The Quest

[cawest]

don't forget the spare parts you can make.  those could also have an impact on the total number of space craft in the whole area.  you make extra Fortress engines at say four per year?  think about how that would help.  If your make a wide range of parts, and use a few cut outs?  who knows were they are coming from.   

[Iron Grenadier]

2ndAcr,

Just wanted to say I'm enjoying the story so far. Wanted to ask though if you have ever done any post-apocalypse/survival type stories? Your writing style seems familiar to a few I've seen on another forum.

[Daryk]

The question I expected Quintus to ask was "what's the hurry?"  Security is extremely important, and "months" is a small price to pay for it...

[2ndAcr]

 IG- Thanks, no this is my first attempt at a true fan fic

 Daryk, I bounced several times back and forth with that same thought pattern, I just sort of flipped a quarter.

[Sir Chaos]

"Current census conducted 4 months ago gave 845,000 men, 931,000 women and 1.35 million children under 18.

That is A LOT of children. Nearly 45% of the population under 18?

The US, right now, has about 19% of the population age 14 and under, according to this source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/270000/age-distribution-in-the-united-states/ . So somewhere between 20 and 25 percent under 18, perhaps? Say about half the percentage that Mackolla has. Is there a reason for the large number of children?

[Dave Talley]

could be a massive change in living standards or new ag tech etc

similar to India and the Arab states currently,

[DOC_Agren]

I am loving loving this, but still wonder when "Pirates" come a calling

[2ndAcr]

 Sir Chaos, I sort of took some liberty there, basically 450,000 married couples and 3 kids each roughly. In my mind, but I never really explained it, but I will in the next installment in more detail, the population has been subsisting at a 1930ish lifestyle. Life expectancy roughly 60ish, most of the 3 plus kids are in the farming communities, more kids to help with the crops etc.

 

[2ndAcr]

 9 November 3051
          Mackolla

  Harry was in his office with George and Dr Garcia trying to get a handle on what needed to be done and try to come up with a plan of action for the future. Even though Harry wanted to head back out and start the big recovery, he had to wait on Scott to return with the fleet so he might as well get some work done.

 "Okay, let's start with our current stockpiles of material those miners have dug out of the ground. George are we at  now?" Harry asked with his own notepad out even though he knew George would have a print out for him.

 "Our current stockpile of mined material is the:

 Germanium 127,650 tons
 Titanium  86,250 tons
 Iron  244,950 tons
 Copper 68,750 tons
 Gold 345 tons
 Silver 276 tons
 Zinc  37,950 tons

 Over 100,000 tons of assorted ores, magnesium, potassium, cesium, beryllium and so on. The miners have already shifted titanium mining to a much richer vein. The keep harping on needing more machines and people and they could increase our totals per day big time. And before you ask, yes I had some shuttle go bring the gold and silver here under guard. So far, Clayton has done wonders with what he has on hand. This planet has everything Terra had and in some ways the same vast quantities of each, but Clayton says he thinks this Germanium deposit is biggest ever seen." George finally finished

 "Wow, that much, let's see Germanium is what 7 C-bills a pound, holy crap that is 1.7 billion bucks on the ground down there!!! The heck with the gold and silver, we need to do something with that." Harry's eyes about bugged out of his head

 "Already done Harry, I got 120,000 tons loaded on the 3 Mammoths sitting outside. Remember we only get 30% of that total, the mining company gets the rest. So 500 million or so is ours or should I say yours." George said with a evil twinkle in his eye

 "George, I am not cut out for this stuff. I am a spacer, a salvage expert. Show me a derelict and I can do anything with it, but running a planet, I have not a clue." Harry stated

 "Welcome to my world Harry, I sort of got stuck with the job. I am flying blind on this stuff too. Glad I finally have someone to share the pain with." George said with a laugh

 "Okay, so we all agree that concentrating the manufacturing, when ever get it, near here is the best idea right?" Harry said as George and Dr Garcia nodded yes. "Okay, that was simple enough. Getting the raw stuff over here is going to be a pain in the butt though. So, Dr Gacia, your turn."

 "Now I am in no way an expert in Anthropology, but you asked me to do my best, so here it is. The overall population is healthy. Average life expectancy is 60ish with some reaching 70. Way lower than what we would expect in the Federated Suns proper. Now this has to do with the early 20th century tech level they have lived with the past 200 years or so. Modern medical care and treatments will vastly improve that number. The average family in the city has 1 maybe 2 children, but out in the small farming towns the average jumps to 3-4 children in each family. More kids, more family to help on the farm. Overall the people are happy. But we have not greatly disturbed their way of life.....that could change once things around here really kick off. The AFFC medics that arrived with that AFFC Infantry regiment have done wonders on basic medical care, but to vastly improve things we need a modern hospital with modern doctors and treatments. Only so much we can do out of dropship medical bays.

 The reactor is up and powering this space port, but we need to run power lines into the city to power it, but we have no power lines. The orbital facilities are online and ready, as best I can tell anyway. We have some spare parts that came with each for critical items, that given the right material I could probably duplicate them. The computer code is standard Star League so no problem there. I have already made full copies of every computer program on those factories and shipyard just in case." Dr Garcia ended his report.

 "So basically we are at a standstill until we get this huge shipment in." It was a statement, not a question from Harry.

 "Pretty much, I can not think of anything else we can do until we see what Santa brings us for Xmas." George said

[2ndAcr]

 9 November 3051
        Pattonsburg

  It was almost 2am when Donald Mitchell awoke with a start, a pistol barrel to a persons forehead tends to do that. The figure of a man held the pistol "Get up, HE wants to see you now." The figure said. As Donald very slowly started getting out so he did not awaken his wife did he realize she was not beside him as usual. "Where is my wife?" Donald asked the figure only to receive silence as an answer. As he slipped on his robe, the figure pushed him towards the bedroom door "Hurry, you know HE does not like to wait."

  Slowly Donald descended the staircase to noting that 2 more figures stood near the massive front doors in the foyer. They had left the main lights off and only the dim night lights were on, Donald's escort gave him a light push to the left, towards Donald's office. As he moved to his office, he noticed the light coming from under the door. Oening the office door, he was pushed into the room by his escort. Donald managed to stay on his feet as the door to the office closed behind him. Donald noticed that the curtains to his office windows were pulled tightly shut. But his primary attention was on the figure standing near his wall map studying it.

 "Donald, you were given a task to complete and I told you what would happen if you failed in that task did I not?" The figure said never taking his eyes off the wall map.

 "Sir, I did as you ordered. I got Harry to accept your men and take them with him." Donald said suddenly even more scared than before.

 "That was only part of your task, where did your cousin get the Bastion station and what else has he discovered?" This time the figure turned and fixed Donald with an icy stare

 "Harry would not tell me anything else, I told you all I know."

 "We know you traveled to New Avalon on short notice and were only there several days. Who did you speak to?" The figures cold stare was causing Donald to fidget where he stood

 "Please" Donald said but the figures stare never waved "I went and met with Harry, he found something else. I do not know what, but it is huge whatever it is." As Donald pleaded he wondered to himself, your such a idiot, you were in the room with the most powerful men in the Federated Commonwealth, you should have told them all about everything, they could have protected you.

 "We know you are under surveillance Donald, you are being watched by MIIO. What did you tell them about us?" This was said in a much quiter but deadlier voice

 "Nothing, I swear, I told them nothing about you or your men." Donald was more terrified now than any time in his life.

