One Rabid Fox changes the Succession Wars [A Battletech Isekai]

[Imperator Pax]

Ill make sure to do a separate post after Hanse and Henry talk about production next time

 

[Imperator Pax]

Bristol 1.4​

Hanse 'the Fox' Davion had brought his BattleMaster purely on convention. He was an officer, and a gentleman of the AFFS even if he was not presently serving in a line unit. His BattleMaster out massed the smaller BattleMech in the way that Assault Mechs tended to do with regards to Heavy BattleMechs. Clay's Rabid Fox was a pristine machine, one that could have come off a Star League Factory line only years before. It was even in the dark green and khaki colors of the SLDF of old.

Its presence in the Mech bay was also pro forma.

As heir to the Federated Suns, as Ian's heir, he was travelling with protection, and likewise as the incoming duke clay had brought with him further reinforcements. Clay had made clear to the planetary militia that they could expected an influx of funding and equipment to bring the force up to defensive strength, which of course Hanse had expected.

The problem so far as he could determine was the sudden legal challenge. Which was part of the reason he was here. Sakhara as an economic center had rapidly developed, and he wanted to see if the same could be done here on Bristol in part because Sakhara was such a contrast to how matters on Robinson were developing.

At its core though, it was fusion engine production. It had been what Clay had emphasized on Sakhara and form the sound of it it was Fusion engine production here which would take shape... also apparently it would be emphasized on New Avalon, but with the acquisition of Pratt &Whitney it was more that the capitals factories would be production of machinery and tooling that would be sold out to other suppliers and manufacturers.

Clay moved back into line of sight as he moved away from lighter seventy tonner that was his BattleMech. "I have questions," Hanse remarked.

"Yes," the young duke replied slowly.

"Sakhara has a great deal of infrastructure now," That was probably understatement... and for exactly that reason Ian was right to push Henry towards reinforcing the defenses there. Was it Hesperus no, of course not, Hesperus had been was a reminder of the greatest of the Star League, "There are a multitude of engines being produced there."

Henry nodded to the statement... and Hanse well... "Yes I think honestly Sakhara has probably put a few too many eggs in the basket so to speak," Robinson could produce the 200 series Nissan. They were going to need a lot of those. "Sakhara manufacturers honestly perhaps too many engines given its size, and protection." It didn't matter that in the 3rd​ Succession war a Battalion was a pretty serious raiding force against anything other than massively hardened targets... the Combine had reason to throw more than that at Sakhara if an attack came... which was why he wasn't advertised what really defended the factories in detail.

... but the truth was he had enough to prompt an attack, and putting more there was asking for trouble. Hanse merely nodded, "My understanding my read on the situation was that the original plan was to emphasize production foremost I assume the production of the centurion."

"And its nissan 200 engine. The plan was to manufacture it on Sakhara, and Robinson in the Draconis March, and also to also expand production of the engine with new factories on New Avalon with all three worlds producing Centurions for AFFS units." He replied... and that had been his initial plan... and it wasn't New Valencia's Blackwell corporations fault. OmniVehicles and the Marauder II had nothing to do with it. There was already chatter that that had driven Sakhara to push for unveiling of a resurgence in new designs... that had probably begun as propaganda an idea disseminated by House Davion or the unofficial portions of the propaganda elements of government but it had taken on a life of its own.

"Instead we're now looking at many, many more new designs."

"Sakhara does produce a lot of engines now, and will produce those designs. "Which was he assumed the question Hanse was really asking... Ian probably academically appreciated the idea behind the original Centurion project, but it lacked a certain spark of emotional, gripping display to sell to the public, the thing that showed the vitality of the Federated Suns. "That includes limited numbers of assault mechs,"

Hanse shifted. "Production volume?"

"Perhaps one or two a month of each for a period of the next few years, On Sakhara,"He stated, "Other resources will go towards New Avalon, production of the Sentry on Robinson... maybe eventual production of 240 engines for Rifleman mechs on Robinson in a few years depending on talks with Kallon." Still it was a lot. He really recognized that now. Never mind the Star Lord JumpShips... once those started coming on line. "New Avalon, we will expand the 160 Engines as well... there are things for that... but we need to diversify production sites. We also need to not commit to building new engine lines for other weights for the time being," He added the last more as an after thought.

The Fox of House Davion shifted, "Conventional wisdom would say its easier to defend one location."

Never mind eating nukes, "Not when you're going to have to ship things across and out known space. The circuits will help, Kathil will help but only so much. We're going to be luck if that's maybe five, if we're real lucky ten JumpShips coming online by 3020 depending on what all is needed to do at the McKenna yards." and he regretted immediately the more optimistic figure for the McKenna yards without yet having seen them yet, "But we have to be able to get to transfer all that metal to units on the front. Thats why there are so many designs revolving around the 200 and 240 engines... but I also recognize that there is an interest in the 320 designs, and just heavier machines in general."

