Regulations and Regrets

[PeripheryExplorer]

New Albuquerque Air & Space Port, New Albuquerque, Nuncavoy
Nuncavoy Free Confederation, Rimward Periphery
May 10th, 2997

There had been no warning. No satellite network monitored the Nuncavoy system like the worlds of New Avalon or Taurus. No military patrolled the skies. So at 1:44 in the afternoon local time, Officer Grant Miller of the Confederation Civil Aviation Administration was shocked to alertness when his air traffic control radar alerted to the presence of a Leopard class DropShip on quick descent on a path straight to New Albuquerque. Stunned and shocked, Miller just stared stupidly at the ancient monitor on the dusty desk in the tiny tower facing what was at best, an airfield consisting of a single concrete runway and a heck of a lot of scrap that vaguely looked like buildings.

He quickly toggled the radio, “Unidentified Leopard.” He began, as calmly as he could, “You are outside of regulated approaches for New Albuquerque Airspace, please adjust heading by 246-mark-210 and reduce speed by one half, over.” His system activated the countdown clock, the red numbers quickly falling as the Leopard continued it’s approach. He repeated his message. After two minutes, Officer Miller accepted his worst fear - that this was a raid.

“Who would raid us?” he thought to himself, shocked by what was happening. The worst emergency he had ever dealt with was one of the local Planetlifters, converted for civilian use, having one of the drives fail and needing a much longer landing. He wasn’t even sure he knew what to do.

He regained his senses and picked up his phone, dialing rapidly to get the police headquarters. “NAPD, this is Gloria, what’s your problem?” a bored voice drolled over the line.

“This is Officer Miller, you have a Leopard class dropship on hot approach to the city. You need to get the alarm out.”

“What?” The voice on the other line sputtered, “No one raids up here! We ain’t got nothing!”

“Well they are! Get the alarm out now!” Miller shouted, before slamming down the phone over Gloria’s stuttering protests, then dialing again to get the militia alerted. He watched the computer clock quickly counting down till the unidentified Leopard touched down. “Come on, come on!” He muttered as the dull double tone of the phone indicated that it was ringing on the other end.

“Confederation Militia, this is San-ban-bing Liu.” The voice sounded chipper and happy.

“San-ban-bing, this is Officer Miller, CCAA, New Albuquerque Air Traffic Control. We have an unidentified Leopard DropShip on fast approach with touchdown in” he glanced quickly at his watch, “three minutes. They have ignored radio communications. We’re being raided by pirates.” He was surprised at how calm his own voice sounded.”

“Thank you Officer Miller, I’ll alert the duty officer. We will dispatch forces, we advise that you get all civilians into designated shelter spots.” He sounded bored.

Miller was again shocked for the second time this day, and shook his head, “San-ban-bing Liu, request ETA on support?”

He could almost hear the shrug in the young mans voice. “Sir, with all due respect, we’re 3,400 kilometers away from you. Even with a suborbital transition, we are hours away. We’ll do what we can.” The militia was headquartered and based out of the much warmer and nicer southern continent, out of Bola Bay, the only real city on Nuncavoy and the capital for the Confederation. The President, his advisors, and militia leadership all were there. New Albuquerque was the most prosperous of the northern towns, but the arid, dusty environment was not ideal for most people. This was the frontier of the frontier. Known only for the locally produced guanaco wool and other textiles produced by the Slater family.

The countdown hit zero and the pirates arrived. Miller switched his radio to the civil response channels and began helping to coordinate the response. He prayed that the Sin-ban-bing Liu was wrong. But he knew that he wasn’t.

Pleasant Horizons Apartments, Samantha City, Taurus
Taurian Concordat
May 15th, 2997

Riley Slater was awake, but she was carefully trying to not disturb her boyfriend Section Leader Edward Rodriquez. He was part of the Constabulary, and was exhausted after working back to back shifts to cover the current flu outbreak. Sneaking out of bed, she walked through their apartment to the refrigerator and looked at her options for a drink, settling on a native juice that was very tasty. She was generally in a very good mood, in just two weeks she’d be graduating with a Masters of Science in Agricultural Engineering from one of the most prominent Universities in the rimward Periphery. She had been here for six years - but she felt it was worth it. She and Edward had not spoken about what would happen after she graduated, and it was the only regret she currently had.