 "My men have not returned nor have we had contact with them. You told someone about them." The figure accused

 "No, I told no one. I was told there was an attack on Harry's people. That is all I swear to you." Donald was silently cursing himself, god why didn't he tell everything he knew.

 "I do not believe Harry, I really don't. You were warned and now you must pay." As those words were spoken, Donald felt a small sharp stab in his left buttock

 "What was that? What did you do to me?" There was a warm feeling starting to radiate outward from the area of the stab wound

 "It seems you have been overcome with guilt over your attack on your cousin Donald, you can no longer live with this guilt. It is a near undetectable poison Donald. Very fast acting, you will be found dead along with your suicide note. Shame you had to kill your wife and daughter also." The figure said with no emotion in his voice

 Donald tried to speak but no sound left his mouth, he tried to move but nothing seemed to work, suddenly he was lying on his office floor looking up. It was like he could not breathe, his lungs were beggining to burn from the lack of oxygen. His last conscious thought was "what have I done".

 The figure took one last look down and Donald Mitchell. "Make sure you get the detectable poison down his throat. Put him in his office chair. I assume the others are handled?" The figure asked knowing that task was completed

 "Yes sir, the wife and child are in the childs room. Both shot in the head. I will make sure his prints are on the weapon."

 "Good. And of the oldest son?" The figure watched as his men gathered the body and began moving it to the chair behind the desk

 "He is in the AFFC. Last known assignment was the 2nd Crucis Lancers. But we know he was summoned to New Avalon and would have been there around the same time as Donald here."

 "So we do not know where he is at the moment or what he is doing. Fine, we will pick up his trail when he comes home for the funerals. Now let us leave here. Verify there is no trace of our being here."

 

[snakespinner]

Donald has been a bad boy.
I wonder how the people did all this with MI6 watching.
Very mysterious, and enjoying it. :thumbsup:

[2ndAcr]

 10 November 3051
      Pattonsburg

   Household staff discovered the bodies and quickly called local police. Their arrival alerted the MIIO detail that something was up. The lead agent of the detail was not happy as he made his way to the Mitchell estate. He had asked for permission to bug that house and office, but was ordered to only keep a loose watch on him. A very loose watch on his comings and goings, who met with him and such. There had only been one agent on duty last night, keeping watch from barn about a 1/4 mile from the house. The agent was also not responding to calls. The lead agent had told his boss that surveillance of this property was not going to be easy without bugging the interior. Now that reality had come to be.

 Pulling up to the first police cordon, he flashed his credentials and was informed of what had been discovered so far. He lifted his phone and dialed his boss on planet. "Subject and family are dead, looks at first report to be a murder suicide. Have not reached Crawford yet, I am heading there now. Out." The lead agent turned his head to the distant barn and started heading towards it. Arriving, he drew his weapon and made his entry, climbing the stairs to the loft, he saw the door slightly ajar, slowly pushing it open, he spotted Crawford slumped in his chair at the small window they used for the telescopes and night vision scopes. He was obviously dead also, for he could see the pool of blood around the chair, so this was not a murder suicide. This was an assassination but by who and what for. Lifting his phone he called his boss again "Crawford is dead, this was no murder suicide. Now we taking over the investigation or let the local's handle it? I understand sir, you realize Mr Allard is going to be pissed? Yes sir, we will clear the hide and stand by until further orders. Just hope those local cops don't screw the scene up too much."

 The lead agent called he detail and told them to come clear the hide site. As he hung up, and waited on the rest of his detail, he could not help but feel a slight shudder run thru him, he knew all hell was about to break out when Quintus Allard got the word. Since this operation was ordered by him. It was the local MIIO head that had refused closer in surveillance of the house and office, the local head was not the best or brightest, hence the posting to Pattonsburg. Planets like this, small population, no critical industry, far from the borders were where agents went on their first posting, last posting or where you parked the not quite good enough for the serious work. The detail lead was on his last posting, he had been an agent on the frontlines for over 30 years before being sent here 5 years ago. This was not going to be pretty.

  Word was sent to New Avalon, it arrived 4 days later using normal encoded HPG routing, which started a flurry of activity. The communication watch officer checked the master log for the notification line for this particular operation, finally finding this operation in the log his eyes widened, there we 3 names listed on the notification page:

 Quintus Allard
 Ardan Sortek
 Hanse Davion

 Holy crap, he thought to himself. Most operations had at least 10 names listed. But not this one, only those 3 people were cleared for notification about this operation. He knew Quintus Allard was off planet at the moment, so he placed a copy of the message form into a sealed envelope and had a runner take it to Sortek. He then called the senior black box communication supervisor over, "Send this to Quintus Allard right now." He did not know where Allard was, but he knew the Black Box guys always knew where certain people were. Communication with the top people was always done by Black Box, and the 3 names on that list were no fans of Comstar.

 The Black Box supervisor did know sort of where Mr Allard was, he was within 600 light years range. It would take 4 days for this message to reach him. As he super encoded the message and it was sent out.

 Quintus Allard's deputy was summoned to the First Prince's office where he was read the riot act by the First Prince himself. Leaving the First Prince's office a little worse for wear and arriving back at his office, he dispatched a full MIIO investigative and forensic team to Pattonsburg, he had to look up where the hell Pattonsburg was. He was told by the First Prince to get them there "right now". And when the Hanse Davion said "right now" all sort of stuff happens. First jumpship routes were checked, since this area was in the middle of Federated Suns space, traffic was fairly heavy, it took barely a day to form a command circuit to Pattonsburg. 3 different jumpships were ordered to kick a dropship loose at the jump point to make room.

 

[Daryk]

Hmmm... Did ROM leave the MIIO surveillance in place as a message to see what THAT would stir up?

[2ndAcr]

 14 November 3051
    Giverny Zenith Point


 Quintus Allard was awakened in his stateroom aboard the MST Star Lord by one of his agents. He read the fax message and after dressing headed back aboard his Fury Dropship. Entering the special area set aside for the communication agent in charge of his black box, "How far and how long to Crofton?" he asked the agent in charge of communication. Conculting his list he replied "19 hours by box sir, roughly 110 light years."

 Quintus thought for a second "Send a message to Crofton box, I want my command circuit reset from Okefenokee to Pattonsburg, have them add whatever ships are needed to complete the circuit. Advise them to standby for further instructions. I want the circuit complete within 10 days."

 The agent had taken the message down as Quintus spoke "Right away sir."

 Quintus left the communication area and sent and agent to awaken the jumpships captain and the Falcon warrior acting as Scott's aide. While that was going on, he headed for the dropships mess hall for some coffee. It took ten minutes by his watch for the 2 to join him. The agent stayed in the room until Quintus motioned for him to close the door and wait outside. It was obvious the 2 had rushed their dressing and he could tell the jumpship captain was very nervous. The Falcon warrior/aide had a defiant air about him.

 "Relax, I do not know your names?" Quintus tried to calm them both down

 "Sir, I am Gale Crumney, Captain of MST Star Lord and acting head of this fleet. This is Honos, aide to Colonel Mitchell." Gale spoke up as the ranking person between them both

 "Okay, Gale and Honos, please sit down" As they sat down opposite him he continued "What I am about to show you is classified, repeat what you see or hear and the next meeting will not be so nice. Do you understand?"

 "Yes sir" Gale and Honos said almost at the same time

 "Now, Gale, we still have the Merchant with us currently empty correct?" Quintus inquired

 "Yes sir, we brought it along as a backup. But it is staying here when we jump out. Colonel Mitchell's idea, he wants to setup a mini command circuit to Okefenokee." Gale responded.