There was the davion interest, preference for auto cannons too. There was so much at market, or items that needed to be looked at and shipped out. The plan had always probably been... there had been talk for months maybe years now after Michael Hasek had by tradition stepped back from his federal position to take up his hereditary dukedom. Hanse knew that after the victories against the Combine that Ian had had ambitions for more trade with the Lyran Commonwealth. Moves to strengthen relations between the two. "My brother is discussing who to appoint as minister of trade," He remarked pausing carefully, "and when that decision is made you'll be consulted regarding those yards," Kathil, "but we can expect ripples of course. BattleMech production will receive the lion's share of attention, we have more manufacturers we can involve in diversifying production for them, and for combat vehicles. Flying machines I'm afraid places you in an even more select company there is only so much aid that can be made available." Hanse replied with a wry smile, "But Ian has confidence in your demonstrated abilities."
--
Notes: Will do that Engine production, and later mech production, and armor hopefully this week I meant to do it last week, but shit insists oncoming up.

 

[Bofors40mm]

I'd question making yet more AA mechs in suns space as compared to 60 ton battle line/trooper designs like the merlin and especially the ranger

 

[Imperator Pax]

I'd question making yet more AA mechs in suns space as compared to 60 ton battle line/trooper designs like the merlin and especially the ranger

Click to shrink...

Well yes, that was poor phrase, but in scene what Clay was actually thinking about with Kallon is the trooper Rifleman

 

[Bofors40mm]

Well yes, that was poor phrase, but in scene what Clay was actually thinking about with Kallon is the trooper Rifleman

Click to shrink...

Ah my 4P design proposal for in essence a mini Warhammer 6D that still can do sterling work as a AA mech?

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

I think Clay is easing into introducing new designs. Existing production lines in that weight class will also make it easier to expand later.

PS: ninja'd

 

[／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼]

Sakhara manufacturers honestly perhaps too many engines given its size, and protection.

Click to shrink...

Something about this sentence fucks my mind.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Something about this sentence fucks my mind.

Click to shrink...

Sakhara is fairly sparsely populated planet, I mean maybe not necessarily by BT standards which are themselves lightly settled in general, but Clay doesn't exactly have an RCT there full time.

 

[／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼]

Sakhara is fairly sparsely populated planet, I mean maybe not necessarily by BT standards which are themselves lightly settled in general, but Clay doesn't exactly have an RCT there full time.

Click to shrink...

I meant the way its worded xD

 

[Imperator Pax]

Bristol 1.5
Ian's confidence was better placed than he knew, but even so that didn't change the facts. It didn't change the conversation about BattleMechs either. "This is the tentative Rifleman 4P," He said, "Simply put Kallon already produces the Rifleman this makes changes using still standardized parts, and like our Shadow Hawk package can be furnished as a refit kit, or as an entirely factory built 'mech."The Four Papa was an all energy boat. Its two PPCs were standard models easily capable of engage aircraft, there was no range loss and no ammo to concern a pilot of the standard rifleman and it carried eight additional heat sinks to deal with the PPCs.

It still wasn't necessarily a cold running design. It certainly wasn't over sinked, but it wasn't woefully under sinked compared to the standard Kallon design even accepting how cool auto cannons ran. That was neither here nor there in Henry's perspective... this was designed as more of a frontline combatant. Made possible by removing both auto cannons and large lasers, and doubling the number of medium lasers.

Hanse nodded."Parts commonality with Warhammer and Longsword."

"Right," Henry replied.

Hanse was in sync with the idea, and he more or less expected that Ian would be fine with it as well... "But you are still working on other designs,"

"I like the trebuchet but as a mech it runs into the problem of it runs on an engine that is different from the mechs escorting it. Yes its faster not slower, which is admittedly a plus, but hence the Fusilier, it carries the same pattern of weapons, puts out 30 missiles, and has the self protection offered by medium lasers while running the 200 rating Nissan Engine." It was ultimately as design to offer out to Achernar to bolster the AFFS by reducing the logistical burden on the strategic scale. If it played well, then there was always the possibility of helping them expand production to other heavierdesgins since of course as had been highlighted in other conversations heavier mech designs appealed. Which he understood of course, but they were larger and more expensive, but if Achernar wanted to manufacture, was interesting in manufacturing the Bastion then so be it... it was just that most of the designs, "That's of course going to be a recurring thing Hanse, Medium lasers are a cost-effective combat solution. They're not as finicky as PPCs they're not as expensive the work that goes into longer range weapons requires other considerations," Which sounded completely reasonable, it was just something that he could circumvent, "The Rifleman project using PPCs we have familiarity with it shouldn't bedifficult to expand the employment of them."

... and of course that was the easy stuff. The Shadow Hawk, and Rifleman equipment didn't change anything about the engines of the machines. Theyweren't entirely new machines, new designs, using common parts. The intention was to provide a machine that could fight other mechs more effectively than its preceding design, or combat vehicles.

"The obvious difference being that the Shadow Hawk isn't manufactured, and you have no plans, from what we've discussed to move towards 275 engine production, is that right?"

"Yes." Industrial production was going to be the strategic question, "The 240 and 200 are arguably going to be the most important engines we can manufacture en masse," Clay replied. "It will allow us to build up a number of engines for different platforms," Not just mechs but vehicles as well. The recent problems with tank production... legal questions aside... well those engines could go to other thins until they figured a workable solution.

"But the Cataphract runs off of a 280 Engine, or at least the model for your friend Mister Allard, isn't that a problem for your plans?"

Clay grimaced and rubbed his scalp, "Yeah, I won't say the cataphract is a mistake, but in terms of 280 engine production I would say the Longsword will need to take precedence. That will probably confine production of both machines to Sakhara for the time being." That wasn't a change, they just hadn't moved to expand engine production to include the 280 engine for either machine onto New Avalon, and here there was too much to do. "Kallon shouldn't have any problem building the Rifleman 4P with the data, and there are other programs we can collaborate on.

