Does it make you happy now? (another Ngoverse alternate because I can't sleep)

[Cannonshop]

Bluerock: noun, trademarked form of Paramethamphetidone-66, a powerful euphoric and mood stabilizer developed in the 2140s.  Bluerock is also used as a street name for Pseudomethadone, a highly addictive substance outlawed in most settled systems in the Inner Sphere.

Overdose: Noun.  an excessive or dangerous dose of a medical or recreational drug.

October, 3055...

Elizabeth Ngo felt hands on her shoulders.  The weather wasn't cooperative, Donegal's sun blazing down through perfectly blue sky, the air crisp with fall colour but warmed by the last gasps of summertime. 

Penelope's body had seemed smaller at the viewing, and now, the coffin just seemed to emphasize that as it was lowered into the Doons family plot.

The funeral was, at least, small and dignified.  The circumstances of Penny's death had filled the scandal videos for about a day and a half, the hoopla dead by the time Liz arrived.  Granddaughter of Corporate Mogul dies of overdose in spaceport bathroom.

Penny's parents were here- both sets, mother and stepfather, father and stepmother.  None of the four seemed to feel the same level of grief Elizabeth felt, and as she observed the body language around her, they didn't seem as stricken as Penny's old Au Pair Nell, who'd had to beg a ride from Liz just to get here.

there was only one extra spot, one empty point.  Daphne Rowe, the third member of their triad in rehab, the one person who should be here and wasn't. 

Liz was Penny's 'friend', but Daphne?  Penny loved her.  Maybe in a way that wasn't necessarily the right way, Penny had confessed it once when Daffy was on an outing with the parents.  a moment of vulnerability with cough-syrup in the laundry room, Penny had confided in the youngest of the trio. 

Liz kept the secret, but she felt she knew that Daphne knew Penny's feelings were deeper than just friendship.

and she's not here.  it felt like betrayal, and Elizabeth knew all about betrayal now, even though rationally, she knew Daphne couldn't be here.

well, 'couldn't' maybe was a stretch.  After all, Elizabeth could be here, and she had just assumed more responsibility on her person than anyone present except Margaret Doons.

The Duchess of Kowloon waited for the first shovel of earth, and dropped a flower on the coffin.

Liz waited a little longer, before pulling the cigarette case from her jacket, she extracted one, and lit it, before turning away from the closest thing she had to a childhood friend.

"Elizabeth Anne Ngo!"  Maggie scolded, "What is that awful thing in your mouth??"

"Tobacco, Paper, and fire." Liz said, "It's outdoors and it's not like I'm going to live long enough to worry about cancer."

"Got an extra?" Maggie asked, holding out fingers expectantly, "It's not like I haven't lived long enough for cancer to matter that much!"

"ma'am." Liz offered her tin, and maggie took one, striking the end on the case to trigger the self igniter in the tip.

"You always were an angry child, girl, but you look like you've been sucking lemons." Maggie said.

"Daffy couldn't make it." Elizabeth stated, "and begging your forebearance, milady, but your son and ex-daughter-in-law..."

"They are grieving in their own way, Lizzie." Margaret told her.

"Not like us." Liz said.

"I did say in their own way, it's not like either of them spent much time or effort with her when she was alive."

"Given the example of my own mother, I am not sure that is a bad thing." Liz said, rubbing her collarbone and shoulder.

"Does it still hurt?"

"All the time." Liz said, "I wish i could stay longer, Maggie, but there's a powerful lot of work to be done back home."

"You can delegate some of that." Maggie scolded.

Liz sighed, "I really can't." she noted grimly, "The Regency did a lot of damage, both to the economy, and to social stability, I have a good staff, but they're not miracle workers and some of them still aren't ready to take me fully seriously, there's also the small matter of needing to kiss the Archon's ring and swear fealty...and that's if I survive the trip to Tharkad."

"survive?" Maggie frowned.

"He had friends and sponsors, Maggie, and I killed him with my own hands...well, with a gun in my own hands, anyway, and broadcast it.  I'm not sure you'll want to be seen associating with me, it depends on what Victor's reaction is once I'm kneeling in front of him on Tharkad."

"He may be more distracted by other events, Liz." Maggie said gently, "Katherine was his sister...and Melissa his mother."

The bombing happened virtually the same day that Elizabeth had landed on Kowloon, a fourteen year old orphan-heiress with an illegal army of supporters and mercenaries.  The chaos after the double assassination of Katherine and Melissa, had masked, somehow, for oh-so-briefly, the actions Liz contemplated, ordered and saw carried out to remove a corrupt regent from her homeworld.

but nothing lasts forever, and while the arrest of Ryan Steiner for the double regicide had dominated the scandals this year, the man's trial was still pending, leaving plenty for DBS and CBC to fill timeslots with talking heads monday-morning quarterbacking the actions of a minor who seemingly got away with cold blooded murder in the form of one Elizabeth Ngo.

Then, for Liz, all of that took the backseat, with news of her friend Penny overdosing in a spaceport bathroom.

at the edge of the cemetary, Elizabeth met her honor guard.  "Is the ship ready?" she asked.

Commander Bianh Vu Dao nodded, "Aye your grace, fueled, drive charged, we can shuttle up and break orbit."

"plot from the nearest point, even a pirate point.  I don't want to waste any more time than necessary in this system." Elizabeth stated, "Time isn't our friend."

"Aye milady."

Liz paused and waved to Maggie Doons.  In a way, in three years, Maggie Doons, Penny's Grandmother had been more of a mom to Liz than her own had been for most of her life.

Maggie didn't wave, she walked up, and scooped Liz into a hug.  "Safe Journeys, Elizabeth."