 "Good that will work nicely then. What other ships are in Mackolla space and our eta there?" Another question

 "Should be 2 Scouts and Harry's Explorer sir. But we do not have crews for the Scout's. 8 days sir." Gale again answered

 "Thank you Gale, you may leave, I may have further directions for you later." Quintus dismissed her. He had initially planned to brief her in, but decided not to at the last second, less people knew, the better he would feel. Once Gale had left the room, he was alone with Honos, he fixed the ex-Falcon Warrior with a deadly stare before speaking.

 "Honos, Scott seems to trust you, I on the other hand trust very few. Not in my line of work. But, I am going to trust you with this information since it will be vital to the task I am about to assign you." Quintus said "I want you to read this message I have recieved. Then we will talk." Quintus handed over the fax and waited while Honos read it.

 "Who is this Donald Mitchell it speaks of sir?" Honos asked

 "That message is about Scott's father, mother and young sister. He does not know yet, but I will be informing him in a few days. I will be sending for Harry to meet us here. Scott might be in grave danger, your task is to watch out for him, protect him. You will accompany him back to his homeworld for the services. You are not to leave his side." Quintus stated while watching Honos.

 "Colonel Mitchell has always treated me fair and has earned my respect. I will do as you command." Honos said

 "Good, now let us eat breakfast and you tell me about yourself." And as if by magic, the door opened and breakfast was brought in for the 2 men. Over the next 2 hours Quintus learned more about Clan thinking and information about each of the invading Clans that in all the reports of interrogation he had read.

 Once Honos was dismissed, Quintus sat and thought to himself. Mackolla to the jump point, 10 days, roughly 8 days for us to recharge and make the jump to Mackolla. He had noticed that Gale was cautious in her recharging times. Just enough time for me to see this find of Harry's with my own eyes. Now the question is, do I tell Scott now or wait for Harry to arrive.

  Mackolla

 Harry had the Jumbo full of mechs brought down to the space port. Today, they would enter the cargo bays and the Heavy Guard mech warriors and mech techs would assist in determining what they actually had on board.

 "Captain, your men ready to help me figure out what we have in this ship?" Harry asked the gathered soldiers standing at the base of the Jumbo

 "Yes sir, glad to help out." The Captain replied.

 "Well, let's get started so I know what the heck we have in here." Harry waved the soldiers onboard.

 3 hours later, Harry knew what he had. The biggest Mechs were easy for the mech warriors but no one had ever seen mechs like these others before, they were all stumped until one of the techs suggested firing up one of the mechs and using it's war book to find out. They had chosen one of the smaller mechs for this. It took almost an hour before they had the mechs reactor purring like a kitten and the identification went fast after that. On board the Jumbo was a reinforced regiment consisting of:

 36 NTK-2Q Night Hawks
 36 TLS-1B Talos
 36 OWR-2Mb Ostwar
 36 THG-11E Thug
 800 tons of assorted spare parts

 "Sir, this is one nice regiment you have one board here, mind if we fire a few up and take them for a test run? We really want to play with the ones we never seen before." The Captain asked Harry

 "Okay, but just a few of them, don't go wild and unload the dropship." Harry wondered what all them were worth.

  "You got it sir, and thanks, this is a real treat. So you know, you have Star League era helmets and suits in each mech. We really want to play with those, only seen them in museums." The Captain said and started yelling at his techs to break out 3 of each mech for test runs.

  Pattonsburg

  The MIIO team from New Avalon arrived and hit the ground running. After informing the local police that they were assuming control over the investigation, they proceeded to the Mitchell estate and went to work. The first thing the forensic team thought to themselves was "it is a huge house, this is going to take a while". While the forensic team did their thing, the investigative team summoned all the household staff and began questioning them.

 The local MIIO team on planet knew they were in the doghouse big time when they were not asked to assist in the investigation. Instead they were told to await instructions.

 It took 2 hours for the forensic computer expert to crack into the computer on Harry's desk. Another hour to get into the computers programming. He linked in his own diagnostic computer and began his search, it took 15 minutes before he had something "Bingo, boss got some hits. Looks like 4 RAT's are on this computer, 3 are known programs, 1 is used by SAFE, 1 by the Cappies, and the 3rd is usually used by pirates and other assorted crud, it can be bought on almost any planet and has been around a long time. The 4th, well it is a RAT but the code is way too complex for any of the other groups. It is a elegant piece of programming."

 "So, we know his computer activity was being monitored but no clue who or why." The team lead said

 "His computer is tied into his companies main frame, so they also had access to it to. As far as the company main frame was concerned the boss was doing any searches. This guy's computer security sucked overall. I will keep digging and see if I can find what each program was doing or looking at."

  "Does he have the houses keycard logs on that computer?"

 "Give me a second...........no sir, what brand did he use?"

 "They were made by Apple, that help any?"

 "Sure does, Apple stores their logs on a seperate computer that does nothing but monitor the house security system. I did not spot any camera's around so probably tied direct to the local cops. Ask Chuck, he is the resident security guru."

 While the MIIO was swarming the estate, unknown to them a gardener near the estate watched while continuing his work. After a few minutes he turned to his partner "Go tell HIM that MIIO is here in strength. Donald had to have known something for this response."

[2ndAcr]

 15 November 3051
    Giverny Zenith Point

   Quintus had made the hard decision to wait and tell Scott about his family when Harry was here to help console him. Quintus liked the young man but was not family and this was something he would need family around for. He sent word to Mackolla for Kelly to get the prisoners ready for transport and to have extra guards traveling with them. Their arrival would be on 24 November and to be at the jump point waiting. Harry was to be on board and ready. Also he was to inform Harry to have his Explorer crew get over to a Scout Jumpship and have it ready to leave the system with Giverny Zenith Jump Point as it's destination.

 He deliberately announced his arrival 2 says later than they really would. He wanted to see the big find for himself. This would give him the time. He had spent yesterday questioning Scott on their needs and such. Today he would once again spend time with Scott listening and making notes.

 Mackolla

 Harry got the message from Kelly late in the day. Quintus Allard was arriving on the 24th? And he wanted Harry on board the transport carrying the prisoners? What was going on? He knew Kelly had already picked 2 squads of Heavy Guard infantry to assist in guarding the prisoners during transport.

 The Guard mech techs had had a field day running tests on the mechs aboard the Jumbo while the mech warriors played with the unknown mechs. One of the techs had even found full spec sheets and maintenance manuals for the mechs aboard. Dr Garcia was now in possession of those manuals and in heaven again reading Star League era manuals.

 Harry had finally let Paul take the Challenge Systems people over to the Riga to conduct a damage assessment of the ship. Even though they had no way to repair a ship that big, the constant pestering had gotten on Harry's nerves. He finally knew what the unknown dropships were, Pentagon Assault ships, heavily armed and armored. Extinct now, but a SLDF navy mainstay. Once crewed they would make a nice addition to Mackolla's Defense Force.

 Harry had made the decision that once the fleet arrived and recharged, he was going to have 2 of the Mammoths loaded with Germanium load up on a Merchant and head out. Harry figured the mining company was ready for some cash, plus Harry knew he was going to need a bunch of cash soon. CSM O'Malley had taken over where Scott had left off in pestering Harry about ammunition and weapons for his trainee's. To try and appease the CSM, Harry told him about the dropship loaded with infantry equipment they found but had not recovered yet. It did the exact opposite and the pestering got worse for that gear. Harry promised once again that it woud be very soon.

