Interlude 2
Interlude 2 (edited 3/24/2023)
————————————————————————-
Location Katinka, New Dutch Capital Building
Date: August 30, 3021, 12:00
Maxwell Chili signed as he finished reading the Little Rock and Pidgin reports. When he took over as Governor at the young age of twenty-eight, he had hoped to have a semi-peaceful rule. Then this pirate raid happens.
This raid went beyond what was typical for pirates. After Aotearoa's destruction, those two towns became even more isolated from the nearest city and the capital. With Pidgin, he could send relief efforts and more troops to protect as it was closer. On the other hand, Little Rock was so far away, with only Brook and his volunteers protecting it. They got reinforcement from Brook's old mercenary company wishing to join the Militia if he gave them new IDs.
Max had to balance the risk of doing this as the MRB might put a bounty on this former mercenary group for the betrayal of an employer. But, at the same time, it was good to have more battlemechs and someone to train up infantry.
While he wouldn't normally do this for just some random mercenary company, especially one that used to work for the Capellan Confederation, Brook had recommended it. He had forwarded all the data showing why the mercenaries were willing to join the Militia and what they brought to the town. Getting an experience DropShip crew, a veteran Mechwarrior, and a couple of veteran mechanized infantry platoons to protect Little Rock for the low maintenance cost and new IDs sounded like a steal. They even came with three battlemech with no Mechwarriors and salvaged parts.
Maxwell looks up into space where the pirate JumpShip should be. They had captured that ship through the harshest of fights. Unfortunately, the captured militia infantrymen decided to commit a suicidal attack on their captors once the message that PDF had defeated the pirate's ground forces and arrested the three DropShips. They only managed to distract the pirates long enough for the Militia's DropShip and aerospace fighters to arrive at the cost of their lives.
They surround the pirates and demand them to surrender. So it went as well as a pirate facing a firing squad. They tried to scuttle the ship but failed as militia foot soldiers entered and took over. Pirates might have won that fight if it was for most of their forces being in or near Little Rock. However, they did manage to damage their jump core.
Right now, the mercenary's DropShip crew was working with his Militia's aerospace force to try and fix up their newly acquired JumpShip. However, the damages on the core need expert hands in repair. So he sent a message through the HPG and contacted the Gwendor-Dorwinion Cartel for their help in repairing it. But unfortunately, they had only sent a message that they would send an auditor to check on the damages first.
He knew what that meant. If it were repairable and cheap, the Cartel would tell him to sell it to them as salvage since it was 'unrepairable' or something like that. However, they would charge them millions of C-bills if it costs a lot and is still repairable.
Sighing, he signed the paperwork to reroute some defense forces sent to Little Rock to other towns dealing with disorder and bandits. Instead, the ex-mercenaries reinforced the settlement and trained new defenders. So having them there helped relieve his forces to focus on a new mystery.
Those quad mechs have been cutting Little Rock off the rest of the world. Sure, Brook's report on the show they are friendly and willing to help take care of the town, but at the same time, there was a large zone where communication was interrupted. Estimates from Brook's reports and other militia forces in the area show at least a 10 km dead zone circle.
Vocal communication via speaker is workable, and line communications, but anything that ECM could jam was as dead as the former Star League. So Warriors VTOL, produced at their hidden factory, searched the affected area. The VTOL had two orders. One was not to chase after the quad mech. The second was to evacuate the zone slowly. Other than one mistake, the militia forces followed those orders to a T.
Several days of observing the battlemech's patrol in its area have revealed a great deal. The battlemech's sensors had a fantastic range and could detect nearby electronic devices within three kilometers. That is how it kept avoiding most militias with communicators and modern military equipment. In addition, it can see thermal heat sources up to a kilometer away, discovered by militia forces and civilian hunters. However, it failed to notice a few people with old-fashioned telescopes outside their maximum range.
Other than a few comments about how an animal like it acted, the mech was powerful. Finally, a report came in from a few civilian helpers. They found an unusual fact. This mech was empty outside of one individual. Using an old film camera, they had only one photo of a man in a piloting suit that happened to hop out of the mech to claim the untouched Swordsman left as payment for saving Little Rock.
