The Quest

[2ndAcr]

 
   When the SLDF began the Exodus, the 31st Provisional Fleet Logistics Squadron elected to stay behind. Their commander, Commodore Henry Mitchell moved the Squadron to the Federated Suns where he formed Mitchell's Space Recovery and Salvage. The company consisted of 2 Star Lord Jumpships, 2 Elephant tugs, 2 Aqueduct Dropships and 8 Mule Dropships. During the savage fighting of the Succession Wars, Mitchell's Salvage assisted the AFFS by helping recover and salvage many Dropships, Jumpships and even a few Warships. By the time Commodore Mitchell passed away in 2823, the company had added 2 Merchant Jumpships to it's fleet.

 Control of the company passed to his 2 sons. Bickering between the 2 brothers saw the company go thru a major shakeup, the oldest son wanted to continue with his fathers support of the AFFS, though it was never a major money maker since their father felt it was his duty in time of war to assist. The younger son wanted to make money. To end the bickering, the 2 Merchant Jumpships and 4 Mule Dropships were transfered to a new company Mitchell's Interstellar Transport. Over the next 220 years Mitchell's Salvage stayed afloat but just barely while Mitchell's Interstellar thrived and grew. The 2 sides of the family slowly grew apart over the years.

 Mitchell's Interstellar Transport based from Pattonsburg where this side of the Mitchell family bought an entire continent as their company headquarters and as a place for the companies families. Port Mitchell was founded here and grew to a huge spaceport and trans shipment location for goods being transported. The company grew to over 30 Jumpships and 100 Dropships moving goods all over the Federated Suns.

 On the other side of the family, Mitchell's Salvage had fully caught the salvage bug and moved from one war zone to another salvaging damaged Jumpships and Dropships for the AFFS, never for a fortune but duty. Until 2921 that is, it was during this year that the head of Mitchell's Salvage sold 1 Starlord, 2 Mules and 1 Aqueduct to his distant cousin and took the remaining Starlord, 2 Elephants, 1 Aqueduct, 2 Mules to the Federated Suns Periphery border and began chasing tales of lost warships that could be salvaged. His distant cousin called him a fool. But he would show him. 132 years later, they were still trying to show them.
 
  7 May, 3045
Port Mitchell, Pattonsburg

  A young 15 year old Scott Mitchell crouched near his fathers study listening to the arguing going on inside. Even though the doors were thick, the shouting was easily heard. Inside his father, Donald Mitchell, was arguing with his rarely seen or heard from distant uncle.

 "No, I will not loan you 300 million C-bills to continue some far fetched, never to found rumor from the deep. Your side of the family have wasted over a hundred years chasing all over the Periphery. What have you all found? A couple of jumpships, which is all that kept you all afloat all these years." Donald Mitchell shouted.

 A red faced Harry Mitchell stood across from his very distant cousin and tried to calm himself before replying. "You think I like coming all the way up here, hat in hand begging you? I took what my dad had found, spent the last 5 years gathering intel and I got some really good leads this time. I followed 1 lead to where it led me and I found a planet on on the maps but used to be Suns territory. I will not say what planet it is, yet. There is a small city still there about 2 million people. Low tech. But there I found escape pods discarded at an old space port that bore the name of what I seek. I am close."

 Donald could see he was not getting thru to his cousin, he took a deep breathe "Harry, give it up. Move your people up here, join me. This fantasy quest your great grandfather started has basically ruined you. Untold millions lost running around out there. Settle your people up here, give them a home. Reunite the Mitchell families. You have been here a month, you see how nice it is. My wife and son have enjoyed meeting you, heck I can not get my son to shut up about your tales of adventure. He wants to be a Mechwarrior, even though I have tried to talk him out of it. But I am indulging him and he is already scheduled to enter Albion Military Academy or I fear he would run off with you and waste his life."

 Harry was stung by those words, waste of his life. "Okay Donald, I will take my leave now and return to my wasted life. We are still family so I thank you for the hospitality you have shown me and my crews. I wish the best for both you and your family. I have one request if I may?"

 "What would that be Harry?" Donald could not but ask.

 "I have no direct family of my own, no wife, no kids, I am the last Mitchell in our branch of the family. I would like to stay in touch with your son, Scott if I may. I would even like to stay in touch with you. And I hope that offer of a home is still around if this does not pan out." There was the hint of a tear in Harry's eye as he spoke.

 Donald did not hesitate "Of course the offer of a home stands Harry, for you and all your people. And yes, I will not prevent any communication with Scott. I only ask that you do not try to influence his life, allow him to make his own choices as I am. I wanted him to learn the shipping business, but my wife convinced me that I must allow him to make his own way."

 "Of course, Mitchell's make their own choices. You have my word, I will not influence the boy." With that said, both men shook hands and Harry left the room.

 As the door knob started to turn, Scott jumped up and slid around the corner to the stairs before turning and walking back around the corner just as the door opened.