 Little did he know that it would be a while longer until he could continue his salvage operation.

     Pattonsburg

    He sat in the safe house thinking to himself. MIIO was all over the Mitchell Estate. Donald had to have told them something, but what? What had happened to his men? Only the dropship crew were highly trained personnel, the ground element was actually a pirate band in his employ. He could care less about the pirates but he would have to answer for the Scout crew if they never showed up again.

[mikecj]

ROM must be losing their minds...

[Daryk]

They definitely know something is up.  Seeing command circuits set up like that is an indicator of something BIG.

[2ndAcr]

 16 November 3051
         Pattonsburg

      The MIIO investigation had concluded at the Mitchell Estate, the forensic computer expert had spent the last 2 days massaging the computer trying to get it to give up it's secrets. But beyond the 4 RATs installed on it, he was unable to determine what was manipulated by the RATs or by Donald Mitchell himself. He was even unable to determine which RAT was used or when. The SAFE and Cappie ones had to be activated from an outside user. The 3rd one actually transmitted data to a address on the far side of Port Mitchell, which included the large space port facilities of Mitchell Interstellar and the small city that was close by. MIIO and local police had already raided the house but it was empty. The unknown RAT was not an active RAT nor could he determine if it had ever been used.

 Now, the computer expert was massaging the main frame of Mitchell Interstellar itself. There was some resistance from the CFO David Cochran now acting CEO, but MIIO has a way of getting what it wants. The "pirate" RAT as he was thinking of it had been on Donald's computer the longest, almost 4 years. But scanning the main frame he could not tell that any info transmitted was ever acted on. Which was suspicious in itself as Mitchell Interstellar carried some seriously valuable cargo to and from the OutBack regions. The SAFE RAT was installed 2 years go and the Cappie RAT a year ago, the unknown RAT, well he could not tell when it was installed. He had a full copy of it on his locked down computer for tranport to New Avalon where he could pull it apart line by line.

 The local MIIO team had been pulled in to assist in the interviews being conducted due to the shear number of people being interviewed. What did turn up during questioning of the companies Chief of Operations, was the last purchase of a small transport company with 2 Monoliths, 1 Star Lord and 2 Scout jumpships. During negotiations, which Donald handled himself which was not normal as Donald was very hands off, it was discovered that one Scout was recently added to the companies inventory, which made no sense as the Scout Class was not a fit for a shipping company. The other Scout had been a long term asset. When Mitchell Interstellar took possession of the ships, Donald insisted that this last jumpships crew be kept intact. Yet they never moved any cargo for Mitchell Interstellar, the Scout that had been a long term asset had some it's crew dismissed and replaced by other employee's and it had made some runs to nearby systems. The biggest BINGO moment came when the COO informed them that both Scouts had been leased on a long term basis to Donald's cousin Harry Mitchell.

 The lead MIIO investigator had his forensic accountant begin to research and pull everything that could be found about this small transport company and especially everything on the Scout jumpships. Backgrounds were already being run on the crews of those 2 ships using Mitchell Interstellar employment records. Initial discoveries by the accountant which peaked his curiosity even further was the price he paid for the small company. Donald Mitchell had Mitchell Interstellar pay almost twice what the small company was worth. Banks still held notes on the Monoliths and Star Lord, which he noted Mitchell Interstellar was rapidly paying off. As far as the accountant could tell, the small company was only worth about 600 million C-Bills but Donald had paid 1.5 billion for the company. This was going to take some time to properly dig thru, Mitchell Interstellar was a pretty big company and owned almost all of it's ships outright. He needed more people to dig thru all this.

 The lead investigator took his notes and headed for the Fury Dropship they had come in on and it's Black Box. He had a report to send to New Avalon.

[2ndAcr]

 18 November 3051
        New Avalon

  Quintus Allard's deputy was waiting in the First Princes outer office for his briefing on the current investigation on Pattonsburg. The report he had in his briefcase had some interesting information in it, he had already taken it upon himself to dispatch another team of 8 forensic accountants to Pattonsburg to assist the accountant there. Briefing the First Prince was Quintus' area, not his. Even though he had done it many times before, the reaction of the First Prince during the initial meeting had caught him off guard. This was extremely important to the First Prince. Finally after waiting 15 minutes, he was call inside the Prince's office.

 "Your Highness, I have the latest report on the investigation on Pattonsburg for you." The MIIO deputy said

 "What have they discovered?" Hanse Davion asked, the deputy could tell he was in a foul mood by his tone

 The deputy handed over the written report for the Prince to read as he began speaking. Hanse Davion was a notoriously fast reader and this trend continued as he was on page 4 by the time the deputy was on page 2. Hanse Davion had gotten to the juicy parts and interrupted the deputy.

 "I want extra people on this now, chase down every lead, I want the old owner of this company found and questioned. Complete histories of every ship from the day they were built. Run it all down. Whatever it takes, someone is poking at something I don't want poked. Do I make myself understood?" Hanse said as he fixed the deputy with a hard stare

 "Yes, your highness, I understand completely. Pull out all the stops and run it to ground." The deputy stated, he did not understand what was so important, but be damned if he would tell that to First Prince Hanse Davion

 "Thank you, your dismissed."

 

[2ndAcr]

 22 November 3051
         Mackolla

  The supply fleet materialized at the Nadir Jump Point. Harry and Gale had worked out that ships from the Inner Sphere proper would use the Nadir and the Zenith would be for recovered/salvaged ships. This would prevent any unwanted accidents during salvage operations. The systems shipyard operations was at the L1 Lagrange between Mackolla and the systems sun. Mackolla did not have a moon.

  As Quintus Allard entered the ships bridge, Scott turned and said "Mr Allard, welcome to Mackolla." Turning back to Gale, Scott said to her "Gale, kick the dropships loose and tell them to head to the planet. Have them contact the space port for landing instructions when they enter orbit."

 "How far out is this great prize Scott?" Quintus asked but it was Gale that answered instead

 "If she is still parked in her orbit, almost 4 days from here. Not enough time for you to lay eyes on her. But you can see the information feed we are starting to receive here." Gale pointed at the tactical board, on it, Quintus went over and Gale tapped a glowing dot on the map, it expanded to show a photo of the derelict Riga frigate. Another dot was showed moving to the Nadir point, Gale tapped it and saw it was a AFFC Condor.

 Quintus barely noted the Condor, still focused on the picture of the Riga. "Is she repairable?"

 Gale again answered "That is the idea sir, we don't have a yard big enough to do it though. She can be jumped safely by tender, that is how we got her here."

 "Gale, that Condor radioed in for docking clearance. Seems Harry is onboard her." The ships comm tech stated

 Gale thought for a split second "Tell them collar 2."

 Quintus was deep in thought as he turned and left the bridge and back to his stateroom.

 Gale and Scott shared a look of "what was that all about"

  24 November 3051
     Mackolla Nadir Point

    The Condor docking was routine, when the airlock spun open, Harry was the first one thru. "Mr Allard, welcome to Mackolla." Harry and Quintus shook hands "Scott great to have you back". Back to Quintus "We got those prisoners on board, surly bunch too." Quintus' eyes narrowed at their mention, he saw Kelly at the airlock door and nodded to the man, Kelly turned and motioned into the Condor. 4 infantrymen from the Guards took up position outside the airlock and the 19 prisoners began filing out. Each was handcuffed and shackled at the ankles.

