Fate Can Be Cruel (Part One)

[2ndAcr]

Anemone221,

 Good idea, but that might come into play a little down the road. Always remember that they currently stick pretty close to SLDF structure. Though they modify their actual organization, they still think in the Division and Corps way of things. Anything less than a Division is a raiding force in their way of thinking right now. Not a proper defensive or offensive command. Even the Conventional RCT's are thought of as mere delaying forces until a Division comes to help out.

[Daryk]

When Robber Baron gets back, those Sherpas will come in handy...  ^-^

[cawest]

did the refugee fleet have 3 tramps?  now if they could get some tramps with LF.  that would be a nice Fedex/UPS analog as well as a little spying.  then they could add HPGs to them. 

[EAGLE 7]

 "And how many of these Vigilant Corvette's do you estimate we need?"
 Question, would it be worth it to up gun the Vigilants?
Pull the Lrg laser and PPC and replace with Lrg Pulse laser for better Aero defense?
Fluff said targeting system had issue with to many targets or some such.
Maybe address that as design upgrade.

[2ndAcr]

1 April to 1 June 2774
Linden (Terran Hegemony)

 Vice Admiral Percy Siemens was walking on air literally. He had never expected to reach Vice Admiral and damn sure did not ever expect to hav a Line Command again. He had called up all the information he could find on the Vigilant Corvette. He spent several hours reading everything he could find and made copious notes about every aspect of the Vigilant. As he studied his notes, something in his memory kept pulling at him. Finally it came to him, as far as he knew, ammunition resupply for the warships had not been fixed and the Vigilant Corvette was a ammuntion heavy ship. He pulled out a calculator and began making some calculations, he had learned a few things watching the shipyard people build the Mule Dropships. After an hour of manual calculations, he figured his people could handle the changes he was making to the design.

 He had removed all the weaponry from the Vigilant Corvette, in it's place, he had added an all energy battery. Every facing except the broadsides would be the exact same, 2 NL/55 backed by 4 LPL and 4 SPL as point defense. The broadsides would mount 2 HNPPC backed by 4 LPL and 4 SPL as point defense. He had then boosted the Aerospace Fighter capacity to 12 fighters and he would mount 1200 double heat sinks to handle the heat load. It would still mount 90 tons of Improved Ferro Aluminum armor, HPG and Large Naval Comm Scanner. The amount of cargo the design could carry was reduced to 14,067 tons.

 The only outside consultations he made were with the folks at Hegemony Weapons and Technology on Azur about the fire control issues the design had been known for. It had taken a month, but finally word came back to him that they felt they could modify the fire control from the Vincent Corvette to both fit the Vigilant and control the new weapons systems. SLS Blommestein would undergo the refit first as a test ship, once it was confirmed that the changes worked, work would begin on the rest of his Squadron. But he did order the Jump Cores for the Squadron to be started, it would speed up construction big time if they were already built, possibly saving a month on the construction time on each Vigilant Corvette.

 Even though he had increased the Aerospace Fighter capacity, he figured he would be lucky if he got a full squadron for each ship. His main concern was how much yelling Admiral Tanaka or General Mitchell would do when they found out he had redesigned the ships on his own authority.

Puttalam (Terran Hegemony)

 Major General Nathan Baxter watched as the newly constructed Endo Steel chassis made by reverse engineering the Royal Stinger was used by his Battlemech Techs to rebuild a standard Stinger STG-3G into a Royal Stinger. They only used the weapons, double heat sinks and 140XL engine from the Royal Stinger to speed up the modification of the standard Stinger. After a month of refit work, a volunteer Battlemech pilot ran the newly upgraded Stinger through a series of tests. Finding no issues, Major General Baxter sent a HPG message to General Mitchell and Major General DeMars that they could now upgrade every Stinger to Royal models, but it would be slow going.

Thazi (Terran Hegemony)

 The moment Major General DeMars had the HPG message from Major General Baxter, he fired off a reply ordering 36 of the equipment needed to manufacture the Endo Steel Chassis to be built and shipped to Thazi. He would use the Battlemech Techs from the 272nd Mechanized Infantry Division to assist in upgrading the huge numbers of Stinger's to Royal models. He already knew that the Techs from the 359th Battlemech Division had used the Battlemech bays aboard a Dictator Dropship to do the upgrade and he planned to duplicate that here. A full Battalion at a time.

 He then fired off a HPG message to Alktral Fusion and ordered them to gear up to produce over a thousand 140XL engines. Another message went to Linden to prepare the Endo Steel factory and Double Heat sink factory to prepare for some massive orders.

[Daryk]

That's a LOT of Royal Stingers!  :thumbsup:

[Kyryst]

I like that ship. That is a **** of a lot more like a patrol ship. Long endurance, good comms, scanners, and targetting, and little logistic support needed. I bet those ship captains are going to be in love.

[Daryk]

And JUST enough room for an LF-Battery down the line when the borders are bigger, and they don't have any more ships...