 "Uncle Harry, want to toss the ball around?" Scott asked with hope.

 "Sorry Scott, but I have to be leaving and getting back to my work. I have enjoyed our time together, I promise to stay in touch. I wish you the best at Albion and you do the Mitchell name proud, you hear."

 "I will, gonna miss all them stories." Scott said.

 "I promise to return some day and tell you all my adventure stories."



 

 

[Siden Pryde]

Looking good so far.  Want to see where this goes.

[2ndAcr]

 Thanks, there will be some jumps forward and back in time so be warned.

[2ndAcr]

 17 June 3050
 
 Newly commissioned Subaltern Scott Mitchell reported to his new unit the 2nd Crucis Lancers in the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth. His nation was at war with an unknown invader, his new unit was heading out to show them the error of their ways. The space port was a frenzy of activity as he emerged from the Regiments HQ being led to his Battalion HQ by a burly quiet sergeant. As they arrived at the Battalion HQ, which was almost completely packed up, he found himself facing a huge angry looking Sergeant Major standing at the door.

 His escort pulled up short and quickly said "Sar Major, this is Subaltern Mitchell, he just arrived and the CO said to bring over to you."

 Subaltern Mitchell felt the Sargeant Major's eyes boring into him, shaking off a doomed feeling, he was just about to say something when the Sargeant Major spoke.

 "Thank you Sargeant, I have him now, you are dismissed." At that, the escort turned and rapidly evac'ed the area.

 "Subaltern Mitchell, I am Sargeant Major O'Malley of 2nd Mech Battalion. The CO is checking the loading of the dropships right now. But in the meantime, I need your transfer orders, your personnel packet. Now come inside and let's get stuff started." As they entered the HQ, Scott could hear the SGM muttering to himself "of all the time to send us a damn green, know nothing officer. What are the higher ups thinking, we do not have time to nurse maid some wet behind the ears, barely out of diapers officer. Just going to get a bunch of folks killed, what a FUBAR."

 Entering what to Scott was a lions den, actually the Sargeant Major's office, that feeling of dread magnified. "Now, let's have that paperwork sir."

 Quickly handing over his paperwork to the Sargeant Major, Scott assumed a parade rest position. Even though he technically out ranked the Sergeant Major, he was not about to tempt fate or the ire of this SGM. He watched as the SGM inserted his personnel disc into the computer. The SGM punched a few keys, made some grunting noises, then paused "You got some good scores at the academy sir, decent Mechwarrior but you scored really high in strategy, tactics, logistics. We are at full strength on Mech pilots right now, but I expect the CO will assign you to HQ as a reserve pilot. You will probably be assigned a staff slot to help with the move and all."

 Scott felt like he was punched in the gut, a staff job, not a Mech pilot slot. Life sure did suck at this moment. Seeing the new officer deflate in front of him, SGM O'Malley decided to ease this officer's mind some "Sir, have a seat while we wait for the CO. I will give you a brief run down on things." He paused as the young officer found a folding chair and sat down in it "Sir, I know you had your heart set on a pilot slot, every mech warrior does, but all slots are filled right now. Use this time to get used to active duty routine, we have been invaded and are moving to engage the invader as we speak. Combat opens slots up really fast, you will get your chance so make the most of the down time."

 As the SGM ended and before Scott could answer, a roaring voice sounded from the outer office "Of all the stupid, short sighted horse crap I have ever seen or heard of........SGM O'MALLEY where are you?"

 SGM O'Malley sttod and looked at Scott and winked "The CO must have heard about you." He said to Scott then to the unseen voice "In here sir, got our new officer with me."

 "Well get him out here and let's get loaded up on the Dropship, we boost in 6 hours. They pushed up our departure time. I will brief him in when we have boosted. Leave anything not mission critical.........stupid rushing around BS."

 

[2ndAcr]

 22 March 2766
 System NC4793

 Rear Admiral Kincaid of the Rim Worlds Navy was on the bridge of the RWS Shark Fin, a Riga class frigate. He studied the ships plot board and checked the status of his small flotilla. RWS Shark Fin was leading the recovery of war material from one of the Rim World outposts. He had 2 other warships in his escort fleet, the RWS Brutal and RWS Doomslayer both Pinto Corvettes. They were escorting 11 assorted jumpships carrying almost a full division worth of equipment, a Bastion space station and the full equipment to assemble a pressurized repair yard for ships up to 250,000 tons.

 He knew the mission was vital, but he chaffed at not being in the fight. Even though he wanted in the fight, he knew he had to be careful, you never knew when you would trip over a SLDF naval patrol. He also had a long way to go before he reached even remotely friendly lines. The entire Federated Suns was between him and Terra. They had 8 jumps to go before they even reached Federated Suns space. They would be using unpopulated systems to cross Suns territory. It was going to be a long tiring journey.

