Teaser for a proposed...thing.

[Cannonshop]

Mosovich Home, Golden Lake district, kowloon...

"...will be returning by the end of the week."  Gina finished.

It had been a month since Elizabeth relented and gave Evelynn time off from her duties to care for her degrading father.  The old man was so far gone, he wouldn't have recognized her if she'd had the face she was born with.

except sometimes, like a guttering light, he was lucid, and knew what happened to her, and who she was.

but those times, those brief moments were getting further, and further apart.

"Commodore Li?" Evelynn glanced at one of the other visitors.  "Can you get her back inside a week?"

"It's tricky but doable.  covering it might take some doing, the Archon's signed an order drafting jumpships for mandatory contracts.  so far there's enough of ours in 'critical functions' that they're exempt, but if it tightens too much more, most of the Rockjacks will stop flying the main routes.  Those ships are critical to infrastructure here in this system."

"How's progress on reconstruction of the Boojum yards?" she asked.

"Well...the Lervold-Nghien coop's part of the yard is at eighty five percent, and the foundries are close to finished. we haven't settled on a basic design." Li said.

"As Her Grace's Militia leader, what can we build?"

"Hmm... Merchant Class, Sampan Ones, there are design specs we've got on file for the Type 51 gunship and the Aquila..."

"Aquilas can't carry dropships, right?" Mosovich asked, "They'd have a hard time pressing those into military service even as reserve transports?"

"That's right." Li said, "But they're expensive as hell to run, no jump-sail."

"Can you design a jump-sail and retrofit it to the design?" Evelynn asked, "maybe alter the core and do a single-collar?"

Li snorted, "Okay, you just described a Sampan 1st model."

"We can build it though? with the Yards in the state they're in since the rebuilding?"

"Hmm, don't see why not." Li said.

"My recommendation then; build Sampans to start covering the short routes around Kowloon, go lease-purchase with them to our shippers and suppliers."

"AHem...we've got investment in that yard too." The Sharon attending this meeting spoke up.  "How good is the Sampan design?"

"Well, considering it's been out of production for centuries and was superceded by modern ship designs? Not that great." Li said, "But...it's got a stiffer structure than modern transports and most system control officers think it's a modified merchant.  My own ship while I was underground was the Gloria in excelsis.  It'll still haul a dropship and a decent load of cargo besides."

"So it can go relatively unnoticed, and operate as a civil transport?"

"Of course."

"The Cylon Republic requests purchase orders of six of the first ones off the line." she said, "Our friends in the Rim Collection could use regular transport services between their worlds, the combined capital, along with technical improvements we'll license to your shipyards should be something of a boost to your nascent shipbuilding industry, and take some of the pressure off of your transport."

"I guess we're building first model Sampans then." Li said.

"Next order of business?" Evelynn asked, then said, "the Militia.  Our ground forces.  We've got a standardization problem. that translates into a strategic defense problem.  More than half the tanks are crappy little Quikcell things, the rest are between sixty and two hundred years old, we don't have a unified requirement to the 'mechs we inherited from the Stoncipher government, and while we have plenty of trainers and trained personnel for combat arms, our logistical and support services are...frankly, they're in terrible shape, we wouldn't be able to hold out against a concerted push for more than a day or two, and that's if it was the worst mercenaries in the galaxy leading the push.  Li, I know Coast Guard gets the lion's share, but ground forces is a wreck, they're not even a speedbump right now."

"you want to spend money." Li asserted.

"I want to spend money.  I need leverage with the Assembly to spend that money."

"What are your recommendations?"

"Sell off the hetzers, and the scorpions and the vedettes and...all of it.  simplify down to one tank design with a shared chassis family, preferably something that is painful enough to move that the AFFC won't scoop our people out from under us with a troop levy, but still an effective tank on offense or defense, that we're making ammo for right now."

"Okay, you're going somewhere with this."

"Patton, Rommel, or Manticore." Evelynn said, "We'll offload the scout mission to VTOL units and fast, light hovers that aren't so powerful they give the crews stupid ideas.  They ran a test at Ft. Aberdeen on Arc Royal a couple decades ago where they fitted a thumper artillery piece into a Rommel's turret. It works, but LCAF at the time wanted a Sniper, and that wouldn't fit the turret ring, so the project was shelved."

"you want to use Thumpers, on a sixty ton track?" Li asked, "I read your report to Elizabeth."

"I know you did.  going to a single chassis means we only have to produce one type of drive, one engine, one hull pattern-except in the case of the APC version...and we can build an APC that can transport Centurions in addition to the human infantry, or mixed units, and they can keep up, meaning that infantry won't be offloading without support."

"Your plan didn't include Battlemech support."

"We can't afford it, we don't have enough qualified pilots and the ones we have couldn't train a dog to fetch.  We're stuck with either relying on Mercs, or going without." Evelynn asserted, "the Ngo boys were good, Pat was probably the best medium 'mech pilot in that battalion, but that was more from training his ass off at the Nagelring, and then training his ass off at the unit with constant, sometimes unauthorized, field exercises. we don't have the budget, and we don't have the storehouses of 'mech parts to do it that way.  We can do a pretty decent conventional arms cycle, and if we start authorizing Cylon recruits, we'll have doctrine for battlesuit troops figured out by the time the bright boys at Groves have finished figuring out how to make power-suits, but unless we get actual 'mech training cadre that's worth a shit here, and a supply network that can support it, I'd say think about selling the Militia's 'mechs too-we can't use them effectively with the state of affairs being what they are."

"What do you mean? you have pilots, and ammunition..." the Gina began.

"If you can't afford to lose it, you can't afford to use it." Evelynn stated, with Li reciting the words along side her.  "Tran Truk Ngo's fifth rule of military operations.  any asset you can't fix, or replace, stops being asset once combat begins, because that's when, and where you will lose that asset."

"Will Elizabeth approve of this?" The Sharon asked.

"I think she'll be unhappy to lose Stoney's Marauder, but she studies that damn book her ancestor wrote." Evelynn mused.  "i think she'll agree. we need to build up our conventional combined arms deterrent first, if we get a fairy-godmother gift from DMI, that might alter things, but for now, we don't have that option and the Commonwealth's budget is pretty much focused on fighting the Clans right now."

"I'll talk to Chao and Linh, we'll have the budget on your desk by thursday if I have to sit on that bitch's face to get her to shut up about increasing the welfare stipends for Hue.  Barring that, I think I can get the reps from the Rockjack Coops to push it through the Assembly with a narrow majority, You'll get your budget, Colonel Mosovich...you know, you should consider promoting yourself, you've already got a Light General's workload."

"Not happening yet." Evelynn said, "besides, I'm only temping here, Liz still has to sign off on flag-rank promotions above O-6, and again...it's better to have that money going to the sharp end, rather than padding officer salaries.  A general in charge of a ****** is still in charge of a ******, Pat would never approve of that.  Wait until we've got a force in some kind of useful condition."

[Cannonshop]

Coventry system, one week later.

"...request your presence Duchess Ngo, in person if you please."  The voice of Hanse Davion on the comm sent a shiver through Liz, and drew concerned looks from Nick and Jack, who'd had to endure her TDS for the last week thanks to not having enough Tyllium in the tank to pull the same stunt, and the shipping routes being disrupted.

"Answer it, tell him we're on our way." she said.

Nick nodded.

"Where are we going, anyway?" she asked.

