Chapter 30
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MarkWarrior
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Chapter 30
Date: January 20, 3001
Location: Herotitus, Independent world
It'd taken McCarthy the better part of several days to convince the local government that no, this was not another attempt for the Concordat to annex Herotitus and that yes, he was going to be giving them money in exchange for them landing a continent away to perform 'training exercises'.
Now that he was done with that, he was finally able to see what it is that the two lostech prospectors had found. So, as his VTOL landed next to one of the unit's dropships, he stepped out.
"Colonel!" The Subaltern who was present called out to him over the sound of the VTOL's rotors. "We're still doing a thorough inventory of the facility, but we've got a rough estiate of everything!"
"Good to hear it," McCarthy said, and waited for Subaltern Jones to give him that information while he walked towards the massive opening in the cliff face. "Well, Jones, spit it out."
"We have just over nine regiments of mechs and vehicles stored within. Along with two air divisions," Jones began. "We're not sure if we have the space to bring everything with us when we leave. There's spare parts enough to supply the entirety of I Corps for years of dedicated fighting."
"That amount of metal doubles our current capabilities," McCarthy frowned as he did some mental math crunching. "We're going to have to reactivate far more people than the Protector first believed."
"Given how much people are comping to avenge New Vandenburg, I wouldn't be too worried about that," the Subaltern laughed darkly. "If anything, we're going to struggle to find more machines to fit people into. Also, HIGHCOM's going to be disappointed that there weren't more aerospace assets considering that's what we lack the most production in."
"I know," McCarthy stepped into the boat that would take him across the lake and to where a jeep was waiting to bring him further into the old DOME facility. "But with this amount of ground forces, we should be able to sell more of our own mech production in exchange for purchasing fighters from anyone who's willing to sell them to us."
"I'm just concerned about the deadline, Colonel," Jones started the boat and it began slowly picking up speed on the mostly-calm water. "We're going to be pushing it as it is."
"I'm aware," the Colonel sighed. "If it comes to it, I think we'll be able to justify being delayed a bit. Now, was there anything else found here that might be important?"
"Negative," Jones shook his head, "Old intelligence reports on the state of the Taurian Concordat from 2625, a few updated reports on things during the Amaris War, but that's all. There aren't any more details on other caches or data that involved technological research. This was a storage cache. One that was raided of anything they thought they needed before retaking Terra."
"Nine regiments of mothballed mechs would have been small to an Army Corps trying to return for Terra. It also explains the lack of aerospace assets that were left behind," McCarthy agreed, stepping out of the boat as it slowed down and tying it off before helping Subaltern Jones onto the shore near the altered waterfall. "The SLDF would have wanted everything they thought would help them retake Terra. SDS systems being what they were, they'd have been a nightmare to prepare for."
"Now, as to the percentage of what we found," Jones took the driver seat and handed a report to the Colonel for him to read as they drove into the now-lit facility. "A third of the battlemechs are assaults. Most of them 'mechs that we're already familiar with maintaining. Stalkers make up the bulk of the assaults, but we've got some Longbows, Strikers, and a few Emperors. The heavies are a pretty standard mix as you can see from the reports. The Mediums and lights are where we're going to see the most boost to our capabilities."
"That'll be a call for Highcom to make," McCarthy flipped through the preliminary report. "For now, let's just load everything up and get it on the dropships out of here. I want a constant rotation until our warship's holds have been filled, then we're going to get out of here and head back to the Concordat. We can finish sorting out everything once we're back."
"Yes, sir," Jones replied. "We'll get that taken care of. But what do we do with this facility once we're done?"
"Leave it for Herotitus's militia," McCarthy shrugged. "They can do whatever they want with it after we're gone. They might even accept it as part of the 'payment' we have to bribe them with to let us loot here."
"Let's hope so, sir," Jones pulled into the cavern and allowed the Colonel to see everything that was present.
Rows and rows of pristine, olive-drab painted 'mechs lined the floors, followed by rows of combat vehicles. None of them were new designs, instead, they were old, hardy, reliable, proven designs that had existed for hundreds of years before the Amaris Coup.
Beyond the rows of machines lay empty space, space that had once probably been filled with even more war material to make war on his nation and the Canopians. It was poetic in a way. McCarthy realized.