 9 November 3047
 System NC38754 Zenith Jump Point

 Harry Mitchell shook off the effects of the jump quickly as usual, he noted that sensors were coming online again. "Anything here sensor"

 "Contact, we have a radar contact closer to the Nadir Jump Point but not in it, looks to be almost half way to the systems star."

 "Okay, any idea what we got? Another damned asteroid again full of iron?" Harry noted the contact in his diary, "Keep an eye on it, rig for charging the drive and launch a tug to have a look see at what we got."

[2ndAcr]

 13 November 3047
 System NC38754

 Mitchell's Salvage Tug MST Bully Boy was finally near enough to the radar contact to get a good look at her. It was a Invader Jumpship with what looked like 2 blown apart dropships attached. The Invader was in a slow drift towards the systems star. No electrical output what so ever was detected. It was a dead ship.

 MST Bully Boy maneuvered to arrest the ships drift. The tug had to match the ships speed and spin perfectly or it would be a hard contact/crash. It had been a few years since the crew attempted this, so everyone on board was on edge. With a loud CLANG echoing thru the tug, she mated up to the Invader. Firing her thrusters she began to arrest the Invaders spin, after several minutes the Invader was no longer spinning in space. MST Bully Boy did not carry any combat personnel as she was designed but she carried 80 salvage technicians. 20 of these Techs performed an EVA and after several hours cut thru the Invaders hull and gained entry to the ship itself. 2 groups of 10 each did a EVA and each of what they thought were destroyed dropships.

 "Sir, this is Tech Klein, these are not Dropships. Each of these are sealed tight as a drum, what we have here a complete space station. I have seen pictures of these, but not like this. It is a Bastion Defense Station."

 Aboard the MST Bully Boy, her captain, Gale Crumney, could not believe their luck. After ten years with MST they finally found something valuable. Finally all the years listening to the stories of the companies owner were going to pay off. Now to find out about the Invader. "Kevin, what is the status of the jumpship?"

 "Gale, she has a blown core, dead as a door nail. Reactor is cold, no fuel aboard. I can rig a power cable from Bully Boy to her and we can get some power going, enough to power up lights and maybe the ships computer systems. I will not know more until we get some power. You need to know, we have bodies aboard. No survivors."

 "Roger, do what you need to do. Clear a stateroom and have some people move the bodies there with as much dignity as you can." It was a grisly task, one that had been performed before by the crew of the Bully Boy. They did not like doing it, but such was salvage work.

 Opening a different channel to the company's Starlord "Bully Boy here, get me Harry please". Gale was wondering what he would do. A few minutes passed.

 "Harry here, Gale what do we have?" Harry sounded tired.

 "Harry, we have intercepted the object and stabilized it's spin. We have a Invader Jumpship with a totally blown jump core, she is carrying what first reports a complete Bastion space station. No survivors but we have bodies aboard. We are going to rig a power cable to get some power to the Jumpship, what are your orders?" Gale thought she knew what was coming, but was surprised by the response.

 "Gale, continue current operations. Begin prep work to ready the ship to be brought back to the Nadir jump point. Once we get her closer, I will have MST Jolly Roger detach and assist you."

 The response was not expected. Gale expected him to have her detach the station and just bring the halves back, not the entire ship too. It was a blown out core, not worth anything to anyone. But orders were orders.

 "Roger that, bring everything back to Nadir Jump Point. I assume you will be doing a in system jump then?"

 "Yes, we should be there tomorrow, we are almost ready. Our calculations have your ETA at 4 days burn time."

[2ndAcr]

 13 November 3047
 System NC38754

 Harry Mitchell could not shake the sudden feeling of vindication coursing thru his body. Forcing himself to calm down he called for his Chief Tech to come to his stateroom. Harry powered up his desk computer and called up everything he could find on a Bastion Defense Station while he waited for his Chief Tech to arrive. It took ten slow minutes but finally his door chimed.

 "Get in here George." Harry almost yelled it.

 The door opened and a sleepy George Schroon appeared. Harry could tell he had just been awakened much as Harry had. As George entered he said "Geez Harry, what could not wait another couple hours. I just got to sleep after the graveyard shift."

 Turning his desk monitor around, Harry pointed to it "This is what could not wait George, what do you know about it."

 George shook his head to awaken himself more and sat down to read some of the information on the screen. "Bastion Defense Station, mean enough that no one wants to tangle with one. Why?"

 "Because we just found one in a disassembled state attached to a dead Invader. I want to know what it is worth, can it be made operational, hell, I want to know everything you can tell me." Harry was getting impatient.

 "Look Harry, if it is not right outside this moment, I cannot tell you anything about what we found. I need to look the thing over first, I need to go back to my books and spec sheets and see if I even have anything on this Station. I doubt I do, the things are rare as heck. I have seen them around a few capitol worlds. I will cross my fingers and hope we found the "How to do it yourself" instruction manual." George was testy and tired.