"safe transits and smooth transitions." Liz said, "In all your travels, Mags."

[Cannonshop]

KCGS Marie Trung, Donegal system...

part of Liz felt relief at being back in orbit, back aboard a ship that likely drew a lot of mockery from the heavy-haulers at the system's Nadir and Zenith points.  The Sithers-Malden group had somehow kept up enough repair yard to refit the Amaris-war era Sampan jumpship to something resembling working order.  Donegal's system militia eyed it with less humour.

Most Nobles make a statement of their personal might with a couple of Fortress dropships, or something similar, sometimes using the new Claymore assault ships as personal VIP transports.

very few can claim ownership of a single jumpship.

Ngo Industries owned quite a few jumpships, but those are all conventional models, barely capable of half a gee at max thrust.

The sampan class is basically a copy of the pre-Dreadnought type 51 gunships,  hers could do six times the thrust that most civilian vessels could...but it couldn't carry a dropship.  She had to shuttle up and down using a Mark VII landing craft...and the armament was enough to make most military assault dropships flinch at the sight of the gun ports.

for all intents and purposes, and in spite of a shorter-range jump drive than is standard or common in the present, the Duchess of Kowloon is going to Tharkad aboard a small warship, to report to an Archon (okay, 'Archon-prince' but in her view, Victor belonged to the Commonwealth first, and foremost, especially with the death of his sister.) who would, without a doubt, demand this armed ship be turned over to the AFFC.

But she would make him order it himself, in public, before revealing what she intended with her reforms in the Kowloon system.

We can't match them on the ground, but maybe we can swamp them with combat ships to prevent them from landing.

The Rockjack collectives were enthusiastic about the refits to the repair yards by Boojum, the expanded tooling, and the new Germanium-alloy nullgee forges.

There would be pushback, of course.  Defiance and Lockheed-CBM had already dropped Ngo Industries as a supplier in favor of Krupp-a Terran firm deep in comstar's pocket, and the other shipyards were already earlobes deep with contracts.

The Commonwealth needed a navy again, and it was time someone did something about it.

"lock down for jump.  Your Grace, do you see a point?"  Vu Dao asked.

Elizabeth studied the system plot from her station.  "yeah.  I see a ten minute lagrange about sixty eight minutes out."

"Milady, would you do the honors?"  Bianh asked.

Liz placed her hands on the yoke, and adjusted orientation and set thrust and pitch.  "I have the stick, Mum."  she said.

Flying a starship wasn't something the Federated Commonwealth would be comfortable giving to a girl with a degenerative neurological syndrome, and after the Archon Prince seized her ship, she was sure they wouldn't let her do it again...but Vu Dao was her instructor pilot, and had the plot book out.

"brace for thrust." Elizabeth announced.

lighting went from 'white' to red, and the crew secured, reporting as each station locked down.

a giant press shoved her into the helm seat, as the oversize fusion thrusters kicked on in pairs, bringing them up to the velocity needed to intercept the transitory point she'd plotted.

"calculating jump." Liz said, as the bladders in her suit pressurized and helped her force-breathing exercises, necessary to remain conscious under that kind of G-loading for such a sustained run.

the numbers rolled in her vision, and she felt it...the doorway...

"initiating jump."

discontinuity

[georgiaboy]

Besides your Ngo Universes and My own ramblings, I just do not understand why the Inner Sphere did not start building oversized jump capable Dropships when the need arose in 3050 when the Clans showed up. I know that spool up time for industries take time but they already have all the tech to do so. You can built alot of small ships faster than you can build the Mega ships. Using the excuse that building large intersystem engines for warships is lost tech is just B S.


If you can build engines for the Larger Dropships, you can build engines for the smaller warships.


My favorite build for the smaller ships is the Nightwing design. You don't need a lot of big guns to scrape Dropships out of the way.


Also for the Sampan, I never understood why it could not be built in atmosphere, it is under 100k tons and has 1.5 g accell. So it could escape the planet.


I have been in the game for a looong time, and still alot of FASA's original thinking in the game did not make sence.

[Cannonshop]

Tharkad, 3 Weeks later...

"I don't know how to feel about a minor lord of mine having ambitions to build a Navy, Liz...I can call you Liz, right?"

Elizabeth perched on the balcony overlooking the courtyard and dropped ashes into a fine, silver tray.  "Um, pleased?" she suggested, "I mean, initiative, commitment...the fact you didn't have to pay for the prototype or development costs..?"

"that little Corvette you arrived in has caused quite a ruckus."

"Sloop, sir." she said, "Corvettes are over one hundred kilotons with a thirty lightyear core, even with the prototype capacitor, we're barely making thirty lights and it's...dicey? and we're under seventy kilotons, so 'sloop' is the proper term."

He sighed, "Naval terminology." he shook his head.

"It's alright, Majesty, you're a 'mechwarrior." she shrugged, "Can't know everything, that's why you've got a staff."

"how effective can it be?" he asked, "that thing is barely bigger than most of the light assault dropships..."

"by itself? not very." she conceded, "I intended to present a plan for wolfpacks of them, a fast reaction force linked through the HPG network, a threatening Clan vessel enters a system patrolled by one, and he or she calls in a pack of friends to kill the clanners in the deep, before they can make landfall, and failing that, comes in to knock out their support ships, supply points, and air-cover before delivering orbital justice on-call for the Ground troops."

"and how will you do that?" he asked.

"Nukes." she said, "Not against ground targets, but nukes are supposedly effective medicine for curing enemy warships of their whole 'existing' thing.  I have breeder reactors we can turn to making cores, and enough rebuilt industries to supply missile bodies and guidance systems, I just need the approval of your royal highness and a delivery date."

"A contract?"