He paused, sighed,and moved over to the table, the stylus was connected to the holographic projector that dominated the center of the room as large pool table sized mass of stainless steel and a hard wood veneer.

Bristol would probably produce other engines, after they started 320 production forthe Fury ... and for the Victor, and the Zeus and the Thug's down teched version. All of those would largely go to helping other manufacturers produce more mechs for the AFFS so they were for export.

The tables were similar to the ones he had shown Aaron Sandoval on New Avalon. Sakahara, New Avalon, and Robinson would all be aimed at production of lighter machines. Not just limited to BattleMechs. The real difference besides some minor revaluations of what they should focus on was the spread sheet's inclusion of what other manufacturers produced. "You have fusion engine production on Robinson aimed at Partisan tanks," Kallon on Robinson was actually making the tank chassis and doing final assembly, but 240 engines were slated to go to Kallon's production, "and if Kallon were to expand production, battlemech production to make the Rifleman on Robinson the 4P could be produced instead of the standard with the Partisan serving as the principle air defense for the DMM and 'mechs focused to engaging other BattleMechs."

"Its an ideal arrangement, certainly that would be a preference." He replied. The machinery which produced the 240 engine on Robinson was already in place... Kallon would be doing the rest of the work, so that would take time to bring production online... and that was just for the tanks, the Rifleman was still in discussion hence bringing out the 4Pas a trooper which could shore up the DMM as Hanse had observed. "We have a handful of 4P Rifleman for testing on Sakhara already... I was planning to put them in the hands of the incoming class in the fall to see how fresh cadets dealt with the heat curve but that hasn't gone into practice yet."

Kallon, Corean, and Achernar though were all on the table for discussions and cooperation, and if all of them were active in building up in and through the Draconis March, and in the Crucis March if you included New Avalon them the AFFS should have the production to rearm and expand... to be in a better position to face the combine. "The Centurion is a tried and true mech,"

"Something your inlaws would be comfortable taking possession of." He had heard, impossible to miss chatter really, talk of the Stephenson's home unit conservatism when it came to equipment. That might change with battlefield success but one step at a time.

"Yes,"Hanse replied nodding, "Or the Enforcer the idea stands, the Fusilier, Cataphract, even the Longsword are too new regardless of how theoretically sound in concept they might be. You're familiar with Spica, we expect any attack from the combine to funnel through New Ivaarsen," Two jumps from Robinson, "We're not suggesting the industrial development merely that we can reinforce the planet to blunt a combine attack, or when the day comes that it can b e the staging ground to launch an attack against the Kuritans." IN short committing to the main version, the iteration of the plan that was simplest. Build up a common body of mechs and tanks that weren't especially unique, didn't really have any overly complicated systems or technology, things that there could be an abundance of spare parts for, and leverage it against the Combine. "We have our work cut out for us, over the next few years..."

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

There it is, Clay just laid the purpose behind all this build up on the table. I know all the characters in the fic will know, but I figure there are at least a few readers that have forgotten or haven't clued in.

Clay is doing everything he can to give the AFFS the kind of parts commonality between mechs, tanks, fighters, etc that somewhat equivalent to NATO having standardized weapon patterns/gun calibers. This will let the AFFS be leaner and meaner when the fighting starts again.

 

[Bofors40mm]

speaking of suns AA mechs I need to tinker with the jagermech since its made on 2 planets and arguably has much worse problems than the rifleman

also the 4P Rifleman still is a decent AA mech given how many AA mechs rock PPCs even if its not quite as good as its old form.

as for the trebuchet given the suns make the engine plus everything else goes into the design its not too hard to sustain it but a couple more designs using the FE 250 would be a good idea. maybe the crab or something close to it? Or a ASF?
As for more 320s I'd go with the striker since its a easy to maintain assault mech along with the thug (and much like the thug there's probably a fair few mothballed due to needing parts). Getting the Zeus license would be a NIGHTMARE and I'm not a fan of what amounts to what's a heavy mech in assault mech form including in terms of armor levels.

As for the Shadow Hawk and 275 the suns have 3 sites that already make 275s including on new avalon so just get general Dyamics, Norse battlemechs and/or Achernar a shadow hawk license.

 

[PeaceMaker03]

speaking of suns AA mechs I need to tinker with the jagermech since its made on 2 planets and arguably has much worse problems than the rifleman

also the 4P Rifleman still is a decent AA mech given how many AA mechs rock PPCs even if its not quite as good as its old form.

as for the trebuchet given the suns make the engine plus everything else goes into the design its not too hard to sustain it but a couple more designs using the FE 250 would be a good idea. maybe the crab or something close to it? Or a ASF?
As for more 320s I'd go with the striker since its a easy to maintain assault mech along with the thug (and much like the thug there's probably a fair few mothballed due to needing parts). Getting the Zeus license would be a NIGHTMARE and I'm not a fan of what amounts to what's a heavy mech in assault mech form including in terms of armor levels.

As for the Shadow Hawk and 275 the suns have 3 sites that already make 275s including on new avalon so just get general Dyamics, Norse battlemechs and/or Achernar a shadow hawk license.

Click to shrink...