She had to go home. After graduating from her local education program, an ancient curriculum still based on Terran Hegemony standards reflecting the original colonists origins, she had worked directly for her father, tasked with becoming proficient in every part of their operations. She had chased down livestock on horseback, sheared sheep, avoided spitting llamas, provided veterinary care, repaired fences and outbuildings, worked the looms, and even loaded and crewed one of their Danais dropships, the NS Gila Vista - which they affectionately called the Gilly. After all of this, she had gone to University to learn how to best manage their extensive agricultural operations and learn what would be needed to not only take over Slater Textiles & Garments, but maybe have a chance to rebuild it to their former glory.

She twirled her glass in her hand, looking at the soft kitchen light reflecting off of the red liquid in her glass. She imagined the Gilly lifting off from New Albuquerque and joining a never ending stream of DropShips latching onto five JumpShips to go to markets ranging from Canopus to Taurus, and everything in between.

That wasn’t to say that the Route 66 wasn’t a fine ship, it was. The Invader class was well regarded throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery, and the Route 66 even still had working hydroponic gardens. But at their height, her family had operated five JumpShips and a fleet of DropShips working from Nuncavoy all the way to Terra. Now, they had one aging JumpShip and three Danais DropShips, one of which was being used as a parts repository to keep the other two operational.

Her father had money, that’s why she could afford to be here. However, the costs of such a fleet would be astronomical, and while the Star League had supported trade - the same trade that had made the Slater’s wealthy - the civil war and Succession Wars had destroyed many of the worlds they had traded with, and taken much of their fleet as Successor Lords impounded them for military purposes.

Riley sighed, she wanted to turn her family’s fortunes around, but was it even possible?

There was a sharp knock at the door that startled her. Who would come knocking at 0300? She stood and walked over, looking at the security camera footage and seeing a ComStar Acolyte standing in the hallway. Startled, she opened the door, “Riley Slater?” Asked the Acolyte.

“Yes, that’s me.” She stood there in a shirt and shorts, her hair a mess.

The Acolyte nodded, then frowned, “Ma’am, it is with our deepest sympathies we regret to inform you that we have been notified that your father, Richard Slater, has passed after receiving injuries during a pirate raid.” Riley gasped in shock, as Edward emerged from the bedroom.

“Pirates? At New Albuquerque?” Edward asked, his brain waking up after being startled by the knock earlier. He was aware of Riley’s homeworld and also that pirates would normally not bother with such a resource-poor region. There was barely food to capture, and the population wouldn’t support slaving. His training was kicking in as if this was a Taurian world. He moved to support Riley, putting his arm around her.

The Acolyte nodded, “Again, you have our Order’s deepest sympathy. We bring these messages in person so that we might offer the Peace of Blake for you. I have brought a print out of the message that was sent for you to read.” He paused, “I also need to inform you that ComStar now recognizes you as the owner and chief executive officer of Slater’s Textiles. Accounts with ComStar have been transferred to your name, and we stand ready to help you in any way we can. Please don’t hesitate to come to us.” He reached out his robed arms and handed Riley an envelope. His eyes were sympathetic and as she took it he patted her gently on the arm.

Edward nodded, “Thank you.” he whispered. The Acolyte nodded back, and turned to leave.