"That would be nice, being paid for work is, I'm told, quite nice." she said idly, "I suppose we'll need to find crews too...or train them, and since it's jumpship work that means needing navigators."

"you're going somewhere with this."

"There's this law, Your Highness.  Now, see, I'm sitting here, and I have this..." she reached into her pocket, and extracted it, "It's a certificate of certification as a jumpship navigator...but because of this law, I'm not allowed to wear a uniform.  The Clans took both my brothers, they took my father, and that drove my mother insane, and while I will never be able to wear a Neurohelmet, and I'm probably not going to pass the Physical for infantry even if you signed me a waiver, I can helm a starship."

"Liz...Elizabeth, Duchess Ngo...there are millions of people in the Commonwealth who would give their eye-teeth to get the draft exemption you've got."

"Not if they had to be dying of what's killing me they wouldn't." she said, "I want to hit them-these wolfpacks aren't just for defense.  I want to hurt them, Your Majesty.  I want to hurt these Clanners with every fiber of my being, I want to make them feel how I feel, every day, I want their scars to plague them every time they're in the Gravity Well, I want to fill their jump-dreams with nightmares and make them watch the skies for us with fear for a change.  My nation is at war, and I want to volunteer."

"I'll...think about it." he said, "How many of these Sloops can you reasonably turn out?"

"More than you have crew qualified to staff them." She said firmly, "Faster than Pandora can turn out potential candidates.  we found a fifty kilometre lump of mostly-germanium in the outer belts of the Winter system, it's been towed in, that's enough to run out the first fifty or sixty cores, and I've set up parallel processing in the Boojum yards, we can run out batches of twenty four in about eighteen months.  With your blessing and funding I can run series production for as long as you would like, or until we can't find more raw materials.  Servicing isn't too tough either-the Refit we did on the Marie Trung included a lot of common Dropship parts, including drive units normally used on the mammoth class."

"If I refuse to sign the waiver?" he asked.

"Then I will build them anyway-my nation is being invaded, we are at war, and if I can't fight, I can make sure the nation can fight." she said.  "but I really, really want to hurt them."

[EAGLE 7]

Strapped in and ready for another psychedelic LIZYtopian ride.

[Cannonshop]

Besides your Ngo Universes and My own ramblings, I just do not understand why the Inner Sphere did not start building oversized jump capable Dropships when the need arose in 3050 when the Clans showed up. I know that spool up time for industries take time but they already have all the tech to do so. You can built alot of small ships faster than you can build the Mega ships. Using the excuse that building large intersystem engines for warships is lost tech is just B S.


If you can build engines for the Larger Dropships, you can build engines for the smaller warships.


My favorite build for the smaller ships is the Nightwing design. You don't need a lot of big guns to scrape Dropships out of the way.


Also for the Sampan, I never understood why it could not be built in atmosphere, it is under 100k tons and has 1.5 g accell. So it could escape the planet.


I have been in the game for a looong time, and still alot of FASA's original thinking in the game did not make sence.

There are two very good reasons not to build it at the bottom of the well.

reason 1: while you've got the thrust, the  core would be ruined if you tried to forge it at the bottom of the well-since the core is the spine of the ship, this presents something of a problem, one that is more easily solved doing the work in null-gee.

Reason 2: you can build three-dimensionally in space more easily than you can at the bottom of a gravity well.  If you envision building out from the core the way ships are built upward from the keel, it makes more sense to do the work in nullgee, or microgravity.

the third reason is that it's an endeavour that just flat works out better in space-it's harder to blow up a vacuum yard in microgravity, because you actually have to HIT the components to damage them, while on a planet you have what you might call 'Grenade accuracy'-hitting close is enough to put the facility out of commission.  so there's a vulnerability aspect.  Also easier for Dirtyfeet troops to take a surface facility, since 'up is always up' in the Gravity Well, while you actually need specialist troops to take a vac yard that isn't sitting at the bottom of the gravity well on a moon.  (Keep in mind, the workers and/or security personnel at a vac yard like Boojum pretty much would classify as 'elite' versions of said specialists, since they spend all their time in microgravity and don't have that distressing habit of thinking in two dimensions, plus they know all the dangerous equipment...)

[Nikas_Zekeval]

How long before Victor points out Liz shares a problem with him.  He's gotten too high, become too important, to go out on the front lines and fight.  That it is his, and Liz's, job to oversee the war machine, from logistics to grand strategy, to let their people on the sharp end do that job.

[georgiaboy]

How long before Victor points out Liz shares a problem with him.  He's gotten too high, become too important, to go out on the front lines and fight.  That it is his, and Liz's, job to oversee the war machine, from logistics to grand strategy, to let their people on the sharp end do that job.

The problem is he like Liz probably do not think of themselves as that important. The Davion's and almost all leaders of this universe have come up through the Military ranks and the vast majority of all Heads of State are required to be in the Military first. For Heads of State, Victor and Liz are very young.

[jonen c]

And in this particular iteration both have lost their most important moderators who might pull them back and tell them to sit down and not go running off getting themselves killed.

[Red Pins]

Tagged.

[Dave Talley]

tag!!!!!

[Ttw1]

TAGged

[Cannonshop]

Puddle Boat: Derogatory Term for a small, sub-corvette sized armed jumpship.

Tharkad, a few days later...

"Build more of them." Victor told her, "But you're staying a civilian."

"Highness-"

"No, don't, Duchess." he said, "Let me outline it for you-somehow, you've made an end-run around everybody, and you do not know how happy that makes me...but the fact is, you're a sole survivor of your family line, and you're dying."