The very tools that had been intended to be used against him and the rest of the Periphery were about to be put to use in the opposite way. It was justice. Just half a millennia too late…
Date: April 3, 3001
Location: Taurus, Taurian Concordat
The thing about a Comstar Civil War, is that outside of a handful of agents that foreign intelligence agencies had planted within the organization; no one knew it was happening at all. HPGs kept functioning, the mail continued, and blood was shed across the Inner Sphere as things began to worsen.
This also was not the first civil war that Comstar had fought within it's ranks. In fact, the first one was small enough to have only barely touch the organization outside of a handful of heads of state as it was. Unfortunately, this civil war was not such a minor thing. No, this one encompassed the majority of Comstar, and when it would stop, no one knew just yet…
Karl Simms frowned as he considered the reports in front of him. It seemed that his thoughts and beliefs on how the facture points among the Organization would break were wrong. Instead of it being ROM versus the external offices, it had broken into three splits. There were those who truly believed in the Light of Blake like himself and were pursuing his vision for the Inner Sphere. There were those who wished to reform and turn Terra into the technological haven for the Inner Sphere and begin spreading technology in an effort to improve humanity.
He scoffed at that one. The fools would simply lead to Terra being invaded and Comstar's own death, and then there were those who had sided against both in an effort to merely keep the status quo. Those were the priority for him to exterminate as Primus Allen Rusenstein had survived and was leading them, quite successfully in exterminating his infiltrators wherever they were found.
It was unfortunate, but Simms would have to leave dealing with the Concordat and the threats that his sister foresaw to his trusted agents here while he left to get a handle on the situation close to Terra. Far too many members of the First Circuit were now aware of what he had done, and not enough of them supported him for this to be sustainable without his intervention.
"Marcus, you will continue to handle things here in my absence," Simms nodded at the shaggy-looking Adept who had stepped perfectly into the role of the local Precentor after Simms had handled those who opposed him here. "Should things not go as the plan dictates, then I trust you are competent enough to devise alternate means of accomplishing our objectives."
"I will see to it that Blake's will is carried out in accordance with your wishes," Marcus bowed low. "The plan will continue in your absence."
"Very good," Simms smiled. "It is good for an old man to see the young willing to carry on with the tasks that have been handed down. Now, I'll go and deal with the madness that is Rusenstein. We each have our tasks. Let us fulfil them to the greatest of our ability."
Date: January 20, 3001
Location: Herotitus, Independent world
It'd taken McCarthy the better part of several days to convince the local government that no, this was not another attempt for the Concordat to annex Herotitus and that yes, he was going to be giving them money in exchange for them landing a continent away to perform 'training exercises'.
Now that he was done with that, he was finally able to see what it is that the two lostech prospectors had found. So, as his VTOL landed next to one of the unit's dropships, he stepped out.
"Colonel!" The Subaltern who was present called out to him over the sound of the VTOL's rotors. "We're still doing a thorough inventory of the facility, but we've got a rough estiate of everything!"
"Good to hear it," McCarthy said, and waited for Subaltern Jones to give him that information while he walked towards the massive opening in the cliff face. "Well, Jones, spit it out."
"We have just over nine regiments of mechs and vehicles stored within. Along with two air divisions," Jones began. "We're not sure if we have the space to bring everything with us when we leave. There's spare parts enough to supply the entirety of I Corps for years of dedicated fighting."
"That amount of metal doubles our current capabilities," McCarthy frowned as he did some mental math crunching. "We're going to have to reactivate far more people than the Protector first believed."
"Given how much people are comping to avenge New Vandenburg, I wouldn't be too worried about that," the Subaltern laughed darkly. "If anything, we're going to struggle to find more machines to fit people into. Also, HIGHCOM's going to be disappointed that there weren't more aerospace assets considering that's what we lack the most production in."
"I know," McCarthy stepped into the boat that would take him across the lake and to where a jeep was waiting to bring him further into the old DOME facility. "But with this amount of ground forces, we should be able to sell more of our own mech production in exchange for purchasing fighters from anyone who's willing to sell them to us."
"I'm just concerned about the deadline, Colonel," Jones started the boat and it began slowly picking up speed on the mostly-calm water. "We're going to be pushing it as it is."
"I'm aware," the Colonel sighed. "If it comes to it, I think we'll be able to justify being delayed a bit. Now, was there anything else found here that might be important?"
"Negative," Jones shook his head, "Old intelligence reports on the state of the Taurian Concordat from 2625, a few updated reports on things during the Amaris War, but that's all. There aren't any more details on other caches or data that involved technological research. This was a storage cache. One that was raided of anything they thought they needed before retaking Terra."