"Landing pad at Coventry Military Academy." Jack told her.

the deck crew got their instructions, and so her Raptor had clear flying out the lock.

"We could just use the jump?" Nick suggested.

"I want to keep that one a secret a while longer, Nick." Elizabeth said, "while spreading the info would sure as heck get Tyllium prospecting up and create infrastructure, I want to see if Li's people can work out a way to get the wattage out of a fusion pack instead-if we can remove Tyllium from the equation..."

"I understand." he flew the shuttle out into the black.

from above, Coventry was a glittering blue marble covered in white clouds with the green patches and ocean swatches of an inhabitable world.

at re-entry plus eight minutes, they were joined by a pair of Stuka aerospace fighters in AFFC livery. 

The landing pads at Coventry were for spheroid dropships and K-1 shuttles, the Raptor was tiny by comparison with either one.  Nick touched it down on the designated pad, and powered down the engine before opening the outer door. 

Jack led the stepping out, which made the guard detail nervous enough to level their Federated Long  Rifles at him, and for the support PPC's and machine guns to be readied.

Elizabeth got out with Jack's help, and then waited for Nick to come out and stand beside her.

"careful, those guys are the First Prince's bodyguards." she said, crossing her arms and waiting for someone else to make the first move.

Hanse Davion was accompanied by a boy roughly her age.  "Hello, Elizabeth. Sorry for the sudden summons." Hanse told her as soon as he was in range. His bodyguards didn't lose their alert pose, until he motioned for calm and gave the all clear.

"Yeah, lucky me, I was in the neighbourhood." she said, "I'm still pissed at you about Stoney-it wasn't your plan, but technically it was your man.  What does the leader of the Federated Commonwealth, and his..crap.  Nick, you're supposed to warn me when I'm being inappropriate!"

"sorry mum." Nick replied, "but Jack is your carer."

"right."

"Um Carer?" the boy asked.

"I care so she doesn't have to." Jack and nick had begun doing this routine every time now.

"Unaccompanied minors need protection." Nick continued.

"We keep the creeps off of her." Jack added.

"they're my bodyguard unit for now, Highness." Elizabeth stated.

"Did you hire them for the humour then?" Hanse asked, while advancing.

"Long trips, alone, it gets dull." she said with a shrug.  "Hanse Davion, First Prince of the Federated Suns, Husband to the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth, This is Warrant officers Jack Slaesh and Nick Choppah-don't ask me why they picked those spellings, I don't know.  They're my staff on this trip...and most of the time."  she sighed, "what does the Federated Commonwealth Alliance need me to do?"

"Elizabeth Ngo, Duchess of Kowloon, this is my youngest son, Arthur, He is accompanying me on this trip, and he won't be accompanying us into the secure room where I need to speak with you."

"Nick, guard our ride." she said, "Jack, you're on me."

"Yes mum."

"Guard our ride?" Hans asked, "From what?"

"it's not home yet, has several prototype technologies on it, and my people haven't finished filing patents on those.  This is a Miliary academy and it bears a close resemblance to a jeep. I don't want Marines stealing it or rifling through my underwear." she cracked.

"I swear I heard Katrina make that joke once-or something like it."

"I heard it from my dad.  anyway, it's not strictly mine, it belongs to the Kowloonese taxpayers, and therefore, while it is loaned to me, I have to make sure it's cared for.  Nick's my pilot and he's also a Kowloonese citizen, thus, one of the taxpayers whose property it is."

"Father, what is she on about?"

"Civics, Arthur. Unless I mistake it, Elizabeth believes the power of the Nobility is not god-granted, but instead, granted by the citizens they govern?"

"correct." Liz said, "A ruler who forgets that usually ends up strung up from a lamp-post the first time they have to rely on that grant, we can only govern by the consent of those we govern, the people invest that authority and woe to the people who choose wrongly, and to the ruler who abuses it."

"You've been very busy since you took over." he said as the doors to the field building closed behind Jack, who trailed the two flanked by Davion troops.

"I have limited time." She said, "staying busy is kind of a job requirement, lots of messes to clean up and problems to fix."

an aide opened the door to a room containing a chamber.  "mind leaving the bodyguards outside the room, Duchess? and Arthur, you need to stay out there too. Hang out with Jack for now."

"Yes father."

she followed him in.

there were holoprints and images on the table.

"You're probably right about stationing 'nick' to watch over your ship." he said.

there were sharp images of the Raptor, then the flash, and then it gone.

"I did mention prototypes." she said.  "I was...compelled to get to Arc Royal by the fastest route available, that meant an unscheduled test flight."

"I heard. Good work straightening that mess out." he told her.  "Tell me, when were you going to announce this?"

"I wasn't." she said, "Not until we can keep it working reliably. There's a reason I only used it to go from Jumpship to Jumpship.  The energy source is...rare is an understatement.  We either figure out a way to make more, a way to find more, or that's the last time it'll be flown."

another image he laid down.  It showed a spiny, anemone-like shape in orbit over a planet.

"This?" he asked.

Liz bit her lip.  "They're very nice people." she said.

"They're where you got the drive for your little 'space jeep'?"

she nodded.

"And I assume Nick and Jack outside, are these aliens too?"

"They're not the Clans."

"No, the Clans are human beings. I'm feeling like I'm in a science-fiction movie. You're not making alliances with alien races, are you?"

"I don't have that authority. it's a business relationship...mostly. but it's also taking in refugees, as detailed under Kowloon's Planetary Constitution."

"Refugees...jesus, Elizabeth, I thought you had some sense." he shook his head, "you should have come to us."

"I was going to, just as soon as...as soon as the realm wasn't locked in a war with super-advanced lunatics, we've already had an alien scare, and these guys are decent people."

"and you're using them to help rebuild Kowloon." he said.

"yeah." she looked at her shoes.

"Comstar gave me those images." he told her, "THey think these guys are a threat."

she looked up.

"I'm not sure." he said, "I've had evidence that Comstar is a threat."

"The interdiction during both wars, and the 'loss of communication' in the occupied zones?" she hazarded.

"Lost communication before they hit each world." Hanse corrected her.  "you've done an okay job keeping this quiet up until the Arc Royal trip, do you think you can spin this or keep it quiet a little longer? and what do these aliens look like outside those armors?"

"A lot of them look like us, Highness." Liz said.  "a funny accent, and that's really it. The guys in the armor? can't take it off."

"Oh?"

"Yeah.  very sensitive to environments we're comfortable in, lethal to them." she emphasized, "they kind of have to stay in the suits for their whole lives.  They had to fight to be free, Highness-they used to be slaves."

"Hence, refugees." he said.

she nodded. "yeah, some place in the deeps past the periphery.  You know I have a moral duty on that."

"yeah. Article two of your world's original constitution." he said.  "Alright so you have contact with refugees from an advanced alien civilization and you're pumping them for technical data while you're sheltering them...when were you going to share it with the rest of us?"

"Cy-Lon industries." she said, "Medical department, those new artificial eyes? the prosthetic limbs that are better than myomer implants because they feel?" she touched the holos on the table.  "That's phase one.  I've got people at the Groves subsidiary working with their engineers and the tech for those...'encounter suits', to develop a counter to the Clans' battle armor-something we can build in large numbers that isn't a crude copy."

"Go on."

