Zed Alpha, you are cleared for takeoff." the tower told him.

His run was a smooth thing of beauty-Duk had always admired the SL-15's graceful robustness.  Now, I'm flying an improved model...well, somewhat improved....  His cousin's innovation had not been well-recieved by the Lyran military establishment-their concerns about using the fuel to cool the fighter's engine, instead of a separate cooling circuit with attendant separate radiators and separate additional weight kept the fledgeling company from gaining a large contract for a powerplant that was, essentially, only useful for military applications.  Still, it works, it weighs considerably less than a standard fusion rocket, and fuel burn is more efficient at the same power settings...  the wheels left the ground, and he retracted them.

He turned the nose southeast-the fighter would be placed with others awaiting the next ship out- Du'ong had found a ready market after being rejected by the Department of Quartermaster-Mercenaries.  The tên sát nhân may look like a Slayer, but its avionics are simpler, maintenance is easier, and unlike the Draconis Combine's favourite heavy fighter, the tên sát nhân was for sale to outside buyers-with the blessing of Wakazashi.

The next dropship would take six of the fighters to Galatea, where they would join Mercenary forces bound for the Clan Ghost Bear border.

assuming, that is, the next commercial dropship that arrives does so before we have to eat the contract! Win thought acidly, as the airframe passed Mach 3.

tên sát nhân?

What does that translate to?  And if the enigne is lighter, what makes up the extra mass?

"Killer" or "Slayer".

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 29-05-2008, 20:21:46]]

 
3064.03.21, Falcon Post VIII, two jumps from Kowloon...

The orders had been clear-and so, Nathan Roshak's cluster had been pulled back from the ready-line to spend time in real gravity, as the final preparations for a renewed invasion were completed.

It grated on him.  Worse, it is grating on my warriors.  He fumed, as he ran his 'mech through a series of practice drills in the toxic methane atmosphere of a world two jumps from his objective.

he had a date, however.  A date when the tedium and the waiting would end.

We strike on the tenth day of May.  In the meantime, skills had to be kept sharp.  Battle skills.

This poisonous worldlet would have to do...

after all, I can not afford for my warriors to grow too flabby shipboard.  Gravity and hostile environment training...

It was no small comfort to him, knowing that his future adversaries would be taking this time to sharpen their admittedly weak martial skill, becoming proficient enough to present a true challenge...Bullshit.  The more time they have to prepare, the less our chance of achieving victory becomes...

remote-piloted tanks captured during Revival would have to do until he could vent his frustration on live foes.

He triggered his jump-jets, and delivered a smashing blow to one drone that had unwisely ducked behind a hill without cover.

no substitute for the real thing.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 29-05-2008, 21:16:50]]


Nha Tranh, Government House...

"...Provision Nine is off the table!"  Lin Pak shouted.

"You're not the Speaker anymore!"  Rebecca Huyn barked, "Your government lost the elections."

Pak shook his head, "your coalition still needs a solid majority, just like the Lyran Unionists do."

"That's right, and if the Social Democrats won't play ball, we'll take our business to the Monarchists, or maybe the Elldeess and their Religious Majority coalition." Huyn said defiantly.

"You'd put Theocrats in charge? are you insane?" Pak demanded.

"Bigoted much?"  Alain Smith (Populist Party, District nine) mocked.  Lin wanted to fume, he really did.

"No, but youi've seen their platform..." Lin Pak appealed.

"Then, throw your support, and your party's support, behind our coalition." Huyn said, "I'm not above making deals with people that make me nervous, if that's what it takes-we're going on eighteen months without more than a couple Comstar Packets and the Duchess' own ships visiting.  For all intents and purposes, Kowloon is already under seige." she said, "It's about time we started acting like it."

"One condition." Pak said, "If we sign on, you promise me you won't try to ram through a vote on secession."

"I can't promise we won't, but I can promise we won't do it without a damn good reason." Huyn told him, "besides, we still have to answer to the other members of our coalition-and many of them make your lot look positively frothing for independence."

Pak sighed, "Okay, we'll support you on bringing it to a vote-but only bringing it to a vote."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 30-05-2008, 20:12:57]]


Xiao Loc, Kiel Traktorwerke, 10 March, 3064...


The new machine squatted in the motor pool.  Colonel Mosovich looked it over.  "Well, it's...familiar, I'll give you that." she said, "Kind of an odd compromise, and sure as hell more expensive than a normal carrier."

John Kiel set to pointing out the advantages.  "Heavy armour, there's fore and aft embarkation ramps, we found the room by adding twenty  centimeters to the deck height and reducing the turret ring..."

She climbed up to the top deck, "You also moved the turret aft." she almost accused.

"Had to-we shifted the driver's position to the left." he said, "We'll be doing the tank model the same way." Kiel said.

"Kind of a radical change to the Patton design." she observed, "You corrected for visibility changes?"

He nodded.

'Okay..." she turned, and motioned a crew over, "Check it over, mount up, we're going for a spin."

She turned her gaze back on Kiel.  "I never buy without a test drive, Mister Kiel.  Most of your carrier's specs look good, and if they are good, well, we'll do business. If they aren't..."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 30-05-2008, 21:31:26]]

 
Althaus Kindergarten...

"...doesn't even visit.  It's un-natural."  Norah Willen said, "Bloody un-natural, what kind of mother does not visit her own son-or at least Try..."

Lt. White looked at the Daycare director, "The kind of person who is busy." she said icily, "The Duchess is busy running the government, busy handling the emergency, busy trying to keep everything you hold dear, including these little ones, from harm.  It's a very stressful job, and she has no-one else to really take the stress for her now." she knelt down, and called, "Patric!"

The little boy wasn't even three years old, but he looked up from his blocks, and gave a wide smile to the Coastie officer, "It's time to go now, wave to your friends!" Amy told him.