 "Okay, Okay George, go get some sleep. I guess I jumped the gun some, it will be a few days before you can examine the thing anyway. I need some sleep also anyway. It has been so long since we found anything worth while." Harry was starting to feel sorry for rousting George this soon, George had been with him going on 20 years.

 "It's okay Harry, let me get some sleep and once I get to personally check this baby out, you will have all the information you need." With that, George returned to his bunkroom.

 Harry knew he would not be able to sleep so he leaned back in his chair and read all he could find on the Bastion. His eyes were drawn to the stations cost way back when, 150 million bucks. Rarity put a premium so it could be worth 5-600 million C-bills or more if fully functional.

[mikecj]

That's some nice salvage

[Dave Talley]

tasty salvage

[2ndAcr]

 28 April 2766
 NC 4988

 The Rim World fleet emerged at the Zenith Jump Point, every ship came thru intact. Rear Admiral Kincaid was irritable due to being behind schedule. One of the jumpships in the fleet had had a major navigation computer glitch that took several days to track down the problem and fix it.

 Sensors reported nothing in the system so Kincaid allowed himself to relax some, he gave the order for the fleet to begin recharge of their jump drives. He was still irritated by being behind schedule though.

 Unknown to the Rim World fleet, a SLDF patrol squadron had just departed this system 3 days ago and if not for that computer glitch, they would have arrived in system while the SLDF was here. That glitch had saved the Rim fleet.........for now.

 17 November 3047
 System NC38754

 Chief Tech Schroon was over on the derelict Invader inspecting things. He had been aboard for over 10 hours, currently he was downloading the ships logs, manifest. All attempts to recover the ships travel logs failed except for the ships last location when they jumped into this system. Finally, he was done and headed back to the MST StarLord where he knew Harry was impatiently waiting.

 Arriving back aboard the StarLord he was surprised to see Harry at the airlock door. "Just could not wait for me to come to you could you Harry."

 Harry watched as George removed his EVA suit, "With a find like this? Your lucky I did not go EVA with you. So what do we have?"

 George knew it was no use trying to stall "We got a fully functional Bastion, but no plans on how to make it operational. I could probably figure it out, but I think we are better off selling it. We could use the cash. I got the Invaders log, manifest and last location prior to the jump here but the ships complete jump log has been wiped."

 "Well crap, I really wanted that jump history. But we know where she came from. Let's head to my office and load up that log and see what it says."

 45 minutes later, both were in Harry's stateroom, it had taken almost 20 minutes to copy and then load up the ships log onto an isolated computer, just in case. The last log entry was the one Harry expected, food and air almost completely gone, jump drive destroyed, no hope, goodbye cruel world. But the one Harry was after was deeper in, he read all the log files quickly but finally he found the one he wanted:

 26 June 2766
 System NC38754

 Emergency jump in system destroyed our drive. From what we can determine we mis jumped over 57 light years. Now we are possibly doomed. All because a damn SLDF squadron jump in system almost on top of us, lucky for us we all had just hours to go before we could jump out. Once our escort engaged the SLDF, every damn jumpship scattered to the heavens. Emergency calculations to anywhere but where we were. Kincaid never transmitted our next jump destination before the fight was on. I can only hope someone finds us, even if it is the SLDF.

 Harry slapped his hand down on the desk "I told you George, this is it, generations of my family have searched for this. Everyone thought we were crazy, waste of time, but by god we have started to find what we have been searching for all these years."

 George, happy as he was, knew he had to tamp down his boss's excitement some "Harry, it is a lot of space to search yet. I already punched in those coordinates this ship came from and it points to Lyran space. The log says 57 light years. So either the guy making the log was a complete loon who knew nothing about space travel or they changed the info in the nav computer before dying. 57 Light years is a bunch of space to search."

 Harry felt as though he was slapped "George, can't you see it? All those years being laughed at by everyone at every port we pulled into. We finally have proof she is out here. 57 or 570 light years, she is out here and we have proof."

 George knew there was no tempering his elation "Okay Harry, I need to go supervise the transfer of the Bastion over to here. I will leave the big picture stuff up to you."

 With that said George made his way back to the airlock and his recharged EVA suit for another long EVA.

[2ndAcr]

 5 December 3050
 Bensinger (Jade Falcon)

 The fight had not gone well for the Lancers, these Jade Falcons just blasted away everything they put in front of them. The Lancers were falling back on their landing zone. Subaltern Mitchell could just make out the forms of mechs in the distance slowly falling back, but the sounds of battle were all too clear.

 He never saw the Falcon Aersopace fighter that let loose the LRM volley that landed all over the landing zone, all he heard was a extrmely loud BOOM and everything went dark.

[David CGB]

more please

[mikecj]

Space is really, really big.

[2ndAcr]

 6 December 3050
 Bensinger (enroute to Nadir Jump Point)

 Subaltern Mitchell awoke and immediately had the urge to throw up, his head was hurting so bad. He reached ever so slowly and felt a mass of bandages around his head. What the hell happened? He thought to himself. Suddenly he heard noises muffled by the bandages that covered most of his head.