"The prototype drive on my shuttle's one more angle, only we need to fix the power supply problem." she looked up, "once we've licked it and fixed it, we might be able to fit it to a fighter-sized platform. Imagine being able to launch an air-raid on the damn Jade Falcons from five Light Years away, and appear too close for them to scramble before your strike fighters have knocked out their airfield?  we can't do it now, we don't have the go-juice, but when we do...you'll be able to re-write the whole rulebook, Highness." she found a student's desk, and flopped into it, "Or, we fail, the FedCom hasn't lost any money investing in a dead end technology and I die of embarrassment before the Cholmann's kills me."

"What are their weaknesses? besides the 'allergy'?"

"Well... they don't understand a lot of their own gear." she said, "it's going to take us years to reverse engineer a lot of it, especially the drives, their radar's pretty good and their Lidar systems are great, their computers are top-notch but we're not tooled up to produce them in quantity yet, armors?" she made a tipping gesture, "Not so great, they've got some light autocannons that are very light, but dont' hit very hard, and they have nuclear missiles, but not much in-between, no directed energy weapons to speak of-no lasers, no PPCs of any kind.  Conventional missiles are about like ours, we've done engineering for conversion to use the dimensions of munitions already in production here in the Commonwealth, and Groves did some testing that showed promise on a selectable field missile system for vehicles-something like a launcher that can fire our short range, their missiles, and our long range missile munitions without jamming-but that's prototype level stuff still, barely past tool room proof of concept."

"How bad?"

"Well, an SB-27 can carve up that base-star pretty quickly assuming it can survive the flak and doesn't get pinked with a mini-nuke."

"You make machinery that makes armor plate." he noted.

"Yeah, and they're immigrating." she said, "becoming citizens. heck, Nick and Jack pay taxes."

Hanse sighed heavily.  "I want progress reports." he said.

"Excuse me?"

"WE want progress reports, Melissa and I, and an observer on Kowloon to make sure these aliens aren't up to something shady." he clarified.

"We can take care of that!"

"I'm sure you believe you can. On the other hand, having a FedCom RCT ready to deploy in case someone decides you can't, or that, god help me, your friends need to vanish in a mushroom cloud?  Yeah, I want observers, On Kowloon, and regular reports on your progress, Elizabeth, this isn't negotiable."

"You just said you don't trust Comstar. How am I supposed to report?"

he walked to a briefcase, "Let me introduce you to the Black Box." he opened it.  "portable, unjammable, completely outside the grasp of the Robes."

"if we put one of those on every ship..." she mused.

"not every ship." he told her.

"How about just..oh...hmm..who would be too pedestrian...How about a contract to build them?" she asked.

Hanse stopped. "What??"

"a contract to build them, and to make spare parts.  I bet I can set up a production line that will be able to guarantee every RCT on the Clan front has this faster-than-light communications in place, you'll be able to coordinate units further, faster, and more securely than ever before."

"I'll consider it. for now, you'll take this black box, you won't let anyone else use it, I want weekly to monthly updates." he told her, "my man will go with you on your shuttle back."

"Not negotiable?"
he shook his head.

"Gonna be cramped...okay."  she knew she was between the rock, and the very hard place.

[Daryk]

Very hard place indeed!  ;D

[Cannonshop]

Outside, during the meeting...

"...she's my age." Arthur said, "I know that much, but she's a serving Lord."

"She works sixteen to twenty hour days, kid."  Jack commented.  Arthur was fascinated by the exotic bodyguard soldier.  "that's what happens when you end up doing the 'lord' thing full time.  Sleep becomes a luxury-heck, ask these guys of yours-I bet your Father works those kind of hours, sundays even. body guard duty means you keep the boss's hours."

"Wouldn't that make you less effective?" Arthur asked, "Being sleep deprived?"

"Me and Nick are lucky-we don't require sleep.  these bodies remove that weakness.  Instead, we have to fight off boredom to stay alert." jack was improvising, Elizabeth had made it clear that, for the time being, their being cyborgs or aliens would be easier for the rest of humanity to swallow, "and of course, we can't ever take the things off.  it's a trade-off."

"Why would you do that?"

Jack leaned against a pillar, "Well...it's a sacrifice." he said, "be stuck as a limbless vegetable with only your mind and senses, or get a body, you know? life, or life as a head-in-a-jar."

"Were you wounded?"

"Nah, I was born that way." it was close enough to the truth.  "Keep in mind, young Arthur Steiner-Davion, I really kinda wish I'd been born like you, and my buddy Nick would agree.  you might be all squishy and need to sleep, but..." he shrugged, "I wasn't and  you were, and you should probably thank god in your prayers that you were-i can't taste food, I can't sleep with a woman, and everywhere on this trip, people keep confusing the two of us for gear, instead of people. It's not fun to be dehumanized."

"Oh wow...gee, I didn't think of that."

"Most people don't." Jack said, "our Duchess does. it gets her right up in a bind when someone makes the 'robot' comments.  Pisses her right off.  Half the time, one of us is kind of holding her back from punching someone for making a slur like that, then she'll go ranting all kinds of hate at the Clans for being the enemy-and they're all human beings too."

"because she lost her family?"

Jack nodded.  "yeah." he said solemnly.  "She's a terrific person, but kind of...graceless sometimes? gets super-focused, works too much, she even turned a party into a business meeting and did more work, instead of having a good time.  I kinda suspect if nick and i weren't cracking jokes and making inapproprate comments, she wouldn't have any sense of humor or joy left, just worries."

"assassins?" Arthur said, "does she have so many enemies?"

"I pity the assassin that gets past Nick and I, I really do." Jack said, "no, she's not worried about people trying to off her, she worries about other people, Kowloon, the Firm, her customers, the Commonwealth.  Those are what she worries about.  A person who's reasonable and worried about assassins is like your dad-has a lot of eyes out, guys with guns and smart guys at that, and doesn't travel in a tin-box like she used for this trip.  I would have honestly preferred it if she'd taken something with decent protection and a few more staff, because while I know what's going on in there is probably just fine, I've gotten so used to being in line of sight of her it's a little freaky not to be."

"Um, you're armored, but I don't see any weapons, how are you supposed to stop an assassin?"

"here, lemme show you something cool." Jack said,  he held out his right hand, "Now you see it..." the hand retracted and his 10mm autogun extended, "surprise.  it tracks automatically, I can be behind the wall and stick my arm out? and boom! headshot.  good to three hundred meters, even in close quarters.  The left arm's a support gun."

His weapon retracted and the hand came out.  "cool, huh?"

"Wow..."

"And I can use standard infantry weapons with my hands no problem." Jack continued, "Not as accurate since they don't have the built in targeting, but I can.  including antitank rockets, mortars, heavy support machine guns...none of which is needed here.  I am, as the designer says, 'optimized' for the job of keeping my primary client alive and in good health, but me and nick? we're only two guys. Your dad's got the better plan, believe me, when Liz is home, she's got a platoon of Coastie Marines so me and Nick only have to deal with what can get past those guys-and that's not much. this trip has been never ending stress."

"have you...y'know, seen her naked?" Arthur asked.

"I've seen her with her defenses down." Jack said, "breaks the heart seeing that, she doesn't do it much, hides it pretty good most of the time, even from us...but...Okay, here's a story for you-Liz gets a visit from an old friend, only she's pissed as hell at that old friend over something that really hurt her.  she meets with this friend, who tells her something's up with the supply chain to a unit on the border.  She addresses the supply issue first, then sends the old friend off with a 'don't come back' speech, soon as that old friend is out of sight and out of earshot, she's bawling her eyes out and screaming at the wall, because the visit? stirred up all that suppressed feeling and caring she's been repressing and it broke loose.  She comes down to the ground floor, where Nick is, tells us we're going to Arc Royal right now to go make sure the problem doesn't happen again...and that's how we ended up in the Coventry system for your dad to invite her down for this discussion they're having."