I believe the S-Hawk license should be open since the original manufacturing company died 200 years ago.
I think Comstar is peeping hard onto FEDCOM, and peeping nukes for Bristol and Sakhara
if the Dragon attacks- Boom …..
Or

Comstar will hire some "Pirates who have nukes".

 

[Bofors40mm]

I believe the S-Hawk license should be open since the original manufacturing company died 200 years ago.
I think Comstar is peeping hard onto FEDCOM, and peeping nukes for Bristol and Sakhara
if the Dragon attacks- Boom …..
Or

Comstar will hire some "Pirates who have nukes".

Click to shrink...

Comstar of this period at least outside the memes isn't using nukes since if nothing else you can track nuclear material back to it's orgin point. Well that and to be blunt far easier to do conventional sabotage or help raiders do a conventional but still destroying the facility strike

 

[Imperator Pax]

Bristol 1.6

Henry checked his timetable for probably the twentieth time this morning, he knew they were planning to leave soon. The work on Bristol was administrative... not even really that it was formalized, and about being present... but not actually doing anything. There was so much talking about the new government but the new administration wasn't going to need him to do much of anything this trip even as he laid out was he wanted to do.

He was laying out, this is what we're going to do.

That was what was being said but most people probably took that as campaign promises or something like that.

There was going to be a lot to do though. That wasn't even touching the inevitable what weapons should be produced. Energy weapons were one thing, but endorsing an auto cannon ... especially when they inevitably moved to introduce other specialty auto cannons was something he was already dreading...had already been dreading.

In that sense he would be glad to return to Sakhara. The return to the routine of the academy was something he was already looking forward to, New Avalon was nice to visit but too much, so much going on on the capital for the holidays. He needed good news from Haakon from Mountain Wolf BattleMechs...both for the Merlin and for access hopefully to Lyran markets...working with Kallon would help with that, but there were differences in the Lyran market even though it being the third succession war any battlemech was better than no battlemech.

If the clans did come crashing through the 'galactic north' of the Lyran commonwealth.... or even just bolstering Lyran ability to menace the Combine that benefitted the Federated Suns. He was hoping... against hope really that things held... and that they had as long as they did until ComStar fucked things up and gave the Crusaders the excuse they wanted... but he couldn't count on that.

Ian wanted the Wolf Dragoons back in FedSun service, wanted to throw them against the Combine, which would satisfy their not attacking previous employer clause, as well as serve strategic goals for the Federated Suns. The problem were the other details. The plan sounded great on paper... and that was the problem... how exactly did he try and approach the bug fuck insanity that was the clan's eugenics program or their mangled version of their own history.

Things, benign things like the Imp Assault Mech were on thing, but there were others that raised all kinds of alarm bells... which was why Zhukov was a program. The Federated Suns, as a larger entity, would probably be interested down the road but in the short term hew as going to need to diversify production beyond Sakhara ... the combine would almost certainly try and force an attack ... probably not before Justin graduated.... but that was going to be the problem, even with the jump circuit in place if he found himself, if Henry, away on Kathil trying to fix the McKenna yards it was going to depend on the defenses already in place.

He was already thinking about delaying work on unearthing the massive subterranean Fury depot until his grip here was better secured... production of gauss rifles were likely to be of interest to the AFFS... ammunition was cheap but it was also the weapon not the ammo which was explosive when hit by enemy fire. On the other hand despite their mass the damage and range potential was sure to get elicit interest... but was now really the right time?

The NAIS was at least a thing... Ian was putting the books taken from under Takashi's nose ... Henry scratched the pen on the corner of the paper in wider and wider loops to make sure the ink was flowing as he mulled... but it was still new...

He groaned, "We need to punch the combine in the nose again before they get up any kind of plan," A plan where they could launch an offensive against the Federated Suns on their own terms. The question was how, Ian wanted to do exactly that. Hanse didn't seem opposed to the idea, and there was support... but there was also opposition to an attack. It was probably one of the reasons Ian wanted the Dragoons to come back, if he could swing them ... Henry figured that it would be easy for Ian to justify sending them against the Combine without having protests from the 'loyal opposition' in the other marches.

He scribbled harder in the corner of the paper.

The problem was that the dragoons were clanners... and Ian was almost certainly going to get them read into the situation... he had mentioned von Strang's world to Yvonne Davion months earlier... that wasn't exactly some kind of huge secret but it wasn't common knowledge either... and it wasn't as if he was on the periphery border to begin with... hell he wasn't even in the right successor state to worry about von Strang or any of the former Rim World worlds... it wasn't as if he was in the Lyran Commonwealth... but if the clans did invade well the crazy periphery types were in the way...

... and of course there was the floating reminder every time he opened his essence, opened the 'character sheet' that he had an enemy in House Amaris.

Not ComStar surprisingly enough... but maybe that was just a matter of time, but if his essence was giving him a warning about it... it sure as fuck seemed important. He flipped through a couple of memos buried under the timetable...rebuild Bristol. It was a lot of grand talk... and he could use that... while they went about rebuilding the industry.

... keeping attention away from here though...

was easy enough...keep everyone watching Sakhara. It was an easy answer, but it didn't change that if the Combine did attack it was probably going to be against Sakhara.

There was achime... which informed he needed to make a decision about what he wanted to do... since he had a meeting with Hanse soon, where they were supposed to go over the legal injunction filed against the Demolishers and Schreks. Under Project Zhukov was in part a plan to produce an even cheaper option than the Zorya that he had used, did use on Sakhara ... and that was all well and good, but the Sphinx was that for an Inner Sphere tech base ... mass production of it would need to be something they could do.