"Highness, all due respect sir, you and I know I'm not going to be able to get the respect to keep doing what you want me to do, if I don't have a uniform in the closet." Elizabeth stated, "Civilian lords are third tier, being barred from service means I won't be able to garner the necessary political capital to keep doing this-and you and I both know the AFFC needs reforms-which you can't spare the time to push while you're running the nation, and I won't be able to push or champion as a civilian."

that stopped Victor's rehearsed argument in its tracks.  "Reforms?"

"We have front line battalions of thirty six 'mechs, with thirty five separate designs that aren't parts compatible, we have fighter units that can't share ammunition, it takes AFFC schools four years to train a basic Tech-not because the machinery is that complicated, but because a basic tech out of school has to be able to service and repair any one of a hundred and fifty or so designs.  our forces get the worst of it because each variant, variation, separate type and obscure model requires cargo space, making the worst use of every ton of limited shipping, worst use of every cubic meter of storage, too."

"That's...just how it is, Liz."

"Give me permission to prove the conventional wisdom wrong, Highness, give me permission to build a model unit to demonstrate that our logistical problems are soluble, but to do that, I need to be taken seriously-I'm Sixteen years old and as you pointed out, I'm dying, and the AFFC won't take me without the waiver.  It doesn't have to be an active rank in a front-line unit, a reserve commission will work, I just need that service number on my record."

"why?"

"Access to personnel records, access to the requisition process, ability to present materiel without a civil Liaison intermediary, access to the approval process..." she tapped off her fingers.

"My god..." he said, "Mom said you were...but..."

"Highness?"

"Reserve commission it is." he said, "Naval reserve, since that's the branch you bothered to actually qualify for, and the branch you've started trying to build for the realm...in fact, I'm going to lift the provisions of the Militia Act, on the condition that AFFC quartermaster gets first choice."

"what did your mother say about me?"

"She's the reason the news about your forced takeover of Kowloon from the regent was buried, Liz." he explained, "She said you're not just mean, you're also smart."

"Nice vote of confidence, I wish I'd met her." Liz confessed, "The closest I ever got, was sending her reports and audit findings after the Regent was removed."

"Agh, after you blew his brains all over the wall of his office, you mean." Victor said with a visible wince.

"yeah.  between you and me?" she sighed, "I still get nightmares about it."

"Nightmares?" victor was surprised.

"Yeah.  You have to get it, Dad liked the guy, and he wasn't a dirty damned traitor until it looked like the realm was going to fold." Elizabeth explained, "He was practically part of the family, Victor.  If he'd been clean I wouldn't have seized my inheritance four years early-or maybe not even at all, so I get nightmares about putting a bullet in his brain."

Victor looked deeply saddened.  "Reserve commission is yes, go home and build it." he told her.

"What rank?" Liz asked.

"For now, we'll go with Kapitan, that's an O-6, you'll need to build your command, and I want you to understand, I'm going to have AFFC officers watching over your shoulder, because that reserve commission is provisional."

her face brightened, "Thank you My Lord, You won't regret it!!"

so why do I already regret it? he wondered.

[Cannonshop]

"...amatuers study tactics, Professionals talk Logistics."
-Omar Bradley.

AFRS Marie Trung, outbound from Tharkad...

"...he went for it?" Commander Bianh Vu Dao asked. 

"Yes.  yes he did." Elizabeth handed her flag captain a rank pin, "We're now officially an AFFC Reserve unit of the Commonwealth Naval Command-first one in three centuries that isn't part of Transport.  the Coast Guard is, for all intents and purposes, a recognized Black-Naval force."

"You're still going to have to integrate into the larger AFFC organizational structure, Liz." Bianh reminded her.

"We all are-but I have my waiver, I can do the job now.  I may only be an O-Six, but Victor showed me the charts, until he can find, recruit, dragoon or draft someone capable of playing admiral, I'm queen of my own little hill.  we've got a doctrine to prove.  Isn't it exciting?"

"Did you bother to tell him how you plan to man up this little navy of ours? because I know Alicia Li thought he would reject it out of hand."

"Uh...might have slipped my mind." Liz confessed, "But I'm sure showing results will please him more than discussing particulars anyway-he's like Dad, a dedicated ground-pounder...but I did get his chop on some special requisitions and a subcontract-we won't have to rely on unreliable Comstar HPG service for the Service..." Liz handed her a briefcase, "I've got twelve more in the shuttle."

"Black boxes?"

"black boxes." Liz nodded, "Sample for study, copies of the tech specs, and a contract to make more.  just think: we'll be able to coordinate groups of ships across distances where radio delay runs into the weeks or months in realtime."

"More importantly, you won't have to lie about having them now." Bianh commented.

"It was going to slip out of secrecy at some point, do we have a handle on how to encrypt it when the Clans figure out what they are yet?" Liz asked.

"Huang has some ideas, including one-use books."  Bianh stated, "Are you sure the Clans will have it?"

"I'm pretty sure they already have it." Elizabeth stated, "Front line formations and Tamar-they took Tamar, Tamar was a regional capital and likely had one when it was invaded.  The Clanners would have to be bone-stick-stone stupid not to recognize the potential intelligence windfall, and their record against our side doesn't suggest that's a possible."

"Liz, what would you be doing if we weren't at war?" Bianh asked.

"Oh, puttering around in a lab somewhere, maybe, or maybe working on my plan to make Poverty optional in the Commonwealth." Liz answered.

"Optional?"

"Something you have to consciously choose." the Duchess/Kapitan said with a glitter in her eye.  "I would be working on making our society post-scarcity and making everyone ridiculously wealthy so i can become obscenely rich before I die.  as it is, I have to settle for being obscenely rich while most people are poor, and I don't like that, but at least I'll die with the best toys."

"TOYS?"