[2ndAcr]

1 June to 1 September 2774
Ddraig (Terran Hegemony)

 Kimberly Williams held her breathe as the first production Royal Cyrano Gunship flared to a landing on the tarmac for the landing field next to the massive factory. She did not exhale until the lead pilot exited, removed his helmet and flashed her a huge grin and thumbs up. The had done it, they had actually, with no prior experience in manufacturing miliary VTOL's managed to reverse engineer and put into poduction the Royal Cyrano Gunship. She lifted the small hand held radio and said "Success, you may activate all 3 Lines for production." She then headed for the small R&D hanger where her small team of workers were carefully taking apart a Vector Transport VTOL.

 Inside the massive factory, the lead engineer hit a button that activated a loud speaker system "People, we have done it. We are now in full production mode." Cheers echoed inside the factory and then faded as the machinery began to come alive. On the far side of the factory building, a single Line was already in production but it was building a single Cobra VTOL that in an estimated 2 weeks would be test flown by the SLDF for acceptance. Additional production lines, built on Thazi and shipped to Ddraig, were being unloaded from the Dropship for installation inside the factory.

 Vought Aircraft Civilian

 Lexan Oceanic Series II Personal VTOL - 3 Line producing 10 per month

 Vought Aircraft Military

 Royal Cyrano Gunship - 3 Line producing 4 per month (est 10 per month once 100% reached)
 Cobra VTOL - 1 Line est 10 per month (once  100% reached)

Alktral (Terran Hegemony)

 Irene Yemmon, Alktral Fusion, looked over the production floor that looked to be utter chaos but was in fact organized chaos as the Factory ramped up to full production of several Fusion engines. The majority of her workers were still learning their jobs, but she had a solid core of experienced workers that had come over from Thazi Motor's and had been on Outpost #4 with her to oversee them. They had been doing small runs of the most common Fusion engines as replacements for the SLDF commands but now, they would move to full production of several models. But she figured another 6 months before they reached 100% on production.

Alktral Fusion

VOX 300XL (Merkava MkX, Pillager) - 4 Lines producing 6 per month each (20 each once 100%)
DAV 220XL (Royal Cyrano VTOL) - 4 Lines producing 4 per month each (20 each once 100%)
Hermes 100 (Cobra VTOL) - 4 Lines producing 9 per month each (25 each once 100%)
GM 180 (Turhan, Marsden) - 4 Lines producing 9 per month each (25 each once 100%)
Leenex 140XL (Royal Stinger) - 4 Lines producing 5 per month each (20 each once 100%)

Thazi (Terran Hegemony)

 General Rita Mitchell had slowly readjusted to being without her husband, but now she had 2 kids to look after. They had slowly found a routine that worked, but she also still had her normal work load. She was over looking the non stop flow of reports on every aspect in the territory and the SLDF commands. A knock brought her head up and she waved both Peter Sajak and Jimmy Orlando into the office.

 "If your both here, there must be a problem. So what problem is it today?" She asked setting down the boring economic report

 "Not really a problem, but we need a tie breaker. We are trying to get ahead of the curve. Task Force Robber Baron will return in another year or so. We have been trying to estimate the possible rescued workers numbers and where to place the recovered Factory's, hence where to settle the incoming workers." Peter Sajak explained

 "Well, the obvious place for the Battlemech Factory would be Azur, it has the population to easily support the Factory." Jimmy Orlando said

 "But Azur does not have the resources to support it. Everything would have to be shipped in, while good for the economic activity would leave us exposed to production issues if anything imedes the flow of resources. I still say Blommestein should get both Factory's. It has enough resources to make both Factory's self suffecient. Plus it places the most important Factory, outside of Linden, in the middle of our territory, much easier to defend. Azur is on the border and even though it has a full Division as a garrison, it is too exposed." Peter Sajak argued

 Jimmy Orlando looked at General Mitchell "See, this is why we need a tie breaker. We have been arguing for over an hour about this."

 "Okay, so I get to make the hard call. Peter is right, Azur is in an exposed location and resource wise is a little poor. So, Blommestein get's the Battlemech Factory and the god willing the Aerospace Fighter Factory. Those 2 Factory's will be critical and we cannot afford any disruption to their production. I have also been reading you reports Peter and I think Feijo will get the incoming Armor Factory, that system needs a major job creator anyway. So, plan for a massive influx of people on Blommestein as people flock to the place for jobs. Peter, you get started selecting the Factory locations so that Jimmy can get the local construction folks busy on building enough housing for say, 350,000 people. We have bo clue how many the place will need, so we plan for a worst case." General Mitchell said

 With the issue settled and orders issued, both men stood and left to carry them out. General Mitchell looked at the wall clock and saw that it was time to head home, school was almost out and she needed to get supper ready. She could get a full time cook to do it, but she enjoyed cooking for the kids but most of all, she used the time to let her mind sort out all the daily items.

[Daryk]

At least over building for Outpost rescues will help with the refugee problem...

