Not a start but a taste
I must have stared at the closed door for full five or six minutes after the colonel left. I had just agreed to field a combined arms Battalion in a full blown ground war against a larger opposition force and they have the high ground when it comes to who is supposed to be running the planet. Of course they are in revolt against the Commonwealth but not too many people know that yet and many will not believe it when it is announced. That is part of the problem when a civil war is going on. Big understatement that. One thing that is in our favor the jerks are jerks and more than half will have warrants for their arrest or detention, dead or alive with bounties and all. The count was not too picky in his hireling practices. Of course he wanted people that could be bought and did not ask questions when given orders and do not ask questions about right and wrong. He also wanted people that do not care about property rights. That and the hiring pool is not all that large right now. Which brings me back to my problem, I agreed to field a battalion and I have a certainty of exactly four MechWarriors and two techs as of this moment. That is not totally true because I have not asked Mark if he would go with me on this haired braind scheme.
Time to get more serious about this, who can I count on? Mathew and John will kill me if I do not count them in. That’s four and at least our crew of techs that makes six or maybe seven of them. Only two mechs right now but I can get two more with the signing bonus. Hell, I have no idea if I can find enough veteran MechWarriors on Solaris VII that would join a merc unit right now, armor jocks will be harder and good anti-mech infantry near impossible. I need at least two aero pilots and techs and machines. I need support people and machines, I need medical people and equipment, I need repair and recovery people and equipment I need, I need, and I need. Got to stop that kind of thinking, I have six weeks to gather what I need I have money and a contract. My intel will come from the best, the colonel will see to that. I think he will get me a recruiter on outreach and any other location you can hire a fighter. If I get them signed in the next two weeks they can meet us here or enroot. Speaking of enroot, I need a dropship or two. That may not be as hard as normal, Dad knows the Captain that was looking to join up with a good merc unit for a year or so. He wants a garrison contract to pay his way and time to do a major on his drive. I also know he has done his share of smuggling runs, kinda crazy but he owns his own ship and Dad trusts him.