 "Kelly, load them onto my Fury. The Guardsmen stay with the prisoners." Quintus said, Harry noted he had that ominous almost deadly tone in his voice again "Harry, would you and Scott join me in my stateroom while they get the prisoners locked down for transport, there is something important to discuss in private." It was not a question and as he turned and headed for his stateroom, Harry looked at Scott who just shrugged as they followed.

 Entering Quintus' stateroom he had been using aboard the MST Star Lord, he motioned to seats "Gentlemen please, sit." Harry and Scott sat down as Quintus continued "This is not going to be easy to hear, so please brace yourselves, I have recieved word that Donald Mitchell, his wife and daughter have been killed on Pattonsburg."

 Harry just sat there in silence, Scott immediately teared up but held his composure as best he could. "How, sir" was all he coud manage.

 "Initial reports are a murder suicide. They found a suicide note in Donald's office. I am very sorry to have to be the one to give this news to you both." Quintus said "We will be taking my Fury and docking with the Scout, from there we will take a command circuit I have setup to Pattonsburg. We should be on planet in 12 days time."

 Harry was still silent and Quintus could not imagine what was going thru his mind, but Scott's composure worried him, he was almost stiff besides the tears streaming down his face. He watched as Scott stood slowly "Sir, thank you for delivering the news, I would like to return to my cabin if that is okay." Quintus could only nod in reply. As the door opened and Scott exited, Quintus could see Honos dutifully following Scott.

 Turning back to Harry "Harry I am very sorry for your loss."

 Finally Harry spoke "Is it true, Donald took his own life and killed his family?"

 "Harry, the investigation is it's very early stages. But if your asking for my opinion, then no, I think an outside force did this." Quintus said "But I promise you, we will find the people responsible for this."

 Harry just nodded as he sat there deep in thought. His mind was going at light speed.

[2ndAcr]

 6 December 3051
        Pattonsburg

   Quintus Allard's Fury dropship landed at Port Mitchell and was met by the lead MIIO investigator as he disembarked down the ramp followed by his personal security team, Harry, Scott, Honos and Kelly.

 "Sir, I was not expecting you, I was just told to meet this Fury on the tarmac and bring cars fpr 12 people." The lead agent said

 "I want a full breifing on everything when I return here. Wait inside for me." Quintus said still walking to the awaiting cars. "Scott, Harry please join me in my car."

 Once inside the car, Quintus said "Scott, Prince Davion sent you his condolences, also since your father did not have a will, all his assets pass to you. He had his accountants and lawyers look into his estate. You own 90% of Mitchell Interstellar and Transport with a fleet of 46 Jumpships and 122 Dropships. 43 Jumpships are fully owned and 111 Dropships are wholly owned. Your father had 431 million C-Bills deposited in several banks. Mitchell Interstellar is valued at 151 billion C-Bills, they also own wholly this entire continent and Port Mitchell. The continent has a revenue stream of 38 million C-bills a year from taxes paid to your late father."

 Scott was in a state of shock, he knew his family was well off, but this was beyond well off, this was insane. "Sir, I don't know anything about running something like this, that was my fathers thing. I always wanted to be a soldier. Nothing more, make my own way."

 Quintus was sort of stunned by what Scott said. But he would respect the young man's wishes. "Take some time Scott, think this thru before you act. When you know what you want to do, tell me and it shall be done. We will stay at a hotel reserved for us. The funeral is scheduled 3 days from today."

  When they reached the hotel, it was a small one close to the space port and totally reserved and secured for this event by MIIO. Soon after entering his and Honos's suite, Scott said to Honos "Let's go, I need a drink, probably a lot of them."

 The 2 left the hotel and walked down the street to a local bar Scott remembered was frequented by folks employed by his father's company. Taking a small corner table, Scott ordered a beer for himself and Honos. After their drinks arrived, Scott sipped his and sat in silence thinking. Here I sit, drinking with a ex-Falcon warrior who is probably my best friend besides CSM O'Malley, no girlfriend, only real family left is Uncle Harry. Now I own a huge company, this entire continent but my home is Mackolla and the AFFC. I don't want the company, my duty is to protect Mackolla. I was appointed by god's right hand First Prince Hanse Davion himself.

  Suddenly words cut thru his thoughts "Who the hell is this at our table?" Scott looked up at Honos who was staring intently at something or someone behind Scott. After a few seconds a hand shoved Scott's shoulder and he heard Honos' chair slide backwards as he stood. Scott shook his head at Honos and turned to face the person that pushed his shoulder.

 "Can I help you with something?" Scott said as he took in the 4 men facing him, the closest was a big guy, almost as big as CSM O'Malley, but where the CSM was muscle this brute was mainly fat.

 "Yeah, this is our table, has been for years, so move your scrawny ass." Fat brute said

 "Well, it is currently occupied so you can wait until we are thru sir." Scott replied, he began to turn back to his drink when suddenly he was shoved hard.

 "How about I just make it available by throwing your little butt out of this bar." With that said he grabbed Scott's jacket and pulled, but instead of Scott being in the jacket, Scott had allowed it to be pulled right off his back, grabbing his beer mug he spun and smashed the mug into the face of the brute holding his jacket shattering a mouthful of teeth. As the man's head snapped back, Scott delivered a kick to the man's right kneecap which caused a loud screech from the brute. As the brute fell clutching his right knee, the other men in the group began making their move towards Scott. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he saw Honos round the table and slam into the guy on Scott's right. Another threw a jab at Scott which he easily deflected and while crouching slightly, seizing the mans arm, he folded the man's outstretched arm over his shoulder snapping it at the elbow. He then followed up with a elbow into the mans nether regions.

 As he released the guys arm, he went to assist Honos who was facing off with the remaining 2 men but before he could take the 4-6 steps needed more men he assumed were friends of their foes began converging on them. An angry crowd slammed into Scott driving him back and down under the weight. He felt fingers, so he grabbed ahold and bent them as far back as he could. Hearing the loud wail of agony, he released and gouged the eyes of the face closest to him, then kicked whoever was near his legs. Lucky for him, on the ground buried in a pile of bodies, only so many could land punches on him. He stabbed his fingers into a mans adams apple causing him to gag on reflex. He bit a arm that suddenly crossed his mouth as hard as he could. Slowly the pile was getting lighter and then a sharp stabbing pain filled his left side, he could feel warm blood flowing down his side. And then a gunshot rang out close by. He heard Honos' voice "No one move, get off him, NOW!!" As the pile removed themselves, he saw a small knife on the ground, blood on the blade. "Honos, I been stabbed." Scott said.

 The gunshot had alerted the nearby MIIO agents guarding the hotel and they came crashing thru the bar's door. Seeing Honos helping Scott to his feet, they spotted the bloody shirt. "I do not know who stabbed me, take them all into custody agent." Scott said. Honos sat Scott on a chair and checked his wound "It is a single puncture sir, no froth so it missed your lung, we need to get you to a medical facility." Honos said

 All Scott could do was nod.

[2ndAcr]

 6 December 3051
         Pattonsburg

  Scott was taken to a nearby clinic, while being treated for his stab wound he heard a commotion nearby and suddenly 2 MIIO agents of Quintus Allards security detail came thru the swinging doors followed closely by Quintus Allard himself, Uncle Harry was close behind.

 "Out, I want this room cleared NOW!" Quintus said in that deadly ominous tone. The attending doctor and nurse took one look and fled the room. Quintus motioned for another agent in the group and the man moved forward and began examining Scott's wound. "I want full blood work pulled, check for everything." Quintus told the agent.