"um...that's not what I meant."

"Oh...yeah. I've seen her without her clothes on.  normal girl, y'know? all the parts in the right place, couple scars from when her mom tried to kill her in an attempted murder-suicide."

"She was shot? by her mom?"

"It was before I hired on, but yeah.  Your dad knows about it, ask him if you doubt me." Jack suggested, "see, her brother Patrick was killed on Tamar, he was the one who was supposed to be the Duke, and I ain't saying what happened to her other brother, but you can ask your dad about that too, he can say.  Left Lizzie as the only Ngo left, and she almost died before they got the bullet out and closed the wound-it's why she won't wear tank-tops or a bikini...you're what, fifth in line?"

"Yeah..."

"Well she was third." Jack said, "Now she's the Duchess and running the firm.  you can't count on not being stuck in the big chair, Arthur Steiner Davion, you could end up having to run the whole show by yourself some day, and where one world's kind of grinding my Elizabeth into a paste with stress and having to maintain image, I imagine having to run a place as vast as the empire your parents built? I bet that's even tougher.  You should probably learn everything you can, just in case, someday, you have to carry the load of billions of people counting on you to make the right calls."

[Cannonshop]

Discontinuity

"Well, the cat's out of the bag, Lizzie."  Penny sat down next to her.  The warm water of Golden lake lapping against her toes.  "The Archon knows, The Fox knows."

"That has been made clear, yeah."  the binary suns of Kowloon were setting in the East, casting double shadows from everywhere.  "What am I going to do, Penny?"
 
Penny flicked a stone.  "I don't know, talk to Daphne maybe?" Penny cocked her head, "You know, while you're not shaking and foaming and dying and stuff?"

"I couldn't even stand to look at her."

"Yeah, you don't have to look at her to forgive her, Liz.  OH! I know, you can maybe stop hating yourself!  We loved you Lizzie."

"You're high, Penny.  You got high, and then you died on me."

"So it's me you're mad at?"

Liz snapped a stone into the water.  "No.  You slipped, we weren't there to catch you when you fell, and when I went to try to save you, Daphne didn't come to help."

"So what are you going to do about your new problem, Lizzie? seems to me you're stacking round rocks and trying to build an upside down pyramid with 'em."

"meaning?"

"You need help." Penny told her, "You need someone to help you out, someone who can show you what you're doing wrong, before it all blows back in your face and more people die."

"Who's even tried to do what I'm doing?" Liz asked rhetorically.  "******, I don't even know what I'm trying to do anymore!"

"The first statement in science is 'I don't know', and science is the process saying 'let's find out'."  penny said, fading.  "Better do it before the fires catch you."

Liz looked down, the waters were gone, and she was standing in fire

she felt her flesh boiling...

Reality asserts

"Hold her head!!"

the bag was open in front of her, and she smelled blood and vomit reeking upward.

"Does she do this every time??"  Johnson, one of Hanse Davion's people, special forces or spook type...  "Where are we?" she groaned.

"Timehri system, Your grace."

Her stomach continued to clench, and she felt wetness on her seat.  "O dear god, did I just...I neeed a baaaath!!!"

she'd soiled herself.  "so gross...I hate jumpship travel..."

"come on, You, Johnson, carry her bag please, and try not to step in...that." Nick Chopper said. 

"I've got you...it's going to be alright your grace.  I'll get you cleaned up..."

[Shadow_Wraith]

nice update.  That was a nice conversation that Arthur has with Nick and Jack!  So Hanse and Melissa is aware of the events in Kowloon.  I like how Elizabeth tried to negotiate a manufacturing deal with Hanse for the Black boxes.

[monbvol]

Does raise an interesting conundrum.

Mass production would help with alternate communication methods but would make it more likely for Comstar to be able to get a hold of it and ruin it.

Of course the presumes Comstar doesn't already have it compromised but is letting things play out because they are pretty good at the long game and right now it suits them to not tip their hand.

[glitterboy2098]

given the limitations of the hardware the fedsuns has, there isn't much chance of them replacing HPG's in any real civil capacity. and if black boxes are being mass produced at that rate i'd see comstar just covertly acquiring their own and installing one in every HPG station so ROM can listen in on the signals.

the bigger effect i think would be if the cylons got ahold of the tech, given the possibility of an FTL C3 system type use. though one thing of note, the cylons do use their transceivers for things other than just ressurection.. we see them able to do a form of 'instant democracy' a few times when they vote, where they seem to be able to poll al the others of their type prior to voting. though since there is only two cases where an individual differed in opinion from the rest of their type (capica 6 and boomer) how much of that is actual polling and how much is confidence that their choice is what all the others of their model would want is debatable. a stronger example i think would be projection.. we've seen it is possible for them to share the illusions even across models (in fact, one case was between a significant seven model and one of the final five, suggesting the ability is universal).

[monbvol]

That is the thing for the Cylons isn't it?

What they are already able to do based off the reboot blows Black Box tech out of the water handily.  It does have a range limit but it is unclear what that range limit is.

I suspect Black Boxes do have greater range than what they use but that is pure conjecture.  It is conjecture that would allow the tech to be useful to them though.

[Daryk]

I do believe Arthur was actually paying attention during that conversation... GOOD!  :thumbsup:

[DOC_Agren]

just finished last 3 pages + 
 :thumbsup:

[Cannonshop]

Doons Estate, Donegal...

"...because you know her better than anyone, I need to understand what I've turned loose, Maggie."  Melissa Steiner-Davion sat in the sitting room with a hot cup of tea.

Maggie Doons sat across from her.  Katherine was outside, enjoying the local mid-summer by the pool.

"I don't know lizzie better than anyone, Melissa.  That would be Daphne Rowe.  The three of them, my Granddaughter, Elizabeth, and Daphne, were so close they finished each other's sentences." she set her cup on the coffee-table, "I know her well enough, though.  She's not the type to be planning a coup or secession, and the girl's not a fool."

"She moved on the supply situation when Daphne appeared...didn't she?"  the Archon speculated.

"Elizabeth might have done that for anyone-the girl's a patriot, and she despises the Clans.  I admit, I've had some minor influence on her, so she also despises sloppiness, sloth, and slacking."  Maggie sat down, pouring a hot refill into her cup.  "But that's not why she threw Daphne out."

"Threw her out?"

"Second half of the story-Elizabeth threw Daphne out of her life-I've heard the story from both of them, separately.  Elizabeth addressed the supply line issue on Arc Royal, but she also sent Daphne away without further discussion, and they have a lot of issues between them."

"Penelope."

"Yes.  Elizabeth hasn't, and won't forgive her old friend for not being there when Penelope..." Maggie poured more tea, and sweetened it with a strong liquer.  "...when Penelope died.  I have, I know the whole story.  Liz makes adult decisions better than some of my best executives when it comes to business or serving the realm, I know her that well, but when it comes to self-care?"

"I saw, she doesn't." Melissa said.

"Precisely.  You and I know why, of course...have you discussed her with Victor yet?" Maggie asked.

"No."