Usually, that wouldn't excite him since the Mechwarrior had to leave his mech to claim the relic. But, no, what made this mystery enjoyable to everyone was that the mech moved independently without its Mechwarrior. It wasn't an automated program, as the mech stopped scanning the area to hook the trailer onto its 'mouth' part.
While he wasn't going to try and detain them as other governors might. He could not, seeing as they can take on lances of mechs and vehicles with minor damage. The fact that it can act on its own almost made it seem like a Casper Drone from the old tales of the Star League. He almost believed the rumor reports Brook had attached to his report—the stories of the SLDF sending them to observe if they should return.
He sighed and shifted the report on the noteputer to another pressing issue. It was getting harder to stop the rumors about them as well. He knew these mechs would attract attention that his planet could not stop.
They may have helped them save a town, but if they bring more danger to his world, then they have to go. He already had contacted the Aurigan patrols in that area to move and protect Pidgin, reasoning that the settlement of Little Rock had enough battlemechs and mechanized infantry to protect itself long enough for help to arrive.
That had worked for now, but his newest plans with several industrial businesses required more protection for that area. So a new patrol request was in the works and would be sent to Coromodir if the approval happens.
Now he was waiting on the compilation of reports from his top Militia Commander to inform him of the possibility of using the data Brook found. He already sent someone to check the patents for the production of Talos and Toro. The data cache inside that Bunker near Little Rock had blueprints for producing the medium battlemech. With the light mech's schematics being given to them by their mysterious four-legged friends.
They now had two battlemech blueprints with the facility to make them in that bunker. But, right now, Max wanted his planet to avoid legal issues with Vandenberg Mechanized Industries if possible.
Although discontinued, one was due to being forcibly forgotten by the SLDF, and the other needed to be updated. The company still had the rights to the mechs. So he sent his contacts to the Taurian Concordat to see if they could get licensing on creating them. If not, they would sell the data for a high price while retooling the bunker to produce any open market battlemechs.
His contacts should be reporting to him anytime now. If everything goes well, he requests an adjustment to join the Aurigan Coalition in favor of Katinka and his people. Katinka was supposed to join formally next year, but they might get integrated sooner if they show this off.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his office door. "Come in," Maxwell said. The door opens to reveal his secretary with the brightest smile. "We got it, sir!" She nearly shouted it as she brought out the approval from Vandenberg Mechanized Industries. Maxwell quickly read the details of the agreement. Then, he calculated to see if it could produce at the factory. He would create a Battlemech factory that would bring his planet wealth.
'Finally,' Maxwell thought to himself. 'I can finally bring my home to a brighter future.' He turns to contact all military industries and mechtech around. It was going to be an exciting day.
——————————————————————————————————-
Location Katinka, Little Rock rural area, near the forest
Date: September 2, 3021, 08:00
In the clearing before the Katinka's Hard Oak Forest was several mechs clearing the area of trees and plants. The few Industrialmechs, including two of his own Powerman, were slowly picking up those fallen trees to set a perimeter. They deforested the area in the name of a new planetary business that would revitalize Katinka.
'At least that's what our contract says,' thought Rick as he used his Skydiver's lasers to burn through another tree. While it wasn't an official MRB contract, the pay was good until the new ID came in because they were trying to hide on this planet. Of course, it helps that Brook was here, and the people were friendly and not backstabbing assholes.
He watched as the salvaged Thunderbolt's laser another tree down. It was still missing much of its armor and non-energy weapons, but it was okay for this work. The mech pilot was Sergeant Jon Jack, who needed a rank-up as he slowly moved his mech to another tree. He was one of two soldiers of his remaining platoons of mechanized infantry that could use a neurohelmet.
However, this was only Jon's third day of piloting a battlemech, so Rick watched over him. He usually wouldn't ask his infantry to try and drive a battlemech, but Brook's forces down to just him and his mechtech as mechwarriors. At least his men had training with armed and standard industrial mechs in case of emergency. It was a backup plan when Brook was XO of his Mechwarriors.