 "Doctor, he is awake." Someone said. He heard a muffled "Be right there."

 A face appeared in his view, it was one of the Lancers doctors, he could not think of his name but knew his face. "Welcome back to the living Mitchell, do not try to move to much or I will have to sedate you again. Now I have to summon SGM O'Malley because he left orders for me to do so when you woke up."

 Minutes that seemed like hours passed, finally he heard SGM O"Malley's booming voice even when he was not shouting. "Everyone clear this officers quarters please, that means get out NOW." There sounds of rushing and then the SGM ugly face appeared in his view "Subaltern Mitchell, can you hear me okay?"

 Scott tried to say Yes but all that came out was a croak from the awful dry mouth he had, he tried again and another croak emerged. DEAR GOD he could not speak he thought.

 "Let's get you some water to sip there sir, hang tight." He could hear some opening and closing of doors, cabinets and what all he could not fathom. Worst was why was the SGM being so damn nice, that alone was a scary thought. Suddenly a straw appeared in the SGM's beefy paw holding a zero G water bottle. "Here take a sip of this sir."

 A few tenative sips later and Scott tried again "Yes, I can hear you fine SGM." It was very dry sounding and sort of muffled but by god he could speak.

 Once again SGM O'Malley's face appeared in his view "Okay, I need you to brace yourself sir, I got some bad news to tell you, that explosion blew out an ear drum, the doctors say you will never pilot a mech again. It screwed up your center of balance somehow. The center of balance that keeps a Mech moving and such, you will move just fine though.

 Those words hit Scott Mitchell like a whole planet fell on him "You have got to be kidding me, I never even got the chance to pilot a mech in battle, only at the academy. Now you tell me it is all over, that fast. Holy crap just shoot me now SGM. Just friggin shoot me."

 "Now sir, it could be worse, you could be dead. You did fine work on the staff before now, you can continue to do that now." SGM O'Malley had grown fond of the kid over the months, and he was a great staff officer. A few times in the past he could look at a jumpships plot board and see what others could not. He elected himself to break the bad news.

 "SGM, I am not a staff officer, I joined to be combat soldier, a MECHWARRIOR. I have no desire to sit in some HQ somewhere and sip coffee while others fight and bleed. Jesus." Scott could not think straight, he just wanted to die.

 "I am going to have the doctor come back in and knock you out again sir, we will talk more soon." And Scott heard the SGM move to the hatch "Knock him out doc, post a medic in here with him at all times. You run out of medics you come find me. I do not want him left alone until I say otherwise. Is that clear?"

 "Got it SGM." And suddenly Scott felt a stab in his arm and darkness toook him again.

[2ndAcr]

 14 March 3048
 Okefenokee

 Harry Mitchell and his crews had been in system for a week. He had paid a hefty sum to send a priority HPG message to AFFC Command on New Avalon offering them the Bastion as first dibs before putting it on the open market. He had also sent a private message to Scott at Albion Academy updating him on his adventures and his current success.

 He had granted most of his crew shore leave, keeping just skeleton crews on his ships. But today was the day, he had received the awaited HPG message from the AFFC. He had called in his companies "staff" for the reading of the message. It was now time to read the message. Opening the sealed envelope, he extracted the paper inside and read aloud:

 To: Mitchell Salvage (Harry Mitchell)
 From: AFFC High Command

 Pursuant to your offer to sell a fully operational salvaged Bastion Defense Station, we hereby agree to pay 540 million C-Bills which is considered a fair amount for the station. The funds will be deposited in a specified account of your choosing upon the AFFC taking possession of said station.

 Signed
 First Prince Hanse Davion

 Harry could not help but whistle at the letter. He looked up and could see his "staff" mentally figuring their share of the salvage. He knew the numbers, he got 10% 54 million C-Bills as owner, his command staff (all his ships captains and Chief Tech) got 1% so 5.4 million C-Bills each, 37.8 million C-Bills, everyone else got 1/4 of 1% of the salvage 112.5 million C-Bills or 250,000 C-Bills each. That left the company 335,700,000 C-Bills to work with.
 
 It was a handsome payday for everyone. But now some hard work needed to be done.

 "Let's start the recall of our people. I will send the acceptance message. I will arrange for the AFFC to pick up the station at Crofton. It has been a while since our ships had some serious maintence done on them, there are 2 recharge stations at Crofton so we spend some cash getting some work done on them. We scored big on this recovery, but the really big one is still out there waiting for us. I am sure we will lose some folks with this payday, I hope I don't lose any of you. Let's get moving folks."

[mikecj]

Always love that prize money

[Sir Chaos]

Always love that prize money

First they have to GET that prize money. 540 million is a lot of cash - enough that the temptation to somehow save on paying it out should be substantial.

[2ndAcr]

 It is a lot of money, but we have a company with a history of long service to the Federated Suns. Why try and stiff them?