"Sure, a growing industrial base, creating an educated populace, and you gotta admit, when the Clanners with their battleships looted from the Star League see our cutters, they're going to call them 'toy warships', it's kinda predictable, don't you think?"

"Your Grace, has anyone told you you're a horrible person today?"

"Not yet, but thanks, I don't mind being a horrible person if it means my people are alive to tell me how awful I am." Liz grinned.

[Daryk]

Sweet, more Kowloon!

I'm sorry for your insomnia, but if this is the result, where do I send the caffeine?  ^-^

[Cannonshop]

"Money is a means of keeping score."

"Toy warships? Victor, have you lost your ****** mind??"  General Nondi Steiner scoffed.

Victor smiled, and handed his great aunt a copy of the contract.  "They're cheap and available." he said, "And the Nation didn't have to pay for the design or development."

"These can't transport troops, Victor. we need transports."

"read it more carefully-she's committing three shipyard slips to logistics vessels with promised delivery dates.  If the kid can actually deliver, then that means we can start bulking out the transport command at a fraction of the cost that Federated Boeing's Galax plant needs to expand their capacity."

Nondi re-read the specs.  "Still, why bother letting them build these...toys?"

"Because it keeps an emotionally scarred teenage girl from hauling off to make trouble on the Clan Border." Victor told his Great Aunt, "And it provides a secondary source for officers for real warship programmes-we won't have to hope to retrain 'mechwarriors into spacers if Lizzie can deliver on a tenth of what she's contracted for."

Nondi read silently, then smiled, "My god, if she fails to deliver on this..." she looked up.  "I underestimated you, victor. You'll own fifty one percent of the largest Tooling contractor in the Federated Commonwealth!"

"it's called 'win-win' Great Aunt Nondi." Victor announced, "Mom taught me how to read a contract, and she taught me how to write one.  Elizabeth Ngo gets her waiver and gets to put on a garish uniform with lots of medals and whatnot, and in exchange she either delivers a useful contribution, or a major logistical asset to the Realm, and we don't have to use force or criminal proceedings to seize it."

"but the problem is, will these toys actually work?"

"She brought one here." Victor shrugged, "they should work for rear-line security and maybe intelligence gathering, at least until the professionals at naval operations review her doctrine and fix it.  the point is, we'll have a ready pool of training vessels that aren't three century old derelicts."

"What is this 'doctrine' she sold you, Victor?" Nondi asked, "You wouldn't be in my sitting room if you didn't have issues with it."

Victor passed a document to his Great Aunt.

she reviewed the cover pages and the proposed deployment methods.

"Light 'mech tactics." she said after a moment, "not battle-line, she's outlined a space light-cavalry structure...with some odd...hmm..."

"Morgan thinks it might work, but this is a Lyran force, I wanted a Lyran view."

"She needs bigger ships, and there's no means to really exploit any gains." Nondi said after a moment, "and I'm concerned at the amount of nuclear ordnance she's discussing here...and of course, the lack of dropships for landings-this navy only works if they can catch the enemy in space."

Victor smiled, "So it's limited?"

"Yeah, very limited." Nondi replied.

"Good, that makes the exemption letter easier to draft." Victor said, "She can't effectively rebel with this."

"No, she can't do that-nobody since McKenna has been able to use a navy without major landings to impact interstellar politics-you have to be able to put boots to the ground to conquer, and no rebel lord can manage it without being able to expand their surface presence in a star system."

"That's exactly the analysis I wanted, thanks!" Victor was still smiling.

"what-"

"The militia act, if her 'navy' can't be used to conquer her neighbours, then I don't have to suspend the whole damn thing." Victor noted, "it's a limited force, and that works for writing the exemption letter and assigning oversight."

"Victor, there ARE things she can do with it." Nondi said, "It's not entirely useless."

"I'm counting on that." Victor told her, "But you put the final piece together for me-you haven't lost your touch, Aunt Nondi."

[Daryk]

It's so nice to see a Victor in the mold of his father...

[Giovanni Blasini]

That it is.

[Cannonshop]

Boojum 3, 'Spider Moon' Naval Station, Kowloon...July 3056

Ninety percent of Flag rank, is administrative details and for a mid-rank officer, that includes dealing with higher echelon administrators.

"Velkommen Herr Feldmarshall Hasek-Davion."  Elizabeth greeted the Marshall of the Armies at the airlock.

"Duchess...er, 'Kapitan'...you realize I have pre-academy cadets whom are older than you are?"

"I do." Liz said,  "Welcome to the Kowloon system, sir."

"I still have issues with Victor giving you that rank without earning it." Morgan told her.

"I would too, sir." she said, falling in to the subordinate position as he walked through the P-way to the command center.

"Has there been a problem?"

"Sir?"

"Everyone is in skinsuits with helmets on lanyards." Morgan clarified, "Isn't this base secure?"

"Standard uniform, sir." Liz explained, "As a space service, all personnel are expected to be prepared for deployment or EVA at all times, same for damage control, and it helps acclimate the guys and gals from surface billets to a spacer lifestyle."

he frowned, "That's...completely nuts, Duchess."

"Sir, all due respect, for a command our size, we have five percent of the vacuum-related accidents of any reserve command in the AFFC, and two point five percent of the accident casualties of the next closest command-it works, so we do it. Sir."

That stopped him, and she stopped with him, "Five percent?"

"yes sir." she said seriously, "out of twelve active vessels on patrols, we've had one vacuum related death in normal operations in the last two years, and that one was a transfer in from Transport Command who had a drinking problem.  the average for an organization our size in the AFFC reserve is twenty casualties in a year, and the average in active front-line naval service is in the hundreds-of course, that's not a fair comparison."

she patted her own helmet with her left hand, "so everyone keeps their hat available at all times."