"You should.  You'll be visiting New Avalon again soon, both Kathy and Victor need to understand why you're handling Elizabeth the way you are, in case there's another 'hpg blackout'."

"What about this 'Cy-Lon Enterprises'?" Melissa said, "YOu weren't surprised when I revealed their origins."

"Their salespeople are charming, their techs are competent enough with their own products, but I have to say, they're not very clever or innovative.  My own people are more creative with the applications and have started gaining a better grasp of the actual functional theories behind them, than theirs.  If they're alien refugees trading technology for shelter? it would make sense.  I've met Lostech prospectors who have a better grasp of the basic sciences than their in-house tech people do."

"How good is it?" Melissa asked.

"very good." Doons said, "You could build an artificial intelligence that would make a Caspar Drone look like a speak-and-spell...of course, doing that and you encounter some philosophical questions we haven't had to address since Kerensky destroyed the Rim Worlds Republic."

"Philosophical questions like what?"

"is slavery okay if you manufactured the slaves.  Lizzie's answer should be obvious." Maggie tapped a holo showing Elizabeth with her bodyguards.  "She thinks 'no'."

"They're aliens."

"Oh yes. very alien." Margaret said, "jesus, Melissa, how did you and Hanse not figure out what she was saying?  what her misdirections were hinting at?"

"allergies...can't leave the armor without dying..." Melissa's jaw dropped, and she closed it, "that 'some of them look like us!!"

Maggie nodded, "NOW you're getting it.  somewhere out in the deep periphery, some lab, probably set up by the Star League or House Amaris or whomever, built artificial intelligences, used them as slaves, and discovered they'd built too well, that the artificial people they made, didn't want to be slaves.  It's what Richard Cameron was afraid of when he ordered the E-type modifications to the SDS drones."

"And Elizabeth knows??"

"She'd be a fool not to." Maggie said, "She knows, count on it.  I guessed when she asked me to look into electromagnetic pulse based weaponry and shielding for knocking out complex, shielded computer systems, electronic warfare suites, and signals interception equipment.  her theoretical was 'what would you design to knock out a self-aware war machine?' followed by 'how would you design a defense against similar attacks'. we've gotten some great ideas on improving ECM systems past the capabilities of the old Star League Guardian system from that.  she couched it a letter discussing ways to overcome the Clans and their technical advantages, but the timing looks to me like she was thinking about what to do if her new friends turned on her, or on the Realm."

"That's a lot to think about, would you be upset if I asked you to share your results with NAIS?"

"Only if I don't get to own the patents in both realms." Maggie asserted, "Royalties on intellectual property are the lifeblood of my industry.  Ownership of the rights and I'll share with any research team you offer except Comstar...just one favor, if you will, a silly thing."

"And that would be?"

"An administrator manipulates relationships to gain their best advantage, a ruler determines those relationships and assumes them into being.  I won't risk my relationship with Elizabeth to force her to speak with Daphne, you can do this without risk.  The Rowes are a powerful financial and investment banking machine in the Realm, and having those two at odds isn't good for the rest of us.  Competition is a great thing for driving innovation and growth, but vendetta is bad for everyone."

[Cannonshop]

Training Grounds, Ben Hoa, Kowloon...

"I don't think they're going to mind overmuch." Elizabeth said, as she studied the plans for the training range, then looked up at the construction going on.

"you say that now..." Colonel Evelynn Mosovich noted.

"Your plan has significant merit, Evvie." Liz stated, "We can't provide a good force of Battlemechs consistently, and we can't afford a second rate force.  Assuming I can get Danny Bradford to let me buy the licenses, how long will it take to train up the force we've got?"

"Supplementing with returning veterans whom are already used to basic armor tactics?  We can probably have a battalion by the end of the year, and a brigade in three."

"Tough part's going to be integrating your...new recruits, and establishing the necessary social environment." Elizabeth noted, "Especially once the human troops realize the Centurions aren't just aliens, but artificial."  she looked at her chief military advisor, "Can you do it?"

"Please, Liz, look at me? If I can get the men to follow me with this face? They'll accept Centurions as battle buddies, NCO's and eventually officers."

"Approved." Liz said.  "How did the exercise with the Green Machine go?"

"Al said he found the experience 'enlightening', he's asked if he can approach the Cylons about recruiting, They're in contract negotiations with the FedCom for a spot on the Clan front."

"you didn't tell him yes yet, did you?" Liz asked.

"No...not yet."

Ben-Hoa village, Kowloon, 3 hours later...

"So what do you think, Jack? would any of your brothers sign on with a merc outfit to go fight the Clans for money? they wouldn't necessarily have much in the way of legal protections once outside the reach of my influence, and Al's people kind of stood by doing nothing while Stoney was screwing our people.."

"I think some of us would." Jack said, "some of us feel we're built as war machines, and all this peace we're losing our edge.  Some of us are tired of hiding.  I personally think you should negotiate a better deal..."

"It's perilously close to using you." Liz said.

"Thus why I think you should negotiate." he rejoined, "besides, I've seen the footage now, I want to see what these 'elementals' are really made of-how tough they really are."

"might be disappointing, Jack." she noted.

"Could be.  Some of the boys think it might also be fun."

"Are you among them?" she asked.

"I'm fine where I am. I get to see the big picture." He said, adding, "I had my fill of run-down-and-kill while we were cleaning out Pirate nests on the way here."

Liz sighed, "I don't want to lose people on this."

Jack's laugh was a distorted surprise.  "You've already let us establish a production line, and receivers.  If any of ours get killed, they're likely to come right back here through a relay."

"more relays then." she said, "I don't want to lose people.  I don't like that I'm going to."

"Your humans." he said.

"yeah, we don't come with a backup.  no respawn if we die.  I keep thinking of you the same way."

"I'm touched...no, you should absolutely authorize it. we'll be able to gather more intelligence on your enemies more quickly." 

the lounge doors opened and Gina came in, flanked by Leo and Sharon.

"Please tell me you've got some good reasons to argue against allowing this!" Elizabeth greeted them.

"you don't want to?" Gina looked genuinely surprised. Unlike her counterpart on Arc Royal, Gina-Kowloon was effectively an equal to Elizabeth, a leader among her people.

"I really don't have the legal authority to say no, and Jack's giving me all kinds of reasons to say yes...but I have a bad feeling about it.  I kind of hope you'll tell me 'no in no uncertain terms' even though it's kind of like a christmas present and something I'd like."

"actually, I think we can do better than just some infantry." Gina said.

"Oh, not you too..."

"Don't throw me in thet briaer patch?" Leoben said, "sorry, Liz, we polled the models in range.  there is quite a bit of desire to...pick a fight with someone. these  Clans seem to be perfect for that, and the technical upgrades we've been experimenting with need to be tested."

"upgrades?"

"Directed energy weapons for the Raiders, improved armor...we started working on those shortly after rolling over the Bandit kings we hit on the way here.  while we have the capability to run our own operations, we've held back because of...well...legitimacy.  But, working with Mercenaries under State authority can give us both a cause to do the fighting, and legal coverage."  Sharon-Kowloon explained.

"We'll need a manufacturer to attribute the Heavy Raiders to." Gina added, "There is a small, local, aircraft company in Ia Drang.  we're partnering with them to serve as the distribution front until a Heavy Raider line is operating.  We need money."

Liz nodded, "Got it...money and paperwork."

"Yes, please."