 1. If they find the big one but got stiffed on this exchange, well that could really hurt down the road.
 2. Another side of the same family is a large shipping company in your realm.

 It would be the same as stiffing a Merc unit, word spreads and it could hurt bad down the road.

[Sir Chaos]

It is a lot of money, but we have a company with a history of long service to the Federated Suns. Why try and stiff them?

 1. If they find the big one but got stiffed on this exchange, well that could really hurt down the road.
 2. Another side of the same family is a large shipping company in your realm.

 It would be the same as stiffing a Merc unit, word spreads and it could hurt bad down the road.

I didn´t say anything about stiffing them. Their kind of salvage work is dangerous, going to a lot of places where nobody´s around to help you if anything goes wrong. People tend to disappear permanently if they suffer a serious mishap in that line of work, if you get my drift.

[2ndAcr]

 10 December 3050
 Lancer Dropship

  It had been 4 days since Subaltern Mitchell got the bad news, they kept him knocked out for 2 days. He was still coming to grips with the fact that his Mech piloting days were over before they even got started. Today they allowed him out of bed on limited duty and true to the SGM demands, he was never alone. The constant nursemaid was getting on his nerves already. The door to his cabin chimed and then slid open. In walked SGM O'Malley. Looking at the current "watcher" he said "Go get some chow"

 Scott just watched the SGM as he sat down in the chair vacated by the "watcher".

 "How we feeling today sir?" SGM O'Malley asked with genuine feelings in his voice.

 Scott thought for a second before answering, "I am fine SGM, getting better, trying to wrap my mind around all this."

 "That is good to hear sir, I have been worried about you. You have a ton of potential, but I also have been thinking on your situation and I think I have an idea. Seems the armor boys took some heavy hits during that last raid and they are a few officers short. Now before I got Mech rated, I was a tanker way back in my early career, I talked to the CO and if you are willing to take the plunge, I will transfer over with you and teach you the tanker ropes." SGM O'Malley stated with all seriousness.

 Scott thought for a minute "SGM, I don't know the first thing about being a tanker, all I learned about tanks is keep them at range and they make easy targets for Mechs."

 "They taught you tactics, strategy and leadership at Albion sir. Handled right, tanks can rip a mech unit to shreds. Look sir, I like you, you have a spark and drive that I feel the AFFC needs and I don't want to see that get wasted. The CO is talking to the RCT commander right now on laser comms and the Armor brigade commander is also in the loop. Your injury will not effect tanks at all. What do you say?" SGM O'Malley was really hoping the young officer would take the job.

 It was a lot for Scott to take in all at once, but how could he turn down the transfer, the SGM was willing to transfer with him, the BN CO seemed to be on his side too. It may not be Mechs, but at least he would be in a combat unit, which was where he wanted to be and not stuck in a staff slot. "Okay SGM, I will take the job if they officially offer it to me."

 "Great to hear sir, and don't worry, they will make the offer. The Armor brigade SGM owes me money. I promise we won't get stuck in some paper thin armor unit. I am too old for that kind of excitement. I will make sure we get something with teeth and enough armor to keep us alive." The SGM was actually looking forward to the move, he had spent 8 years in tanks, and another 10 years playing with Mechs. Back to his roots, back to making mech warriors respect the armor branch.

[2ndAcr]

 Gotcha.

 You reading my notes?

[Sir Chaos]

Also... they sent that message via HPG, didn´t they? ComStar might not be so cool with the FedSuns having a fully operational Bastion, so "unfortunate incidents" of various kinds might be on the horizon from that direction as well.

[2ndAcr]

 OOH, I did not think about that one...…now that is an idea.

[2ndAcr]

 26 June 2766
 System NC4196

 The Rim World fleet was almost recharged. Just a few more hours and they would jump to the next system only 3 jumps from the Suns border and then the game started to get really dangerous. Admiral Kincaid was in his stateroom getting dressed when the klaxon horn began sounding "Battle Stations, multiple emergence waves inbound close!!!"  the PA system announced. Kincaid did not even bother with his shirt but ran for the bridge.

 Entering the bridge he saw chaos, "Settle down people, what have we got sensor?" he said as he approached the sensor station.

 "Sir, we have what looks like 5 separate emergence waves inbound. Total mass of all emergence field is huge, 2 show to be 800 thousand tons each and 3 roughly 700 thousand tons. Furthest is 50,000km but we have 2 within 20,000km of our nearest ship."

 Admiral Kincaid looked up at the jump counter, almost 3 hours until the fleet was ready to jump. "Okay, get us ready for a fight, cut the jump sail loose. We cannot flee so we have to fight it out."

99th Pursuit Division SLDF

 Rear Admiral Banes was still shaking off the hyper jump effects aboard his flagship SLS Kildare, a Congress class frigate when radar plots began lighting off and Klaxons started sounding. His division consisted of 2 Congress frigates (Kildare and Viceroy) and 3 Lola III (Spruance, Kidd, Banglemoor) aboard they carried 4 Pentagon Dropships and 30 Aerospace fighters.