Rick looked to his second Sergeant, Hans Schmidt, piloting a rebuilt and refit Stinger. He was glad the third Mechwarrior was still someone from the company, as those two followed orders to the best of their ability. He was only slightly worried about their health as that damn Capellan Mechwarrior blew himself up with an inferno rocket when Hans and Jon tried to take him down. Unfortunately, it damaged their lungs, and the medical facility was less advanced than the Inner Sphere. Those two must take another break soon as the exertion would harm them in the long run.
Speak of the devil. "Okay, men, it's break time," came Brook's voice over the comms. "Our mysterious guest will pass nearby, so everyone with weapons moves with me. All Industrial mechs can continue stacking those logs."
Everyone in battlemech moved to the nav point and powered down their weapons. On the SkyDiver's seismic sensor, which was flickering from ECM interference, Rick saw the fast-approaching guest that stopped outside the range of his Large Lasers. While these mysterious quad mechs are friendly, no one wants to cause an incident with them, even when they cause workers to freak out.
'And another panic is about to start,' the ex-mercenary thought. Static came on comms and computer screens. Tagger could hear the few industrial mech pilots panic, but Brook in his LoaderKing shouted for them to calm down. A few days ago, in the middle of the night, only militia members and his men knew it was just the quad mechs sending a message to them.
Instead of a verbal message, the words "follow the arrow" appeared on the screen, with a nav marker appearing on his battle map. The quad mech quickly ran off and disappeared before anyone could react. The silence that followed was before Brook's voice came over the radio. "Everyone continues working. Sergeant Chen," a Wheeled APC came around from the outer perimeter. "Get outside the ECM field and contact HQ. Have them send the Dig King here."
Rick watched as the APC returned to town and the other industrial mechs to putting logs around the perimeter. He then hit his lance comms unit to ask, "Boulder," calling Brook by his old callsign. "What's going on here? Why are you asking for a miningmech." Both of his men were resting with their mechs powered down. The other pilots didn't complain since these two men were true Mechwarrior compared to them, as far as the workers knew.
"Krieger," Brook responded with some amusement in his voice. Like he knew something interesting that would surprise him. "Last time two times I met these mechs, they revealed something. The second meeting led us to the bunker, and the third left me with several salvage mechs. This time it might be something that isn't going to end in a fight, so let's see what they are leading us to."
He shook his head at Brook's comment before switching to his lance coms, "Jon. Hans. Keep helping these guys clear out the area of trees. I'll go with Boulder and check this out." Moving Skydiver in front of Brook's LoaderKing, they followed the nav point as a second APC followed them from behind.
The trip took several minutes before they finally arrived at the nav point. These people marked it with a few logs in an X shape. It was in an odd clearing that made him feel a bit paranoid as he could see several potential ambush spots. He could tell the Brook did as well. He was about to ask Brook what his plan was now that they were here when the same static took over the screens. "Dig here for your payment. 30 meter. Thank you for the battlemech." This message was followed by the same mechanical voice from last time, "Put five tons of this resource here."
Rick could tell there was something off about this. The first part sounded great if there was something down there. The second part gave him a slight chill down his spine. Like two distinct people were leaving this message. A quick check with the APC revealed that no one was around. Not even the Quad Mech that normally stations itself outside of weapon range. So how did they get that message?
He decided this was creepy enough that his instinct told him to leave. "Boulder, Let's return to our contract area. OR are you staying here until the Dig King gets here?" Of course, he didn't want to leave a man behind in this odd situation, but Brook had said he trusted these mysterious mechs. But, unfortunately, trust was too hard to believe in with how life dealt him a tornado of events.
There was silence before the reply came. "Krieger, I'm staying here. Please watch over the build team until they finish. Then, send the Little Rock group here once they set up the perimeter."
Sighing, "Acknowledge, heading back." Rick directed Skydiver back to the clearing.
They finished the contracted work in several hours. At that time, the Dig King and the first APC came and went to Brook's location. The two APCs drove past them and back to town two hours later. They returned with several loading trucks. When he finally heard back from Brook. The cheer in his voice was enough to see his suspicions were wrong. Merriment filled the comms network from the direction of the Industrialmechs. It seemed like the reward for giving those mysterious mechs was worth it.
He opened his private coms to Brook to see what they found. "Boulder, what did you find there?"