Riley took the envelope and went to the table. She read it quickly. “Dear Reeree,” She paused, shaking her head at that stupid nickname. Her father’s housekeeper, Agatha, had called her that because when she was two, a few months after her mother had passed, Riley couldn’t pronounce her own name, instead saying reeree. It stuck, and became her nickname throughout school and while working for her father. “I am writing to deliver horrible news. Pirates raided our little town. It was sudden and unexpected, we’re still recovering and reeling from the attack. Your father had been in town to look at new tractors with Maurice.” Riley paused, and looked at Edward, “Maurice owns a small machinery in town, and builds and repairs farm equipment for most of the region.” Edward nodded, Riley took a deep breath and continued. “He joined the police to coordinate rescue and help get people to shelter, but they had BattleMechs. He was helping get a group of kids from the ice cream parlor and into the basement of the Church when he got caught on the street by some of their raiders. They dragged him away, and well, he didn’t survive. They blew up the bank. They fired into the crowds Reeree. They didn’t even take anything, just killed and destroyed, and left.” She paused, reading that in shock too. Pirate raids were brutal, but they were usually looking to capture people and equipment. Firing into crowds and blowing up a bank - usually a top spot to loot - was uncommon. Not looting? That was unheard of.

She continued, even as tears fell down her face, “I spoke with Aaron, he’s trying to keep everything running right now. We are going to send 66 out for you, but it will be a few weeks. We will wait for you.”

Riley put the paper down and felt the grief begin to take her. As sobs shook her body, Edward came around and held her. Her tears soaked his shirt but he just gently rocked her and stroked her hair.

Samantha Spaceport, Samantha City, Taurus
Taurian Concordat
June 26th, 2997

Riley stood in the lounge, leaning against the railing that kept people from pushing against the glass panes that allowed you to see the entire landing field full of DropShips. TDF ships would be much further away in their own section, but a number of civilian craft were present and the hustle and bustle was a good distraction. A hand touched her elbow and she turned to see Edward, she smiled up at him.

After a month of grief, counseling, graduating, and back and forth communication, Riley would have fallen flat on her face except for the constant rock at her back that was Edward. He was a continual source of support and help for her. When he told her that he had been granted six months leave from his commanding officer, and would join her on her way home, she was beyond happy. She had met many of his coworkers at the local Constabulary station, mostly for family events such as picnics and dances. They were all very kind, and even bought her a bouquet of flowers to express their sympathy and support. But this approval of Edward’s leave was amazing. She was so grateful.

Though it was odd to see him out of uniform, “There you are! What did you get?”

“Your favorite, fish and chips.” he held out a cardboard box and she sniffed it excitedly, “And myself a falafel wrap.”

She grabbed the box and turned to a nearby table in the lounge to enjoy her meal. “You can’t anything this good back home.” She forced out between bites. “Most of the native fish are edible, but disgusting. You either love lamb or you love the rockbite chicken, and you love it with hatch peppers wrapped in a tortilla.” She closed her eyes to savor the flaky deep fried fish. Edward grinned and shook his head.

“I’m glad you’re eating.” He smiled, as she hadn’t for a while. She nodded, “But I’m sticking with my falafel and veggies.” He chewed on his wrap, enjoying the food. In a few minutes a shuttle would be lifting that would take them out to the 66. It was going to be a hard journey and this was going to be their last really good meal. Riley planned on enjoying it and was thrilled when Edward volunteered to go get something as a treat.

“Thank you!” She said as she finished up. She looked down as the pager provided by the desk attendant started to buzz. “Perfect timing! That’s us!” Edward wolfed down the last few bites and both grabbed their carry ons and headed to the shuttle to board.

Riley sat near a port, and as the shuttle went through launch procedures and lifted off, she looked at what was now a closed chapter in her life. As the shuttle lifted off, she looked out at Samantha, and as it dwindled away she knew with it was the part of her life that was carefree and innocent. She was the last Slater, and inside of her a plan was forming. She needed to learn more, but something had happened. She wanted to dig.

She wanted to make sure whoever did this would regret it for whatever seconds of their life they had left.

TDF Headquarters, Basement Level 6, Samantha City, Taurus
Taurian Concordat
June 26th, 2997

Brigadier Alicia Rodriquez read the report from her field agent. The Slater girl was on her way home, and had been doing intensive research into what had happened to her father. A prominent trading family in the region, they had been negatively impacted by the alliance calling itself the Aurigan Coalition, and the Taurians saw this as an opportunity to expand their own influence to counteract the Magistracy in the region. Having a powerful and wealthy family work with the Taurians would be beneficial, and successful negotiations with the girl’s father had been progressing very well when the pirate raid occurred.