The boy walk-stumbled in the way of any toddler, to her.  she picked him up, and cooe'd   he grinned again, and giggled.

"At any rate, Norah, he's at least going to be well-socialized." Lt. White said.

Norah sighed disgustedly, and shook her head, "it's bloody un-natural..."

"We'll see  you on monday." the Leutenant told her, "Have a nice weekend."

Once the boy was secured in his car-seat, Amy drove away.  How could anyone hate such a good boy? she had often wondered it- Patrick Ngo  rode quietly in his car-seat, playing with blocks and watching the trees go by.  mind-blowing.

Amy was very careful to follow her orders from the Admiral, but she'd already had to switch daycare providers once over questions.  Looks like I'll have to do it again.  Norah's a peach, and she's got the right instincts, but we can't let it slip out...

she sighed, and pulled to a stop.  Well, Nicholas and Mai will be around to help out this weekend...  She smiled at that-her nephew and his wife had a real connection to the boy, though they simply assumed he was one of the dozen or so foster kids that cycled through the White home every year, waiting for placement.  I do hope that Elizabeth's Uncle is a good man, and willing to take him.  Patrick deserves a solid family, instead of a lifetime in the system...

She turned left,  toward the waterfront.  Well, maybe two weeks? she mused, I think the unit can survive without me for two weeks...take the kids out to the islands for a vacation this year...

She glanced at her beeper.  dammit, if I do, I have to take that with me, just in case the Duchess' uncle shows up to take custody.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 30-05-2008, 22:26:21]]

 
Nha Tranh Provincial Induction Centre...

"...get this far, and find out we're all delayed-entry." Eddie said, "How ****** up is that?"

Sherri Quhon shrugged, "Dunno, what's that?" she asked-gesturing at his tablet. 

"Oh, um...well, I'm taking this class..." he started.

"oh.  Bookworm, or drop-out?" she pressed.

He sighed, "Dropout.  The recruiter's holding me back for six months to make up."

She shrugged, and got up, "See ya."  Her tone was neutral, but Eddie knew what it meant-he'd had a dozen girls walk off like that. cold shoulder.  I need to lie more.

He went back to his studying.  this is so boring...every day...

Eddie wanted to go out and do something.  It was a problem in school, and it was a problem now.


[[Posted 31-05-2008, 20:05:27]]


[out of story]

I'm pulling in some outside help with the writing chores.  Blackhorse6 has generously lent me the use of his talent...

[/out of story]

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 31-05-2008, 20:55:22]]

 
Giap Island...

"Five Hundered Years ago, Giap Island was altered by Kowloon's original government, it was intended to serve as an emergency base for the Planetary Defense forces.  At the time, the programme was viewed as too expensive-much like today."  Elizabeth Ngo announced.  Her audience was a mixed crowd of contractors and Coast Guard personnel. 

'The Age of war was upon us all, back then-and that's why it was started.  It was a diplomat's perfidy that ended the project back then." she smiled, "You all know how well that alliance worked out-the deal that ended this project led to our world's enslavement by the Rim Worlds Republic, two centuries of foreign oppression, and eventually the destruction of the old capital at Dinh Diep." 

She reached down, and picked up a pair of shears, "Today, here, I give you Coast Guard Naval Air Station Giap Island!!"  she sliced through the ribbon.

"Thank you all for your hard, hard work.  Our ancestors might have made a mistake, but we're here to correct it-and that's something."

They cheered.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Blackhorse6, 01-06-2008, 03:43:06]]
 
24 February 3064
Wild Geese Transport Command
Blackhorse Troop DropShip Xuan Loc
.


Colonel Paul Ryan-Bowman relooked the proposal from Duchess Elizabeth Ngo on his data pad as he reached for his water pouch.  Over and over, the same thought occurred to him… as it probably had the other commanders seated at the conference table with him.

‘So many years… so much change’ he thought.  Turned away from the table he closed his eyes and the years ran backwards to Blackjack and the Jade Falcons.

When he closed his eyes, he could still remember with clarity the Falcons onslaught.  Intel mistakes from the AFFC had drastically underestimated the Clans presence there.  So many lives lost, the loss of two of his mentors and the loss of a good friend.  Henry Ngo’s impishly crooked grin was only as distinctive as his warm laugh… and the blood.  The blood on his combat suit and that of the medics… the vacant stare in Henry’s eyes… lost in a moment and closed forever by his own hands. 

The pains of thopse losses stayed with him to this day.... just like Allan Faulkner told him they would, a sign of a caring and successful commander?  Blood on your hands, blood on your conscience.

The pains he remembered that day returned for moments now and then to remind him that he had made a promise, so had Alisande.  ‘I remember Hank; I will keep my promise to you…’

“Colonel Bowman.  I need your opinion here.” 

The room had again become noisy with disagreement and activity but her voice prompted him to open his eyes and swing back to the table.  The Brigadier was waiting on him as were the squadron commanders and he had no desire to say what he truly thought to her.

Biding a moment at a time, he slowly sipped the water and decided that it was time to lay everything out on the table.  He started from one side of the table and slowly turned his chair to gauge each person's response.

“So in return for our assistance against the Jade Falcons, she is getting us some choice deals on parts, new equipment and technology we would like to have in addition to the money?  Right?”  Most every head nodded as he spoke, and satisfied, he stopped his chair to face Brigadier Faulkner.

“And in reading this, due to some internal dissent that may be fostered by Katherine’s supporters, she retains the right to call upon us to defend planetary interests both foreign and domestic?  A civil involvement?  Us?”

A nod of Alisande Faulkner’s head only confirmed the worst.

“It is unfortunate” she began “that the young woman most of us knew has now become… how shall we say… mentally unstable by all accounts.  We have an obligation to honor our agreements with her and by extension, the government of Kowloon.  Now, it’s a race against time for us to be there and ready by the 1st of May.”

