Chapter Three

Coming to the end of my evening lesson with Mastiff, I decide to ask him some questions about certain things that bother me about mechs and weapons.

"Mastiff why are the effective ranges of our weapons so short?"

"Well Rick as I understand it there are two main factors. The first being the strength of the armor. In order to cause enough damage to the armor, weapons fire must be focused in a small area. This is of course difficult as you well know. There is also the fact that a weapon's damage potential degrades over distance. With this being the case a mech's targeting computers are programed to work with the weapons most effective ranges verses a moving armored target."

"The second is that current targeting suites are weaker than the electronic counter measures suites found in military units today. We must also take into consideration, loathe as I am to admit it, that the battlemech is an inherently unstable firing platform. Tanks actually make better firing platforms but in general the crews are not as well trained as MechWarriors."

"That is very interesting, if tanks are better firing platforms why are mechs considered the king of the battlefield?"

"Mostly due to space travel as it is easier to transport and support a mech with its pilot and technical crew verses a tank with its crew and required support. Very few tanks are fusion powered so there is also the requirement of a fuel supply. Dropships have a limited amount of space so the more combat power you can carry with the smallest logistical footprint is where a mech is superior to a tank."

"Battlemechs also have a mobility advantage over tanks and are easier to combat drop."

"Well that makes sense, now I understand why most planetary militias are made up of tanks and infantry seeing as they are unlikely to leave the planet."

May I ask you a couple of more questions?"

"Yes, you may, I am here to train you after all" He replies with a smirk on his face.

Smiling back at Mastiff I ask my question. "While studying the technical specifications of mechs as you instructed, I was reading about the Wasp WSP-1A. Would you know why the SRM2 was installed in the leg? My second question is related, is the SRM2 a useful weapon system? It seems to me that a mech would be better served by a medium laser and an additional heat sink for the same weight."

"You sure ask some interesting questions. I can't say for certain why the SRM2 is mounted in the leg, but scuttlebutt has it that it was caused by a typo during the design phase of the Wasp. Apparently, the design team referenced the mechs various locations using a two-letter code. LT for the left torso for example. The launcher was supposed to be installed in the left torso but someone made the mistake of noting it to be installed in the LL or left leg."

"As to the SRM2 as weapon system, it has its uses but I agree that it is not the most efficient of systems. The SRM2's main benefit is the ability to fire special munitions such as inferno or smoke rounds."

"Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me, I enjoy having the opportunity to chat with you. I consider you a friend and not just my instructor Mastiff. By the way when will I get a call sign?"

"Thank you, Rick, I also consider you a friend. I have an idea for your call sign but you will have to wait until I have certified you as a MechWarrior. You still have a lot of training to complete before I certify you though."

"I understand and look forward to the day I get my call sign. As it is getting late, I am heading to bed. Have a good night Mastiff."

"You too Rick"

Using the excuse of learning more about the family business as part of my education I have been looking for clues to what my father has been up to. It has taken many months but I believe I have enough to confront my father. I will however wait until between Christmas and new years so that I can catch him at home with free time on his hands.

Over the preceding months I have cultivated my friendship with Mastiff in hopes of being able to warn him of the possible coup attempt via a letter in the future. I just hope when the time comes that I can get a letter to him via jumpship as there is no HPG on Heliat. Not that I would trust Comstar any way if there was and HPG on planet.

It is the morning of the twenty sixth of December and today is the day I confront my father. With mother out shopping for the day and father home for the holidays, it is the perfect time. Having finished eating my breakfast and with mother already out to shop, I psych my self up to confront my father.

"Father, may I speak to you privately in your study? I have concerns about the family business."

With a concerned look on his face he replies. "Yes son, let me just finish my coffee."

I wait patiently for him to finish his coffee and stand up after he does. I follow him to his study where upon entering he points me to a pair comfortable looking leather arm chairs. Closing and locking the door he looks at me before asking.

"Is what you have to speak about something that should be kept confidential?"

I nod my head and watch as he makes his way over to his desk. He appears to be working some type of control panel imbedded in the desk. Seemingly satisfied with whatever he was doing he then comes over and sits down in the other chair.

"Okay son, that should keep what we say secret. What do you need to discuss?"

"As you know I have been learning more about the family business as part of my education. During my studies I have come across several discrepancies that I would like to run by you."

Getting a nod from father to continue, I do so. "I will start with some accounting irregularities. I have noted regular significant payments to several numbered accounts for which we do not apparently receive anything. If you are not aware of them then I assume we have an embezzler to deal with, however if you are aware of the payments I would ask if they are bribes?"

"I am aware of the payments and they are not for bribes or due to blackmail. I am paying for services rendered to me which are not directly related to the family business. I am however impressed that you discovered them. Depending on how the rest of this conversation goes I may take you into my confidence and inform you of my plans."

"I certainly hope so, the next issue is we seem to be over staffed especially in the technical and engineering areas. With you mentioning plans, am I to assume you or we will have need of the extra workers soon? Perhaps in regards to the parts in secure storage?"

"Before you answer please consider the fact that I think you know the location of a space-based cache that you have been using to fund the family since before I was born."

"I see, and how did you come to that conclusion?"

"My first clue was learning from the militia that all their mechs and vehicles have been supplied by you over the years. No one is lucky enough to find and repair that many units from scrap yards. Digging into the books and examining the sales receipts led me to the fact you have been selling 'recovered military equipment' not only on planet but also to off world traders. Equipment that has not even been serviced according to the records.

As to why I think it is spaced based, that is because I checked the amount of fuel used by the landing craft verses your reported movements. I found you use a lot more fuel than would be necessary unless you were traveling to the outer system and jump points during your 'scavenger' trips."

"Well this is happening sooner than I expected. I was planning on bringing you into the know when you turned nineteen. That being said you have matured quite nicely since your sixteenth birthday. I feel it is safe to bring you in on my secret. I hope you have no plans for the rest of the holidays as we will be busy going over everything you need to know."

"No father I have no plans, I chose this time to speak to you in anticipation of the both of us needing the free time to talk. I am as prepared as I can be to listen to what you have to say to me."

"Very well son, as unbelievable as it sounds, I am from the future or more probably a future from another reality. I was born on Tikonov September twenty third of 3056 in what was then the Federated Commonwealth. Don't worry I will explain in more detail later, hence the time we need over the coming days. I am not sure if it is a coincidence or some cosmic joke but on September twenty third of 3086, I was caught in a missjump which stranded me in this system on the same day of the year 3000." I of course did not know this at the time as I was more concerned with my safety then figuring out where I was. That being said, let us quickly grab some beverages and snacks before I regale you with my harrowing tale."

Returning from the kitchen with our survival rations, we once again take our seats after father secures the room. Before starting to tell me, his tale father hands me a note pad and pen to take any notes.

"Okay son before I begin please note any questions you may have as I do not want to be interrupted. I am sure you will have many questions as I will be speaking of governments that do not exist now or events that have not come to pass as of today."

If only I could tell him of my situation. It would make this so much easier but I do not think telling him I have merged with his son would go over well. I will just have to pretend not to understand anything from the future that I should not know.

"I will start by giving you a brief background of my life before the missjump. As I stated I was born and raised on Tikonov which was unfortunately a prime target of various governments and other agencies. Tikonov suffered through several invasions and changes of ownership during my time there. Even so I managed to flourish using my intelligence and skills to become an engineer with Earthwerks."

"Surviving the various attacks against the planet and the Earthwerks facilities lead to several promotions until I became one of the senior battlemech engineers. This brought me to the attention of the higher ups at the company. Any way in 3084 the new government 'the Republic of the Sphere' adopted a policy known as the military material redemption program. The program was used to acquire military hardware from individuals in exchange for citizenship and monetary compensation."

"The Republic then made deals with several manufacturers to handle the recovery and recycling of the turned in material. Earthwerks was one of the manufacturers selected, they in turn assigned me to lead the effort. I was instructed by my superiors to collect all the material turned in from a specified area surrounding Tikonov."

"They assigned me a Tramp class jumpship along with a Behemoth class dropship for storage and a Mule class dropship to handle the cargo between the jumpship and planets. The twenty small craft bays on the behemoth were full of various types of small craft for our use. The two jumpship small craft bays were occupied by battle taxis for the marine security detachment. The final dropship was a Leopard class holding the four mechs and two fighters of the security forces."

"Between 3084 and 3086 I spent my time inspecting and cataloguing the collected material so that the Republic could decide which of the units to keep for their armed forces and which were to be given to Earthwerks for study and or recycling. Having finally finished our collections we were making our way back to Tikonov. On my thirtieth birthday we were one jump from Tikonov and finally about to complete our mission." 

"I chose to spend my time inspecting and testing a salvaged Wolf's Dragoons Zeus containing a hoard of experimental technologies. Just before we were to jump, I was in the cockpit of the Zeus. I accidently triggered some sort of energy shield at the exact moment we jumped. I had never suffered from Transit disorientation before but this time I was knocked unconscious by the overwhelming vertigo and other sensations."

"I woke up some time later to the sound of alarms and covered in my own vomit. Needless to say, it looked like it was going to be a bad birthday. I am not sure how long I was out but looking through the cockpit glass I could not see anyone else waking up. After figuring out how to disengage the energy field I exited the Zeus and went to check on the nearest personnel."

My Father pauses for short time to get his emotions under control before continuing his tale. We take the opportunity to have a quick snack.

"I still find it hard to come to terms with the fact I was the only survivor. Every one else on board was dead. My best guess is I was spared due to the energy shield put up by the Zeus. I made my way to the jumpships bridge checking for survivors along the way. I will spare you the gory details and just say that I spent the next several weeks figuring out how to stabilize the jumpships position as well as clearing away the bodies. I was lucky that I am a certified pilot or I may have been stuck on board and died of madness or starvation."

"I took the landing craft that happened to have an Urbanmech as cargo to try and get help. Imagine my surprise at finding myself on the periphery frontier in the year 3000. Thinking over my options, I decided to keep the jumpship and my knowledge secret. No one was going to be looking for the missing people or assets and I needed a way to support myself."

"I sold the Urbanmech to Duke Fiteni for seed money and the rights to the family business as it was twenty years ago. I was originally planning to assemble a crew and repair the jumpship before relocating to the Federated Suns. Then I met your mother and fell in love."

"Over the last twenty years I have been selling equipment from my cache to finance the business and my plans. My goal has been to set up the proper legal companies and documents to support my claim over the cache as well as assemble a loyal force to protect it. To this end I have been making contacts and recruiting personnel over the last twenty years. I have also been making arrangements to purchase the things I felt would be needed in the future."

"The KF drive core on the Tramp is damaged so I have been acquiring the parts most likely needed for repairs according to the diagnostics. Spaced over time I have been selling off mostly vehicles and light mechs that were in the worst condition in an effort to avoid suspicion."

"The cache was and is going to be your inheritance, although I will be handing it over to you when you turn nineteen as I have decided to spend the rest of my days with your mother. You don't have to worry about us as I have built up quite a nest egg over the years"

"The main issue I have been having is recruiting the right people. It is not easy finding qualified people in the ass end of nowhere, especially jumpship and dropship crew. They expect their employer to have actual ships and not just a plan to build a merchant or mercenary fleet."

"Now that you are in the know you can assist me as we work to get things ready for you. I have contacts working to locate reliable personnel to fill out a mercenary unit I have already created in your name and registered with Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission."

"You will need at least three MechWarriors and two aerospace pilots to make use of the Leopard bays plus dropship and jumpship crews. I would also suggest marines as I kept the equipment from the former marine security personnel. As for vehicles you would be limited to what can be delivered by landing craft or in a cargo hold. I am sure this has been quite the revelation for you so I suggest we break for lunch."

After lunch and over the next couple of days I learned from my father about his history and the potential future to come. Not being a historian means he could only provide a general overview of events based on publicly available knowledge from his time. I learned of the Grey Death Legion and the Helm memory core, the fourth succession war, the war of 3039, the Clan invasion, the FedCom civil war and the Jihad. There is no guarantee these events will come to pass as he has no knowledge of their being a nation in this area of space. Nor is he aware of anyone showing up with a shipload of advanced tech in his history. Although he concedes that the difference in what he remembers and the current reality may not have been readily available public knowledge.

Now that I am working with my father, he has agreed to take me on his next 'salvage' trip. I have also convinced him to allow me to learn how to fly the landing craft after I complete my MechWarrior training.

I have begun to go through the list of contents in the cache in order to plan for the future. At least when I have access to the study as my father will not allow it outside the room for security reasons.

Heading out to a secluded spot on the family grounds I take a seat and lean my back against a tree to ponder over my future plans.

Okay, first things first, I need to complete my education and training including learning to fly the landing craft. I don't need to become a fighter pilot just to learn enough to fly to the cache and back incase something happens to father.

I need to spend more time with the company staff to help me choose who will be an asset to my forming mercenary/merchant company. I should let Mastiff know I plan to form a lance for home defense and possibly a mercenary unit so that he can assist with recruiting if he is agreeable.

I need to decide what non advanced equipment to sell off from the cache to support my current and future needs, not to mention freeing up space for whatever I can get from the Helm cache. Providing of course I succeed in gaining access to it.

I am going to need to acquire a stockpile of ammunition and spare parts as the cache does not contain any. Before I buy any autocannon ammunition, I need to decide what units I will most likely use as even autocannons of the same class use different caliber ammunition based on the weapons manufacturer. I wonder what idiot came up with that logistical nightmare. At least the missile ammunition seems to be standard across the board. Now I understand why the Star League Defense Force had entire regiments use the same mech or vehicle. It was the only way to streamline the logistics.

I also need to decide on what aerospace units I want to keep and standardize on. Unfortunately, the cache aerospace fighters seem to be in pairs of various models. I am leaning towards the Stingray as we are not far from Andurien where I can hopefully acquire spare parts or even additional fighters. I will also keep the Corsairs and Stukas as I plan to end up in the Federated Suns/Commonwealth. I wonder if I can entice a couple of pilots if I order a pair of Stingrays from Andurien. I will have to run that by father.

My father's idea about the marines has merit, we should try and recruit some to serve as home guard infantry in the meantime. Another lance or two of vehicles crews would also be good. The more people we can recruit and vet in advance the better. I can't just take all the home guard with me when I leave as mother and father will still need protection when I am gone.

I will not bother with the Argo or the Artu cache even if they exist, I am better off letting someone else gain the attention that will generate. It will hopefully help me slip away with out being noticed as much. The first major stop once I am ready will be Helm. Successful or not it will then be on to the Federated Suns to see what kind of deal I can work out with my tech and future knowledge. I hope they can keep me safe from Comstar as well as other intelligence agencies.

I might as well enjoy the rest of the holidays as soon it will be back to the grind of education, training and working with father to further our goals