Alicia tapped her fingers against the oak of her desk. A pirate raid in which the pirates took nothing. A raid in which pirate infantry grabbed anyone fitting his description and dragged them off to shoot him. A pirate raid in which after killing their target, they blew up a few buildings and left. All relayed by their source on planet.

Alicia was furious. The Slater family had resources, resources that could move Taurian agents throughout the region, and business connections that would help them verify Aurigan accounts and financial data. All of that was at risk.

Thankfully, her backup plan was in place. Edward had filed his report before lift off, that he was on route and that she was incredibly thankful to his CO - the very supportive Subaltern Jeffries - and the Taurians in general. Now he just had to keep her alive.

Alicia considered what could have gone wrong to upset her plans. She had an excellent agent in place, but the girl was an anomaly - and years of planning and careful ground work could be at risk.

[Mister Spencer]

Interesting.

So, someone likely got wind of Mister Slater's negotiations with the Taurians and decided to preemptively strike and derail any possible cooperation that would most likely bring to light all kinds of interesting things.

It's either one of the Aurigan factions, the MOC, an internal faction within the TC or C*.

Things are likely to get very ugly.

[Daryk]

The Taurians clearly know it was a hit job, and it shouldn't be hard for Riley to figure that out once she gets back.  This story definitely has promise! :)

[DOC_Agren]

interesting set up

[PeripheryExplorer]

[Thank you all for your support! I am writing a lot more and I hope you all enjoy it! :)]

Slater Textile & Garments, New Albuquerque, Nuncavoy
Nuncavoy Free Confederation, Rimward Periphery
August 5th, 2997

Riley read through the report again while sitting in her father’s office. Now her office. Titled “Investigation into the New Albuquerque Raid”,  its findings were harsh and to the point: Officer Miller was to blame, and the militia was placing all of this disaster on him.

Per the critical findings, Officer Miller had been asleep in the tower, the limited radar coverage of the airport providing almost no warning - but a critical handful of minutes were lost as Miller slept through the initial alarm. He failed to challenge the intruder. He failed to contact either the local police department or even the militia. And well he did help out coordinating communications and messages after the raid, if he had not been derelict in his duty, the police might have been able to better coordinate their response. He had been arrested and moved back to Bola Bay for trial - and more than likely a very long prison sentence. During transit he was able to get his safety belt wrapped around his neck and hung himself. Riley frowned. She hadn’t personally known Miller, but she had met him on plenty of occasions. He was a conscientious official and ran his facility with a level of devotion almost equal to a ComStar Adapt.

Riley turned to the next report. An after action report prepared by one of the militia officers. Except for off duty officers who were outside of the city, none of the police had survived the attack. Riley had reviewed video of the various officers caught on security cameras trying to respond to the attack and prevent civilian losses. Even Gloria, who almost no one had even remotely nice things to say about if they had ever been subject to one of her tongue lashings, had gone down firing her sidearm at pirates as they attempted to take two older men down in the street. Both kind of reminded her of her father, which brought the grief back in waves. She had stopped the video before seeing the submachine gun be emptied into Gloria. Always harsh, always strict, but when the cards were down she had faced this threat with courage and bravery.

However, the report noted that the brave actions of the police had helped clear the streets before the pirates had landed, and that it was estimated that 45% of the civilians had managed to get into some kind of shelter.

Riley paused again and reread both reports.

She pressed the pager on her desk, alerting her aid to come to the door. It opened and the young woman who opened the door still had a bandage on her head. The pirates had hit this building first, storming through the now boarded up front doors and tearing through the place like a bad wind. “Yes Ms Slater?” her aid asked.

“Come in and take a seat.” She gestured to the chairs in front of the desk. She kept thinking of it as her father’s desk and would have to keep reminding herself it was hers. Her aide did so, Riley raced to remember her name. “Sara, how are you holding up?” She asked with concern.