A hand motioned for her permission to speak. 

“Major Zehnder, you have a comment?”

“Ma’am, if we are called upon to deal with a civil disagreement, I know my Eaglehorse will be ready, and as we are the lightest squadron, the most likely to act in this regard for the regiment.  But in truth, we are putting ourselves in a position to be called upon to overthrow their government on Elizabeth’s behalf… even if it’s not warranted.  I don’t like this, not at all.  It could have repercussions against us and draw Katherine’s attention and her military forces back to us for our actions to date.  Coming to Kowloon’s aid at this time is an unwise move in my opinion, especially in light of the Jade Falcons only making matters worse.”

Brigadier Faulkner stared straight at Zehnder and nodded her head in the affirmative, in a slow way, and in a defeated way.

“Yes Major, I agree.  You were there, the debt is called and we must answer.  Maybe we are so pessimistic and paranoid that we see conspiracy and shadows where none exist.  So, until we find out otherwise, we will proceed as planned.  Full regimental mobilization will commence upon entry into the Kowloon system.  Further information concerning specific deployment objectives will come as I decide the breakdown.  Questions?  No?  This will be our last brief in person until planetfall.  Outstanding work people, lets get back to our Transports, we jump in 3 hours.”

As the command exited the room, Brigadier Faulkner stopped next to her field first and waited for his reaction.  For a full twenty seconds he didn’t move, then with a sidelong glance, Bowman looked up at her as he placed the data pad back on the table. 

“What?” he whispered.

“What indeed?  You don’t like this anymore than Alex and it shows all over your face.  It’s like your TDS just popped in suddenly and dumped you on the floor.  I know what I’m doing here; you have to trust me…”

Slowly standing to face her, he removed several pills from his jumpsuit and washed them down with the last of his water.  “You know, I learned many things fighting the Clans but I lack a critical bit of information.  I need to know what the Falcons want with Kowloon before I can beat their nosy little beaks in.  Unless it has something to do with Blackjack?  Well, I have time to figure it out yet... time enough for revenge, hey?”

“This isn’t about revenge Paul, it’s about fighting the fights we can win.  We both know that and you need to keep that in mind if we are facing the Falcons again.” She reminded him.  Smiling as he saluted her, Colonel Bowman laughed as he turned away heading through the hatch.

“You weren’t there so how do you know how the Falcons think Sandy?  Now let me get to sleep before the next jump causes my TDS to drop me on my ass.  I’ll figure this out before I face the Falcons again.” Looking back through the hatch, he locked eyes with her.

“You need to let me do that and handle the Jade Falcons while you handle the politicians.  Keep them off my back or I’ll squash them like a bug... and that goes for anyone who gets in Elizabeth’s way. I know what I’m doing here; you have to trust me…”

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 01-06-2008, 06:36:23]]

 
Briefing Area,  Forward Base Roshak, 2 jumps from Kowloon...

The delays were yeilding more, and more, information, and one of the lessons learned-(although few within the Touman would admit it) from more than a decade in the Inner Sphere, was that conquest went more smoothly if one knows which cultural buttons to push-or not push.

The "Not Push" collection was, in Morgan Icaza's view, growing rather large.

"...radio intercepts." Shel was saying, "The up-shot is, do not be surprised if a civilian fails to react immediately to an order given in English.  Only about six percent of the populace is more than marginally fluent in either English, or German." she said, "The remainder speak a pastiche of Vietnamese, with elements of H'mong, Finnish, Hebrew, and loan-words from a dozen other nearly extinct tongues."

She walked around the room, handing out datafile chits, "These contain a basic grammar and vocabulary.  They were compiled by Comstar before Revival launched in the forties."

"Why the difference?" Morgan asked, "Most worlds in that end are monolingual and monocultural..."

Shel nodded once, "Good question, Star Captain.  The reason is simple-Kowloon is a first-wave colony founded by dissidents. They had nearly a century of isolation before contact was restored."

"First wave?? Look how far out it is!" Star Commander Peter Malthus barked incredulously.

"First wave." Shel said, "Much of the core stock came from Israelis escaping the Pan Islamic League, Chinese Christians, and anticommunists from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and financial adventurers from Thailand."

"Six hundered years under various interstellar governments should have cured that."  Nathan Roshak said.

"Should have-The Watch believes the locals may have clung to their language more solidly than other worlds as an act of passive aggressive defiance." Shel stated, "That supposition is supported by database information recovered from Comstar Records in the Liberated zone."

"Defiance?" Morgan let the one-word question hang in the air.

"Defiance-during the Star League, SLDF forces were deployed to put down rebellions against the Amaris government no less than twelve times before Stephan Amaris' coup attempt in the 28th century."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 01-06-2008, 20:14:22]]

 
Simulator Room, Forward Base Roshak...

Nigel Von Jankmon stepped out of the pod, shaking his head.  "Savashri, they are going to be flying That piece of crap?"  His Astech, Lisa, stepped forward and helped him towel off. 
"It was bad?" she asked.

He looked at her ruefully, "It was horrible.  Based on reconstructions and data gathered from a sample of the craft obtained by the watch, I am left wondering what kind of death-wish drives the pilot."  He looked at a few of his gathered warriors-whom had been sparring against him in simulation.  "Heavy stick, with too much feedback, I swear the limiters do not work, the insulation is sub-optimal, to the point that the damn  life-support system was overburdened maintaining a liveable temperature.  The instruments are analogue, HUD is rudimentary, about the only good thing about the damn design is how much armour it is wrapped in!"

Lisa stepped behind him, and rubbed his lower back, the Star Captain almost purred, "and the seat is an ergonomic nightmare."  he finally took the towel, and gave her a dismissive gesture, "Only a very desperate man, or a fanatic, could fly that thing regularly-all the instruments are in the wrong places, the controls are difficult to reach under thrust..."