"Nine regiments of mothballed mechs would have been small to an Army Corps trying to return for Terra. It also explains the lack of aerospace assets that were left behind," McCarthy agreed, stepping out of the boat as it slowed down and tying it off before helping Subaltern Jones onto the shore near the altered waterfall. "The SLDF would have wanted everything they thought would help them retake Terra. SDS systems being what they were, they'd have been a nightmare to prepare for."
"Now, as to the percentage of what we found," Jones took the driver seat and handed a report to the Colonel for him to read as they drove into the now-lit facility. "A third of the battlemechs are assaults. Most of them 'mechs that we're already familiar with maintaining. Stalkers make up the bulk of the assaults, but we've got some Longbows, Strikers, and a few Emperors. The heavies are a pretty standard mix as you can see from the reports. The Mediums and lights are where we're going to see the most boost to our capabilities."
"That'll be a call for Highcom to make," McCarthy flipped through the preliminary report. "For now, let's just load everything up and get it on the dropships out of here. I want a constant rotation until our warship's holds have been filled, then we're going to get out of here and head back to the Concordat. We can finish sorting out everything once we're back."
"Yes, sir," Jones replied. "We'll get that taken care of. But what do we do with this facility once we're done?"
"Leave it for Herotitus's militia," McCarthy shrugged. "They can do whatever they want with it after we're gone. They might even accept it as part of the 'payment' we have to bribe them with to let us loot here."
"Let's hope so, sir," Jones pulled into the cavern and allowed the Colonel to see everything that was present.
Rows and rows of pristine, olive-drab painted 'mechs lined the floors, followed by rows of combat vehicles. None of them were new designs, instead, they were old, hardy, reliable, proven designs that had existed for hundreds of years before the Amaris Coup.
Beyond the rows of machines lay empty space, space that had once probably been filled with even more war material to make war on his nation and the Canopians. It was poetic in a way. McCarthy realized.
The very tools that had been intended to be used against him and the rest of the Periphery were about to be put to use in the opposite way. It was justice. Just half a millennia too late…
Date: April 3, 3001
Location: Taurus, Taurian Concordat
The thing about a Comstar Civil War, is that outside of a handful of agents that foreign intelligence agencies had planted within the organization; no one knew it was happening at all. HPGs kept functioning, the mail continued, and blood was shed across the Inner Sphere as things began to worsen.
This also was not the first civil war that Comstar had fought within it's ranks. In fact, the first one was small enough to have only barely touch the organization outside of a handful of heads of state as it was. Unfortunately, this civil war was not such a minor thing. No, this one encompassed the majority of Comstar, and when it would stop, no one knew just yet…
Karl Simms frowned as he considered the reports in front of him. It seemed that his thoughts and beliefs on how the facture points among the Organization would break were wrong. Instead of it being ROM versus the external offices, it had broken into three splits. There were those who truly believed in the Light of Blake like himself and were pursuing his vision for the Inner Sphere. There were those who wished to reform and turn Terra into the technological haven for the Inner Sphere and begin spreading technology in an effort to improve humanity.
He scoffed at that one. The fools would simply lead to Terra being invaded and Comstar's own death, and then there were those who had sided against both in an effort to merely keep the status quo. Those were the priority for him to exterminate as Primus Allen Rusenstein had survived and was leading them, quite successfully in exterminating his infiltrators wherever they were found.
It was unfortunate, but Simms would have to leave dealing with the Concordat and the threats that his sister foresaw to his trusted agents here while he left to get a handle on the situation close to Terra. Far too many members of the First Circuit were now aware of what he had done, and not enough of them supported him for this to be sustainable without his intervention.
"Marcus, you will continue to handle things here in my absence," Simms nodded at the shaggy-looking Adept who had stepped perfectly into the role of the local Precentor after Simms had handled those who opposed him here. "Should things not go as the plan dictates, then I trust you are competent enough to devise alternate means of accomplishing our objectives."
"I will see to it that Blake's will is carried out in accordance with your wishes," Marcus bowed low. "The plan will continue in your absence."
"Very good," Simms smiled. "It is good for an old man to see the young willing to carry on with the tasks that have been handed down. Now, I'll go and deal with the madness that is Rusenstein. We each have our tasks. Let us fulfil them to the greatest of our ability."