Sara nodded, “Alright, I mean, we’re all devastated and shocked. We haven’t seen pirates here since the Second Succession War.” She shook her head. “And your poor father.”

Riley nodded, remembering that her father was killed too. “And yours.” She reached out to hold the younger woman’s hand. “Obviously I’m grateful you’re here, but if you need to go home…” She trailed off as Sara shook her head.

“No ma’am. We need to be here. I need to be here.” She paused. “I don’t know what else to do.” She looked at Riley and for a moment the fear and terror that had been hidden behind a mask of antidepressants and mood stabilizers shown through. Riley nodded. She patted the girl on the hand.

“I’m reading through the reports about what happened. But I’m confused and I’m hoping you can help.” Sara nodded, her face still troubled but willing. “We can stop if this is uncomfortable. Just say the word.” Sara nodded again more firmly.

“Anything you need Ma’am.” She stated with conviction.

“Alright. You were here. My father was out of the office as he was looking to get a quote on new tractors for our alfalfa fields.” Riley honestly thought her father and Maurice were probably really planning a camping trip and were just planning on expensing their lunch together, and that thought helped her with her grief over what had happened. Sara just nodded. “When did you become aware that raiders were landing?”

Sara paused and thought about it, she had been in a state of confusion for a while and months had passed. “Sirens started going off and police vehicles started racing through the city minutes before the Leopard roared overhead. The police were trying to get everywhere they could but it was confusing. No one knew what was going on. About five minutes after that we saw the first BattleMechs coming straight for us and between them were vehicles filled with more raiders. It was terrifying.” Sara had started to shake as she talked through it. “They smashed through the doors and the raider Stinger fired it’s laser into our buildings, just trying to destroy as much as they could.” She shuddered as she remembered how closely that laser had come hit her as she had fled the office area. Only being deep inside the reinforced brick building had saved her.

Riley stared at the broken windows now covered in plastic sheeting. “Thank you Sara. That’s enough.” Sara nodded, and stood, “Why don’t you go down to the cafeteria and get yourself some coffee? Get away from your desk for a few minutes.” Sara nodded, mumbled her thanks and left.

Riley stood staring after Sara as she left.

Someone was lying about something, and she was going to find out what.

New Albuquerque Police Department (Ruins), New Albuquerque, Nuncavoy
Nuncavoy Free Confederation, Rimward Periphery
August 5th, 2997

Edward stared at the burnt out remains of the police station. Local militia had been around for a while, but not the third of the department that had been off duty were trying to rebuild out of their vehicle annex. He had volunteered to help out, identifying himself as a Constable from Samantha, and on extended leave to support Riley. They had been eager to have his help and  support, and he got formal permission from his CO that he was able to give to the new Captain. Now he sat on a pile of tires, the five pointed silver star on his belt indicating his membership in the NAPD - even if it was temporary.

“It’s bullshit.” This angry outburst came from behind him, Edward looked back over his shoulder to see Captain Lynn slamming the phone down. “Total bullshit.”

A few officers gathered around, “They’re insisting that Miller was responsible.” If Edward remembered correctly, Lynn and Miller had been something of an item according to the local gossip mill. “But we all remember our alarms going off before the Leopard landed.”

A few of the officers nodded and muttered. None had been allowed near the investigation while the militia had been in town, and they had rushed through it, blaming Miller who then, while being transported away, had apparently taken his own life. Frankly Edward thought it sounded like a cover up, and he could guess from the faces here everyone else agreed. He kept silent, despite having proven his worth over the past few days, he was still very much an outsider.

“Alright, fine. Officially we can go pound sand. The feeling is mutual” Lynn was a large woman, six foot two in height and broad and muscular. She was incredibly intimidating but the officers clustered around her like she was a mother hen. “I’m not done with this. I promise you. But in the meantime, we need to keep things in order. Ed,” Lynn looked up and straight at him, “Great work on that wellness check yesterday. More of them are coming in, and you taking the time to help that girl find her cat is playing very well with the local news stations. I’m going to have you take River Edge. Rick will be your support. More residential, and prescriptions are starting to be tapered off.” The local medical center had been issuing anti-anxiety medications for a while, and the doctors were concerned about addiction - and supply.