He ticked off the defects, before reaching his final point, "...and I still defeated four of you."

Shaine, a Point commander, spoke up, "The accursed armour!" he said, "I pounded with heavy weapons and it failed to knock you out of control."

Nigel nodded, "Good point-and good observation-the sludgy controls and excessive feedback aside, the design is stable and robust enough to absorb a considerable amount of damage."

Giles spoke up, "also, I noted during the atmospheric portion, your fighter was able to accellerate more smoothly, and did not produce the huge bow-wave a fighter in the transition zone generates...at least, a normal fighter."

Nigel cocked his large head, "Aerodynamics usually does not mean much at our levels of thrust..."

Giles nodded, "Aff, but, at least in simulation, the normal vacuum-wave a pursuer can fall into to close during a re-entry was too small for all but the tiniest Omnifighters to exploit.  Usually, a fighter like the Visigoth or Scytha will have a large 'drag zone' that a tailgater can use-your fighter, in simulation, did not have this.  Instead, I wound up being hammered by afterwaves-I Lost Thrust in the pursuit once you hit the boundary layer."

Nigel nodded, "That is a thin area for them to have superiority in-and I noticed it too, Giles-the controls became a LOT more responsive once I had air wrapping around me, and the normal turbulence layer was almost nonexistent... I think they will not try to intercept us until we are at the Transition-there was a decisive handling difference at that point..." he got a crafty look, "How well did your instruments see me?"

Giles shrugged, "You know-plasma screws up sensor-lock, I could not get a lock on you until speed dropped below the Miller Zone and your re-entry plasma discharge was abated."

Nigel's smile grew, "What does that tell you about our opponents?"

Giles frowned, "Your instruments, you say, were mostly analogue, the targeting systems rudimentary..."

Shaine spoke up, "They intend to dogfight like that?"

Nigel nodded, "Aff.  It is what I would do with such a craft, if such a craft were my only option."  He sat down on the plinth, "Consider the advantages-radar does not work-at least, the targeting radar does not, infrared gives you a target that is too large, ultraviolet spectrum does not help either.  Many of you missed shots that were...easy.  Or should have been, Giles and Shaine were unable to get into a good kill position on my six, or close up by riding my aftershock wave-instead, they got a mouth full of linear turbulence and charged ions that trashed firing solutions...meanwhile, my handling in that layer at those speeds was superior, since the airframe's shape is aerodynamically clean and optimized for riding the shockwave instead of bruting through it, and even the shape itself gave me a clear view ahead and to my sides-clearer than, say, your Jagatai, Shaine."

"Dive".  Shaine said, "Get on top, and come down."

Nigel shook his head, "Neg.  at the altitude and speed, you would be chewing on plasma with little chance for a good shot before my wingman has already bracketed you."

"Climb, then, go down, and come up."  Giles illustrated with his hands.

"That sounds like a good plan." Nigel agreed, "Provided the enemy air-defenses are sparse, and he has not lured you into their range-moving through that zone in that manner is going to be a 'lure' for active sensors..."

They continued dissecting hypothetical enemy dogfighting tactics for the rest of the evening....

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 02-06-2008, 07:02:26]]


Melissia Theatre Command centre, 15 April, 3064...

"..the bitch did WHAT?" Sharon Bryan spilled her coffee.   

Lasker, the LIC liason, repeated himself, "She's ram-rodded something called 'Provision Nine' through the planetary legislature.  The translations' kind of hard to read, but it looks like a first stage move to a bid for Secession or Independence."

"Translation..hard to read?" the Margrave of the Melissia theatre was confused, "Explain that? small words, I'm a soldier."  she patronized him.

"It's written in Vietnamese, analysis is still parsing meanings from the grammar." Lasker said, "The gist of it, according to agents-on-planet, is that they're dumping money into expanding the planetary militia forces like a drunken spacer at a canopian whorehouse, digging bomb-shelters, and putting up some kind of early-warning net."

Bryan shrugged, "They're taking on what should be normal duties-what's the issue?"

"They're also conducting force-on-force training, with the OpFor using LAAF tactics." Lasker said,  "While the new units don't fit a normal profile-at least, in terms of structure."

"Amusing, force-on-force training, I assume they're shouting 'bang' and throwing puffballs, then." she said, relaxing, "Not exactly a major threat."

"They're using paint-rounds, and their trainees, according to our sources, have been taking real casualties from simulated fire." Lasker's tone was pointed, "Herr Margrave, this isn't some game of laser-tag, they are using realistic training methods."

Sharon picked up the folio, and paged through it.  "They have less than a Battalion of older battlemechs, Lasker, no Battle Armour to speak of, just tanks, helicopters, and infantry." She shook her head once, "Hardly a threat, things get settled down, we'll go squash any uprising like a grape."  she sighed, "In the meantime, your counterparts have been warning me that the Falcons look like they might just take advantage of the Civil war-and they are a real threat."  she sighed, "Look I know your job is Domestic intel, but even counting the few Aerospace fighters they could get up, those are equally obselete, or experimental, and according to Quartermaster Command,  they're all absolute junk.  When we're sure that the Falcons are just doing a few troop movements and maybe a couple raids, I'll send an RCT in there, and remind 'em who the Landlady is, Okay?"

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Blackhorse6, 02-06-2008, 07:10:51]]

 
25 February 3064
Wild Geese Transport Command
Blackhorse Troop DropShip Xuan Loc
3 jumps to Kowloon System

True friends stab you in the front. 
Oscar Wilde

The day had taken its toll on Colonel Ryan-Bowman and he knew it, even at 35 it seemed as if he had lived a century alone and felt it just as keenly.  Lying comfortably on his bunk, he carefully considered the picture of his wife in his hand.  This day, like more than a few in the last 12 years, it only served to make his misery worse.