It wasn't going to be fancy but if Bristol's defenders had them well no copyrights to worry about, and they could build a lot of them as an example to other Crucis March, and Draconis March worlds without worrying about high technology costs. An interim solution a standard medium tank to be mass produced for doctrinal reasons of good enough to fill the battle space and defend an area. He'd thought about it before, and it was the conversation he was going to carry on to the heir to the realm when they met for lunch today.
--
Notes: This is down the Hanse segment, its going up basically as is, because I'm running late, 1.7 will go up next week I will clean this up tomorrow for the copy past thing that QQ is doing because of the move to XF 2, but after that we will return to Sakhara and preparations for Justin and Alexandria's graduation.

 

[HellTeddy]

Thank you for the chappy!

Seems to me like your keyboards spacebar needs a cleaning.

 

[Dreadis]

Not sure why but it seems as if a bunch of your spaces decided to fuck off.

 

[Arimai]

@Imperator Pax your formatting is all fucked. Spaces, punctuation all randomly scrambled

 

[SChase]

Argh... It is as if he has to pay for each space between words.

 

[Nikoli]

Don't forget spelling.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Thank you for the chappy!

Seems to me like your keyboards spacebar needs a cleaning.

Click to shrink...

Its not its the XF 2 fucking my formatting and deleting a bunch of spaces when I post and I don't know why the forum transition started doing it.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Bristol 1.7​

Hanse looked back fondly to the boyhood days ... it had been easier on the both of them. They, he and Ian had still had responsibility towards things but his time at school, and Ian's time at school had been breathing space beyond things. "We have a couple of months until your friends graduate," He began after getting comfortable in the seat. The papers on the desk... that he wasn't spying on, just that they were out there in the open were about small scale fusion engine production, and lighter vehicles. The papers scribbled on, subject to scratches from an ink pen out of probably boredom... there was a tedium to dealing with Industry and managing that something Hanse was familiar with... New Avalon was always a tide of action, but since Michael had becoming Duke of New Syrtis and the duties that entailed... Ian as was his right as First Prince had looked elsewhere for the tasks Michael had filled.

... not that either of the brothers thought of the original post as some kind of sinecure. Michael did seem to have demonstrated that he had all the requisite experience to handle being the federal trade minister. But there was competency and then there was dependability, and Michael was somewhat out of the good graces of his brothers in law and had insisted on digging the hole deeper. That was part of the reason Hanse was doing the job, what had probably started as a temporary posting to shore up the change and then the large battles had played out.

There was a grunt as from behind his overflowing desk Henry stretched cracking his neck from one side in a gesture that seemed entirely too old. "Yeah," He replied rubbing his temples, "I've been looking at that, "I've been thinking that given some of the parts, I think that Blackwell would probably be the most effective secondary manufacturer of the Cataphract. They have a history as a spare parts manufacturer, and in terms of larger companies there is always General Motors. License trading is fairly normal but it takes time and negotiations... and GM should be able to manufacture the Marauder II right now though 300 rating Fusion Engines would probably overtax wider production at this point. If anything I think the best option would be to expand Nissan 200 production on Robinson and manufacturing for Mk III Large Lasers,"

"This is about Auto Cannons?"

"Its about need ammunition to keep them functioning, the Rifleman Trooper we talked about if I can get Kallon to agree to factory manufacturing or we can produce refit kits still can fill the air defense niche while making it more effective in BattleMech engagements," And Henry was repeating himself... Hanse had been briefed that besides the Rabid Fox Clay's default mech was a Rifleman from the Academy Yvonne had mentioned that months ago.

"Do you plant convert Sakhara's rifleman mechs first?" Hanse asked diverting slightly, but it was more personal curiosity than anything.

He shook his head, "Not all of them, there is some conventional, and justified opposition in that the standard Rifleman is common. They might pickup bad habits from the Trooper variant... no its just not acceptable to the other instructors. Its the exact opposite with the cataphract, if its there as a training mech then any number of varieties can be put there."

"I was under the impression Centurion production was coming online in the fall,"Hanse remarked.

"200 Engine production isn't a problem, part of the incoming class will receive Centurions," Which from what Hanse understood there was talking going on back and forth if they went to Sakhara's prestigious cadre or otherwise graduated with honors those mechs could be furnished to the graduates." That would still be four years of training, but it would be a gradual expansion of the number of horsed 'mechwarriors available to the Federated Suns while they were apart of the AFFS...and some of those graduates after their tour of duty might go mercenary or go home to their families but that was acceptable. It certainly wasn't something to complain about. The RBA wouldn't be able to afford that kind of industrial distribution, "There are some talks with Northwind, I think those would be further along if we'd stayed for the entirety of the tournament but I think Aaron has that covered..."

"Could Highlander production be restarted?"

"We're going to," Gonna was what it sound like through a stifled yawn, "need a few years. Even if Northwind's government was prepared for it, the fusion engine is still the bottle neck, Achernar," 's branch On, "New Avalon manufactures the engine for the Phoenix Hawk so there is a way forward, its just a question of investing the time and resources."

"Northwind is close to the front."