[2ndAcr]

1 September to 31 December 2774
Drachenfeld (Deep Periphery)

 Task Force Robber Baron was finally reunited. While the Warships and Jumpships were cycled through SLS Salvation, Newgrange Yardship for a quick maintensnce cycle, the mass of Dropships headed for the surface to give the people some ground time after a year of Zero-G. During the long absence, the local's of Drachenfeld had plowed extra crops in an effort to help provide additional food for the SLDF's return trip. In exchange for this, Lieutenant General Sverdlov ordered 100 Sherpa Trucks, 3 Sherpa MASH, 10 Sherpa Fuel and 10 Sherpa Canteen Trucks off loaded from the Dropships and left with the local's of DRachenfeld.

 What no one had forseen was that after over a year on Drachenfeld, just over 2 Company's of Infantry and a Company of Armor wanted to remain on Drachenfeld. Over the year, most had started dating locals. One of them was Corporal Ben Suong, who had been "courting" Kelly Sampson, daughter of Ismael Sampson. After a month, it was time to depart for the trip home. Lieutenant General Sverdlov once again tried to convince the troops wanting to remain to return with them, but finally surrendered to their wishes and made sure those troops remaining were well equipped and supplied. She accepted the salute of the troops remaining and boarded the last Dropship for the trip to the Jumpships. As the Dropship lifted off, she wondered if she or the SLDF would ever see Drachenfeld again.

Ceibu (Terran Hegemony)

 A large crowd watched as 12 Lion (Infantry) emerged from the construction hangers, erupting into cheers as the crews from 12 Czar Dropships from the 181st Royal Mechanized Infantry Division moved to man the newly completed Lion (Infantry) Dropships. Though they were almost 2 months late in their delivery, the issues that delayed their completion had been corrected and follow on Dropships would be completed on time. Supporting industries had slowly been constructed on the planet and roughly 15,000 people moved to Ceibu from Azur to take advantage of the jobs offered. The inflow of people was kept low so as not to overwhelm the ability to house them properly.

Linden (Terran Hegemony)

 Vice Admiral Percy Seimens watched as the keels were laid for the first 2 Vigilant Corvettes to be produced. SLS Blommestein had completed trials of it's upgrade and after a month sorting out a few issues with it's new fire control system, had completed all of it's testing successfully. They now had 4 completed Jump Cores waiting to be installed in the new Vigilant Corvette's which would bring the construction time of each Vigilant to 78 days. Everyone swore that if they had the yards in the Hegemony, they could complete the Vigilant's in under 2 months time each. The Endo Steel and Double Heat Sink Factory's were working around the clock to meet the demands being placed on them from across the Hegemony.

Ddraig (Terran Hegemony)

 Kimberly Williams and her team of engineers were getting faster at the reverse engineering process. They had completed the Vector Transport VTOL and since the other versions were the same airframe, with only different payloads or mission profiles, they only had to learn how each system was integrated into the frames. Once they had that, she felt confident in opening up the production lines for every model. Now they moved to the Nightshade ECM VTOL. **Note** I keep putting Peregrine, dumb.** It was soon clear that to meet the number of VTOL Lieutenant General DeMars had submitted, another production building was being constructed that would double their production. She had proposed that since they already built the 130 Fusion plant for the Oceanic, if they could build the Hermes 100 Fusion plant for the Cobra on site also to help take some pressure off Alktral Fusion. It had taken a month, but she got approval.

 Vought Aircraft Civilian

 Oceanic Series II Personal VTOL - 3 Line producing 10 per month each
 Dumas 130 Fusion (Oceanic) - 3 Line producing 10 per month each
 Hermes 100 Fusion (Cobra VTOL) - 3 Line producing 3 per month each (10 per month once 100%)

 Vought Aircraft Military

 Royal Cyrano Gunship - 3 Line producing 5 per month (est 10 per month each once 100%)
 Cobra Transport VTOL - 5 Line producing 5 per month (est 10 per month each once 100%)
 Cobra MASH VTOL - 2 Line producing 3 per month (est 10 per month each once 100%)
 Cobra Command VTOL - 1 Line producing 3 per month (est 10 per month once 100%)
 Vector Transport VTOL - 4 Line poducing 5 per month (est 10 per month each once 100%)

Thazi (Terran Hegemony)

 It was a huge affair for everyone as the first 36 Stinger STG-3G emerged from the 272nd MID Dropship as 36 Stinger STG-3Gb. With hundreds of the Stinger STG-3G in service, it was deemed important enough that almost every technician of the 272nd MID and even some from the Royal Black Watch and from the Technical School were brought in to help. Using 6 Dictator Dropships, they would soon be able to upgrade 216 Stinger STG-3G to STG-3Gb every 2 months. Plus it gave the student technicians serious hands on time.

Pilon (Terran Hegemony)

 Peter Sajak supervised the setting up of the large Refit Facility for the Merkava and Marsden Main Battle Tanks. They had brought in every Wayland Mobile Base in the inventory, 22 of them, and they were set up and ready to start work while the massive building designated for the task was completed. Once completed, it would allow 100 Tanks to be upgraded every month. Until then, they would have to make do at 22 every 2 months. The Merkava was selected to be upgraded first, the entire inventory.