"I want a cut for that-a percentage of the product and a percentage of the profits...these aren't the self-aware Raiders, are they?"

"No, Heavies are just...devices. Like the Raptor we gave you, only tougher, and better armed, an APC capable of space operations."

"Come up with a cool sounding name, I'll front the loan to Ia Drang's guys."  Elizabeth winced, "I guess I'm saying 'yes'.  Tell the boys who sign on for this, they may be Cylons, but they're my people too, and that I expect them to make me and Kowloon proud... and that I want them to bring back themselves and all their equipment when they're done-nobody dies without a damn good reason on our side."

"Even though jack told you it was temporary?"

"Especially that." Liz snapped, "I don't want my people getting a reputation for being sloppy, or treated as disposable cannon fodder. you tell those Centurions and Humaniforms that volunteer for this, that I will be sorely disappointed if they die needlessly...and whatever else, nobody else finds out you can survive dying. Not yet."

"And what will YOU tell them?"

"Kick the Clanner's asses.  win.  Make their new homeland proud."

"Do you know where they're going to be sent?"

"Not yet.  I will." Liz said, looking at the suitcase containing the black box.  "Jack, would you be a dear and have Nick fetch Mister Johnson? I have a...'status report' The Fox needs to read, and I still haven't read the damn manual on that thing."

[Cannonshop]

Nha Tranh, Kowloon...

"I'm hiring you again, Al." Elizabeth stated, "To subcontract with the Kell Hounds."

"that's yet to be decided, girl." Al Green was older than Elizabeth's grandfather, a man who'd been in the mercenary business longer than many of his contemporaries had even been alive.

"you'll like these terms, but it's a messy job." she said, "Front line combat, not garrison work, combat bonuses paid by the Federated Commonwealth directly, but since you've expressed interest in hiring some of my more...unusual citizens, I want a stake in this...so I'm going to be fronting you some money, and a lot of prototype equipment."

"How much?"

"You won't have to beg the client for air support." she stated, "Or for transportation.  I'm underwriting your rides in, and your extraction.  Your jumpship fees aren't just covered, I own the ships.  thus, me paying you to ride on them.  If all goes well, I may offer you a landhold here on Kowloon, and a permanent position."

"What's the target?"

"That's where it gets sticky.  you'll be under the Kell Hounds, working with Wolf's Dragoons, and defending the capital planet of the Draconis Combine." she said, "none of that makes me particularly happy."

"So why are you doing it?" he asked.

"Because Melissa Steiner-Davion asked me to." Liz stated, "As my liege lord, she has the right, and Kowloon hasn't been asked to submit deployable forces for the defense of the realm just yet."

"Fulfilling obligations then."

Liz nodded.  "Admiral Li is arranging your jumpship transport, you'll have supplementary forces, not just the Cylon recruits, but some of their special equipment.  as my representative in this, you'll have command of those elements directly.  don't squander them, but I do insist you take on Sharon Riley as your air-boss, since she knows the most about the fighters, smallcraft and other assets I'm giving you.  You'll be linking up with the Kell hounds at Muphrid and moving from there to the staging point in Davion space."

"only thing I have to ask then...rates?"

"I know what numbers look like, yes." she said.  "I doubt the Dracs will let you have salvage rights, and there is a danger of a backstab, so two hundred percent MRBC standard for an A-rated combined arms Regiment, since you'll be taking what amounts to a regiment's worth of transport and personnel, ammunition and parts will be paid for on an as-needed basis, and I'm willing to accept up to 20% overhead.  what you get from Kell or Davion doesn't matter to me, get what you can from them, and keep it. I expect you to bring our people and assets home from this in the best condition you can.  I prefer victory to defeat, and as I suggested, if you win, there's land in it for you, and your men."

"when do we leave?" he asked.

"ramps up at 1500 Thursday, it's a four month transit." she said, and offered him the contract.

He signed, "Then I best get the men ready to go and meet with  my new air-boss to finalize our operational strategy."

She watched Green leave, and waited for his Jeep to pull out of the parking lot, before turning to Johnson.  "Submit the expense report, Mister Johnson.  I expect to be paid back for this."

[Daryk]

Heh... Green doesn't NEED to know where the money's actually coming from...  ^-^

[JA Baker]

Heh... Green doesn't NEED to know where the money's actually coming from...  ^-^

To quote an old Reunification War veteran:
"I do the job, I get paid. It's how business gets done."

[Daryk]

I understood that reference!  :D

[JA Baker]

I understood that reference!  :D

It's the Mercenary life: so long as the cheque clears and the MRCB are happy...

[Cannonshop]

Kowloon system Nadir point, 2200 hours Thursday.

Green got his first look at the transport assets.  Six ships floated out there, white hulls with a red, angular stripe, a Roundel depicting a leaping killer whale.

Dropships dangled from them.  His, and three more, the additional dropships were marked with the same symbol, but beside it, the symbol of his new, regimental-sized, Mercenary command.

Compared to the old days, this was something new.  It takes six of them, because like a Scout class, they only have a single docking collar, but each of those ships also had a massive hangar bay, and an array of point defenses.

"Sampan Ones?" he asked.

"Yes.  We've done some modification to them." Sharon Riley, whose callsign was "Eight High", stood with him as his final dropship-HIS dropship, docked to the transport ship.  "Duchess Ngo has invested a LOT into this operation, not just hiring you, but pushing funding and construction budgets to the limit."

"I can see that...let's go."

they floated from the dropship's flight deck, to the airlock at the docking collar.

It coded red, then green, and opened.

The Coast Guard Marines on the other side weren't floating.  "Careful..."

as Al's boots hit the deck, he felt gravity, and not the sort you get from spinning.

"Holy crap!! how did you get a grav-deck this small?"

"it's not a grav deck, the Commodore's instructions are that your troops and personnel bunk aboard the jumpships until we reach the target system.  Your men will be rested, and comfortable and won't have to deal with landing shock after a long transit period. that might be an edge."

"She said 'prototype equipment', I didn't think she meant the Jumpships!"

" We've run these between the Rim Collection and Kowloon for a few months, but this is the first time we'll be deploying into the Inner Sphere proper.  once it's been demonstrated to outsiders, her Grace and Gina will be licensing the tech to Nashan's shipyards at Alarion for royalties."

while they walked up to the command deck, he noted that a few faces kept popping up.  strange...

on the command deck, there were Centurions, and Kowloonese crew.  the Sharon at the helm controls wasn't even a surprise after spending nearly two years interacting with them.  "How much of the crew are-"

"About twenty percent of each ship's crew are cylon, the rest are native humans and rockjacks.  This is also a test to see how well we can all integrate together without trying to deceive one another-more for Elizabeth's education, I've been with the Guard now for three years." the helm-Sharon said, "All ships docked, KF fields are steady at one hundred percent, drives spinning up!"

flash!!

[Daryk]

That artificial gravity tech is going to be one of the biggest game changers...

[Sharpnel]

That artificial gravity tech is going to be one of the biggest game changers...

Especially if they can get it to work on Dropships, too.

[Daryk]

That's a question: can those plates reduce the acceleration felt too? ???

[Cannonshop]

Luthien System, January 4, 3052...

"That, is an Essex Class Destroyer."  Coast Guard Captain Bianh Vu Dao said.  "How about that? we don't have a warship, why did they bring theirs, hmm?"

"Turtle bay maybe?"  Diana Kristiandotter asked, her Cylon accent drawling her viet.  the Three was sitting Comms to the rest of Alpha Patrol's Sampans.