"I know, and I don't think we should have any one planet being the single source of parts or line for anything critical. Hence building factories forthe Centurion on Sakhara and Robinson both... I'd like it if the Northwind talks get another Centurion line up and running yeah they're close to the front... but once the lines on Robinson are providing mechs I doubt it'll draw the same kind of heat as an assault mech... and we can always sink capital in Northwind to just make spare parts for now. That's honestly I think the best option."

Which was just back down the rabbit hole of spare parts, and techs to work on machines to rebuild all the machines that were on lists but needed repairs, or replacements, never mind the ones which were in fighting condition but had been or had had replacement parts that weren't standard. It was exhausting... and it had become the norm over the centuries. People accepted it it because it was how things were.

Henry understoodthat academically but looking to fix the problem meant starting from the bottom... and the biggest ...well cheat he had was his essence, and Hanse didn't know about that. Henry knew that getting the other manufacturers to follow suit and invest money in production meant showing that that was safe... or that it was safe enough to put that money in it rather than buy another mansion, or other social spending; or whatever.


Hanse didn't speak up so he continued, probably the Fox had left the gap there so he would talk, but really, "Sakhara has enough infrastructure on it to be a target... we had the machinery putting it to use made sense..." he half justified his actions, "But I am going to need to expand the defenses there with tanks, and tanks for here. Fusion engine production is the main priority, get Blackwell and Pratt & Whitney to expand spare parts production start trying to encourage others we can push for Kallon and so one over all."

Hanse nodded, not commenting but considering to himself at least that if Blackwell did get absorbed... which wasn't Henry's intention at all, that it might help smooth things over with GM, "I already had recognized that we have a great deal of work to do, and yes Blackwell and the Wolf Dragoons are very much something my brother would like to focus on if he can have the time to do so. You may be needed on New Avalon, given the circuit in place that should be an issue, but it shouldn't be at least for another few months."

He reciprocated the nod. The question was how many months. They had started construction of the first, the replacement JumpShip before he'd figured out the trick to the essence of selling off HPGs and getting cash to buy comparatively higher BV equipment, which could be sold for that to bank for other things... he blinked the balance sheet away before his vision was overwhelmed by the numbers, "The Star Lord won't be ready for several months, there are safety checks we want to be sure for the yard before we will be comfortable launching it. It will take time from there, and it won't be until next year that we're in a position to begin full scale production."

Hanse shrugged, "We have complete confidence in you." Then a pause, "This will more likely be of a more martial conversation than of JumpShips, and there are other discussions." It was more than just striking a blow against house Kurita. "I know it has been mentioned but my brother has his Kell Hounds looking at machines... lets just say its more than he's let on so far." Much more Hanse knew... having mercenaries that answered directly to the First Prince was a way to get around Field Marshals, but Henry didn't explicitly told that... but Michael would get the implication...

 

[BlueRanger O-Doom]

Huh, I honestly hadn't realized Hanse replaced Michael as Minister of/for Trade. Him being Henry's point of contact makes more sense now. It also looks like crunch time on their decisions for future manufacture.

I can't help but imagine Henry Clay as an increasingly manic/stressed Poland-Ball rushing between the mech hangar and his office trying to nail down parts lists and having to deal with CENTURIES of non-standard bits that can be MADE to fit when needed being the standard for everything and trying to fix the gigantic logistical mess. Given he needs to get the proper specifications down NOW so all the different factories on different planets can build equipment that will fit together properly, I can only imagine him as a little stressed right now lol.

 

[Bofors40mm]

It's starcorps sun's branch over on Crofton you need to talk to about the highlander (and the warhammer and introtech emperor) not Northwind.
Heck I'm pretty sure Northwind never had made the highlander in BT

 

[Imperator Pax]

It's starcorps sun's branch over on Crofton you need to talk to about the highlander (and the warhammer and introtech emperor) not Northwind.
Heck I'm pretty sure Northwind never had made the highlander in BT

Click to shrink...

Ah... looking at Sarna I think you're correct, I think thats fanon from my long running tabletop MechWarrior game sinking into things and I just forgot to double check

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara
Justin's groan was loud as he got up from the couch... not that he'd been laying there all that long. "Oh its great to be back." The common space of the academy was largely filled with other students but the trio's return was different for all three. Justin, and Alexandria had done well... they had done well before he had left, but Albion and Northwind had proven to be strong competitors. Robinson's pair of cadets had eked victories against Warrior's hall, which had cemented the New Syrtis favorite in last place but Robinson hadn't done well against the assault mech and Alexandria in her orion had put the duke of rio's son out of action in both their original matches and the follow on sets.

Justin had done well against the Highlander in the second set but had still taken a beating that in a real battle would have probably have left both mechs in need of serious repairs. Justin's loss in the bout meant nothing really... really he had done well and it had no bearing on production decisions for the Cataphract. It was all about logistics.

That had always shaped the cataphract decisions. The choice of the Imperator A auto cannons used on the Rifleman. The same for the large laser... but if the trooper project Rifleman went forward well there was going to be less impetus to produce the Imperator A or more examples produced but that problem could be looked at from different angles.

"You only have a few more months," Henry pointed out tapping his noteputer, and double checking the delivery receipts. He didn't look up as Justin groaned while he stretched, or the half incoherent ;I know' that ushered from the shorter senior. The Stingray, the F 90, had a reputation as an ASF for hitting dropships parked on the ground. It was in that he planned to rely on... not so much because he didn't think they were capable of engaging DropShips in the air, but because he wanted a competent air to ground attack platform to support his masses of medium of tanks, and hovercraft...and battlemechs.