 Looking at Scott "Not a full day on planet and already trouble. Scott explain to me why you left the hotel for a bar, the hotel has a bar." It was not a question that could be ignored

 "Sir, I been cooped up on ships for better than a month. I wanted to get away for couple hours. We just happened to get in a bar fight." Scott winced as the agent, obviously a medic assigned to Allards personal detail, probed his wound.

 Quintus softened his tone just a little "Scott, we are not sure what happened to your family. You have to realize that you are a very important person by now. You cannot just go out on the town for security's sake."

 "Sir, no one knows who I am, so my inheritance is not known." Scott argued back

 "Your importance is not monetary Scott. You are the commander of a defense force protecting one of the most important facilities in the Federated Commonwealth. I can think of 4 groups off the top of my head who would trade entire worlds and countless regiments to get their hands on you." Quintus said very quietly

 Scott let that sink in for a few seconds "I am sorry sir, that never crossed my mind like that."

 "I accept your apology, now let us get you cleaned and patched up and back to the hotel where the doctor here can really see to your wounds." Quintus said almost fatherly sounding. As he turned, he shot a quick glance at Honos who could not tell what it meant. But Honos felt he had failed to protect the man he swore he would

[2ndAcr]

 6 December 3051
         Mackolla

   If the locals had thought the last dropship fleet landing was huge, the fleet that landed on the 1st had dwarfed it. George looked at the manifest of material aboard all the dropships and his eyes bugged out. A veritable swarm of loader mechs had unloaded from the dropships to assist in unloading them.

 Already he had ordered the construction company to begin construction of the steel factory. Full plans had come with the factory, the construction manager checked them and had told George it would take roughly 3 weeks to be in operation. George had called in the mining foreman and handed him the list of mining equipment sent, his eyes also bugged out. "George, this will double our mining ability and then some. I can probably even start another mine with left over equipment." George just told him to handle it and the manager flew out the door at a run.

  George had the Mammoth containing the Germanium processing plant head for the L1 Lagrange point where Paul and Albert's crews would assist in the assembly of the plant. Full blue prints for it had also arrived with it. He handed these to Dr Garcia, "You think we could duplicate this plant?" he asked. After a few minutes Dr Garcia said "Let me look them over and I will let you know." He left George alone with his tasks. He still had several factories to get assembled but the construction company could only do so much at once. George looked up as CSM O'Malley entered "You called." George handed over the list of military gear "Here, this is now your problem to handle." Looking at the list of equipment and ammunition once again George watched the beholders eyes widen. "I am on it George." The CSM said as he turned and left swiftly.

 George looked out the small window of his office at the vast flood of equipment and supplies were unloaded. He needed fuel for all the trucks, so he made up his mind to send the Aqueduct to Okefenokee for a fuel run. They needed good old gasoline for those trucks parked in the warehouse.

 Checking the manifests again, he saw that he also had prefab housing for thousands of people to assemble. The tasks were huge, but it was what they had been waiting on. George could see some light appearing at the end of the tunnel he had been staring into. It would take months to get locals trained up on working in all the factories but finally they could maybe begin production of something.
 
   9 December 3051
           Pattonsburg

    The funeral service was deliberately kept small for security reasons. Interment was in the small family cemetery located on a small hill overlooking Port Mitchell. After the services, Quintus Allard returned to his Fury to conduct some business in his words. Scott, Harry, Kelly and Honos went to Mitchell Interstellar headquarters for a meeting with the heads of the company. Scott had decided what he was going to do, yesterday he had asked Quintus if he had a list of company assets and was surprised when Quintus handed him the list in seconds. He then asked Quintus had a list of vetted employees, which again Quintus produced in seconds. Scott had spent the entire night with Harry and Honos going over the lists. They did not know what Scott was going to do, but they did as he asked, sorting the vetted crewmen by job, single etc.

  Arriving at the company headquarters, they entered and were met by the CFO and COO. Introductions were made and then the group headed for the office of the CEO, his late father, Scott thought to himself. Entering the office, Scott took a seat in a chair at the conference table inside the office. He was mentally fighting memories of the few times he had been in this office with his father. Once everyone was seated Scott began.

 "Gentlemen, thank you for meeting with me on short notice. I have decided that since I do not know the first thing about running an interstellar shipping company and after considerable thought, I have made the following decisions. One, I am appointing a board of directors. You 2" Scott indicated the CFO and COO "will each have 10% of the company stock I now control, First Prince Hanse Davion or his heir will control 20%, Quintus Allard or his heir controls 20%, current shareholders get 10% and I will retain 30% of the shares. That gentlemen is the companies board of directors effective 10 December 3051. Board members may appoint proxies to act on their behalf.

 Two. The following ships no longer belong to the company and are hereby transferred to Mitchell Aerospace:

 6 Star Lords
 4 Invaders
 2 Aqueducts
 10 Mules
 10 Mammoths

 Along with this list of employees. They now work for Mitchell Aerospace. I still own and control Port Mitchell which you will continue to maintain and pay a rent of 38 million C-Bills per year like you always have. Housing and retirement on and around Port Mitchell remains the same for company employees."

 When Scott finished, the CFO and COO looked like they got ran over with a truck. "Sir, that is billions in assets your taking." The CFO objected.

 "It was either this or I liquidate the company entirely. But this company has been in my family for roughly 300 years, it is only right that I maintain it. In some fashion anyway." Scott was not to be deterred

 "Yes sir, we understand, we will adjust our shipping schedule accordingly." The COO stated with a nod, Scott continued eyeing the CFO, I do not trust this man but with 2 of the most powerful men in the FC on the board there is not much he can do, Scott thought to himself.

 Scott continued "Now gentlemen, if you will excuse us, I will let you return to work and we shall take our leave."

 Everyone began standing up and leaving the room, after Scott and his companions got back into their car, Harry finally said "Jesus Scott what did you just do in there?"

 "Relax Uncle Harry, I just expanded your existing fleet and added enough crews for them. I still have controlling interest, but I cannot watch their every move from Mackolla. This way, they know some very powerful people are now keeping a close eye on them. I been working on a plan for both the defense of Mackolla and give us some flexibility in getting stuff we need." Scott explained. "Kelly, take us to the Fury to see Mr Allard please."

 After 20 minutes, they arrived at the Fury, Kelly led them inside and to Quintus Allards office. Quintus looked up as they entered "How did the meeting go?"

 "Better than I expected, I appointed a board of directors to oversee the companies affairs since I will not be able to do so from my duty station." Scott said

 Quintus' eyes narrowed "Can you trust this board of directors Scott? They could easily oust you and you lose everything."

 "Oh, I think I can trust them not to do that sir, see you now have a 20% stake in the company and you are on the board, as is First Prince Hanse Davion or your heirs. He too controls a 20% stake. I am pretty sure the First Prince can have the proper paperwork drawn up fairly quickly." Scott said with a smile

 It was not often that someone surprised Quintus but this came as a shock, he glanced at Kelly and got a look and nod that said it all "The kid sure did it."

 "Now sir, tell me what has been discovered in the investigation into my families death, all of it sir." Scott said

 "Better sit down and I will start from the beginning on what we know and what we suspect." Quintus opened a folder on his small desk.

[Shadow_Wraith]

 ;D That was an awesome update!  Having the First Prince and head of MIIO to be board members is brilliant!  Good way to keep an eye on the company!