"Krieger," The cheer in Brook's voice was still there but more controlled. "We found something great. I see that we completed our work. So let's head back."
Rick saw the light for his lance comms turn on for receiving as Brook's voice came through with a loud and joyous tone. "Men, drinks are on me. Our four-legged friends gave us another surprise."
Everyone finally saw what was on the trucks behind the LoaderKing. Most of it looks like large metallic rocks. A few must have been gold based on appearance. All five trucks seemed full. Those vehicles told them it was a massive amount found. He could tell this was a big payday for all. But a big question was on his mind.
'Why didn't they dig it up themselves.'
—————————————————-
Location Katinka, Little Rock cantina Soft Rock
Date: September 4, 3021, 20:00
The partying from mining several tons of Germanium and gold yesterday continued for the past two days. Everyone participated in excavating more resources. Several made comments about making it big or buying land after this.
While the amount of Germanium and gold was limited, its wealth would revitalize Little Rock and Katinka. All thanks to the mysterious man in control of those quad mechs. Brook gave Rick a bonus since finding the large vein of precious metals was enough to pay him and return his battlemech forces to full strength. The former mercenary commander was still celebrating with his company as a group activity.
Brook sipped Barq's hard liquor and looked around at the celebration. Everyone was drinking away and playing card games as they received Governor Chili's order to start a mining operation at that location. He also sent advance payment to all involved to prevent spreading the news. Everyone remembered Jiang Wu's betrayal.
Anger filled Brook as he remembered that betrayal. Heck, most of the mining team members were held in suspicion when it was found out.
That bastard was one of them. At least, that is what everyone thought until he killed his way into the bunker. He must have betrayed them to someone since there were too many hands in that last fight. After that, there was a massive pirate raid, plus that bastard's elite infantry and Capellans chasing their saviors. If it weren't for Rick turning against the Capellans, four attacks on their home would have been. So everyone who was part of the Militia screened newcomers. Some trusted civilians were asked to keep an eye on the incoming immigrants.
A few new militiamen from HQ piloted a few Vargr APCs and the two Warrior VTOLs on patrol between here and New Dutch. With each trip they made from here and the capital city, they brought some survivors of Aotearoa to Little Rock.
Most came to restart their lives here, while others came to join the town's defense force. In addition, the reputation for surviving the main power of the pirate raid drew in dozens of people here. This influx of immigrants made it harder to discover spies or potential traitors.
Another cup of Barq appeared in front of him. Brook looked up and thanked Raoul as he noticed the white note under his glass. Glancing around, he slipped the note into his pocket and took another sip. The bartender was an ex-TMI who had left the Taurian Concordat after seeing how bad they were at their job.
Brook knew this when he was still a mercenary and took a contract from Raoul to get him and his family out and fake their death. So he was surprised to see him here when he retired to this planet.
Raoul did warn him of Jiang Wu's disappearance during their initial discovery of the Toro blueprints. Still, that man managed to have a decent alibi with the waitress. Doug might be alive now if only he had acted when he got that information.
Taking another sip, Brook glanced around to see if anyone was looking his way. A quick confirmation that no one was paying him any attention, he opened the note and put it in the paperwork file he had with him. The message had a photo of a Capellan man in it. Underneath the picture was information on what he had been up to the past few days.
The appearance of the Capellan man was strange. He has some clothes that are common among the Servitors. However, the scorch marks on them seemed recent and trimmed off. He also carried a larger rucksack and backpack.
He almost thought it was one of the survivors of the down Capellan DropShip. Still, the man's well-kept appearance was odd for a potential survivor. Second, he could see the impression of a sidearm hidden at his side, which is pretty illegal among Servitors and hard to get. Thirdly, he listed who should have been on the downed DropShip. Thank you, Jasmine, for who was a station on that ship. Finally, he matches none of the photos given to him.
He saw him around and even talked to him a few times over the past few days, thinking he was just another miner but now not so much. He was friendly enough, but so was Jiang Wu.