That it ran off a 240 Vox engine was great for logistics as well. It was plenty of reason to transfer more to Bristol. Subsidiaries focused on manufacturing armor had been a consideration anyway, before the lawsuit... and as much as that surprise pissed him off he couldn't just blow it off. Even while he was here for the semester he was going to have to keep on top of it.

The obvious solution was going to be to make changes to the Devastator and the Schrek to differentiate the models. Use the Vox240 pull the TTS and Comms gear for Federated Suns, and hope that was fucking enough at least for the short term. They could use starslab pattern armor like the Partisan he supposed as well.... but it was just the headache of having to make those changes ... and the concern that it might not be enough.

If that wasn't enough for the Schrek then that was a problem. Theycould make improvements to the Devastator as a tank. Henry reached up t o pinch the bridge of his nose hoping against hope it would stemthe mounting headache. Commonality of parts. Same engine, same armor... ideally same everything except the guns.

It could have been worse.

Alexandria looked over her tea cup. "What are you going to do?"

Sakhara had an armor school. "The Devastator carries a fusion engine," He muttered closing his eyes and working backwards, "It needs more armor protection." Henry made a mental note to himself to email the vice chancellor ... the legal side of things was his problem, but he hadn't been looking to customize the Devastator tank at the time this had all started... now there was a reason to so more armor made sense, and that would protect the crew and it would be less risk of the fusion... which he could replace especially within jump distance of Sakhara. He almost considered the matter of caseless ammunition... but there wasn't a supply chain for that anywhere but here... no that would definitely have to wait. "Medium lasers," He muttered." Missiles and support would need tobe relegated to other units... let the schreks serve as direct fire support at range that had proved to work, and go from there. "We've got a lot to do now that we're back." The whole tank thing was a pain in the ass but he'd figure it out... and a small petty part of him wanted to rush through the meklab essence digging around for anything that Aldis industries would build in the future and patent introtech versions of all of it just for the hassle.

He could still do that... but doing it right now would just raise a shit ton of questions he didn't have time to answer, or argue about. They had a lot that needed to be answered... and talking to the other corporations... and there was always the possibility that yeah maybe Davion leadership was right and this was nebulous convoluted Capellan scheme to just lawfare a problem for the Federated Suns... and then there was the chance it was Terra... that it was ComStar.

"What are we going to do?" Justin asked, "More unit drills?"

"Among other things," All of them, the graduating class wouldn't have made it this far without being competent mech pilots, that asn't going to be a problem. All of them could drive and shoot, and in theory they should have all been able to work together pairedup as lances... but could they work together as larger groups in tasks not immediately related to driving their mechs. "There are staff material that still needs to be covered, and coordination with the other arms," He glanced at the AFS transfer orders, "We're going to coordinate your class with armor and air power," It wouldn't be for another few weeks ,but that lesson was going to be important since the idea was to insure that the graduating cadets even the ones not going to the cadre were well versed, well prepared for frontline service. "I'm going to drill it into your heads, that having combat vehicles helping on the field is a major benefit, so you can expect that." Watching battle roms for the last ride of the sword of light just hadn't cut it for most of hte young mechwarriors... the battle in January of 3014 simply was a grand victory over the hated national enemy.... but it had not cleared old biases or views of how warfare was conducted or the chauvinism, parochialism of combat. "Besides ... well in addition to that the opposing force training is going to be expanded. Bard should be back here in a couple of months... March I think, so you can expect the rangers as well. Be ready for that." He advised.

 

[Bofors40mm]

the stingray is above all else the 2nd or 3rd best dogfighter available in 3025 with only the eagle/transgressor firmly ahead of it (they're basically the same stats wise) and you could maybe argue the extra armor puts the corsair a tad ahead. the hellcat would be ahead of the corsair but it canonically turns like a brick in atmosphere and much like the stingray has less armor
honestly for CAS I'd take a lightning first since a AC-20 hurts a lot

 

[Imperator Pax]

Sakhara

Alexandria had returned to Sakhara with some idea of what she was going to be walking into. Or at least she had thought she had known that. The truth was most of the cadets at Sakhara came from impressive enough families, that most of their focus had been the recent victories over the Combine the position of Count of Sakhara was recognition for that but it certainly didn't help that Henry's position as Count directly subordinate to the First Prince was not something he traded on. He didn't need.

Whether he traded on it or not, was largely irrelevant it wasn't something that could be forgotten but it could be overshadowed by older more established titles, or glossed over by the accomplishments which had warranted it. That didn't fix the situation, especially now, especially now. Concealing the shipyards would have been impossible. Armor production could have been overlooked, even fusion powered tanks, but not asf or battlemechs... and the construction gantries of a star lord jumpship even more so.

She had been expected to keep such information in confidence until the announcement on New Avalon, but really there had been others, andword had almost surely gotten out. Now that the announcement had beenmade by the First Prince though there was no pretending.

The two men were talking. "I was under the impression that the225 Engine was not to be considered a priority." The heavy set technician or engineer, she wasn't quite sure which wore a heavy dutyred work jump suit.

"It wasn't." Clay replied in an almost sullen clip. "It wasn't, we're going to talk to Achernar in the spring about transferring a VOX 225 Engine production line to them on New Avalon, along with talks about getting them to introduce the Hammer hands back into production. Hopefully that will spur a little more innovation, but we need additional 225 engines, and I don't feel like risking a legal fight over the Von Luckner."