[2ndAcr]

 Thanks glad you liked it.

[cawest]

talking about having someone looking over your shoulders... go god... that should keep the game playing limited with the head of the house intel sitting nearby. 

[2ndAcr]

 9 December 3051
         Pattonsburg


 Quintus laid it all out for Scott and Harry, he did not even hesitate with Kelly and Honos in the room also.

 "So far this is what we know for fact:
  - Your mother and sister were shot once with the gun found on your fathers desk, his prints were the only ones found
 - Your father dies of a ingestion of a very powerful and quick acting poison that has yet to be identified
 - 4 Remote Access Trojans were discovered on your fathers office computer, 3 have been identified 4th is unknown at this time, we do not know who planted them
 - Your father paid twice what his last company purchase was worth, in it was a Scout jumpship that he demanded the crew be kept together, they never hauled a single item for Mitchell Interstellar, this Scout was then leased to Harry
 - This Scout was purchased from a operator owner who used to travel between 4 planets regularly, Terra, New Home, Keid and New Earth, with crew
 - Backgrounds on my guests from the Scout you brought me are drawing a blank, they are not in the system at all
 - Backgrounds on several of the ground personnel has them wanted in several FC worlds for piracy
 
 Now what we suspect:
 - Your father knew exactly who he was sending Harry, he was in on it in someway
 - Everything is pointing to ROM as the killers but we cannot rule out others at this time
 - Someone is trying very hard to find out what is going on out on Mackolla
 - Scott, you are in very serious danger here on Pattonsburg
 
 That is all we know up to this date, we are doing all we can to identify the people responsible." Quintus said.

 "ROM, that equals Comstar sir." Scott said very flatly absorbing the news

 "Yes it does Scott. It is common knowledge that there is no love lost between the Federated Suns and Comstar." Quintus replied "The current Primus is quite hostile to our nation. Understand this, we cannot rule out other nations, any and all of them would sell their first born to lay their hands on your discoveries."

 "So now, instead of just protecting Mackolla from possible pirate attack, I have to worry about Comstar showing up too. Man, I might need to rethink our defenses some." Scott said

 "When you decide what you need, let me know and we will try to assist you in any way we can. Now, how long are you staying on Pattonsburg?" Quintus inquired

 "Just long enough for our ride to get here. Closest is roughly a month away. I left instructions that the ships being transferred are to gather at Crofton except for the one picking us up here. We are going to take a different route to Mackolla this time instead of thru Okefenokee. No sense on anyone watching Okefenokee seeing 2 huge fleets pass thru into the Periphery in so little of time." Scott replied

 "Good security is essential. I thought Mikael was the only one who knew the exact jump coordinates to Mackolla?" Quintus asked

 Harry spoke this time "I may not be as good as Mikael, but I been jumping uninhabited systems for my entire career Quintus, I know exactly where she is."

 "Hmmmm, Kelly, keep him safe you here me?" Quintus said and got his answer "Yes sir, you know I will."
 "Now as much as I would like to stay longer, I must return to New Avalon with our guests and try to unravel this mystery."

 "Promise me you will tell me who was behind everything the moment you know sir." Scott said with iron in his voice
 
 "I promise Scott, you will know the moment I do." Quintus said with just as much iron

 The gathered men said their goodbye's and departed leaving Quintus Allard alone in his office already thinking about how to flush his prey.

 
 

[2ndAcr]

 9 December 3051
        Mackolla

  George thanked all the gods and Hanse Davion for his gift of the 12 experienced experts in running a planet. He had them settled in a cluster of offices down the hall from his office. They consisted of:

 Corey Glendon - Chamberlain
 Keith Manzele - Master Tech
 Brian Pierce - Chief Astech
 Pasquel Hernandez - Planetologist with 3 others
 Justine Duran - Computer Systems Expert
 Melinda Klein - Head Accountant with 3 others

 Justine Duran was already upgrading the headquarters buildings computer systems using equipment brought by the dropships. George was not keen on handing the reigns over to Keith Manzele as head tech, but Keith assured him that George ran the show, his job was to assist where he could to ease the burden. Melinda Klein had called the mining manager in and was reviewing his numbers of mined ores, current value and what was Marquis Mitchell's revenue owed from the mining operations. Which caused an objection from the mining manager since nothing had left the planet to be sold or had even been used so far.

 Overall George was very happy at the moment, the additional help allowed him to focus on developing the companies industrial base so they could begin actually building something. But he needed skilled workers to train the locals. His current people could only take them so far.

[2ndAcr]

  10 December 3051
          Pattonsburg

   Scott, Harry, Kelly and Honos watched Quintus Allards Fury lift off from Port Mitchell beginning it's return to New Avalon, when the glare from it's engines were no longer visible the 4 men turned and went back to their hotel. The group entered Scott's suite and took seats at the large dining room table. Scott began the discussion.

 "I have been thinking about space defense of Mackolla, we need a way to give us some rapid defense of the systems primary jump points and of the shipyard itself. Last night I was reading an article a few months old about a small space station made by Boeing. It has warship grade weapons and can hold 24 Aerospace fighters. If we had 4 of those we could put one at each primary jump point and 2 covering the shipyard. I saw a price estimate of 300 million each. They are 30 thousand tons each and can be carried by a jumpship for easy transport. They might be sitting ducks for warships, but currently only the Clans and us have a warship and we are a long ways from the Clans. We have no where near enough fighters to fully staff them but even a single squadron aboard each gives us a good trip wire defense and immediate response to unwelcome visitors. And Quintus did tell me to let him know if we need anything.

 Now on the ground we have an armored regiment albiet with older equipment overall but in new condition, we also have 3 regiments of Infantry. We won't stop a full on invasion but we can probably beat off a raid by pirates. If we had those space stations, we only have to fight off what makes it thru them." Scott said, Harry had not told him about the regiment of Mechs yet.

 "Scott, I forgot to mention, I brought the Jumbo down while you were with the fleet, we have over a regiment of mechs also. We don't have pilots for them, but we have 144 mechs. The Guard mech drivers took some for test runs and said they were sweet rides." Harry admitted to Scott

 "Okay, so now we have a mech regiment with no pilots. No way we are training up mech pilots in our own. I have been leaving the Heavy Guard garrison out of my equations because sooner or later I am going to have to kick them loose to return to their unit. We are one big juicy ass target right now. That last supply run Quintus brought had 2 wings of Aerospace fighters on it with pilots and techs. Right now, they are our primary defense against any hostile forces." Scott said while deep in thought "But we have a bigger issue facing us, we are going to need people for all this industry we are putting in place. Feeding them is pretty easy, the numbers I have seen tossed around we can easily feed and support a good sized population. Vetting newcomers is a time consuming task, what I propose is using that star map you have stashed Uncle Harry and send a small expedition to some of those "lost" planets near us, see if we have people on them that woud like to move to Mackolla.

  Harry thought for a bit before answering "That is a thought, I have not been to any of those worlds, I spent most of our time searching 2-3 jumps from the Federated Suns border. We have not even landed on Giverny yet to have a look see, never even moved past the jump points. What do you think Kelly?"

 "As long as the people on those lost worlds have not had any recent contact with anyone, there should be no security risk in resettling them to Mackolla. No way we could do any kind of background checks on them but we do control all communication off world. And even Black Box transmissions are detectable." Kelly stated

 "I almost forgot to do something, Honos, hold out your wrist please." Scott said and Honos held out his wrist containing the bonds cord "For saving my life the other day, you are free of your bond oath." With that said, Scott cut the bond cord free from Honos "So, what do you want to do now that you are free?"