With the Transit Disorientation medication in his system, even the tri-vid picture of her seemed so unreal.  No substance, no presence… a reaction to the sensory deadening drugs he had taken.  He had left her behind on Achernar to settle in to their new family estate and try and reconcile old wounds between him and his grandfather on Tikonov.  With the public image of the royal families across the Federated Commonwealth wavering in the light of a predetermined Civil War, it was the best thing for her.  He told himself that a lot.

Duchess Alexandra Ryan-Bowman smiled back, waiving from the picture he held up to the light of his room, her eyes sparking the palest blue.  He felt the lonely pangs of not being near her if even just to talk to her and have her counsel.  It was terribly amusing that the drugs were distorting his vision slightly so it looked like her waiving hand was making circular motions in opposite directions at the same time when he tilted the picture.  He found that extremely funny for some reason.

Sighing he put the picture back in preparation for the impending jump to Kowloon and closed his eyes.  Trying to relax, he turned the lights down to minimum and started to drift to sleep.

‘I lived when so many others died.  Why not me?’ he thought, ‘Why? Why? Why?’

“Because you lived, its just that simple,” came the reply “not that you over analyze anything.  Its called survivor's regret you know...”

Bowman turned slightly on his left side and stared into the concentrating face of Henry Ngo, sprawled in his guest chair, watching him, and tossing playing cards at the wastebasket by the bed.  His look of confusion greatly amused Henry to no end.   

“Co buồn ngủ khong anh?"

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 03-06-2008, 08:05:09]]


Militia headquarters, Kowloon...

Elizabeth Ngo changed how the Militia did business in many ways.  The semifortified bunker complex favoured by previous rulers of Kowloon was still there-but now it was a "shoot-house'' for training Coast Guard hostage rescue teams.

The administration headquarters for the Kowloon Militia was in a three-floor walk-up in down-town built atop a parking structure near the "Industrial" sector of Nha Tranh.

Colonel Evelyn Mosovich looked over the intel reports.  "Sure looks to me like we're going to get a visit from Morrison." she agreed, "The LAAF is pullin' forces off the Periph border and so absorbed shooting at one another nobody's looking for Pirates.  Any word from Kraig?"

Lt. Commander Chao, the Coastie Organized Crime Bureau man tasked to Liason duty (and Evelyn's temporary XO) shook his head, "Not much-they're bogging down around Mainstreet."  He told her, "according to my friends at the HPG, Dow's having them chase some raiders that have been hitting HPG's in that area.  They're not going to be comin' home for a year or more unless they can get those bandits locked down."

Mosovich nodded silently, "Okay, Chen! Make sure the Comstar people have their dependents covered, retask Nguyen's battalion for the time being." she said, "We can not afford to have Comstar pissed at us because we let their shit get stolen.  I assume the Guard's got the western districts covered?"

Chao nodded, "We do-as long as nothing big hits.  I'm a little bit nervous about the foothills over Golden Lake-I don't think Chuck Vanh's got enough hardware, and I'd like to see at least a battery of the 155's moved in."

Mosovich shook her head, "Bad country for tracks, Chao.  You guys know water, and air, but when it comes to ground-" she shook her head, "Better to keep the arty on the boats along the river, and Chuck agrees with me."

"You could send Fenninger up there to pick up the slack." Chao suggested.

"Chuck'd kill him." Evelyn said, "He doesn't like most of our 'mechwarriors, and Fenninger might be able to keep those overpaid reprobates in line, but...no.  Besides, we need 'em here on the East side."

"Does Breland agree with you?" Chao asked.

Evelyn nodded, "Our sainted Minister of Defense agrees with me about mixing Fenninger and Vanh in the same room for a Staffer, much less working together in the same Operations area...you know, I should get back there."

"Feng still isn't back from his trip up north..." Chao said.

Mosovich regarded him with her empty, camera-eyes, "If this headquarters can't function without a Colonel, it's not much of a Headquarters." She told him.  "I'll be getting that transfer back to my area, or I'll be handing Breland my resignation-I have responsibilities of my own, and this staff can handle their damn jobs without a nanny."

"Or you could just try asking."  Mike Breland said, standing behind them.  Evelyn turned around, "I mean, you're right-if the HQ staff can't function without a flag-rank officer present, it's not much of an HQ, and we've got three."  He was carrying a folio of documents, "Anyway, I think I need you back on the west side just the same,  the Mayor and Town Council of Hue want to kick the Militia out and declare their 'ville to be a..ah...'military-free-zone'."

"Negotiate with the squishies, or just roll over 'em?" she asked.

"Try negotiation first, please." Breland said, "you can do the whole intimidation thing later."

"Right."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Blackhorse6, 03-06-2008, 15:46:16]]

 
25 February 3064
Wild Geese Transport Command
Blackhorse Troop DropShip Xuan Loc
3 jumps to Kowloon System

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend. 
Henry David Thoreau


“Of course I’m… sleepy.  What did you… expect… from me?” muttered Paul.

Henry found that about as noteworthy as the five of spades that landed in the wastebasket.  “You know,” he started, “you really need to relax more, stay with that looker you suckered into marrying you.” 

He had flipped every card except one, he glanced at the card and instead of throwing it, he kept it as he walked over to where his friend slept.  He looked at the photo secured on the nightstand.

“So this is your queen of hearts, nice.  Why you are not warm and safe with her I’ll take as loyalty to me, but I sure wouldn’t have come out here if I were you.” he laughed loudly. 

“You know you’re showing gray hairs … well... the hair that’s left .  But what is bugging you since I’m here for a visit?  The Jade Falcons?”