The conversation's technical scope was beyond her. The talk of thehammer hands was an archaic battlemech an early machine developedindigenously inthe Federated Suns, and of course she knew Clay hadbeen talking with Achernar and about installations on New Avalon. Sheunderstood that the fusion powered tanks were in production here aswell.

--

The gantry system were automated. He could sit here and watch anddrink coffee and needed to do nothing about the machines. The people here were just in case something did somehow fail... but it was all black box factory tech you didn't need people for this work.

Henry had been planning to do something with Project Zhukov formonths now. Already had shown the cadets the heavy hovercraft assault guns which would expand the Robinson Assault Cluster... but wooing Archernar was only nominally related to that. New Avalon Fusion Products could use additional investment, handing them machine tooling was only part of that. The Hammer hands would be a Davion talking point... but it would also allow for other projects.

Most of Archernar's incomes came from its other divisions not its battlemech production. In a sense that was good thing on a number of different fronts. They had a large manufacturing concern, diversified across multiple industries and they were established so people knewthe name, and expanded production was less likely to raise concerns.

They in that respect made a good choice because they were also on New Avalon. Zhukov was going to be more than that, he was going to write to Robinson... and they were going to push forward with new tanks, and new weapons especially if he had to move away from the Devastator. He was going to need to have someone sub contract to produce internal combustion vehicles as well even if he was more likely to rely on Fusion engines personally there were going to be worlds that needed to have ICE vehicles... where as other militias could afford to operate Nissan 200 powered tanks or heavier vehicles. For wealthier worlds though those were options, worlds like Sakhara were places where his Shrek's and devastators attracted little attention from the cadets who came from similar worlds.

Maybe that had given him an insulated view... but getting blindsided by the Aldis litigation was infuriating. It was something he was going to have to deal with, and the first step in that direction was going to be moving away from the Mk III standard configuration. That was... in hind isght still something that they could have done better on. Hindsight was always 20/20, something that he was reminding himself about.

It was part of the reason he was making the point of just selling a factory for the 225 Engine to Achernar since they weren't really in a place to refuse the offer. Especially if they then went on to start production, or restart production, of the Hammer hands.

... in the mean time, "I want that package put together to ship to New Avalon," The Donals and ChisComp medium lasers would bean easily justified decision... the Donals as a replacement to theAC-10s of the Hammer Hands of yore well he could pass that along and not expect a second look. That the machine was 5 tons heavier and used a different engine, well he'd had that discussion already with his own people. New Avalon Fusion Products would probably be glad for the new machinery and their BattleMech people would have the opportunity to build a slower brawler machine that would be directly competing with the long sword. Production which could go somewhere besides the Draconis March... Achernar could sell into the Crucis, or even to the periphery facing units without a problem... but the real objective was just to expand mech production for the Suns over all," In the mean time the MML Centurion is our next project." That was actually one of the small reliefs of the trip.

There hadn't been that many questions about the machine... too overshadowed by heavier fighting machines. Which was fine, the dealto produce the Centurion had been his priority because it was a simple trooper mech... and something that he could provide to cadets en masse. All powered by a simple and common 200 Rating Nissan Engine.

The majority of that company worth of Centurions were all normal 'intro-tech' models. There were twelve cadets in the 'year under him' that had started the new term with orders to report to the mech hangar in the morning. Coincidentally Justin had a free period for independent study this final semester at the academy and the goal was to give him time to coordinate with the massed centurions... even though that was optimistic about his slated duty station on Spica.

He hadn't even needed to talk to the Vice Chancellor personally ...in part because the centurion discussion had already been had when he had started talking about the Centurion line in the first place. The problem though was Sakhara's cadets didn't have an engineering techside program... and he didn't expect any of the cadets to go and pull a Kerensky and say I need xyz in a mech to turn out hte next atlas orthe king crab... and that wasn't what he really needed, wasn't what the Fed Suns really needed.

NAIS was open, bit it was just one school.

Henry sighed, "Also is there any word about the Eridani showing up?"

"According to the office of the First Prince while General Kerston plans to employ the JumpShip circuit it won't be for a few more weeks."

Henry nodded, "What do you think?"

"The First Prince is wooing the Eridani to attack the combine using the data provided."


Henry rolled his eyes, "Yes, obviously, but I was asking Colonel what you think, as a person."

The 3rd​ RCT officer paused, "I don't know sir."

"You've got a couple weeks to figure where you stand with the Eridani, man... and we still have to tell them about there being an Amaris claimant out there as well, assuming Ian hasn't beaten us to the punch on that front." The man's face was grim in response to that comment, but Henry continued on, taking a quick swig from his coffee, "Anyway you said the Eridani's IFF credentials were valid, what does that mean?"

 

[Arimai]

especially now, especially now.

Click to shrink...

Redundant

that the225 Engine

Click to shrink...

the 225 engine

hind isght

Click to shrink...

Hindsight

 

[Arimai]

thehammer

Click to shrink...

The hammer

developedindigenously

Click to shrink...

developed indigenously

Clay hadbeen talking with Achernar and about installations on New Avalon

Click to shrink...

Clay had been in negotiations with Achernar on the construction of installations on New Avalon

anddrink

Click to shrink...

And drink

theAC-10s

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The AC-10s