Bastrop (Federated Suns)

 With some help from Fleesum and Gougem, ZaP Shipping's law firm, Martha Pruitt had secured an office that was now staffed by 30 employee's. They had hit the ground running and already were running passenger shuttles to several worlds a single jump from Bastrop. She had been amazed that is was so easy to fill a 1,000 passenger Jumbo at 200 dollars per ticket for a single jump. It was quite profitable and they had no problem filling all 10 Passenger Jumbo's. These alone brought in a handsome 4 million dollars a month. She really wanted to get her hands on more of them, maybe even a couple Passenger Mammoth's for the 6,000 capacity. A single Passenger Mammoth could bring in 1.2 Million dollars per trip. The 6 Monarch's were placed on a steady route from Woodbine to Bastrop, Woodbine to Stratford, Stratford to Bastrop route and brought in 166,000 per jump for a monthly total of 2.2 Million a month when you add in the amenities.

 Filling the cargp Dropships was a little harder, but after a month, they had steady work coming their way. This was complicated some by the short haul nature of their current self imposed restrictions to 4 jumps from Bastrop. But they managed to land a few contracts hauling raw ores to processing plants in the immediate area. Then picking up finished goods for the return trip. The cargo runs brought in roughly 7 million a month. Still it did not take long to establish ZaP Shipping as one of, if not the, largest Shipping Company in the region. A monthly total of 13 Million dollars was decent money for a new company in the area Martha Pruitt thought.

[Daryk]

Hmmm... with that many troops staying on Drachenfeld, they almost HAVE to take it into the Hegemony...  ^-^

[Anemone221]

What would be a good idea ZaP is to do like Airline companies and set up 4 jumpships for each major trunk so you can be moving a jump ship both directions once every 3.5 days. As you get further out you either move to smaller jumpships or you move to 2 jumpships with them going each way once a week. This allows a very regular shipping schedule that allows for an "In Time" shipping/movement of people.

[Daryk]

At that rate, Bastrop is going to be up to "core world" status pretty quickly...

[cawest]

nice to see the lion's get some love

[Kyryst]

Wow, a lot is happening all over. Good to see. I was kind of surprised you are going for a 5 year time skip at this time, there is so much happening up till the end of the First Succession War, especially for the Hegemony Campaign. Be good to see what you write either way.

With ZaP in the area promoting trade within 4 Jumps of Bastrop, the Federated Suns Draconis March Edgeward Combat Area and edge of the Ramora Province Outworlds Alliance might experience some economic revival.

And for Drachenfeld, I don't know about being a brought into the Hidden Hegemony, but it would be great for a forward base in the future if needed, or even the long end of anti-piracy patrols against the Tortuga Pirates.

Nice to see the Lion Dropships come off the line, At 7215 ton and being a reliable, easier to repair transport, the Lion is definitely an upgrade over the Czar. The Lion Infantry Mod is much better fitted to your org table.

[2ndAcr]

1 January to 1 April 2775
Thazi (Terran Hegemony)

 Task Force Robber Baron returned from their multi year mission. While the troops of the 272nd MID returned to the surface of Thazi, the Cargo and Passenger Dropships remained with their transports while they recharged to continue their journey to Blommestein. Though Lieutenant General DeMars wanted all the Battlemechs, Tanks and Aerospace Fighters off loaded on THazi, it was deemed near impossible due to the mixed load outs of the Dropships crammed full as they were. So the decision was made to offload everything on Blommestein and then reload the equipment to be taken back to Thazi.

 February saw the transports reach Blommestein arriving at a La Grange Point only 3 days from the planet to shorten the trip to the surface. As the large fleet of Dropships detached and began their trip to the surface, they were directed to land on the continent of Van Straaten, the second largest continent. SLDF engineers and several construction companies, one even transported from Thazi and another from Azur had worked for 4 months laying out a massive space port and laying the ground work for the assumed massive factory complex's. Here, they waited to begin work on assembling the recovered factory's as quickly as possible. Troops from the 280th MID and 10th Conventional RCT stood ready to assist in unloading the fleet of Dropships the moment they landed.

 Also waiting, was Peter Sajak and Jimmy Orlando, who were introduced to Jermaine Haye (Battlemech Factory Manager), Jacob Henderson (Tank Factory Manager and Trina Weldon-Henderson (Aerospace Factory Manager). Peter Sajak explained that the Battlemech and Aerospace Facotory's would be located on Blommestein while the Tank Factory would be on Feijo. It was then that they ran into a brick wall, they had not known that they had a husband and wife team of managers. After an hour, they both came to the conclusion that to force the issue would create an unwanted problem and the decision was made to keep the Tank Factory also on Blommestein. Trina Weldon-Henderson offered a partial solution by offering to assist in getting an additional Aerospace Factory going on Feijo once they had the Blommestein Factory operational and additional people trained to operate the production lines.

 Now having direction on what size to build the multiple buildings, the assembled construction companies and SLDF engineers moved into action while one construction company started clearing additional ground for the Tank Factory. The rescued workers of both Outposts were assigned housing and began to be seen by SLDF medical personnel in the fairly large city that was still being built by 2 local construction companies.

 March saw the Dropships fully unloaded and the massive main Battlemech Production building 1/2 completed by the army of construction crews. The building to house the Aerospace Factory was expanded by 3X the size of the one on Outpost #7, much to Trina Weldon-Henderson's surprise. But she was more surprised when she was brought to the space port and saw a line of SLDF Aerospace Fighters parked in a neat row. Major General DeMars walked over and introduced himself.

 "You look surprised. You did not think we would let you continue to produce the Star Dagger and Typhoon only did you?" Major General DeMars said

 "Well, it is what the Factory is geared towards." Trina Weldon-Henderson replied as she walked around a Stuka STU-K5b2, running her hands along it's wing.

 "Well, once you get settled, I want you to work up some upgrades to both fighters, bring them up to what we are used to. But, the most important thing is I would like you to reverse engineer these fighters so that we can buiid them ourselves." Major General DeMars said

 "I finally get to build modern, advanced Aerospace Fighters and I get to have a free hand in redesigning the Star Dagger and Typhoon? General DeMars, you just let me round up my engineers and we will start taking these birds apart. I might just bust into tears." Trina Weldon-Henderson said as she stroked the smooth skin of a Lightning LTN-G15b.

 Sabre SB-28
 Tommahawk THK-63b
 Lightning LTN-G15b
 Hellcat II HCT-213C
 Stuka STU-K5b2
 Thunderbird TRB-D26b

 "What kind of numbers am I looking at?" Trina Weldon-Henderson asked after a few minutes

 "A lot. I would plan on 2 production lines for each type. We will adjust as we get going. These are the best fighters we have. Please be careful, any fighter destroyed is going to mean I have a pissed off General after my head." Major General DeMars said

 "Oh, I will treat them like my very own children. Now, I need to go gather my people and get started. I am going to need some support in getting new production lines built." Trina Weldon-Henderson replied, her mind already calculating the work needed to be done

 "Just send me a list of what you need. Besides the Battlemechs, your at the top of the list." Major General DeMars said

 Across the broad tarmac of the space port, Peter Sajak led Jermaine Haye into a Union Dropship. Inside were 12 Battlemechs. Peter Sajak explained Jermaine Haye's task.

 "You not going to be producing what you used to produce. Right now, these have been selected for production. Two I expect to be the easiest, the Archer ARC-2Rb and Battlemaster BLG-1Gb. Since I understand ypu aready produced the variant they are built from. The others, your going to have to reverse engineer them, everything will have to built from scratch, the tooling, molds, jigs, everything." Peter Sajak said

 Jermaine Haye thought his jaw hit the floor on hearing what was said "You want me to manufacture every one of these Battlemechs? I am going to need way more people. You talking 12 different production lines. I do not think anything this scale has ever been attempted before." Jermaine Haye replied

 "You won't be building every model at the same time, but you will be producing these at some point, maybe even more types. It is going to depend on who wins that fight, General Mitchell or Major General DeMars. General Mitchell would want everything, DeMars will want as few designs as possible to streamline the supply chain. The only reason I had these brought over was so you could start the reverse engineering process. The final" Peter Sajak said

 Jermaine Haye looked over the different Battlemechs. For the first time in his career, he was not sure he was up to the task.

 Thunderbolt TDR-5Sb
 Archer ARC-2b
 Battlemaster BLR-1Gb
 Phoenix Hawk PXH-2
 Mongoose MON-66b
 Shadow Hawk SHS-2Hb
 Night Hawk NTK-2Q
 Crab CRB-27b
 Crab CRB-27sl
 Warhammer WHM-7A
 Dervish DV-6Mb
 Highlander HGN-732b
 
 "I don't know Mr Sajak. You asking for miracles." Jermaine Haye said

 "Look, it can be done. You can do this. First, focus on the Archer and Battlemaster, at least your people are familiar with the design itself. Then focus on the Crab's, both versions. Your not going to be producing the Talos anymore, so plan on placing them there. You will get word soon on what other model to produce. Don't focus so much on the engine's, weapons or specials. We can handle that from other locations. We can always bring those on site later, get the actual design down." Peter Sajak explained, trying to boost the guys confidence

 "I will do my best, but I am not sure. I have never been faced with this before. Dreamed of it, but now the reality of the task is monumental." Jermaine Haye said

[Daryk]

At least Robber Baron is back... I'm wondering how Mitchell took the news of the stay behinds on Drachenfeld?  ???

[Iron Grenadier]

At least Robber Baron is back... I'm wondering how Mitchell took the news of the stay behinds on Drachenfeld?  ???

Very curious about that too. Especially about being "well equipped and supplied" means, other than all those Sherpa's.

Could make a Hegemony embassy, with these troops as part of the security force.

[2ndAcr]

1 January to 1 April 2775 (continued)
Thazi (Terran Hegemony)

 While Jermaine Haye was having a small crisis of confidence on Blommestein, elsewhere, many people were stepping up to the challenge of creating things needed. Warrant Officer Hanley Sparks, Master Technician 272nd MID, after seeing the work done on the Stinger upgrades, wasted no time in figuring out ways to upgrade other Battlemechs of the 272nd Division. The 272nd MID had 130 Thunderbolt TDR-5S assigned to it and he had wasted no time in tearing one apart and getting a mold created to build an Endo Steel chassis. While the Endo Steel framework was being built, he had begun a more simple upgrade to existing Thunderbolt TDR-5S and upgraded the TDR-5Sd to  Mk II design. Adding CASE to the right torso, swapping the SRM/2 for a Streak SRM/2, moved a Double Heat Sink from right torso to the left torso and swapped the armor for Ferro Fibrous but dropping it to 12 tons for no armor loss to make room for the small changes.

 He had then torn down a Archer ARC-2Rb to have a Endo Steel framework built so that they coud upgrade the massive numbers of Archer to the Royal version. Now that actual Battlemech production was on the horizon, the door was opened to large numbers of field upgrades. Crab CRB-27 were being upgraded to CRB-27b across the board. Thug THG-11E were being upgraded to THG-11Eb models. Highlander HGN-732 were being upgraded to HGN-732b models.

 He had over seen an developing an upgrade for the 27 Striker STC-2C in the SLDF ranks to a STC-2Cb version. Swapping the AC/5 for a UAC/5 with 2 tons of ammo, CASE in the left torso, swapping the heat sinks to Double Heat Sinks and dropping to 12. Armor was changed to Ferro Fibrous at 14 tons maxing the armor. An ERPPC replaced the standard PPC in the right torso backed up by 4 MPL for close in work. He had dropped the large laser.

 A Tech in the 29th MID came up with a upgrade for the Victor VTR-9B which he called VTR-9Bb. He swapped the heat sinks for 12 Double Heat Sinks, changed the armor to Ferro Fibrous at 11.5 tons increasing armor protection. Added CASE to the left and right torso, added 2 medium lasers to the left torso making this a Battlemech no one wanted to get close to. A jumpng Alpha only budged the heat gauge by 2 over.

 Another Tech, but from the 31st Infantry Division, had come up with a radical upgrade for the Phoenix PX-3R which he called PX-3Rb. Adding Endo Steel, he swapped the heat sinks for 14 Double Heat Sinks. Adding additional armor to 10.5 tons almost maxing protection. Swapped the PPC to a ERPPC, dropped the SRM's and added 2 MPL to left torso and a SPL to the left arm for anti infantry work. This all energy load made it excellent for long missions away from support.

 A Tech in the 126th MID submitted an upgrade for the Panther PNT-8Z which he called the PNT-8Zb. Adding Endo Steel, swapping to 10 Double Heat Sinks. He enlarged the Fusion engine and added a jump jet to improve it's movement profile. Swapping the Large Laser for an ERLL gave it increased range, he then removed the SRM/4 and added 3 MPL, with 1 in the left arm and the other 2 in the left torso. Another all energy design meant to reduce a strain on supply. Though still slow for a light Battlemech, increasing it's speed to 86kph and jumping to 150 meters was an improvement.

 From the 36th Infantry Division came a upgrade for the Talos TLS-1B called the TLS-1Cb. It was an expensive upgrade and it would require an extensive refit with factory support. Adding Endo Steel and adding a 300 XL Fusion engine, speed was increased to 96kph. Ten Double Heat Sinks kept the machine cool. The AC/10 was swapped for a LBX/10 with 4 tons of ammo, CASE was added to the right torso. All the missile systems were removed and 5 medium lasers were added, 3 to the left torso and 2 to the center torso a single SPL was added to the left arm for anti infantry protection.

 All of these upgrades landed on General Rita Mitchell's desk for approval. She was still coming to grips with a Battalion of troops deciding to remain on Drachenfeld. Though Lieutenant General Sverdlov had made sure they had plenty of ammuntion and spare parts for the 12 Turhan and 12 Merkava Mk VIII that she had let them keep. She still thought of those troops as her responsibility, but they were a long ways from any support or communication. After speaking with Martin Zuni, they had come up with a plan of sorts. Once a year, ZaP Shipping would send a single Jumpship to Drachenfeld to check on them, bring additional supplies. He tagged Michael Crawford for the task. Used to operating alone and plying the space of the Periphery, Martin Zuni figured a 4 month trip to Drachenfeld, month there, 4 months back to Thazi with a 3 month maintence cycle and down time.

 Rear Admiral Trishia Delvaney busied herself with constructing several orbital factories above Thazi to build Endo Steel to meet the ever growing need for the stuff. Once that was completed, she would begin work on the Vincent Corvette conversion to a full Destroyer. The long mission to Drachenfeld had given her engineer's time to work on manufacturing naval ammunition on site, which they were sure they could now successfully build on a planets surface. The specifications were sent to Azur for Hegemony Weapons and Technology along with examples of Killer Whale, White Shark and Barracuda Missile's so that they could work on those.

 March 2775 saw Rear Admiral Delvaney on the surface, she had to see General Mitchell about some of her concerns. Once inside General Mitchell's office, she laid out her desire to design and build several smaller Yardships. She wanted 3 of them for several reasons. First, to add additional recovery support to the Fleet. Second, it would not tie down SLS Salvation, Newgrange Yardship building orbital infrastructure. Three, they could also be used to train new workers in ship building and working in Zero-G during down times, which she doubted there would be very little of. Cost and crew requirments would be kept to a minimum and the ships would be restricted to work inside the borders of the Hegemony which would not require them to have HPG's or LF Batteries mounted.

 General Mitchell gave her permission to go ahead with the design process but not actual construction permission yet. But she assured Rear Admiral Delvaney that they would probably build them, but she wanted to complete the upgrade to to the Vincent's first and the Vigilant Corvettes.

**Finished now, it got late and I needed sleep. Sorry for leaving you all hanging**

[wolfcannon]

😮 wow

[Kyryst]

Holy ****! That is a massive upgrade. Looks like the only branch not getting a weapons system upgrade is the infantry. Nighthawk or Mauser 960b, anyone?

So did Operation Robber Baron leave the looted light factory to Drachenfeld or bring it home?

Nice to see so much happening.

[2ndAcr]

 Everything came back. All 3 Factories are being placed on Blommestein. Battlemech, Armor and Aerospace.

 Not everything will be upgraded at once, but I find it hard to discard hundreds of Battlemechs when they can just be made better and modernized. Endo and Double Heat does wonders by themselves. Add in weapons changes and now they are quite fearsome.

[Ammonios]

Hello,

I am enjoying this story immensely. I take it there will eventually  be incentive for the Periphery Terrans to develop SLDF technologies  past current levels. Otherwise, keep up the excellent work.

[EAGLE 7]

What mech/tank designs have you decided to phase out of your TOE?
Maybe consider create a second line/ militia  unit for them a Ferro Fibrous upgrade for the 2nd line units.

It fails to work as well for tank crews, but retired mech warriors could be given mechs not part of TOE upon retirement to use for as long as able to use them.conditional on where they retire,( and maybe a plot of land on planets with low population/little military presence).
THiE version of “40 acres and a mule”.

[2ndAcr]

 Right now, just about everything is in use. Though some designs are in limited numbers. Wayland Mobile Bases are now stationed at a Refit Facility and Paramour Mobile Repair Vehicles are coming into the units in good numbers.

 I have decided that we will be doing a 3 year time jump from Jan 2776 to Jan 2779. I will then do a major update on all TO&E for every command with what equipment they are using and in what numbers. Full system population update, industry status, fleet count and everything. Jan 2779 will be a major event to this AU.

[Daryk]

Glad to see Drachenfeld will remain in contact!  I like the suggestion to put an Embassy down, and designate the troops the security force.  That little political dodge would give the Drachenfeld leadership political cover AND a defense force...

[2ndAcr]

1 April to 1 July 2775
Graham IV (Terran Hegemony)(Real)

 Admiral Marrkgrae led the Fifth Fleet into Graham IV and simply overwhelmed the systems SDS. This cleared the way for 8th Army to strike Graham IV while the Warships and Marines of Fifth Fleet secured the massive ship yards and supporting factory's of Mitchell Vehicles and DeKirk Aerospace. Amaris forces launched nuclear strikes on 8th Army's landing zones inflicting heavy losses on the SLDF forces.

 Using limited orbital strikes, the SLDF managed to slowly expand their perimeters. VII Corps pushed the defenders hard, launching assault after assault until they finally broke the defensive lines allowing XXV Corps to pour through the massive breach. It took 2 months to secure the system fully and although they had managed to capture the planets industrial complex's relatively intact, the planet itself was ravaged by the nuclear strikes and orbital bombardments. But 8th Army had successfully completed their mission, secure vital manufacturing to provide equipment for the SLDF.

 Delbert "Red" Mitchell, CEO of Mitchell Vehicles, wasted no time in repairing his Factory to supply the SLDF with everything they needed. Though it would take almost a year to complete the repairs fully, within a month of the fighting ending, Mitchell Vehicles was once again supplying the SLDF with Battlemechs. Though at a reduced production rate.

Thazi (Terran Hegemony)(Periphery)

 General Rita Mitchell looked over the design that Rear Admiral Delvaney had come up with, it looked good on paper to her, but she was not the expert. She handed the design specs over to Admiral Tanisha Tanaka so that she could tell her if it was worth the effort. It looked okay, able to do the same mission profile as the Newgrange Yardship, but at 1/4 of the size and crew needs and much less expensive at just under 16 Billion.

 At 550,000 tons, the Builder Yardship carried a 1M ton unpressurized repair yard and 30,000 tons of specialized manufacturing equipment, exact copies of those aboard the Newgrange but not as many. Armed for solely self protection, it carried 2 NL/35, 6 LPL, 6 SPL in the FLS/FRS and ALS/ARS arcs. Covering the AFT was 3 NL/35, 8 LPL and 8 SPL. The LBS/RBS mounted 3 NL/35, 8 LPL and 8 SPL. Carrying 500 workers, 56 Marines and 60 crew for the 12 small craft. Two Dropship collars and a cargo bay for 135,754 tons rounded out the design. It could build anything under 1M tons but at half the speed of the Newgrange due to not mounting as much manufacturing equipment.

 "Well, it looks decent enough. The main thing is it free's up SLS Salvation for much more important work. As long as we don't deploy it ourside of our borders, at least not wothout a good escort, it should do just fine. I would like to get a few more Olympus Recharge Stations built around our territory, mainly to aid in the maintence of Vice Admiral Seimens' Squadron of Vigilant Corvettes. I plan to work them pretty hard on patrol and I would like to keep them out of the primary shipyards, which my larger ships need. I say we let her build them, lord knows we need more Mining Stations built in a lot of astroid belts. Not to mention orbital factory's to take more pressure off the LInden factory's." Admiral Tanaka said

 "Okay, I will give her the go ahead, but after she completes the Vincent conversions." General Mitchell said

 On Blommestein, work continued on getting the new Factory's up and running. Hegemony Inductries was selected as the name for the massive complex of individual Factory's. It was predicted that the complex would begin full operation in March 2776.

 Trina Weldon-Henderson had been good to her word and her team of engineers had quickly come up with a upgraded variant of the Typhoon Aerospace Fighter. With cost effectiveness versus combat ability at the fore front of their mind they made only a few changes but those changes boosted it's overall peformance. They had swapped the heat sinks for Double Heat Sinks and left the count at 26. Removing the PPC's, they replaced them with an additional 2 large lasers giving the Typhoon 6 in total. This allowed them to boost the fighters fuel to 6 tons and changed the armor to Ferro Aluminum and boosting it to 11.5 tons. These changes not only increased it's combat endurance, but also allowed it to Alpha strike with barely any heat gain. It was named the Typhoon TFN-2B and cost just 5.4 million.

 They had also worked over the Star Dagger, but this one was a more radical and expensive upgrade. Mounting a 240 XL Fusion engine, this freed up weight to make some serious changes. Mounting 10 Double Heat Sinks, 8 tons of fuel and 7 tons of Ferro Aluminum armor gave it outstanding performance values. The weapons layout was changed to 2 medium laser in the Nose and each Wing for a total of 6 that did even put a strain on the fighters cooling system. Though it duplicated the role of the Sabre, it's larger fuel load made it a much better patrol platform. They called it the Star Dagger S-2C and it cost 3.6 million. Twice the cost of the original.

 Hegemony Industries Aerospace Division was planned for a January 2776 with 8 initial production lines.

 Thazi Motors, never one to stand still, had reverse engineered the BFFL "Buffalo" Hover Vehicle. Able to carry 40 tons of cargo it would be assigned to rear area support and even sold to civilian transportation companies. They boosted it's range to 1,888 Kilometers with 8.5 tons of fuel and increased the size of the power plant to increase speed by over 30%. With it's dual role, they also increased it's armor to maximum while still managing to carry it's 40 ton cargo load. At a cost just under 1.4 million, it was quite a bargain.

 The biggest news was SLS Sneak, Bug-Eye had returned with news of the 2 Carrak Transports in the Schrim system. Searching 4 systems, the Carracks had been the only find.

[Kyryst]

Well, it sucks to live on Graham IV now, but good for the SLDF to have factories and a shipyard to resupply at. The ships in the slips give them naval reinforcements, should the Navy actually deem to use old, retired ships. The Star League Navy are kind of elitist.

Looking forward to the Vincent destroyer mod. However, the yardship looks like a less capable Faslane (yardsize anyway), but it seems to meet the needs of the situation. Should suit the Hidden Hegemony well.

The 2 Carracks found, made it worth the effort to follow the SLS Independence’s trail thru 4 systems, even if they are all that are found.

The reverse engineering and upgrading seem to be going well. Except for nighthawks, Industrial Mechs and CAAN bluewater vessels are the only things below dropships that haven’t been torn apart to reverse engineer. They are busy beavers.

Olympus stations? Wow. They have ambition, having those in every system would massively increase trade, trade speed (beaming power to jumpships), offload civilian ship repair, and act as system traffic control, removing those responsibilities from the ground and the military. The population and economy are going to explode.

[Daryk]

NL/35s?  ???

In every case, NL/45s are worth the tonnage and heat.  The extra range bracket makes a huge difference.