Bowman nodded weakly and laid flat on his back.  “I don’t know... what they are looking… for.  Why Kowloon?  What… is the attraction, what do… they want?”

“Oh that’s too easy anh, too easy, flip the table.  Flip the table…”

“Flip the table… what would… ummm…. what would I…  want, what… would ummm… bring me to Kowloon… what would… what I … could have… what’s been… promised… what’s been found out…. or found by them… what could they have found… what… what… what… what they have… they found what… not… not… its… what they… found and… now what they… want… I know… I know... now… I know…”

Henry kneeled next to his friend. “Good, I knew you’d figure it out.  Remember anh, to be Kowloonese is about family and ritual.  Entertainment for all and family above all.  That’s why I’m here.  That and I have a message for you.”  Henry looked at the card in his hand, almost as an afterthought, and placed it in his friend’s hand closing the hand around it.

“You’ll need more time to figure this point, and I think thats as funny as hell,” he laughed.  “I am happy for your anh, you saved me and that is all that mattered.  You brought me home, now let go and live for us all.  Live for all of those lost whose memories you suffer for.  Remember the soldier in the rain?”

Paul nodded slowly.  “…dream… lonesome… soldier…” he said confidently as the relentless effort of the medication took hold.

The phantom that was Henry Ngo smiled his crooked little smile and faded away chuckling to himself. "That's right dream of home but remember chúng ta vĩnh viễn la mot gia đình, chúng ta vĩnh viễn la mot gia đình.”

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 03-06-2008, 19:28:22]]

 
New Housing development, Nha Tranh...

The weather was pleasant enough for fall.  Elizabeth Ngo nodded to the surveyors, and bee-lined for the construction.

"Hi Fred, how's it coming?" she asked.  'fred' was the developer.  He looked at the survey tracks, and then, at her. "Well, we've got the first houses up-it would've gone faster if you hadn't insisted on those tunnels..."

Liz chuckled, "I insisted on those tunnels for the same reason half of down-town was ripped up four years ago-we're on the peripheral edge of the Co-I mean, Alliance, and people need somewhere to go when, not if, the city is attacked."

"Well, it's going to drive up costs, I don't see how I'm supposed to sell these at median income levels with this kind of infrastructure." he grumbled.

"Cheer up, Fred, you'll sell 'em at median incomes, 'cause your extra costs are covered..." she looked around, "I think I'll put mine right...here, and use a number four floorplan from your menu."

He gave a double-take.  "What?"

"I dropped by, because I want a house... right on this spot.  one of your stock floor-plans, with a few refinements.  I'm tired of living in hotel rooms, rentals and offices." She told him, "I'll pop for the infrastructure, but I want a number four floorplan house, beige and blue, on a double lot right here."  she gave him a smile, "and a good fence, about, oh...two meters, hardwood, oil-stained, with a gate and trashbins..and a nice, slate roof." she said.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 03-06-2008, 20:46:40]]

 
April 25, 3064, Forward Base Roshak...

"...extra careful with the van, would you?"  Shel worried over her vehicle like a mother hen.   The techs tied it down properly, (of course), but she still rummaged over the vehicle.

"Shel." Morgan Icaza boomed, the Watcher looked up from re-checking the straps.  "You forgot this."  He tossed her something, and she caught it.  Shel looked at what she'd been given with a blank expression. "The cluster is deploying for battle, little Shel, you will NOT go un-armed."  He then hefted the field-kit bag at her, she caught it, and went down with whoof. "Or basic body-armour."

"I have not had time to fit-" she started.

He shook his head, "Your measurements were in the database, and I had an armourer-tech adjust the helmet, vest, and protective guards.  Assuming you have not gained much extra bulk-and you have not, it should be adequately close to  your build that you can spend some of the time we are in transit getting used to wearing it."

Shel wanted to argue, but instead, she said, "Thank You Star Captain Morgan Icaza."

Morgan smiled, "Damn.  I was hoping you would argue...I checked your file, Shel.  I know."  he kept his eyes on her as he pivoted to walk away, "Soon, you will have to overcome your unfortunate lack of ability to express yourself.  The enemy will not be so thoughtful as I."  and with that, he was away.


Once he was out of her sight, Morgan sighed, only to nearly bump into Nathan Roshak.

"Meek." Morgan said sadly.

Roshak nodded, "Meek.  passive-aggressive personality disorder, Morgan."  he stated, "It washed her out of her first sibko into the Tech caste."

"She is not freeborn?" Morgan asked.

"Neg.  Trueborn, a Pershaw, and believe me, Pauls nerves grate about that."  Nathan told him,   "I believe the term is 'runt' of the litter-although considering that her entire group failed their trials, it should be hardly a surprise."

"all of them?" Morgan was aghast.

"All of them.  She was force-fed back through Warrior training because her theoretical knowledge was deemed of immediate battlefield utility by the Watch." Nathan told him, "I already knew this, now you do too."

"Does Peter know?" Morgan asked.

"Peter suspects she is at least partly of trueborn stock." Nathan told him, "He likely does not realize she is from a failed line."

"You do not want that line to fail, quiaff?" Morgan asked.

Nathan chuckled, "I do not care, honestly-but I do care about things that might impact the success of our mission."

"She will HAVE to learn to suppress her meekness." Morgan cautioned.

Nathan nodded.  "Eventually.  I am not certain that now, or this mission, either one would be a good option for breaking that particular defect out of her." he gave the Elemental a sidelong glance, "I need her in that van and useful.  Shy people, when they become, ah...'not shy' often lose many of the qualities we most need little Shel to have."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 03-06-2008, 21:01:59]]

 
Militia Headquarters, Office of the Minister of Defense, Midnight, 1 May, 3064..