"I'm suspecting 'yes' on that.  these guys are notoriously sore losers.  how are our boys on the ground doing?"

"Light casualties so far, your people's tactics are light years ahead of the ones used against the Colonials, Captain."

she turned to Rembrandt, the senior Centurion on shipboard marine duty.  "Remmy, how do the lads feel about a wee boarding action-throughout the Patrol, you lads up to taking a battleship?"

"What are our rules of engagement, mum?" the cylon asked.

"Open engagement.  These pricks don't feel bad about slagging a city over not being able to catch one man.  Be clever about it-see if you can capture the whole thing intact."

"How do we explain it to the Kells, Mum?"  Dianna asked.

"Tell them we're conducting a health-and-safety inspection, looking for stolen property under our remit as officers of the peace..and do it on an open channel-after the board and assault teams are in place."

"So in English."

Bianh nodded, "Yes, in english."  she turned, "Mister Rembrandt, you're authorized to deploy under your function as a Kowloon Coast Guard officer conducting a Health and Safety inspection seeking contraband stolen from the taxpayers of the Star League.  You are authorized to use lethal force on any and all perpetrators or accomplices to that theft, do you understand this authorization?"

the Cylon pondered.  "Take the ship, kill any crew aboard that resist?"

"Precisely.  They're pirates in possession of stolen property, the SLS Iowa."

There hadn't been much need to deploy Heavy Raiders in support, since the ground action had focused on a mobile defense planned out in thorough detail by the principals, including the DCMS's own commanders.  The Green Machine's Centurions were mostly fighting in support with Al Green's forces.  The fighters and Raiders (Old model raiders built mostly to test updates to the new Raider hulls that would be forming the core Air-support assets for the Rim collection) were getting plenty of work, and De-jumped Raptors were serving admirably as VTOL support units...

but there were nine Heavy Raiders in the bays of each of the four Sampans of the Patrol.  Each Sampan also had a Marine complement of 25 Cylons and 25 human Marines.  Lift would not be a problem, and the Cylon drives would allow the forces to appear at almost hull contact to the targeted enemy ship.

not that this would be entirely necessary-the Iowa's current masters had left the fighter bay open to space, to better cycle their aerofighters, which were currently engaged with DCMS and Mercenary fighters in a prolonged dogfight over the planet.

The scramble took fifteen minutes.  the Heavies deployed first, using teh shadow of the Coast guard flotilla as cover, they activated their jump engines, snapping in flashes from one end of the system to near-direct contact with the enemy ship's hull.  Cylon and Human Marines, using magnetics, dropped from the heavy assault shuttles to the outer hull, and made their way to access points meant for servicing and shipyard operations, or as protective doors for the vessel's capital-grade armament, or as refueling points.

"Wait for it..."

the second wave of Marines appeared right before the docking doors of the fighter bay, and the Heavy Raider from Coast Guard 2 slammed in, blocking the entry point with its sheer bulk, and jamming that outer door open as Centurions dismounted and began the internal assault.

"Now!"

Aboard the former SLS (Now CJS) Iowa

for the warriors and crew aboard the Smoke Jaguar vessel, this was both unexpected, and terrifying.  the ship's 'Athena-3' systems computer wasn't working, instead of letting the command deck seal bulkheads and manage battle damage, it simply wasn't responding, internal monitors were off, and sections were venting into space.

Then, couple that, with figures moving faster even than an Elemental Marine, that could and did rip through armor composites with vibroblades, hammered areas with 'bouncy ball' antipersonnel weapons, and slashed through sealed doorways as if they were crepe paper.

The crew had been ready to watch, sidelined once again, their force's victory over the Spheroids, the crushing triumph over inferiors that was, in their minds, inevitable and deserved.

they had not been prepared for battle, nor for a boarding attempt, and certainly not one as extensive and chaotic as this.

There had simply been no warning, and no warning would come to the Smoke Jaguar transport ships holding position, either.

In the ship's CIC, with blood slicking the spin-stabilized decks and consoles, Rembrandt finished taking over the ship's central computer, he assimilated the architecture of the systems, noted the orders on file, the positions, and the positions of a wealth of enemy targets in the system, including much of the non-deployed warrior caste units waiting to be called down on a broken bid.

what silly creatures, these Clanners! they made little sense-when facing an enemy world, they reduced their forces in a game of one-upsmanship instead of using the full might available to them!

"We have secured the stolen property, Mum. Request permission to verify our control of the vessel?"

"Granted."

There were a number of enemy ships in range, including the dropship carriers for the enemy's air-support, fighters, and several transport ships loaded with what appeared to be the intended enemy garrison force.

Thirty minutes after boarding and 'confiscating' the Iowa, her guns opened fire for the first time in two hundred and fifty years against a target that was not a civilian city on Londerholm.

the results, for the Clan transport group, would be savage.

"Enemy command channel isolated, Captain."  Radioman Tera Hughes323, a Rockjack from the Hughes collective in the Kowloon Oort cloud, announced.

"Send all enemy channels, 'We is in yur warship, drinkin' yur beerz', happyface." Rembrandt told her.

"Message sent."

"Resume fire."

[Nikas_Zekeval]

How big a laugh will Teddy Kuritia have in private once he reads this part of the after action report?

[Cannonshop]

Surface of Luthien, 11:25 Hours local time...

We iz in ur worship, drinking ur beerz, :) 

it scrolled on every comm screen on every Smoke Jaguar mech, appeared on the HUD of every elemental's suit.  and then, on the command channel, the screams for help from the Transport group overwhelmed their communications.

A virus was in the channels, one that fouled up the Smoke Jaguar radios, obscured tactical screens, and fluxed targeting reticles.

Star Colonel Dorian Wirth screamed in frustration as his men could not hear his orders, and the underbrush eruped with silver streaking shapes, while the concealed battlemechs of The Green Machine stepped out at point-blank range, and savaged his trinary with close range assaults, the warriors forced to truly fight as individuals due to their comms being overwhelmed by someone, sensors being hammered and jammed.

He didn't see the Centurion until it was too late. the Silvery bodied, far-too-lithe and far-too-flexible armored infantryman, planted breaching charges at the base and sides of his windscreen, gave a four-fingered bye-bye wave,  and flipped away.

The Ferroglas powderized, stunning him with the shockwave and revealing him, bodily, to the outside environment.

far below, in the treeline, Private David Vanh from Golden Lake, aimed at the man in the lurching 'mech, now exposed to his shot, squeezed the trigger of his rifle smoothly and steadily, leading the target...

BANG!

the 'mech blundered forward a few steps, and went still.

His helmet HUD indicated another target, and he matched the karats on display, waited for the breach...

BANG!  A timberwolf ground to a halt, and toppled on top of its elemental escort.

David cranked the bolt on his rifle, and waited for the next target.

[Daryk]

Too funny!  ;D

[Cannonshop]

1900 hours, Imperial City time, Luthien, Draconis Combine...

The expected grind, had turned into a blindsided slaughter-for the Clans, and in particular, for Clan Smoke Jaguar. 