 "Battle stations, launch the Dropships and Aerospace fighters, sensor what have we got?" He shouted.

 "Admiral, we have a Riga Frigate, and 2 Pintos and what looks to be 11 Jumpships close in, nearest to our forces is 18,500km Pinto, Riga is 43,000km from us, next Pinto is 23,000km from us. The enemy warships are launching fighters, we got firm count on 4 dropships inbound and the enemy warships are heading our way at full thrust."

 "Okay, we have a serious fight on our hands, let's target the enemy dropships first, order the Kidd and Spruance to engage that Pinto since they are right next door to it. Have Viceroy form on us and we take out the closest Pinto before going after the Riga. Banglemoor to target and disable as many enemy jumpships as it can. Time to merge?"

 "Less than an hour sir."

 "Well it is going to get exciting really fast."

[2ndAcr]

 26 June 2766
 System NC4196

 RWS Brutal (Pinto) fired first at the Lola III (Spruance) fast approaching, one of her nose mounted PPC struck the Lola III in the nose. Shortly after the Lola III returned fire, naval lasers sliced into the Brutal's nose section ripping armor off. Another SLDF Lola III (Kidd) also began firing upon the Brutal, it's shots hit home one scoring a critical hit on the ships life support systems. Passing close abroad of the Spruance, the Pinto gave her everything she had and scored a critical hit upon the ships engine room. But the return fire from the Kidd gutted the Brutal, destroying her engines and shredding the armor on her port side.

 Fighters from both sides merged and a fierce dogfight took place. The SLDF Pentagons added their fire to the swirling dogfight. But some RW fighters just kept boring in on the approaching Congress Frigates.

 Targeting the enemy Dropships first, Kildare devastated a Leapard CV leaving it a drifting hulk. Viceroy ripped a Intruder and also left it a drifting ruin. Both Congress Frigates then targeted a fast closing Dictator and between them it was completely blown apart. As the RW fighters approached, they began launching missiles at the Congress's. Admiral Banes shouted the warning at the same time as his XO "Nukes!!!!"

 2 of the incoming Nukes slammed into the Kildare's nose and effectively decapitated the SLDF division. Kildare's bridge was destroyed, her power grid failed and she went dead in space. 2 nukes detonated close to Viceroy but not close enough to kill her, but they hurt her.

 Spruance hurt as she was but closest to the enemy Jumpships dove right in amongst them aiming for disabling hits. Her first shots destroyed a Merchant Jumpship, but 2 of her White Sharks disabled a Leviathan and a StarLord, effectively stranding them.

 Banglemoor and Kidd engaged the 2nd RW Pinto and their shots stripped armor off the Pinto's bow and they raked it as it passed between them. Shots from both Lolo III left the Pinto a drifting hulk but shots from both Lola also missed and hit each other. Kidd came off the worst with her jump drive seriously damaged. The Riga engaged the Kidd and her shots slammed home blowing out the Kidd's field initiator. Banglemoor and Viceroy engaged the Riga in return, their shots striking true with one hit blasting the ships bridge area and destroying the ships navigation computer and killing Admiral Kincaid. Banglemoor received a full broadside from the Riga that caused a massive ammo detonation aboard which caused the Banglemoor to go out of control. Viceroy continued pumping fire into the Riga causing her to slow and go adrift.

 As the main fight continued, RW jumpships began leaving the system. One Merchant was just too close to Spruance and initiated a jump which destroyed both ships.

 The battle was over, remaining RW fighters with no way home began surrendering to the SLDF. The remaining RW Dropship, another Dictator also surrendered. The Viceroy's commander began SAR operations. 3 of the surviving Pentegan's also began SAR operations.

[2ndAcr]

 Quick note, I have not done a bunch of warship fights so don't kill me if stuff just ain't perfect.

[Dave Talley]

OOH, I did not think about that one...…now that is an idea.

or having done business with the military before he might have given the message to the local commander to be encrypted and included with normal official traffic, his response may have come via fax but he wouldn't know about that

[2ndAcr]

 18 December, 3050
 Here

 Subaltern Mitchell and SGM O'Malley linked up with their new unit upon making landfall on Here. They had been given command of a mixed company of Patton and Rommel tanks. Their current mission was to help secure the Lancer landing zone. SGM O'Malley had "suggested" to his young commander to deploy his company along a wooded ridge line, 8 Pattons forward in hull down positions and the 4 Rommel hidden behind the ridge crest. Once deployed, the SGM began giving Scott instructions on how to fight the tank itself. The driver and loader shared some looks of concern while this took place.

 After 5 hours of instruction the sounds of battle began getting closer. Once again the Lancers were falling back to their landing zone. SGM O'Malley slid down into the gunners seat while Subaltern Mitchell took the commanders hatch. One of the Lancers Hover Companies was screaming their way with a Star of Falcon light Mechs in hot pursuit. As the Lancer Hovers scream past their position and the Falcon mechs came into range, Mitchell gave his first combat orders as a tanker.