Mike Breland looked at the charts, and sighed with that looming sense of gloom again.   We have got to do better.  Most of the Militia's equipment was still the same outdated, insufficient gear it had ten years ago.  The bulk of the armour forces were still Vedettes, a Few Marsden heavy tanks, and a motley of hovercraft and wheeled vehicles dating from sometime in the Age of War.
The new vehicles made up only a few, scattered units, and the only truly bright side was, they could phase out some of the older vehicles by mid-July, as production of the standard tracked chassis vehicles started to reach the point where full battalions could be assembled.

still, it's not all bad. he mused.  The re-tasking of all the fighters under the Coast Guard, and the Du'ongs' apparent success selling the things off-world meant that there were enough fighters to start expanding the Aerospace contingent...if we can protect the Airfields!  a few of the other 'local product' elements were coming together nicely as well.

but nobody since Napoleon has won on the strength of their artillery, and wet-naval shore bombardment hasn't been a signficant force since the nineteen fifties!  He sighed again.  god help us all, we need time.

The problem, of course, was one that could be solved with time-the bottlenecks were curable...but expensive.  Without exports to cover the costs...

He rubbed his eyes, and started looking for things he could cut from the budget-until we can get product to market offworld, we've got to scale back...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 04-06-2008, 07:44:15]]

 
JFS Emerald Roc, 1 jump from Kowloon, 3064/05/09...

The ship's nav computer was compiling months of astronomical data, while Shel sat in her van, running meteorological data drawn from the sattelite recce of Kowloon.  Conditions at the projected drop-zones looked good. 

"Twenty four hours to drop.  Is that data ready?" Star Colonel Nathan Roshak asked from the open hatch.  Shel nodded, and off-printed, "It is still variable, but the best projection shows the primary LZ's will be clear of cloud cover, but secondary targets near the antarctic circle are going to be heavily obscured, and running about four celsius ambient local temperature."

"Those are Paul's problem,  not mine." Nathan said, "you have forwarded your analysis to our reinforcement cluster?"

She nodded, "The PGC has recieved every bit of data the rest of the invasion force has-and Star Captain Paul Pershaw sent me a very nice thank-you note for the condensed briefs on Ton Son Nhut, Adlerville, and Quan Tri."

"Using local names?" Nathan asked.

"It makes a certain amount of sense-certainly more compact than using the former Rim Worlds Designations for those bases." Shel replied, "The natives, after all, hated them somewhat more thoroughly than our ancestors did..." she stood up, and cracked her back, "...one might even say it is a wonder they left those installations mostly intact for this long."

"I have reassigned Pershaw's unit to strike at Vin Drin Lap, in the area near the old capital." Nathan told her.  Shel gave him a sharp look.

"Star Colonel! I spent days working on the reports for Adlerville and Quan Tri!" she said in a hurt tone.

"I know, and I read your reports on the Golden Lake area-if there is a place we need to be concerned about, it is controlling that waterway." He said, "Ia Drang, Ben Hoa, Vin Drin Lap, and the old SLDF fortification at Hue.  By your own data, the winds at Quan Tri and Adlerville, and the weather report you just filed, mean that any forces using those bases will be unable to affect our operations until the second week of June, but the fortification at Hue needs to be secured quickly, and based on the political profile, it is more work for second-line warriors than First-line, while Vin Drin Lap's facilities have to be denied to the enemy quickly, and we do not have orbital bombardment capability...or the desire to use it."

Shel frowned, "Ton Son Nhut is a reinforced bunker complex-"

"I have it managed.  You will be reporting to Star Captain Morgan Icaza in Nha Tranh." he told her, "we need to secure any tactical data they might have compiled in the Capital, and re-coding the HPG to Clan service once it has been taken."

"Aff Star Colonel." Shel said unhappily.

Did the Falcons put anywhere this amount of preplanning into any of their other invasions? I mean I can see this for like a major capital but this strikes me as a bit over the top for a on the surface minor planet without any regular military forces on it only militia. Still I'm eager to see what surprises the locals have in store that the Falcons have spied out yet?

CS' Falcons differ from canon in a number of ways. These include but are not limited to-

1) CS' Falcons are intelligent
2) CS' Falcons are competent military planners
3) CS' Falcons view non Falcon forms of Human life as more than simply "more people to kill or enslave"
4) CS' Falcons can find their ass with both hands.

CS' Lyrans differ from canon in almost exactly the opposite ways.
 

CS' Lyrans differ from canon in almost exactly the opposite ways.

Some of us would argue that this does not represent a difference.

Did the Falcons put anywhere this amount of preplanning into any of their other invasions? I mean I can see this for like a major capital but this strikes me as a bit over the top for a on the surface minor planet without any regular military forces on it only militia. Still I'm eager to see what surprises the locals have in store that the Falcons have spied out yet?

In this version: Yes, mostly.  In the Ngoverse, the singular fact about Kowloon, is that it's a singular irregularity in an otherwise monocultural situation.  Most of the worlds around Kowloon are "Typical" Lyran planets.  The Falcons ain't stupid, though.  They're going to look before they leap.  "...with Falcon Eyes..."  isn't just a nice bit of the rememberance here.

Once the first spy mission realized that most of the commercial transmissions were neither in english, or german, and that most of the communications static coming off the planet wasn't what you normally see on or about a {i]Lyran[/i] planet (and they'd have a pretty damn good idea what that is!)  They'd look "With Falcon Eyes".  Digging into the local history before attacking would also be a typical intel mission for the Watch, since otherwise, hidden bases and Star League Caches could be used against them-they'd dig into available SLDF databases for info on what units were stationed where, whether the planet had been a major battle-site, and what battles may or may not have occurred.

The falcons would also put a great deal of work into figuring out/predicting the moves of enemy commanders- this is how Sharon Bryan, in this timeline, died-the Falcons guessed her strategem before she tried it, and prepared accordingly based on a fairly accurate psychological profile based on her career, actions, and public statements.