Wolf's Dragoons had lost roughly 25% of their committed forces.  the Kell Hounds, had suffered around the same proportion, with their supporting subcontractor, The Green Machine having taken the worst beating to their 'mech forces at 50% of the 'mech battalion no longer functional.

but for the Smoke Jaguars, what had begun with fifteen clusters of force, three Clan Galaxies of troops, only three and a half clusters were able to actually make it past the Allied naval cordon and their own suborned warship.

the Novacats..did somewhat better.  SaKhan Leroux recognized the situation early and what it meant.  Of two galaxies committed to the operation, only three Clusters failed to escape the trap of Luthien.

Bianh Vu Dao swallowed hard, and tried to ignore the terrifying expanse sky over her head, the rising panic of being trapped at the bottom of a gravity well, without the safety of a hull and deck, and stood stock-still as the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine himself, walked up to her.

focus...focus..  she held herself at attention until he laid his eyes on her.  then she rendered a crisp hand-salute.

"Coast..guard.  Kowloon." the old man actually smiled at her kindly.  "We have the matter of the enemy warship-"

"Sir, as a recognized state of the Star League, it's your warship, sir. we simply recovered stolen property, sir."

He did a half-wave, the closest thing to a salute he would give to a foreigner, and she relaxed her arm.

"Stolen? I don't recall owning an essex.."

"Sir, SLS IOWA, DD-265, was stolen by the deserter Aleksandr Kerensky shortly after the usurper Stephan Amaris was overthrown." she recited, fighting the panic from being trapped down here on a planet, and wishing fervently that somebody else could be stuck doing this part of the job.  "As a law enforcement officer, it is my duty to, whenever possible, return stolen goods to the legitimate owners.  as we are in Draconis Combine Space, and the Draconis Combine is one-sixth owner of the SLS Iowa, by observed tradition, I am obligated to return that vessel to the nearest legitimate owner, and to apologize for the damage done while recovering it, mister coordinator, sir."

"if your Archon, or the First Prince wish to contest this?"

"I'll get a note on my record, sir." she said, "Coast Guard is not a nationalized entity of the Lyran Commonwealth, we're not in Lyran jurisdiction, and we were loaned to help defend Luthien, further, we don't have a crew to take her anywhere else..sir.  as to further discussions of ownership, that is between serving lords of the Star League Council, which as a claimant to the First Lord's post, you are a serving member of the Star League Council, and therefore, it's between your diplomats and ours, Sir, and as I'm not a diplomat, sir, I have to follow the guidance of my service's regulations and Kowloonese law, and that law says that ship up there, she's not mine.  I don't have the authority to take her from your jurisdiction, as the Lyran Commonwealth is not at war with the Draconis Combine, and prize law therefore does not apply."

"I would like to reward you for your honorable act, and your men for their courage." he said, "What do you wish?"

"For myself, permission to return to my vessel.  Planets are..." she hesitated, "Uncomfortable places for me. as for my crew, um...shore leave? we're Coast Guard, not really able to accept renumeration or rewards for the simple performance of our duty, sir."

Takeshi looked at her with a wise gaze, and said, "You may return to your ship, Captain, and certainly, shore-leave will be granted to your crews."

"Thank you sir."

he dismissed her with a gesture, and Bianh almost ran to the Raptor.

"Theodore, that is what a stick up someone's ass looks like." Takeshi said to his Gunji-no-Kanrei.  "Have Omi see that the crews on shore leave have a good time...and get a prize crew on that captured ship before one of Hanse's mercenaries decides they would like to have it...and have a pair of swords delivered to Vu Dao. she has earned the right to be called 'samurai'."

"Yes father."

"I suppose I will have to be civil with Davion when we meet to discuss this."

[Daryk]

That's even funnier!  Takashi of all people...  ;D

[Cannonshop]

New Avalon, one month later...

Elizabeth had never been to this half of the Federated Commonwealth.  she'd never intended to travel this far from home, had no interest in travelling this far from home, and had no desire to travel so far.

And she was here, because of something one of her people did.

"You alright, Jack?" she asked.

"I've been better, at least they let me disconnect the gun units myself." her Cylon bodyguard told her.

"That's not much comfort." she said. 

"They at least didn't try to find an off-switch, or try to take my hands." he said.

Melissa and the First Prince were sitting in paired thrones as she walked up the carpet.

"I presume you understand why you've been called here, Elizabeth." Melissa said.

"SLS Iowa." Liz said.

"Yes. what was your captain thinking?"

"I believe, sir, she was complying with standard counterpiracy directives dating back to the foundation of the Guard." Liz said quietly.  "I didn't order them to take the ship, they didn't call me up when they did.  My officers and men performed in accordance with Kowloon Coast Guard regulations and Star League law as it currently stands, in a member state not their own.  I suppose we could quibble over jurisdictional boundaries and I'm sure the Clans would love to claim my people were outside their remit by conducting that boarding action in someone else's sovereign territory...but Captain Vu Dao performed the same duty she would have had the target been a Wolf or Jade Falcon held warship in Lyran territory."

"You're their duchess, and you're sworn to my service, Elizabeth!" Melissa scolded.

"Yes, mum, I am, but the Coast Guard isn't sworn to me personally, they're sworn to the constitutional government of Kowloon, I can ask them, or I can order them-but their first obligation is to the people of Kowloon, followed by the Law, followed only after that myself.  this situation didn't come up as a possibility, so I left no standing orders and Vu Dao had to make the best call in accordance with her duty and training."

"which doesn't explain why she chose the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine to return that property to." Hanse said, "I don't understand that part, explain it."

"Highness..." Liz drew in a deep breath, "Magistrates would normally determine the division of property when returned to estranged co-owners, there was no magistrate present, Legal precedent in antipiracy law require delivery to the nearest legitimate owner, which is the Star League, as the Draconis Combine is a Star League member state...and it doesn't help that during the boarding, they kind of screwed up the core coolant assemblies and expended the entire ammunition magazines."

"They...what?"

"The jump core's going to need maintenance, and every scrap of ammunition on board was expended." Elizabeth repeated herself.  "House kurita's going to have to spend around thirty five to fifty million Kroner equivalent, or one hundred million C-bills if they want more than one jump out of that drive, and they're going to have to spend around forty billion C-bills if they want to restore those shipyards to function well enough to build another warship jump drive, since the Clanners, as a final ******-you, kind of laid waste to the DCMS Naval Shipyard.  all in all, what the Coordinator got, was a very expensive symbolic victory delivered by what amounts to an allied Lyran unit.  according to Captain Vu Dao, we'll have the Alarion yards ready for the Mjolnir project, with a prototype, before the DCMS will have that Essex class vessel fit for service."

she hesitated, and then added, "And that doesn't include tooling up costs for the naval autocannon ammunition, specialty missile systems, or repairing the fighter and boat deck."

"Why did we call her here again, dear?" Hanse asked.

"Because she's responsible." Melissa said sternly.

"right, but I'm the one who didn't make it clear about salvage..."

"They were technically there on my orders." Liz said, "as I said, I didn't even imagine something like this could happen, so I'm at fault."

"Elizabeth?" Melissa said.

"Your Highness."

"I'm going to assign a Political officer to have a second look at your decisions. Return to Kowloon, and await her arrival." Melissa said.

"May I ask who's going to be second guessing me?" Liz asked, bridling.

"Kommandant Daphne Rowe, I'm told you two are acquainted. she will be assisting a Leutnant General in auditing your militias-both of them. you will show her every courtesy and cooperate, do you understand?"

"Yes Your Highness." Liz's eyes burned.

"You're dismissed."

[Daryk]

Hanse was about to let her off the hook, too...  ^-^