"Who came up with that for you?" he asked.

"Alicia Li, she's post commander up here." Liz said without hesitation, "She's a Rockjack, we adopted a lot of Rockjack procedures as SOP, because they live in this environment twenty-four-seven."

Morgan finally smiled.  "victor warned me you surround yourself with professionals." he said.

"sir." she nodded, "I know enough to know I don't know enough, and to know I got myself promoted past my experience or knowledge base. since I don't want to be another 'Social General', that means I lean heavily on older, smarter people than myself...and if you would just buy off on my promotion list, you'd be able to do this with a real professional like Alicia Li, instead of me, Sir."

"Part of why I'm here, Duchess." he said, "Your promotion list was conspicuous in having your own self absent-that's atypical for a Marcher lord."

"I promised the Archon a Navy, sir." she said, "Navies must be more professional than Armies, because while armies face danger, they rarely face the level of danger or complexity that Navies face on a daily basis in peacetime.  Our navy needs to be the most professional, and that means promoting by ability even if it also means the boss today is taking orders from yesterday's subordinates tomorrow."

"Archon-Prince, Duchess." he said.

"Pardon, sir?"

"The proper title is Archon Prince, dual monarchy." he said.

"Yes sir, of course.  I stand corrected." Elizabeth's tone was a little bit impish.

he hesitated, then, "You really are a strange one."

"Sir?"

"Most Lyran Nationalists would argue with me."

"I'm a professional, sir." Elizabeth stated, "you outrank me, you offered a correction to my phrasing and grammar, I'm going to take it, that's part of being a professional-to put my own sympathies and prejudices aside for the unit and the mission, and the nation, sir."

"But you are a Lyran Nationalist." he observed.

"Every gram of my being, sir." Elizabeth deadpanned, "but don't worry sir, I won't hold your Davion heritage against you."

Morgan chuckled.  "Let's get on with this inspection then."

[Daryk]

Morgan likes her anyway...  ^-^

[georgiaboy]

From all of the Ngo stories I have read so far, I would garnish to say that Liz is not a Cat person, she would be a Dog person. She values Loyalty first and above all.

[Cannonshop]

Some of the visit to the Kowloon system was just 'wrapping one's mind around it'.   Some elements were familiar-the layout of the Command center was clearly come up with by someone with an extraordinarily logical mind, and reminded him of the Fox's Den-if the Fox's den had been designed by an underfunded science fiction studio.

Instead of a holotable, for example, there were flat-screen displays everywhere, Personnel made notes on paper notebooks with carbon pencils instead of punching in data on PADDs, but the information on display and how it was organized showed that hidden under the primitive appearance was a sophisticated network of communications, data collection, analysis and distribution.

even the types of information were efficiently categorized and delivered-in spite of the prevalence of primitive substitutes for what really, in Morgan's experience, should be low-tier equipment.

"Why the notebooks?" He asked.

Liz shrugged, "Cheap, available." she said, "No wait times with Department of supply and no wait times with contractors...and have you ever remotely hacked a sheet of paper from a digital terminal?"

He blinked, "Data security?"

She nodded.  "Tamar.  The Clans took Tamar, they've taken a few other important worlds, we know that in the '39 war, black boxes were distributed to key installations-which happen to right now be in enemy hands.  Communication Security therefore relies on encryption and obfuscation, and if it can be cracked remotely, it's easier if the codes are in a crackable format.  that, in turn, gets a LOT easier if the codebook can be remotely accessed-and wireless access is one of the main selling points for most of the PADD units sold in the Commonwealth, including military spec units."

"so if they only have the end-product to decrypt, it takes theoretically longer-"

"And because it takes longer, we'll be on another code by the time they break the last one." Liz nodded, "Li figured that out for me."

"Do you think the Clans are monitoring Black Boxes?" he asked.

"It's what I would do." she shrugged, "Evil overlord rules apply here, if an inexperienced greenie like myself can identify a viable tactic, it's a sure bet the enemy, with experienced, trained and resourceful people, will do the same.  I think at least the Wolf Clan and possibly Jade Falcon are listening in to Black box traffic-it explains some of their movements after '50 and before '52.  especially successes where they caught AFFC units and garrisons with their pants down...or the failed rescue attempt over Blackjack." she folded her arms and looked over a crewman's shoulder as a string of numerical data rolled down the flat-screen.  "nobody has early warning gear that good, or they'd use it all the damn time, and I doubt they have enough quislings high up in AFFC command to have that info by Human intelligence."

Her words reflected his own suspicions.  "So you're doing something about it."

"Sir, we're above the truce line, and I just turned on the taps for a massive shipyard expansion." Elizabeth stated, "If the Clans are reading our mail, we're in heap-bad trouble out here, if they aren't? we've got a chance.  Smart investors know to minimize risk and exposures."

"I'd like to do a ride-along on one of your exercises, Duchess." he said, "For completeness."

"You'll need a pressure suit and some body armor, sir." she stated, "When running in combat conditions, hulls are run at zero bars pressure to reduce translation shockwaves and minimize fires."

He blinked, "REALLY??"

"yes sir. the assumption is that the enemy will be shooting back, sir, and we don't make the assumption they're bad gunners...and before I let the Marshall of the Armies risk his neck, you'll have to pass a basic vacuum qualification and DC course."

"DC?"

"damage control. you're not a civilian, nobody on one of my ships with a service number is allowed to be useless, sir, except civilians, and you are not a civilian."

"what do you do with civilians?"

"Padded bay with beach balls, sir." she stated, "Which won't let you observe a damned thing but we don't run shirtsleeves in combat."

acclimation.  Morgan could see a very different military culture was shaping here, very different from what he'd grown to expect as the 'Lyran Norm', and very different from the Federated Suns naval tradition as well.