Chahar is a similar situation-the Falcons already knew how the MTM would fight, what their weaknesses and strengths were, and the general conditions on the ground (multiple raids, counter raids, and ordinary public-means analysis.)

The same can be said of most worlds that fall during this period of time-the Falcons prepared, the Lyrans were not prepared.

Then...we have Kowloon.

The Falcon force going in is less well prepared for Kowloon, than they were for any world their forces hit-and it's not from slacking, it's from the simple depth of not-knowing, because until recently, Kowloon wasn't even "on the radar".

Well at least the ardent Katherine supporters would seem to fall into that description here and in cannon.  @p?

There are a lot of Kowloonese who favour Kate over Vic.  More that don't, but a lot of them do.  Enough that they're a fairly large plurality of the population.

Katherine was, in point of fact, rather popular with the Kowloonese-especially since she didn't send a punitive expedition when they dismantled Governor Condit's regime and hanged a bunch of men who were publicly aligned with the Davion side of the FedCom.

Her popularity only waned heavily when she decided to move her home to New Avalon, instead of standing for the Lyran people.  (abandonment issues rear their ugly head).

Katherine was, in point of fact, rather popular with the Kowloonese-especially since she didn't send a punitive expedition when they dismantled Governor Condit's regime

Never mind that,  of course, Katherine did nothing about Condit herself.

The reason for both was the same: Kat didn't give a crap. As the Kowloonese are finding out, Katherine's attention is not something you want.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 05-06-2008, 17:21:43]]

 
Melissia Theater Headquarters, 3064/05/10, 1400 Hours...

General Sharon Bryan looked at the reports, and the holos again.  Stupid Bitch! she fumed silently, before opening her desk, and pulling out a pair of files.  One, she threw into the incineration bag, the other, she opened. 
You brought this on yourself... she sighed, as she began signing orders prepared months ago with her right hand, while reviewing and selecting the units that would enforce those orders on her terminal with her left.

The general hated it like few other tasks.  Sending the LAAF to assault a Lyran world when those men would be needed on the border rankled.  ****** it, If you would have just been quiet and inoffensive, I wouldn't have to do this.  she stopped the terminal for a moment, and grabbed a snack from her pogie-bait drawer.  dammit.  I covered for you, and now this!

The memo from Nondi said it all-Tharkad wanted to know why a planetary militia under the control of someone on the Archon's 'naughty list' was undergoing a massive expansion programme, why the Margrave of the Theatre hadn't gotten that world sorted out and forced back into line...why Sharon Bryan wasn't, in short, doing her job.

Sharon bit off another chunk of Chocolate, and signed another document-this one for Elizabeth Ngo's arrest for numerous violations of several laws, some of them she was, Sharon knew, even Guilty of.

Sharon's door banged open, and she set the stylus down without signing.  "The Falcons are Moving!" her aide announced, and handed her a communique.

"How old is this-scratch that, recall all leaves, and this theater is now at defense condition Alpha." Sharon said, feeling a queer sense of relief-Well, I don't have to pull troops off the line now...  she frowned, and tossed the opened file into the burn bag, and pulled the other one out.  "Find me an HPG.  I think we have a surprise for them." she said boldly.

Find out now, if the bitch really IS a patriot, or a rebel...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted 05-06-2008, 18:05:22]]

 
Kowloon...

In the space between Kowloon's moon, and the planet at midnight of the ninth, local time (and 'noon' galactic Zulu time, and 1410 Hours Melissia Local) space distorted, first with a gamma burst and wave of infrared, frying several minor communications sattelites and setting off alarms on the surface.

The emergence wave was followed by a secondary burst of energy, and in the wake of that, the first of four ships arrived in the pirate point.

At Ton Son Nhut, Ia Drang, and Vin Drin Lap, response squadrons spun up and began launching.

From the emerging ship, a wave of fighters began their burn toward the surface, and the tumourous bulk of dropships separated from their spine like carrier vessel.


Lightyears away, at Melissia...

Sharon Bryan stared at the communique the Comstar adept handed her in shock.

HPG transmissions can carry video-the vid from Kowloon looked like the vid from monitor stations on Chahar..."You're sure?" she scoffed, as her stomach dropped. 

The Adept nodded, "Routing code's right.  They were attacked about twenty minutes ago." he told her, "Our staff on-world got these images from a weather Sattelite before it went offline."

They flanked us! Sharon sighed, Dammit.  "If they're hitting that deep, this isn't a game for them."


Kowloon, Commodore Amanda Li...

The alert fighters were already up,  The Command group following.  Li's fighter was so new, some of the coatings in the interior were still uncured.  The squadron out of Ia Drang were up ahead of hers, and the interceptors were sliding to engage.

"Con Hổ Hai, tighten your formation, hostiles at three and closing at four gravities."  Her scope lit up, and out there, the "Tiger" squadron from Ia Drang was engaging enemy fighters with their aging combination of Seydlitz and Vulcan fighters.

Four minutes....  "con báo biển  squadron, drop to one-twenty angels and accellerate to full burn-we've got to intercept those droppers." she said laconically, bringing the nose of her ship down, and increasing the fuel-flow through the burners.  The airframe rumbled with minute shocks as she angled into the transition-zone between the near vacuum of space, and the living density of atmosphere. This manuever is dangerous-it's one that any respectable flight school in the Inner Sphere warns cadets not to try-the pressure differentials at high mach speeds play almost as much hell, as the energetic plasma generated when a craft pushes re-entry speeds, but does not angle for re-entry.

"Who are we fighting, anyway?" Sea-Panther Two asked over the radio.

"Well, satcom data says they're marked as Clan Jade Falcon." Li replied, "Should be kinda scary."

"oh, shit."

No shit.