Ed nodded, “Yes ma’am.” He looked at Rick who nodded to indicate he heard and understood the orders. The two of them got along well.

Lynn was treating Ed as a sergeant, and so he would go to the River Edge station and act as the local commander. It had emerged completely unscathed and most of the equipment they were using now was from there.

Both he and Rick turned and left, jumping into the Capellan wheeled transport that the locals used for their police and militia. It was ancient and Ed missed the much nicer Taurian vehicles used by their forces. The two drove off, taking the 15 minute more scenic route to the outlying neighborhood. “Glad you came back with Lady Slater.” Rick mumbled. He was a quiet sort, but Ed enjoyed working with the man. He was solid, reliable, and reacted well during emergencies.

Ed nodded, “Seemed the right thing to do. I’m just glad I can be of some assistance to you all.” He looked out the window as they drove, seeing scars of the battle throughout the town. In the distance the badly damaged Machine Works and Textile Plants dominated the skyline.

In the past few days he managed to get one report disguised as a letter to his mother. The response back contained the key words “thoughts and prayers” or sit tight, observe, listen. So that’s what he was doing. He continued to support Riley of course, acting as the dutiful boyfriend, but his access to police reports and records was proving invaluable. Even with the poorly handled tampering that had been child’s play to restore from the city’s mainframe. Ed had shaken his head at whomever was behind this - while it was clear the attack was aimed at the Slater family, potentially due to their relationship to Taurus, whoever managed the attack locally was an absolute idiot.

Which is why so many were dead and injured and so much attention was thrown at it.

He knew Riley was digging into this as well, it had only been a few days but he had a feeling that when he got home tonight there was going to be a cork board covered in documents, photographs and red yarn. If there was he could help, as he felt he had an idea of who the pirates had been using to spy on the family. He had gotten away, but at least he had an alias: “Dan Seavey”. Ed was building his report for the TDF, and had already coded out how to get that information - as well as the name of the pirate band, the Hunter’s Scream - back to where it could do some good. He was hoping for additional intelligence as he never even heard of this particular group. They had one Leopard and two Stinger BattleMechs. And it seems their Leopard was heavily modified to carry infantry.

He had all of this information ready to go and when they arrived at the station, he would use the police network to connect to the HPG and get the data out.

He also knew that whomever did this had connections with the government, so he was also very very careful with how he navigated through the police computer system. This of course took time, so while his carefully constructed scripts worked quietly, he and Rick managed the northern half of town, bringing supplies, comfort, and support as the civilians here worked through their trauma.

[PeripheryExplorer]

Slater Estate, Castillo en las Nubes, Nuncavoy
Nuncavoy Free Confederation, Rimward Periphery
August 5th, 2997

Evening had fallen and the stars were absolutely beautiful from the patio behind her family estate. Riley sat by the firepit in her favorite chair, wrapped in a woolen blanket. She sipped a coffee as she stared at the stars winking and glittering above her. Edward opened the patio doors and stepped out into the cool night, still dressed in jeans, flannel shirt, and work boots that he had decided was close enough to the police uniform. The shiny badge on his belt glittered as it reflected the flames of the firepit.

As he got closer he saw the massive amount of paper scattered over the table held down by rocks. He raised an eyebrow at the organization of it and made a note to get Riley red yarn when he went back to town. She looked over at him, “Don’t be upset.” She started, standing to face him, he paused, “I couldn’t stop thinking about the reports. Something was nagging at me. They don’t add up. The scattered response time from the police wasn’t due to Officer Miller’s dereliction of duty. It was due to them focusing on saving civilian lives.”

Edward nodded, “Captain Lynn feels the same way. She knows their radio alarms were triggered before the pirates touched down.”

Riley nodded, “Someone is trying to build a cover up. They are trying to prevent us from learning what actually happened. And frankly, I think my dad was targeted.” She shook her head, getting ready to defend her position.

