Chapter Twenty-Seven: Ramping up (Production)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Ramping up (Production)

Valexa, Federated Suns September 10th, 3006

We had been working around the clock on building Mithril suits, managing to boost our own production from one and a half suits a day to around two to three depending on whether we had people on rotation or not. After a month of production, we had been able to outfit just under half of our infantry over the last month. Given that we had a limited time frame, I wasn't sure we would be able to get the pilot/armored suits scaled down in time for any offensive. As it was, we would have to get our people working on the new combat vehicles ASAP when Sheppard got back around December.

Thankfully, our Triumph class Dropship Vanguard had finally arrived and the local Militia had taken the two Unions as payment. I had immediately set the various Dropship teams loose on the Triumph to check if there were any damages or improvements to be made and to get me a report ASAP.

"Alright Colonel," Captain Jewel handed me the reports from the various dropship techs and engineers I had set loose on the Vanguard. "Looks like most things check out, we'll need to do some small maintenance, but aside from that it looks good."

"Thanks for summarizing that Captain," I replied, smiling at the thought of not having to leaf through all of the reports that they would have filled out. "Anything else I should know while you're still here?" I asked.

"Well sir, the DroST people have come up with an idea…" She trailed off.

"What kind of idea?" I asked with my eyebrow raised, a bit concerned at the way she had phrased that.

"They want to convert the Drost to a dedicated support and/or Gunship platform now that we have a dedicated infantry and vehicle dropship." She replied.

"Did they give a solid workup?" I asked. "I like the idea, but I want solid numbers and how long it would take to refit."

"Yes actually." Captain Jewel paused, digging through her file folder. "They actually did all of the math and everything." She finally produced the file and workup that the DroST crews had submitted.

"If I take a look at it and find that it's feasible before we go on the offensive, I want you to head up the refits Jewel." I said, meeting her eyes. "I would consider keeping the infantry on the DroST's though." I said. "We could use them in conjunction with the Mithril to do combat drops over the top of enemy forces."

"I'll bring it to the crews, they know the DroST's best after all." Jewel replied. "I'll get on this and check on the people we're going to crew the Triumph with."

"Concerned about losing your chief engineer for a bit?" I asked, smirking.

"Yes." Captain Jewel replied, leaving it at that.

"Alright Captain, take a lunch break and then get to whatever you were doing before this." I said, taking my last sip of coffee. "Oh, can you have one of the cooks bring me another cup while you're passing by the Cafeteria?" I asked.

"How many cups have you had today?" She asked.

"I think that was number five or so…" I considered. "I lost count around noon."

"It's five in the evening Colonel." She deadpanned. "I think you should be done with the work for the day."

"But I'm almost done for the week." I replied, wanting to finish the last of the dreaded paperwork. "I even filed everything ahead of time so that I can spend the rest of the week helping out with the Mithril rollout."

"You're hopeless." Jewel replied, shaking her head. "I'm cutting you off for the day, no more coffee or paperwork. Instead, you're getting out of this office and getting some air."

"Fine," I agreed, knowing that I always lost this argument with the rest of the command staff. "I need a break anyway."

"See, that wasn't so hard was it?" Jewel asked, a smug smile on her face. "Now, I hear that the cooks are breaking out the Steaks tonight."

When I woke up the next morning, I felt physically exhausted, bruised all over, and a massive headache all at once. Stumbling around my quarters, I managed to get into a fresh uniform and tried to exit my room without falling over. When I stumbled out I was greeted by a widely grinning Captain Peterson.

"Why good morning Colonel." He started, "Or should I say afternoon."

"Captain." I greeted. "Did y'all let me sleep all day?" I asked. "And what happened last night? I feel like I got stomped on by an Atlas."

"Well sir, you decided that a great way to take a break last night was to get involved in a game of Rugby with all of us infantry." Peterson grinned. "Forgetting that Dunham is a bit on the small side for most of our infantry.

"I didn't." I facepalmed "Please tell me I at least played well?" I asked.

"You actually did play pretty well for a guy physically outclassed." Peterson responded, that insufferable grin still present. "You got knocked a little too hard on the head towards the end and we had to drag you off of the field with a mild concussion."

"That explains the headache and the bruises." I said, wincing at the thought of sitting in my office again. "I take it Doc told me I'm not allowed to work today?" I asked.

"You Colonel," Peterson paused. "Are not allowed to even think about paperwork for the rest of the week. The full list of things you can't do were messaged to all of the senior staff and NCO's. If you go against the doctor's orders, we will know."

"Dammit." I swore, holding my head as it rung like a bell from me being too loud. "I'm going back to bed." I said, "Wake me up when the concussion is over."

"Alright," Peterson started, the Senior Staff, both officers and NCOs were seated around the briefing room table. "The Colonel is on bed rest for a week." He nodded towards Dunham, the one that had laid the Colonel out in the rugby match. "Nice hit by the way, he never saw it coming." He complimented. "I want to see if we can get all of the paperwork done and see if we can at the very least get started on those DroST refits before the Colonel is allowed back to work." He stopped there. "Now I know that Sheppard typically sorts through the various paperwork and thins it out before it reaches the Colonel, but he's not here; and we need to pick up the slack.

Dunham stood up "We've been given a priority of training and repairing." He stated. "Now, we've gotten most of the repairs and refits done aside from the dropships." He consulted a file in front of him. "We need to get the new recruits some live fire training and begin the basic cross training. That's all we have on the agenda aside from Mithril before Sheppard gets back in December."

"Thanks Lieutenant." Peterson said. "We'll get to work on this and hopefully by the time the Colonel is back on his feet we'll be up and running at peak efficiency."

September 24th, 3006

"Alright Doc, what's the verdict?" I asked from the medical bed.

"You're cleared to go back to work as long as you don't play rugby again for another week or so." She replied. "Now get out of my office, I've got other people to see."

I left the medbay and met Dunham right outside. "Next time don't hit me so hard." I slugged him in the shoulder. "You know I hate going in there."

"I'll do my best," He shrugged. "No promises though."

We started walking towards the main area. "How is the Mithril production going?" I asked, eager to get back to work.

"We've outfitted all but a couple of platoons with the new armor." He replied. "We're continuing production and training to get them accustomed to how everything works."

"They're still getting used to being able to use the jump jets and everything else?" I asked. "I figured we'd have to go back through training again."

"Yessir, Jenkins is taking the lead on it considering he was the one who volunteered to pilot it and everything for the first time." He responded. "We've gotten around fifty percent of the unit used to the Mithril and have been training the 'Mech fireteams the way that you wanted."

"Good work." I said. "And the last thing I asked you to look into?"

"Sir, we had the legal team look through it, and there's really no way that Comstar or anyone else can touch you as far as nationality goes." He paused. "You're technically a noncitizen. Your nation ceased to exist as a whole. It could be argued that you're the last person who could reform the Terran Hegemony, but that would take more time and effort than they considered necessary. The current Hegemony worlds have been a part of one Successor state or another for over a hundred and fifty years in some cases. We just don't have the time and money to devote to that right now."

"Whew" I wiped some imaginary sweat off my brow. "That one actually did worry me for a bit."

"We've got your back Mark." Dunham smiled. "You can count on us."