 "1st Plt, target Uller right side" He quietly spoke into his mike.
 "Identified" O'Malley replied as the rest of his Plt responded the same

 "2nd Plt, target Puma" a chorus of "Identified" was the reply

 As the Falcon Mechs entered medium range of his guns, Mitchell gave the order to fire.
 "1st and 2nd Plt FIRE!!!"

 A massed volley went down range, 3 AC10 shells from 1st Plt ripped into the Uller 2 smashing into it's right torso removing it while the 3rd slammed into the Uller's right leg. The Uller slammed into the ground.

 All 4 of 2nd Plt's rounds struck home on the Puma, 1 AC10 hit the right arm, 1 AC10 hit each leg and the last AC10 slammed into the right arm. The Puma staggered but did not go down.

 Faced with a sudden attack from the ridge on their right, the Falcons charged the tanks on the ridge. 1 Koshi, the damaged Puma and 2 more Uller charged.

 Mitchell gave the order for 1st and 2nd Plt to freely engage targets as they appeared. He then ordered 3rd Plt to get ready to advance. SGM O'Malley took careful aim and fired another AC10 shell into the Uller on the ground severing it's right leg. In seconds the Falcon Mechs were amongst the Lancer tanks. The Koshi charged right thru 2nd Plt and ran headlong into 2 of 3rd Plt's Rommel's and was hit by both AC20 shells, one blowing the left leg clean off the other shattering the center torso, the Koshi was blown backward by the double blasts.

 1st Plt was engaged by the Falcon Puma and all 4 Pattons fired and dropped the Puma in it's tracks. Mitchell was starting to lose track of the swirling fight in the light woods. He saw another Falcon Uller try to engage 3rd Plt but the Rommel's were too much for it and blew it to pieces. Scott twisted in his tanks turret and watched as 2nd Plt blasted the last Uller to pieces. In less than 4 minutes the Falcon light mech star was destroyed.

 Scott's mouth was dry, but he felt a thrill rush thru his body. He had seen combat, commanded in combat, won the fight and survived. He felt a tug on his pants leg, it was SGM O'Malley. Scott ducked down and lifted 1 ear of his combat helmet "Told you tanks can chew up Mechs sir, in the right terrain anyway." All Scott could do was flash a quick thumbs up, he needed to report the action to Battalion and request some infantry to help secure any prisoners.

 Keying his radio, Scott spoke "Knight 11 to King 01, contact report, 5 Falcon Mechs down at my location, request infantry support to help secure prisoners over."

 "Roger Knight 11, good work, but next time contact report comes as soon as you spot the enemy. You take any losses?"

 "King 01, Knight 11, negative on friendly casualties, and sorry about the late report sir."

 "Knight 11, you did fine work Lieutenant Mitchell, I have a platoon of infantry on it's way to you ETA 10 minutes."

 "King 01, roger infantry support ETA 10 minutes. Out."

 It took SGM O'Malley to point out to Scott that he just got promoted after the Lancers pulled back to the LZ and departed Here.

 

[2ndAcr]

 Harry has not really done business with the AFFC, but his family in the past has. Harry spent his entire life on the Quest.

[2ndAcr]

 7 October 3048
 Crofton

 Harry Mitchell lucked out on personnel losses, only 14 of his lower technicians had left and they were easy to replace. All his experienced people stayed. All of his Dropships had undergone a maintenance cycle and even the Star Lord was given a good once over. The Bastion was transferred to a AFFC Invader Jumpship escorted by a rare Vengeance Dropship. But now it was time to get back on the hunt.

 While in system, Harry had noticed a ancient but well maintained Explorer Jumpship. He asked around and found out that it belonged to a local company big wig, who just so happened to be in deep trouble about his taxes. Seems the bank was about to repossess the Explorer as he was way behind in payments and the tax man was making a hangman's noose. So he made the guy an offer, he would pay 150 million C-Bills for the Explorer, which was just enough to pay off his tax debt with a little left over. He made contact with the bank that owned the Explorer and paid all the back payments on it. He legally took possession of the Explorer. Even though it could not carry a dropship, it was a second ship to help with the search.

 Harry had finally made up his mind on a more permanent base of operations. The companies would make for the inhabited planet they had found 3 years ago, Mackolla. It was a former FS planet that had been "lost". They had made planet fall long ago and estimated that only about 3 million people total lived on the planet. Most were concentrated in the one large city of about 2 million. The rest were in small towns mainly farming. The planet was temperate, with standard gravity and had a basic level of industry on it. Harry even hired a mineral survey team who along with 2 VTOL that could survey the planet.

 George would take the Star Lord and company to Mackolla. Harry would take the Explorer and go to Pattonsburg, he needed to speak with his cousin again.