Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Four: Realizations

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Four: Realizations

New Avalon, August 10th, 3035

"The second wave launched earlier this week," Yvonne said to Hanse as he sat down in her office. "The civilian contractors are going to be following close behind."

"Good, we're going to have them focus on factories and repair facilities that can be used for both civilian and military purposes for now, with possible expansion to make use of local mines and resources," Hanse replied. "Seeing as Mark is still off-grid somewhere, David and the other chief executives of Sharpshooter agreed to license the revamped fifty-ton Tiger to as many planets as we can build the factories on."

"That's a lot of tanks Hanse," Yvonne said as she looked at the data. "Anything else regarding your logistics plan I should know about?"

"Archon Steiner is giving us the plans for a Marsden III," Hanse replied. "We're going to be building factories for that as well if at all possible."

"I notice we're not building anything that requires advanced tech in said factories," Yvonne noted as she glanced over the entirety of the plans.

"No, but what we are building can and will be more easily upgraded later," Hanse replied. "It's why we're building Swordsman and Gladiator factories as well."

"Easy to produce, and will be cheaper overall," Yvonne agreed. "I thought I saw something about the Talos though."

"NAIS is working closely with the Taurian Concordat to produce a more survivable variant of the Talos," Hanse stated. "I'm not up to date on the entirety of the project, but I think it had something to do with the CASE systems that were implemented when we converted all of our SRM and LRM factories over to their Clan Variants."

"We can discuss that later," Yvonne said as she continued looking through the files on her slate. "We're going to have to dedicate some extra manpower to fight of pirates though, we've seen a great deal of well armed pirates pushing and targeting both us and our allies."

"We're being backed into a corner," Hanse muttered as he looked at the areas being targeted by pirates. "And it doesn't seem to be targeted at the Federated Suns or our allies specifically," he pointed at the worlds being hit by repeated waves of pirates. "All of the worlds that are being struck are worlds that Sharpshooter is investing in," Look, Achernar is rebuilding some plants not even one jump over and the pirates haven't attempted to strike there yet."

"Do you think this is a vendetta against Hull specifically?" Yvonne asked as she considered this new information.

"I think that we shouldn't rule anything out," Hanse replied. "Stranger things have happened after all."

"But Hull has been missing for the past six months," Yvonne said. "Why target his facilities if he's not even around to react to it?"

"Because most of the pirates have been erased from existence long before they reached the ground," Hanse replied. "Hull made absolutely sure that his assets were protected by both Sting gunships as well as ground assets."

"As long as Sharpshooter has the forces in place for their own defense then I would leave them be while we redeploy some units to strike at the source of the pirates," Yvonne offered. "But we're fairly locked logistically right now Hanse. All of our units are either moving to the Periphery March, or locked down in the worlds taken from the Dracs and the Capellans."

"I know," Hanse replied. "But we're on our own until our allies show up." Hanse sighed as he sagged in his chair. "Katrina is sending resources our way, and Thomas shook free two regiments that he couldn't really afford to in order to back us up. But I have a bad feeling that all of this is but a distraction."

"An invasion is a distraction?" Yvonne asked, a touch of concern filling her voice.

"Yvonne, look at the data we were provided," Hanse gestured towards the holographic map. "The only elite unit there is the remnants of the Wolf's Dragoons," Hanse scoffed. "The only reason that our militia got steamrolled was due to the numbers the enemy was fielding along with the element of surprise."

"The report provided by Ms. Fischer did say that they were mostly green," Yvonne agreed. "With only one or two decently rated units."

"That's my point!" Hanse exclaimed. "Why would the Comstar Radicals commit to this kind of attack so soon? They could have spent more time building up and preparing to take us on." Hanse looked at the data again. "But they didn't, and it was based on the promise of this mysterious "ally" of theirs." Hanse stroked his chin, feeling a bit of stubble. "I just can't figure out what the endgame here is," he began to pace back and forth. "We have intelligence reports from the LIC, TMI and the other agencies, yes?" Hanse asked, a grin on his face.

"Yes," Yvonne replied. "I'll have Sortek meet you in your own office," She looked at him pointedly. "You can brainstorm past my bedtime in your own office," the older woman chuckled as she began to put away her work. "But I need my rest."

"I'll get Ardan on my own," Hanse replied before he gave her a small hug. "Go get some rest."

—

—

"There's a connection here, Ardan. I can feel it," Hanse told his friend.

"There's a connection between Duke Hull, Pirates, and Comstar fanatics?" Ardan asked while sorting some of the files that Hanse had asked for.

"Not as in Hull was being paid by them or anything like that," Hanse explained. "More like he's the one thing they hate the most."

"The only Antipiracy operations that Hull has ever done is for the Taurian Concordat though, and there weren't any survivors when he was finished," Ardan said while reviewing Hull's (extensive) file.

"By his own words though, he misjumped and time-traveled while serving as an SLIC plant among the crew of the Manassas. Hanse reached into a folder and placed a file on top of his desk. "But the Manassas was in the system of Schwartz before it vanished,"

"So how did he get from there, all of the way over to Pierce?" Ardan asked.

"I think he jumped all the way from Schwartz to a hidden Star League depot of some kind on the border between us and the Concordat," Hanse said as he traced a potential journey with his finger. "Hull already proved that he knows enough dead systems that he can launch a deep raid with no one being the wiser when he sacked Luthien," Hanse said as things started to click. "So, something he did In that early period pissed someone off, and it only grew from there. Now, they're out for revenge, and they're willing to sacrifice an entire nation to get it."

Author's note: Mainly wrote this on my phone, so the quality may not as high as usual.