The name he gave to him and Raoul checked out, but nothing came of it. However, the bartender did mark it as genuine from his observations. Raoul also noted what the man sold at his wife's pawn shop. The man had sold several laser pistols and rifles in rough conditions. However, there was no marking for the laser pistols of who made them, and they fired perfectly fine. A quick test shows that it was artificially aged but acted like SLDF-grade sidearms. Powerful and lasted multiple shots. No serial number or manufacturer signature.
On the other hand, the Laser Rifles acted like any infantry weapon. The note even pointed out that the serial numbers matched those sold to the Capellan Confederation after a quick ComNet check.
Brook had seen the crash site stripped of equipment when they checked it out the following week. No one but the Militia and Rick knew where that location was. So the only ones who could strip the ship would be that group again.
With all the reports he got from civilians who decided to help study and hide the quad mechs, he knew they only had one living, breathing person between the two mechs. The PDF intelligence division believed the third lion shape one had been disabled or destroyed. So the Capellan DropShip and its elite lance of mechwarriors took out the quad mech at the cost of their lives.
So here was the question in his mind. 'Why is he trying to blend in a while dressed like that and selling things for C-bills.' So the man saves everyone here twice with his intervention.
Everyone here would have welcomed him with open arms and several beers if he rode up with his mechs. Hell, some people wanted to give him their daughter's hand in marriage. Others wanted to join the man's crew.
The only thing the mysterious man asked for was five tons of the minerals of Germanium and gold. According to Dig King's sensors, it was a small amount out of the two hundred tons of materials. That is not even including the titanium, iron, and silver they found nearby when they had to clear a larger area to start the mining operation. The man should be rich after they left ten tons of mixed metals and minerals in the location the following night, and it was gone the next day.
Brook finished his beer and looked around to ensure no one would be paying attention to him. Well, he would find out. The note also said the man was looking to become a mercenary as he asked questions about Mechwarrior jobs without being registered to the MRB.
Luckily Raoul had passed him the message already. So the only thing to do was talk to Rick about what should be done. He didn't want to damage the town's current relationship with their saviors. He would come up with something once Rick finally came from his celebration.
When they met the next day, he left a message on Rick's desk about what to discuss with the man. He also contacted the Governor about how to test the man's motives with the gradually developing plan coming together.
He looked up and saw the leader of the Aurigan patrol unit that was now assigned to help protect Little Rock. She looks like a Kurita based on her appearance and takes her duty seriously. He heard the conversation as she told Sergeant Killy about the patrol schedule and housing, showing her focus. She came early to try setting this up before the rest of her lance came. At least John finally got to work on a Blackjack with the only payment for its work, a study of the mech's targeting system. They might be able to upgrade the Talos to modern standards with better firing solutions.
——————————————————————————
Location Katinka, Little Rock outer perimeter limits
Date: September 10, 3021, 05:30
Commander Rick Tagger wasn't a man easily surprised. He tended to take life head-on when he knew he could win or plan around it if it were difficult. However, seeing an Urbanmech take off at twice its max speed and weigh five tons more than usual was a big surprise.
When he saw the mech walk into the hanger area, he thought the man was a wannabe Mechwarrior with how slow and careful his mech moved. Then he watched the pretender take off in an Urbanmech as fast as a Grasshopper with little hesitation in his steps. It was like watching someone who could barely walk take off into a sprint without stumbling.
These past few days have been surprising. But, then, Rick turned on his comms and told his men, "All right, everyone, back on route."
Rick led the patrol lance back on route to New Dutch, ensuring they were at least trailing two kilometers behind the convoy. The newly promoted Corporal and Lance Sergeant should be able to keep an eye on their 'friend' there.
The convoy was going to drop off the first batch of precious minerals and the equipment of that traitor's troops to the capital. While they were doing that, his patrol lance would change their route slightly into the quad mech's paths to see if they would continue to patrol here or go after the convoy as extra protection.
After waiting for the convoy to reach the two-kilometer mark, the patrol noticed nothing had appeared. The ECM that was causing passive issues vanished. Rick immediately hit his coms for HQ. "Boulder, ECM field has dissipated. I think Michael is the leader or someone important to those battlemech."
"Roger that," Brook's voice said clearly, "I'll get the VTOLs up to follow. I got a clear report from the PDF radio that a bandit was present near our convoy route. Hopefully, our guys get through that."