 "I will stay with you, I am now a member of the Mackolla Defense Force. You have a pilot for a Mech now sir." Honos said rubbing his wrist absently, his arm felt 10 pounds lighter with it removed.

 "Good, you are now a Captain in the Mackolla Defense Force. Someday we will have pilots for you to command, I promise." Scott said with a smile "So Uncle Harry, when do you plan to restart salavage operations again and what will you need to accomplish that task?"

 "I have given it a ton of thought, I would like to head back out when we return to Mackolla, I had envisioned way sooner but so much has happened in the last year I had to keep pushing it back. As to what I will need, currently I plan to take our 2 Star Lords, both Tugs, Aqueduct and full salvage teams." Harry said

 "Let's add a Star Lord to that expedition, we have a few more now. Plus, you will take both Leopard CV's, 2 squadrons of fighters and at a minimum a company of infantry with you for security." Scott said "And how about one of those fancy Pentagon dropships, I hear they are loaded with guns.. That is enough dropships to fully load one Star Lord and leave you with 12 collars empty for recovery operations."

 Scott continued "So, we are agreed on the search for possible resettlement operations and on Uncle Harry's salvage operation?"

 Everyone agreed. Scott nodded "Great, Kelly how about hooking up with that MIIO team on planet and sending a fax to Quintus asking about getting a few of those fancy new space stations for us."

3052 was shaping up to be a busy year for everyone.

[2ndAcr]

 10 December 3051
          Pattonsburg

    Across the street from the hotel, the window washer watched the front of the hotel in the reflection of the window he was washing. He had already spotted what he expected were 2 MIIO agents guarding the hotel. Making any moves before today was much too risky with the Davion Spy Master himself at the hotel. But now, he was gone and with him the extra MIIO coverage his presence had entailed. How easy it would be to just blow the hotel up, but he was under orders to find out what was happening, where it was happening and what part did these men play in it.

 He had identified Donald's son Scott Mitchell and Harry Mitchell, the big guy was obviously a MIIO agent but the 4th was a total mystery. He had watched the bar fight the other night and while Scott was a skilled unarmed fighter, the 4th man was better, he was a warrior thru and thru. It had cost him 1000 C-Bills to the man with the knife, the object had been to snatch Scott up using an ambulance but MIIO intervened and the mission was scrubbed. He was lucky MIIO did not question anyone in depth, everyone in the bar had testified that the initial group that started the brawl were local thugs.

 He had moved to the hospital but made a hasty retreat when Quintus Allard swept into the place with a veritable army of MIIO agents. It had suddenly become way too dangerous a place to risk being. He had stood down his entire team of 6 as long as Allard was on planet. But how were the Mitchell's connected to Quintus Allard and MIIO? It was obvious they had something MIIO wanted to keep safe but the ease at which they interacted with the Spy Master was much more than the obvious. There was much more to this group than met the eye, but what was it?

 When he finished his recon mission he would report back and assign a team of watchers. Maybe they would catch a break an be able to grab one of the men and learn their secrets.

   24 December 3051
            Pattonsburg

   Scott could not take it any longer, for 2 weeks they had hunkered down in this hotel, but it was Christmas Eve for the love of god. He suddenly left his suite with Honos hot on his heels, heading to Harry and Kelly's suite he was about to knock on the door when it opened to reveal Harry and Kelly. "What a coincidence, we were about to come get you, we are going stir crazy and want to get out of this hotel for a bit." Harry said

   Scott could not help but smile broadly "We were doing the same thing. I am tired of this hotel food."

  "Then let's get going, there must be a really fine restraunt nearby we can spend some of your fortune in." Harry said with a bigger grin

 The 4 men asked the hotel's desk clerk and were directed to a 5 star restraunt 3 blocks away. Kelly spoke to one of the MIIO agents who relayed the word to his team leader. Lucky for everyone, Port Mitchell was located in an area where the temperature was almost always nice. Winter here was around 50F and their suit jackets did the job nicely. The stroll to the restraunt was pleasant, everyone enjoyed getting away from the hotel for a bit. Reaching the restraunt, they secured a table and began scanning the menu's. Honos had no clue what any of the dishes were listed, but then again no one else really did either. But all but Honos knew what the price's were, and nothing on the menu was what anyone would call cheap. Light discussion between them settled the menu crisis they faced.

 When the waiter came over to take their order Harry answered for everyone "We will each take a steak, medium well, baked potato, salad and some corn. I have no clue where that would be listed on this menu as my French is really rusty."

 "Right away sir, and for your drinks this evening?" The waiter asked

 Scott checked the menu and decided what the heck "I cannot pronounce it but we will take a bottle of this." He pointed to the menu

 "Excellent choice sir, a very excellent choice." The waiter excused himself

 "What did you order us anyway Scott?" Kelly asked

 "No clue but it costs 5500 C-Bills a bottle what ever it is." Scott replied and burst out laughing at everyone but Honos' expressions, monetary costs were still foreign to Honos. "Merry Christmas everyone, my gift to you all."

 They spent the time awaiting their meals to arrive drinking the very expensive but delicious wine trying to explain money and such to Honos. Dinner arrived and it put the hotel food to shame, as it should. The bottle of wine did not make it halfway thru dinner before Scott ordered another bottle for the table. As dinner was finishing, no one seemed in a hurry to leave so Scott ordered a third bottle. 3 hours later, it was decided to head back to the hotel, as everyone sttod up, the feeling of being slightly tipsy hit everyone, but it seemed to hit Honos the hardest. Scott wen to pay the bill and was surprised when it came up to 19,000 C-Bills. Handing over his new credit card, which was swiped and handed back. Signing, he decided what the heck, make the waiters night, he left him a 500 C-Bill tip.

 Joining his friends outside, Kelly was having to support Honos, they began the 3 block walk back to the hotel. Made a little longer this time by everyones difficulty walking an exact straight line. As they rounded a corner a sudden flash went off along with a extremely loud bang. FLASHBANG zipped thru Kelly's alcohol fused brain as he dropped Honos and went for his gun. Something hard slammed into his gun hand as he went to draw and something else crashed into the back of his head and he saw stars.

 Harry's vision was just returning when he saw a ski masked figure appear in front of him with what looked like a gun. He lunged forward and tackled the figure and they began fighting on the ground. Scott was the least rattled by the flashbang and he siezed a hand holding a gun and twisted with all his might until a loud pop came from the wrist area, when the gun dropped from the hand he knelt slightly and punched the man in the jewels as hard as he could. As the man he was fighting fell to the ground he reared back and kicked the guy in the head as hard as he could. Turning back to his Uncle Harry, he took 4 steps and drop kicked his assailant also in the head, trying for all his might to remove the head from his shoulders.

 The sounds of fighting died out after that, Scott helped his Uncle Harry up and then assisted Kelly to his feet. Looking around, he realized that Honos was nowhere to be found. "Where is Honos?" He shouted.

 Kelly got on his radio and informed the local MIIO team of what occured. Within half an hour the small city of Port Mitchell was locked down tight with local cops blocking every road exiting the small city of 25,000 people. The head MIIO agent on planet, still missing 10 pounds from the ass chewing he took from Quintus Allard himself called in one of the planets militia infantry regiments to assist in the search. Within 3 hours time Planetlifter's were landing on Port Mitchell's space port runways.