“I agree.” Edward said simply.

She turned to face him, “You do?!” She had expected resistance. Everyone else was telling her it was just a raid.

He nodded, “No looting, no prisoners. They landed and headed straight to your father’s office, bypassing a scrap yard with actual armor and weapon salvage, a space port with undefended trade goods and DropShips, and the business district which has at least one jewelry store and one bank. This was not a raid. It was an assassination.”

She nodded, “That was my conclusion as well. They were also targeting anyone who even remotely resembled my dad.” She shuddered. “What I don’t know is why.”

Edward nodded, “Money probably. You own a JumpShip and DropShips that makes you incredibly wealthy in this region of space. Anyone who would want to muscle in on this territory?”

Riley nodded, “More than a few people. Magistracy, Aurigan, Tauran. All three or maybe Capellan? This is a main trade hub in all three directions.” She sipped her drink, “My father was very close to signing an incredible deal with business interests in the Concordat. It was going to potentially pay in the form of a fully refurbished Liberty class JumpShip.” Riley paused, “That’s an incredibly generous offer. My father had worked very hard to secure it. The Liberty class hasn’t even been produced since the 26th century, and would allow us to transport four DropShips.”

Edward listened intently, making notes of all of this. “So you believe whomever did this must have been aware that he was expanding his capabilities.”

Riley nodded, “And saw this as a direct threat.”

Edward looked down at the table, noting lists of traders who had been through the system. ATP kept being circled in red ink. He grinned, at least red showed up somewhere. “Aurigan Trade Partnership?” He asked pointing.


Riley nodded, “Yes, they’ve been unusually active. And frankly, they are the most likely to want to eliminate my dad.” She frowned, “Which sounds insane, but isn’t.” She sighed.

Edward nodded, and pulled up a chair for her. She sat down, and he sat as well. “Tell me why.”

Riley nodded looking at the papers spread out over the patio table. She picked up a list of transports that had touched down at the local port. “Over the past six months, Aurigan registered transports have landed both at the main port on the other side of the planet and here. While here, they did limited trade but had a large number of people on liberty. They stopped coming, their final communication indicating that trade opportunities at our port were not sufficient to sustain the trade.” She paused, “Which is fine, and probably absolutely true. However, why were they trying to shop for heavy equipment when we’ve never had that ability here - which they knew?” Her pause was telling. “And more importantly why did the pirate strike occur on schedule if it was an Aurigan trade mission?” She held up the plot she had created of timing for visits, showing that the pirate JumpShip had arrived a two weeks and three days after the last Aurigan JumpShip, which had arrived two weeks and three days after the last ship and so on.

“They weren’t here looking to trade. They were here scouting.” Edward nodded, following the logic - both the Aurigan officials and the pirates were probably operating out of the same system.

Riley nodded. “And they left someone behind to make sure that it worked. I reviewed the video logs,” she gestured towards her noteputer. “And the last trip had 20 people disembark, but only 19 people got back on when they left.” She shook her head. “We don’t have much in the way of paperwork or customs out here, so I doubt anyone noticed at the time.”

Edward nodded, “Dan Seavay.”

Riley looked up and her grin was predatory, “I think it’s time you share your side.”

He shook his head, “Don’t get to excited, it’s an alias. I’ve prepared a coded message back to my commander to see if he can find anything that we might have on him. But the local station here is a C class, it will be a few days before we can send anything out. He absolutely was a pirate however. That’s not the worst part.” He paused, “When we got here the local police had just gotten access back to their equipment and stations from the militia response team. Captain Lynn was furious about that, of course, but that’s not the worst part. Dan Seavay is gone, completely disappeared. No one matching his description anywhere among the casualties or among the population. The city mainframe was also heavily corrupted - which occurred after the raid. The pirates never made any effort at engaging in electronic warfare, just the assassination plus some general destruction.”

Riley growled, “Someone in the militia was helping them.”

He nodded. “You have enemies here. You have enemies out there. And right now this is all we have between us and them.” He patted the heavy Taurian made revolver on his belt.