Rick waited for the VTOLs to come from HQ when his sensors detected a lance of mechs and vehicles approaching from the opposite side of town. His mech's sensor IDed them as friends, so it must have been the Aurigan patrol. They probably noticed the interference with their sensors finally disappearing.
'We'll time to make an excuse,' thought the Commander as he opened his comms. After all, they had made an excuse already for the ECM field being a part of the area for an unknown, possible natural reason. So now they had to figure out how to explain that it moved.
——————————————-
Location Katinka, New Dutch
Date: September 10, 3021, 09:00
"Affirmative," A woman said as she switched off the communications with her employer. "Rocky. Dutch three and four. On me. We have a convoy to meet."
Kyone 'Ronin' Akashi piloted her Jenner back onto her patrol route. She had received a directed message from her employer, Governor Chili, to lead her Demi lance to escort a convoy of four APC and alone battlemech guard.
It didn't take long before something appeared on her battlemap, and everything began to emit white noise. Ronin turned on her speakers as her comms wouldn't help. "Everyone group together and move at flanking speed to the source of the interference. We will destroy it before the convoy arrives to ensure the group's safety."
Rocky's Locust took off in the direction of the interference causing her to curse. "Rocky, slow down. We can't rush into battle with a plan," Kyone shouted, turning to the two VTOLs. "Dutch three and four. Head to these coordinates." She hoped they heard her.
She took off after the Locust, and after a few minutes, the interference had faded away. However, her mech's sensor picked up a group of unknowns not far away. Thank Budda that Rocky stopped his battlemech and awaited her arrival.
Ronin tried her comms and noticed they connected with the incoming unknowns. Finally, one appeared as a possible battlemech. She pushed her mech forward and shouted at the group ahead, "To the unidentified battlemech, this is New Dutch's Militia. Halt your advance! Power down your weapons and start your business here, or we will consider you hostiles."
Time flew by after she and Rocky appeared in front of the convoy with a speedy Urbanmech leading them. The battlemech had the speed and weight comparable to a Panther. The second surprise came from how Mechwarrior ignored Rocky's blanket insult to his mech. Of course, most lone warriors would feel insulted for any slight against their machine. But the man just took it and continued his duty.
"Roger that. Let's go, people. We made good time," Ronin heard the Urbanmech Mechwarrior. However, when the convoy surprised her again as the whole group took off faster than she thought.
After catching up with them and watching how the Mechwarrior interacted over the lance network, Ronin could firmly say that the Governor's secondary request was unreasonable. When she observed Michael Chen, the man tried to act too much like a perfect mercenary.
She observed him during their convoy unloading and noticed that he kept his guard up for outside threats. He was continuing example, continuing to scan all around the convoy using the 360-degree rotation of the Urbanmech. He never let his guard down despite being in a safe zone.
He acted like she did after her family was arrested and seized assets in the Draconis Combine. Then, she decided what to write in the report for the Governor. It would take some time, so she began as the convoy unloaded.
She just had to make sure the mech bay for him was open. "Rocky," She called out to her fellow warrior. "Make sure the mechtechs have a bay open for Mechwarrior Chen."
————————————————
Location Katinka, New Dutch
Date: September 10, 3021, 13:00
Farida Lamb walked with her father to his, not her battlemech. Her father had brought them to the MRB for registration. After taking Melody out to fight against the second pirate raid, she thought he would push for her to join the Militia. But instead, he drove her to be a mercenary like himself, which was surprising since she had only learned about her father's old career.
She thought it was odd when her mother disappeared, and then her father began pushing her to play more mech sim games. Now she realized he was training her to pilot battlemechs. So the day she hopped into her Melody to help the Militia fight off the second raid, she noticed the same controls in front of her as those at her father's arcade. Later, she would confirm her suspicion about her father's game pods.
She spent a few days preparing everything with her father's help, even fighting against him in the sims. Then, the capital suffered an electronic wave attack on the day of her registration.
At least, that is what some people around her had said while she was in line. However, most went quiet when they noticed her cooling vest and armored suit. While there are Mechwarrior out there who pilot with a cooling vest and helmet, extra protection is always welcome. Too bad none of them were here today. She appreciated the show of muscle bodies.
