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The rest of the meeting in Outreach dealt with information sharing protocols regarding the Clans between the nations involved and an informal truce, due to Takashi being the ruler of the Draconis Combine and not Theodore, it was not possible to sign a formal one.

As soon as the truce was decided, the best regiments from both the Federated Commonwealth and Draconis Combine, that were still facing each other, started to move from their garrison locations, almost all at the respective borders, to the new priority conflict – The Clans.

Unfortunately for the Federated Commonwealth, both the Capellan Confederation and what was left of the Free Worlds League these days, did not participate in the Outreach meeting, and so, no truce deal with these nations was found. So, the AFFC still needed to maintain a considerable amount of forces on those borders.

Back in Coromodir (again via Command Circuit), I wasted no time in sharing the technical data from the Wolf's Dragoons database.

The consensus among both VMI and CHI technicians was that it would be necessary to create the tools first and then build from scratch new factories and assembly lines capable of producing Clan tech.

Not only were the precision and tolerance levels more demanding than the best we did today (for the Royal or Wolverine tech) but many of the components made greater use of rare components, which were difficult to obtain.

Fortunately for the Concordat, because of the much expanded mining program in space, we had wider access to most of them than other nations. That was at least the analysis of my specialists.

The general opinion, was that it would be advisable, to prioritize building weapons first and only after that 'Mechs, ASFs and vehicles.

Even in our best estimates, it would take at least 5 years for the first models to roll off of the assembly lines. As for the 'Mechs/ASFs/vehicles, it would take at least 10 years before the first ones could be produced.

And that was for VMI and CHI. Estimates for other companies indicated that more time would be needed.

In the meantime Edward had opened the purse strings. Due to the Clan Invasion Crisis, (and thanks to the large number of orders placed by both the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, that in turn represented an increase in tax revenues for the state) the defense budget was greatly expanded. 10 new brigades were created and the number of WarShips and Lee DropShips ordered was greatly increased.

A Concordat brigade was similar to a Federated Commonwealth reinforced RCT, although the integration/distribution of forces was somewhat different, with the brigade having a larger artillery and air defense component and also a lot more Battle Armor and PA(L). PA(L) were something that only the TDF and MAF deployed on the battlefield, Earth and WoB never moved past the Infiltrator custom-build units, and the other nations didn't produce PA(L).

The result of a program whose objective was to build the cheapest WarShip possible, the Type 055 - Orca, was something never seen before even if it failed to be cheap in its final, approved version.

The first proposal was a very small ship, 75K Tons, with 2 NL35 and 2 Barracuda tubes. No DropShip Booms, very spartan, with a cost a little over a Monolith.

Evidently, the Concordat Navy although interested in the design, proposed many modifications. The main one was that against any opposition present, it had neither the ability to evade nor the means to defend against anything more than an Assault DropShips, it didn't even have defenses against ASF's.

From interaction to interaction, we came to the time of the Clan Invasion. No longer a small, low priority, low budget pet project, that never passed the concept/ design phase. With the need for a very long range / autonomy warship / raider arose to attack the Clans' very long supply line to their Homeworlds, the latest version was no longer an economical WarShip, due to its use of an LF battery, but met all the requirements for a raider.

With 80K Tons, a LF battery, 2 NL55, (one on the Forward Left and one on the Forward Right bays) and 2 Killer Whale tubes (each with 24 missiles) on the Nose, it was also able to carry two DropShips and had an autonomy of 2 years. Being so small, it had intra-system engines adapted from those used in Starlifter DropShips (50K tons+) which gave it anemic mobility when compared to any WarShips, ASF or most military DropShips, but far superior to any Jumpship.

If it encountered any opposition, the doctrine was that it would use the LF to execute a jump and flee the area, avoiding combat. Without opposition, it was more than capable of destroying any Clan resupply convoy.

With all these modifications, it cost almost 9 billions of C-Bills, but it was the only WarShip / Raider capable of operating deep on the Exodus Road without support (not counting the two DropShips it could carry) for an extended period.

Four were ordered, and received top priority for construction. Taurians, being Taurians, several of the Killer Whale missiles have 'special ordnance', aka are nuke tipped (Peacemakers with a 500 kiloton warhead).

While expensive, it was surprisingly fast to build, because with the exception of the compact K-F drive and LF battery, that were unique, everything else was off-the-shelf components, already in mass production.

Because of the disintegration of the Free Worlds League and the internal wars that was damaging much of the military-industrial infrastructure / complex, several companies that until recently only existed inside the League, started to look to create branches or even migrate to other nations, or risk the fate of so many that have been destroyed during the first and second succession wars. One of these companies was Irian Technologies. Unlike many others, that looked to the Capellan Confederation, the Magistracy or the Federated Commonwealth, Irian Technologies started negotiations with Kamea Arano to create a branch in Coromodir V, the place that offered the best tax and incentives inside the Concordat and also already had a comprehensive secondary industry and infrastructure capable of supporting said industrial complexes.