She shook her head, “Not just that. Follow me.”

She got up and headed to the patio doors. She went inside and he quickly followed behind. The estate was large, easily 20 to 30 different rooms set into five wings: the main or center part of the house was where they were spending most of their time. The south wing including recreational facilities such as an indoor pool, gym, sauna, and sports room. The northeast wing was bedrooms and apartments for what had once been a massive extended family. Supposedly the northwing itself was equipment for maintaining the grounds and facilities, while the northwest wing had simply been marked as storage. They were heading to the northwest wing.

Edward noticed that things were getting more starkly utilitarian as they passed from the main living areas. Plush carpets and polished mahogany were replaced by rubber mats and ferrocrete walls. The doors leading to the main wing were not wood but now steel - probably blast steel. Edward whistled internally.

“I mentioned before I suspected that the Aurigan’s had the strongest motivation” Riley began to speak as she opened a panel to reveal a state of the art electric key lock. She entered a number he couldn’t see and the door beeped, hissed and began to slide open.

“My family settled here before the Reunification War.” She began, as the door moved open to reveal a very empty darkness. Slowly, lights began to click on, one row at a time. “We were Terran Hegemony peers, but we opposed the Reunification War and the Star League propaganda at the time. There were accusations we had gone native, and when the war started, the Camerons targeted us by seizing our fleet of JumpShips for the war effort.” She paused as the lights continued to flick on, revealing the cavernous space that was quickly apparent to Ed was an armory. Riley stepped into the room, standing on a large platform and Edward followed. “The Aurigan Reach became a major hub after the war, as the SLDF used Panzer and other worlds as major manufacturing and staging areas to keep an eye out on the Taurians and Magistracy.” Edward nodded as he assessed the contents of the room.

On the walls were racks of rifles and heavier weapons, many of which seemed to be energy based. The weapons were covered and sealed, locked away. Body armor and helmets were neatly sorted and stored. He saw sophisticated Star League era jump packs, communication equipment and more. Across the bay, tracked APCs would provide mechanized capability to some of the  units, further explaining the heavier support weapons behind them.

There was enough to outfit a full company of Star League era infantry. “Those that settled there, the major Houses, became very wealthy off of the Star League policies - for them, the era of forced unity between the Star League and the Territorial States was an era of prosperity. My family did not get to participate in that, though we didn’t do as badly as native Taurian families.” She paused, having walked over to the first weapon cabinet. She unlocked it with another code and opened the armored door. She pulled a rifle off the wall and unwrapped the plastic from around it, revealing a pulse laser rifle. She handed it to him, and he took it, easily shouldering it and checking the charge. It hummed to life easily, fully charged, as good as the day it came off the factory line on Terra. He realized he was holding a small fortune, and this was both an armory - and a treasury. “When their trade union was formed, we were kept out. My grandfather had attempted to join some of the negotiations but those they deemed as outsiders were excluded in the end. They were nice to our face, but they made it clear that we were not welcome.”

Edward nodded, “You were Periphery barbarians, not noble Inner Sphere settlers.”

Riley chuckled, “Despite being Peers.” She shrugged, “It is what it is. However, my father’s had putting additional effort into building what he called the Rim Corridor, a secure and safe trading route and alliance intended to link the Taurian Concordat to Free Worlds League and Capellan markets. The increased shipping capacity from the Liberty combined with Taurian investment was critical to that success. However, such a route, secured by House forces of the participating trading houses, would be a direct threat to the Coalition. Somebody doesn’t want to see this route come to pass.”

She picked up an automatic grenade launcher and belt of ammo. She shouldered both and headed back towards the main house. “I plan to see that it does. And I’m using every tool at my disposal, including my right to raise an armed force as the head of my House.”

Edward nodded, another piece of the puzzle coming into the picture about why his government was so interested in this family. He grabbed a box of power cells and two laser pistols. He followed closely behind. “When do we start?”

[Daryk]

Heh... I was half expecting a 'mech with that build up, but a Star League infantry company with APCs isn't too shabby! :)

[Dave Talley]

Tàg