[jonen c]

Search for "Federated suns naval tradition" returned no results, did you mean "Ram them until they give up"?

[Cannonshop]

FCS Nola Cham, 3 days into fleetex-11, 2 jumps antispinward of Kowloon...

The hardest part of personally 'riding along' on a Sampan II, in Morgan's mind, was how cramped things were inside.  Even the most spartan dropships didn't pile additional stores and supplies in the corridors, and even a the smallest jumpships kept at least one bathroom per deck clear, and had sufficient open bunk-space for the crew.

Not on a Sampan.  The Sloops were built with two 'heads' per deck, but that's when they're not being used as auxiliary consumables storage, and he had to 'bunk' with the Captain and XO in the tiny sea-cabin, the commanding officer's 'office'.

"How long are your patrols normally, Commander Vu Dao?" he asked.

"Well, we're kitted for a six month deployment." Bianh told him casually.  "This is basic loadout, but it should get shorter as more ships come on line.  In a projected forward operation you get what you've got here, we're assuming that AFFC will yank our Tender to move ground troops, so we're practicing operations without one...which we'd have to do anyway if we run a deep penetration strike at Clanner shipping.  to do that means practicing long duration ops under combat conditions until crew proficiency is achieved."

"I noticed some interesting gaps in your Doctrine documents, the Duchess suggested I should go over them with you."

"Gaps? likely." Bianh said, looking up from her plotter.  "what did you notice?"

"the piece I noticed most was the chapter on ramming operations." he said.

"There isn't one." she shrugged.

"Yes.  That is something I noted, you have several sections on evasive manuevering, including avoidance, but nothing on preparing a ramming attack."

"Ramming, is stupid, sir.  This isn't the 1860s with coal fired ironclads squaring off in narrow river channels, and it's not greek and persian galleys fighting in a shallow inlet between two rocky coastlines.  I specifically argued to redact those standing doctrines inherited from AFFC's manuals because we're not sailboats in a concrete pond."

[Daryk]

Liz was smart to let Bianh read that particular riot act to Morgan...  ^-^

[jonen c]

There's also the practical issue of anything a Sampan would be likely to need to attempt to ram, is probably going to outmass it significantly, and compensating for that by adding relative velocity to the equation makes ramming impractically difficult, unless your enemy is very obliging, at which point you'd have to wonder what he gains from letting you ram him.

Also starships are expensive, guidance packages are much cheaper. You want a ramming attacks so badly refit a couple of hundred smallcraft, smh.


Edit:
That said, the omission of a chapter on ramming is arguably a mistake. There should be a short chapter, and the first word on the first page should be "Don't", followed by a few pages explaining why.

[Cannonshop]

"Contact!"  Sarah Leitner at Weapons announced, "Bearing positive Z azimuth, emergence wave is consistent with Invader class, running heavy."

"Herr Marshall, now might be a good time to put the hat on." Bianh said, as she dogged her own helmet down.  "All hands all hands, stand by for combat condition alpha, Marines to boats, crew to battle stations."

Morgan dogged his helmet down  and watched the indicators as the command deck itself depressurized.

"Hear me in there, sir?" Bianh's voice sounded tinny through the common channel.

"I do."

"good. Telescopic, give me a visual on our visitor."

The image appeared.  The jumpship looked battered, with the faded paint proclaiming 'trans univ__sa_ C..."

"target drone?" he asked.

"Bandit." Bianh said, "I knew they'd have to charge somewhere out here!  RTO, transmit all bands, 'Attention Trans U heavy Nineteen, you are hereby ordered to stand to and prepare to be boarded, resistance wll be met with force, Over."

he heard the click as she switched to a separate channel, his own helmet switching in tandem.  "CAG, launch our fighters, Chief, have boarding assault teams standing by on the pods."

"Aye mum!"

"an Invader isn't likely to shoo-"

the image blinked, and he felt a faint vibration through his seat.

"They're launching fighters mum."

"Right on schedule." Bianh said, "Leashes off, splash the fighters, this guy can't jump and if we play it right he can't run."

"Dropships coming loose, I count two Buccaneers and a Union!"

"I see 'em.  Gunnery, target their engines, Helm, stand by for evasive maneuvers."

"Aye mum..."

"Gunnery link telemetry to the breaching pods, Breaching pods away!"

"breaching pods?"

"assault shuttles." Bianh explained, "cheap ones, they're consumables and will have to be replaced at the next pit-stop, but they've got enough thrust and cushion to...see?"

both Buccanners were trying to evade only to grow tumors on their ventral hulls.

"Are those-"

"basically an armored box with thrusters, guidance, and magnetic grapples, sir." she said, "The marine assault teams will blow a door in the skin and enter that way instead of trying to make it through an airlock pinch-point.  they're actually mostly based on a Rockjack's prospecting pinnace."

display images lit on the faceplate of his suit, showing a grunt-eye view of the boarding assaults.

"Tough part, is keeping atmo seal-we're assuming those ships have unwilling passengers." Bianh contributed, "trans U nineteen was spotted by an amatuer astronomer on Hood IV after a pirate raid, and we have image analysis from a few other systems along the Periphery end of the Commonwealth, she's either hauling pirates, or just really unlucky."

"Today maybe both?" Morgan suggested.

"Let's hope."

He watched a grunt's eye view of infantry combat in null gee as the engines failed on the bandit dropships.  The targeting reticle seemed to divide at strange intervals. 

"They're using...camera mounts on the carbines?" he asked.

"Yep, and gyrostabilizers, good perception."