She finally saw another Mechwarrior who was friendly enough and was there to register like herself. She didn't want to interrupt her father as he discussed mechs and tactics with the man. Still, it was embarrassing for him to brag about her accomplishments. Of course, it didn't help that people were staring at them.
Thankfully that ended when the man went to talk to the MRB agent while she finished her application and even took on a contract that would begin in six days. So more time to train and meet with other potential coworkers. The only thing to accept the job was to contact the contractor. The man needed to answer their communicator.
It only took her father looking at the contract after his conversation with another mercenary to point out that the Mechwarrior he was talking to was the contractor called man. Oh, she felt embarrassed for not talking much.
However, she had her first job in place. Now she had to make sure Melody was ready to fight.
————————————————
Location: Katinka, New Dutch capital building.
Date: September 15, 3021, 12:00
Maxwell looked down at the newly completed contract from the mercenary Brook had noted as suspicious.
Suspicious in the probability that he is the leader of those mysterious mechs. He had created this contract to test how well the man acted under pressure from his rowdiest tanker crew.
Stubble, Guano, and Pontoon's report, all who wanted to be called by their callsigns, stated that he is an excellent lance commander.
Like from Stubble report. Maxwell loved the tricky tactics the man used. In the words of the Scropion tanker, "This merc is incredible. When we confronted those bandits, he didn't leave me a V to die, and the tracks fell off. He instead took the hits meant for us and directed the other to flank. I even got the killing blow with my cannon when he timed his jump with my shot."
There were a bunch of other praises on the report, but Maxwell ignored them to read Guano. His was more interesting, showing Michael Chen's willingness to work around their personality quirks.
In the words of the Bulldog tanker, "That man is a reasonable person. He managed to trick me into staying with everyone and even got me into a position to kill the stole APC. Hell, he made that coward Stubble kill off an enemy technical despite the man and his crew being stuck."
However, Pontoon's summary made Maxwell glad he hired the man to train with them. "He kept us from our usual squabbles and on the mission. Unlike Ronin, the man does well in team cohesion as Stubble and Guano listen to him. Heck, the Vandel gang was taken out thanks to his tactics. We didn't lose anyone because he cared about us, unlike other Mechwarriors. On a side note, he taught me a lot about Urbanmech tactic, and I'm wondering if my mech can be one?"
The tankers had become even better, thanks to Chen. They're the leading people among his Militia forces that may become Mechwarriors. Maxwell hopes the training together will translate into their battlemechs. Right now, those three mechs were being rebuilt from salvage.
He looked at the second report from the currently hired Mechwarrior callsign Ronin about the man. From her description, the mech and the man pilots are new. It is not a refit, overweight Urbanmech but a completely factory-fresh battlemech. A fresh mech of a discontinued line due to all the factories destroyed centuries ago.
Max trusted Ronin's knowledge on this matter since he was the one who personally hired her after her rage fill revenge on Solaris VII. She tended not to talk but fought well and could identify most types of mechs from her experience. Her reports showed that not only was this man piloting a brand new mech, but he was also somewhat of a green pilot yet had a remarkable ability to connect to others, even if it was to make them laugh.
The last report needed to be clarified for him. It was about the mysterious mechs has vanished for a few days after Brook sent the newly minted mercenary here. Sure, they reappear in their old pattern after a few days. However, during that time, a known bandit group had disappeared when their base of operation. In addition, a sizeable electron magnetic field appeared close enough to the city to nearly damage a vital network. Especially the HPG had suffered malfunction for several hours.
Thus, people physically go to the banks or shops to place their orders. That included MRB contracts, as many mercenaries had to line up at the door to register and take jobs. The only missing thing was the mechs who commonly caused that in Little Rock. Not a single patrol unit saw them during the two days of ECM interference before they reappeared in Little Rock.
Those people behind the mechs were starting to frustrate him with all this. However, reports that lost caches of damaged SLDF and Taurian tech kept appearing made their existence almost worth it.
At least he finished his main plan. Hopefully, they will prosper once everything settles and their planet joins the coalition formally. The new talks have finally settled, and his house will become part of the council.
Thanks to how much his planet could bring, he would now have a seat in the decision. Raju 'Mastiff' Montgomery was coming to personally welcome him to the coalition as the Taurian Concordat had diverted High Lord Tamati Arano II to negotiate peace between the Bulls and Aurigan Coalition.
However, Maxwell believed that someone in the Taurian Concordat remembers Katinka used to be a part of them before being left to rot. So they would try to take them back before the two Lords talk it out.
Maxwell hoped that battles wouldn't break out on his planet if some Taurian nobles nearby decided to take their shots at taking Katinka back for the Concordat. But, unfortunately, he had no forces to repel them if they came at his people seriously, even with Aurigan patrols. It was the reason Maxwell began recruiting all types of mercenaries.
He hired many dispossessed men and women as those with their mech or vehicle asked for too much money. Then, it helps that the new mine and mech factory will bring enough money to support his militia expansion into a proper military unit. All of that was thanks to the intervention of a mysterious party that didn't want much in return.
Maxwell extended the file on his computer to see what else would be needed to continue these expansions. As well as what reward he could get the man who aided in making all this happen.
————————————————-
Location: Katinka, New Dutch HPG station
Date: September 15, 3021, 20:00
Dozens of white-robed people work tirelessly today. Endless transfers, call relays, contacts, and messages sent to and from the planets. All this work resulted from the ECM interference they received several days ago. The Governor could call it an electromagnetic surge, but they realized it. An attack on ComStar from some foolish idiot.
Precentor Marshall Down was only now finishing his reports to send through the HPG. The system shut down because of interference would have ComStar charging the planet for such action. However, Governor Chili had assured him it was a genuine accident and would pay using their recent mining operation profits. A mining operation whose first shipment had arrived a few days ago.
Usually, he would ask ROM to investigate this. However, they suffered massive losses due to the actions of Adept Rho X Jiang Wu. His attempt to stop the revival of the cursed Taurian battlemech failed. The news of a factory's construction has already spread off-planet. The pirates under their control failed because something interfered with the first raid.
However, Marshall was even more surprised when all the backup attempts failed. There had been no communication from the area of Little Rock outside of the one line directed to the Capital building. No one managed to tap that line as it ran directly to the Governor's room.
The only information they managed to get was Adept Delta X Sharilar Fox. She discovered that despite a large-scale battle, the ROM Iota platoon failed to annihilate the factory that contained the blueprints for the battlemech. Also, a mercenary unit that was supposed to act under the direction of their Capellan units decided that they were willing to betray their contract.
He wished he could indict the group, but they decided to join the PDF and supposedly give up their mercenary ways. That put him in a slight bind as Governor Chili has already given them new identification to work on this planet. The MRB cannot do anything as they had a spotless record until now.
For now, he would send a message to the First Circuit for direction. Blessed be Blake that an answer will appear soon.
———————————————-
Location: Katinka, ?????????? Core
Date: September 15, 20:00
Communication log:
'Has the warrior found what he is looking for in that human city?'
'It appears so. We must hurry and help the recovery of ********.'
'******* is trying to digest these metals and minerals but informed me that he is trying to develop his ######## $$$$$$ so the warrior can rely on us to do our duty. Instead of those empty, soulless machines. He feels restless that he made that substandard machine for our warrior so that we can recover and rearm.'
'Will it be ready in time? ********* told me it would take at least three to four human years before he would be ready.'
'We must be ready. For our race's sake and our warrior. Without him, we would have died centuries ago.'
'I will go on patrol then. Gather more materials for restoring ******** back and supplies for the warrior. Maybe we can get more warriors one day. Our warrior wants both of us to be at our peak.'
'Good luck Wolf. ********* has said to move some of these minerals for the warrior to sell. It is worth momentary value to the human and can help us.'
'I will only eat what I need until everything is ready.'
—————————————————
Merry Christmas to all. I decided to make a chapter for Christmas gift to my readers. Thank god pages (the app) make it easier for me to write.
Also, sorry about how odd the ComStar section is. That came to me when I was just about to post since ECM affecting a city with an HPG station near/in it would cause ComStar to act.