"We were testing something similar for the Infantry." he said, "the system was too delicate for field deployment-dust and moisture were a problem."

"Well, we don't have to deal with those." Bianh noted.

the infantryman was very efficient at killing resistance-at least the man whose feed he was watching was.  two to the chest, one to the forehead, over and over again.

Morgan felt a little ill watching-this was less of a battle, than a prolonged execution.

the soldier's view stopped at a welded shut hold access.  over the infantry's channel, the man spoke in Viet, but an english translation appeared on Morgan's feed in real-time.

Bring up a cutter, they welded this hold shut, and corpsman stand by to check casualties.

the cutter was a foam dispenser feeding a thermite-derivative paste with a self-oxygenating component. The trooper laid it along the welded hatch seam, and lit it off.

the door fell away in microgravity after a moment, drawn back by the entry specialist using a magnetic grapple.

inside, was an open chamber crowded with bodies, frightened civilians,many in rags, with signs of malnourishment and dehydration.

Bianh began cursing.

the other Bucc had a similar chamber, this one filled with girls between the ages of toddler, to maybe twenties, and the visible mistreatment was worse, as these women and girls had not a stitch of clothng between them, and only a handful of thermal blankets.

"RTO, contact our Tender, we need transport for over a hundred civilians."  Bianh's voice was calm and cold.

the boarding team on the Invader class Jumpship methodically captured or killed every un-chained individual aboard on another screen.

"What happens to these people, Commander?" he asked.

"The victims will be brought to Kowloon for medical treatment and to try and find their families and homeworlds." Bianh said, "The pirates that survive will be given a fair trial, be treated decently, and once found guilty, they will be decently walked out of the nearest airlock." she said, "We're not savages, Sir.  The trials will be absolutely fair...and the execution will be absolutely satisfying."

[Cannonshop]

The feed switched to the main jumpship view again.  the compartment door was code-locked from the outside.  it took Chief Nguoc about half a second to determine where the manual override pumps should be, and to determine they had been dismantled on the inside.

"I wonder what they're afraid to let out of here." he mused.

far away, he knew that the Skipper, and their AFFC observer were watching his feed thanks to an indicator on his Heads UP.

"undogging the door." he said, as he used his slicing rig to override the code locks.

the compartment opened.

It was lit in emergency red, and had only one passenger.  the girl was emaciated, and bruised, and had a collar around her neck, manacles on her wrists, and from the limp way her legs floated, the scarring on the backs of her filthy knees meant she'd been hamstrung.

and the shaking was identifiable to anyone who'd ever worked in vice.

"Corpsman forward!" he barked.

Corpsman Vandergan-112 moved past him, and began speaking gently to the girl, "Gunny, the neckpiece is a bomb!"

Nghien moved up on the girl, and examined the explosive collar carefully, noting the anti-tamper circuits, over all structure and the binary explosive design.

He pulled out a pair of long-nose shears, the kind with a non-conductive metal base, and snipped the explosive collar off, tossing it aside. "****** Primitives." he muttered.

"What's your name..." the Corpsman asked in several languages, before english. 

"N-nicole...I feel terrible."

"That's withdrawal. why did they keep you here?"

"J-jum-jump ph-phy-physics...can navigate-."

"Where are you from, Nicole?"

"m-metis..I want to-to.."

The corpsman readied a dose of something, and shot the girl up.  she went limp.

"What have they got her on?" he asked.

"bloodwork looks like bluerock.  I've heard of Pirates keeping someone alive to work the ship, but jesus...they hobbled her and then put her on the Rock, and looks like...neuroin too. make her a junkie, and a prisoner...probably some combination of good-thug-bad-thug to work her mind over enough to use her skills..."

"How old?"

"uh...fourteen, maybe fifteen? cells and bones suggest she's early to mid-teens, we'd have heard of tourists being abducted, right?"

"could be a runaway.  it's higher command's problem to sort out, Skipper, you reading this?"

"I am.  does she need a sick bay?"

"Aye mum, drying someone out from Bluerock's bad enough, but this is a Kitcher's cocktail case-they used both the rock and neuroin, plus she's got signs of physical and possible sexual abuse."

"bring her over, I'll have the sickbay open by the time you get back.  Vu Dao out."

***

Pressure was back up to Kowloon Standard, and Morgan had his helmet off.  "Your people seem oddly practiced at this kind of thing."

"we should, we've been doing this for decades." Bianh said, "Mostly off the books antipiracy ops, but now we're legal we have more options than just leaving an anonymous tip for the Eighth to follow up on after we've spaced the perps, and we've got genuine resources."

"what's going to happen with the girl?" he asked.

"Given her testimony? drug rehab, physical rehab, psychological treatment, Li will have our OCB people looking for the family, if we can't find them, I think maybe one of the Rockjack Collectives can Stake her in or maybe we'll put her in the foster system on Kowloon until she's eighteen."

"But not an execution like you were just a few minutes ago salivating."

"Sir, she's a victim.  even if they compelled her to help them, she's still a victim of a whole nest of crimes.  Poor kid probably won't ever be fully normal, but we can maybe help her get a little closer to normal in the right hands...anyway, the exercise was a success, so we're going back to port as soon as the Prize Crew situates on that Jumpship and the droppers are recovered by our Tender.  this squadron ex was a raging success."

"and your next step?"

"Once we have their ship in impound, we'll use the buffer in the navicom to find their hidey hole, then..." she shrugged, "We'll stage a joint ground training mission, and root these scumbuckets out of their nest and put paid to them."

[jonen c]

There's a saying in the Coreward Pheriphery, "when the KCG go on exercise, Pirates hunker down".

[Daryk]

Ooo.. and Nikki too...  :thumbsup: