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May 5th, 3004, Somewhere in Taurian Space,

"So, just how bad is it?" Asks William Bruce, an average sized man clad in a casual ship suit, possessing a bald head, and a clear glass of amber fluid almost always in hand. And for all that, the guy writing all the checks for this pleasure cruise that just went off the rails.

Captain Summers of the JS Footloose gives a soft chuckle, "Not as bad as it could be - though it's worse than I would rather deal with. Most of the seals in the KF Drive blew out, fuses blown left, right, and center, and more than a handful of components went off to meet their maker. We are most assuredly dead in the water for at least two or three months. We didn't lose anything critical, but a lot of secondary systems. At least there is good news to be had."

At that point Captain Thomas of the DS FancyFree interjects, "And the fact that there is good news is that our paranoia works out for us. The fact that you insisted on bringing along Worst Case," an old and barely functional Danais class cargo Dropship, "packed full of your usual belt and suspender approach, well, we got almost all the parts we need to do the repairs, and on top of that, the food and water we need to extend our cruise duration, so we don't run out of beer and beans."

With that William laughs, "Yeah, you all always made fun of me for that - but be honest, ya'll ain't laughing no more are you? But seriously, we have everything we need to get things back up and running?" he asks, grinning as he knows that they are not laughing for this discussion has been had many times before, and have even come out to be useful, though perhaps not to this degree.

"Yes. Without any real issue. Oh, we are going to have to spend some time in the machine shop to fab up a few mounts, modify a few things, but all in all, three months tops and we will be ready to go." Captain Summers says as he waves his hand in the general direction of the Dropships.

"And consumables? How much did we lose when the seals broke?"

"No more than what we have in reserve, plenty to top off the tanks, and have a bit left over, won't have the comfort zone that I would like, but then we are on the tail end of this trip as I recall the itinerary being?" Summers asks William in response to his question on the consumables.

To that William nods his head, "Yeah, this was the last explorative stop, before heading back to the barn. Robert is gonna be pissed. He wanted me to meet his soon to be wife when she stopped by New Vandenberg, but he'll live." He says, shrugging lightly as he sits at the table, and then frowns a touch as he sets the glass down in the reduced gravity.

William gives a bit of a frown as he considers the planned voyage compared to what he sees is going to happen now. His son Robert was left behind to mind the family business: Bruce Mining and Transportation, and he knows the big wedding is planned in a touch over six months from now, hopefully after they get back from this little distraction.

The Footloose has a small 65m grav deck, which is better than none, but as small as it is, getting the spin up to 1g would need the speed of the spin to border on the bothersome, so he directed the spin to generate only roughly 2/3's of a G, not enough to keep him from noticing the lateral speed, but not so bad it's distracting. Though it did cause interesting whiskey rings in the glass. He leans back, considering the options open to him as obviously they are stuck here for a few months, so a rather more in depth examination of the system is in order. Which isn't that big a deal, since the records indicated that back during the Amaris Civil War, the SLDF ran a maintenance and repair facility on the life bearing planet on the outer edge of the goldilocks zone, and the Ministry of Trade and Colonization was curious to the status of the system: oh, not that they expected anything to be left as it was already well established that when the SLDF bailed from the Concordat they pretty much stripped out this system.

William has big hopes and even bigger dreams: always on the lookout to make the family business that much more profitable, that much more successful, and that much larger. As it is, while the core mining side isn't anything special, moderately large though small enough to escape the sort of notice from Taurus Majoris Mining much less the closer New Vandenberg conglomerates that might lead them to start looking to snap them up. But the real money is in the Jumpships: in addition to the Invader Class Footloose, BMT runs a pair of Merchants that make a regular run between New Vandenberg and Taurus and even a scout he has leased to the Taurian Defense Force. But the dreams of finding some Star League Facility, filled to the brim? Well, doesn't everyone have those? Shame everyone already picked over the facilities on this planet over a few hundred years ago.

"Right." He says, and then raps his knuckles on the table. "We have three months in this system, and no one ever really bothered to take that sort of time to survey it, or at least, no one left records of such a survey, so I guess we get to do it – and it gives us something to do while you wrench turners get a wrenching." He says, smiling to Captain Summers, wiggling his fingers as he speaks.

Captain Summers Chief Engineer rolls her eyes in tolerant amusement as the boss speaks, but doesn't deny that she and her people will be busy: no doubt with Captain Summers hovering in the background.

William then looks over to Thomas, and grins. "Right, work up a flight plan, let's take a look at the Jovian, then that belt between the Jovian and Teras, and finally drop in on that old base on Teras. Figure we can spend some time at the Jovian, what reports we do have says it's possible to set up a gas mine if someone wants to go through the effort. No one really peeked at the belt, so let's take our time with it, who knows, it might be stuffed of the good stuff, and we could make our money back for the cost of the parts we are using here. I don't think anyone really expects me not to stop out at the base, so go ahead and make the plan known. I figure a week or two on the planet, and then we head back here." He says, nodding to Summers and Thomas.

Summers for his sake nods his head, "Right - if you spend a month in the belt, that will get you back here in about 10 weeks, which is right where I hope to have things ready. If you like, can you check out that bone yard around Teras's moon? Chances there is anything salvageable amongst those two wrecks is slim to none as they have been picked over pretty good." He says, speaking of a pair of ancient Leviathan Jumpships that had been towed to where an old yard once was set up: the yard long gone, the jumpers stripped bare of anything usable when the SLDF left, and even more so over the following years before the system dropped off everyone's radar. "But, well, never hurts to look, and besides, my first Jumpship model was of one of those, so take pictures, will you?" Summers says, grinning over to William, who raises his hands in surrender to the demand.

With that, William looks around, and then smiles, "Right, so, I don't like being on these damn small decks more than I have to, and I still want a sit-down dinner, a visit to a proper loo, and a nice shower, so let's get to all the other admin and move on to more enjoyable things alright? Now about this.." He starts, the meeting soon devolving into the minutia and mundane of sorting out in what order the repairs are to be done, what else needs doing, and planning for the run-in system.

6 Weeks Later, Teras System Belt, Abord the DS Fancy Free

"Damn, the boss ain't gonna believe this." Says one of the survey techs in the belly of the Modified Union Class that is the Fancy Free.

"What do you have?" Asks Tommy's boss, a tiny redhead with a serious Napoleon complex as she floats over to him, the space formerly set aside for two lances of Mechs turned into passenger quarters and labs that are shockingly roomy, and to her never ending happiness, well stocked with the scanners and tools that she could only dream of having back on Sterope.

Tommy looks up as Doc Carter floats over, and nods to her, "Got the spectrographs back from that probe we shot into that mass of rock yesterday, Ma'am, it's chock full of rare earth metals." He says, and while everyone else in the team can be informal as one could hope, but with the Doc, better keep it professional. At least she knows her business and gives credit where its due thinks Tommy, grinning as he hands over a printout.

"OK, and so? Those are not exactly scarce in belts after, oh.. whoa. Yeah," She says, seeing the numbers. "Damn, you're right, the boss is going to think we are out of our minds. I don't think I ever seen values this high in a belt." She adds, leafing through the pages, and scrunching her face as she does so - giving the woman a cute look that causes most people to forgive the complex.

Well, mostly.

"Going to be a bitch to mine them, and this is way out back of beyond. And I don't recognize some of these materials, but, yeah," She says, nodding and then rewarding Tommy with a smile. "Good work. Go ahead and process the rest of the probes data, and gin up a report for me: figure on the burn to Teras we'll be briefing the boss on this. He will be happy, but this far out, might not be worth setting up shop." She says, handing back the documents and heading out of the compartment to hunt down the XO to give him the heads up.

A few hours later, in the Commodores Office

William leans back in his chair, the belts keeping him in place, a bulb of something blue in his hand and he taps his chin. "So, they are saying it's nuts out there in the belt?" He asks, to a nod from Cpt. Thomas.

"Yeah, first numbers are in, and could go either way, but the general take is "Wow." Followed up by, "Damn, it's in the middle of nowhere." He says, shaking his head. "If only we were closer to the more populated areas of the Concordat, I'd vote to pick up the shop, and move out this way."

With a snort of amusement William shakes his head, "Yeah, if only my aunt had balls she would be my uncle as the saying goes. But this is still good to know, hell, these elements here," he says poking the screen as he speaks, "Well, these are nothing I have seen before, just items in a catalogue of possible elements with no details or known uses. Have the teams gather up a reasonable amount, we can always run tests on the stuff back home, but that's for later. How long before we start the burn for Teras?" He asks.

Thomas laughs, "Be honest, you are just being impatient to go dungeon crawling in that old base." He says, to a hurt look from his boss.

"But seriously, figure a week to gather up some tidbits: they say that they might be able to gather up a few hundred pounds of Germanium and other bits of the really good stuff, which will go a ways to covering expenses, plus a few thousand pounds of those oddball items." He says, looking at his pad, and then grinning. "A week of 1g burning, which will make people happy I am sure, and then planet fall. The base right now is in local spring, so the temps won't be bad, a little chilly, but not bad. Do you really think it might be worth opening up a shop here?" He asks, noticing the speculative look on his boss's face.

With a slow shake of his head, William speaks, "Noooo, not at this point. This belt looks rich as hell, but the costs of running a shop here is a little steep, but it might be worth it later, and besides, the Ministry has first call on the system, and you know damn well they will let TMM in before we could even make a move on this place." He says with a wave of his hand in disgust. "What we need to do is find a system like this when we are running on our own time, spending out of our own bulls. Taking the Ministries cash is nice, and pays for those trips, but," he says, shrugging lightly as he pauses.

With a wince, Thomas nods, "Yeah, does limit our options. But at least if those mystery minerals come out to anything, at least we will have a head start on that?" He says, to a nod from his boss. "Then that's a win, not a big one perhaps, but it might come in handy later." He says, looking for the silver lining, and seeing at least a shimmer.

"Yeah yeah, but it is what it is, naught you can do about that." Will says in his laid-back drawl. "Schedule a meeting of department heads once we start the burn, and give the guys and gals in survey an extra bottle of beer once we are burning, they did good work as always."

A week later, at what's left of the base on planet.

With a crunch of undergrowth, William Bruce's Marauder steps out of the forest and into the clearing that somehow has remained in the vicinity of the old base, the Dropship landing a few kilometers away in a spot better suited for landing. "Hello? Anyone home?" He calls out over the speakers, hearing a laugh over his radio as Drake, his second in one of the two Wolverines with him breaks squelch.

"Ain't no one here boss." Drake calls out, "No one but bugs and dust bunnies." He announces, grinning as he looks at the building, shaking his head at just how good Star League Defoliants had to be for the clearing to survive this long around the low mass of concrete that makes up the entrance to the facility, the doors long gone.

Andrews, in an incredibly rare, and frankly priceless Royal Ostscout pipes up, "Yeah, not even a hint of anything in the EM spectrum, and heat sources are no more than local critters sir." He says, shaking his head as well as he looks over his scanners.

With that Will nods his head, and calls out on the main frequency, "Right, Survey, come on over, path has been stomped flat, and time to walk longer than we have in months." He says with a laugh, looking at his cameras as a pair of light hover trucks enter the clearing, a few dozen survey team members loaded up, along with a ton of gear that would be required to set up shop. Hitting the shut off command sequence in his Mech, he releases the hatch, inhaling the scent of fresh air, free of all the smells that even recycled air can't get rid of.

After a minute the sequence runs its course, and he opens the hatch all the way, letting the chain ladder fall down before climbing down to the ground. After a long stretch, he sees Doc Carter and Tommy heading his way, and he grins over towards them.

"Heya Doc, Tommy, Whatcha got?" he says, hiding a grin as he sees Carter give a moments frown over the easy familiarity offered, but he is the boss, so, his rules as the saying goes.

"Well, we just got here." She points out, and then shakes her head, well used to her boss's ways, "Setting up lights and tents, the trucks are heading back to the Dropship so we can set up camp here, and we can take our first walkabout inside." She says, with Tommy nodding in agreement before speaking up himself.

"I pulled up everything we had on the old expeditions back in the early 28's, so we don't have anything to worry about other than the cold come night, and that won't be too bad, maybe 10ish C." He says to Will's nod.

"Right, well, Doc, do your thing, and Tommy, you and Drake," he says, nodding to Drake comes walking over from his Wolverine, "come with me, not going to go more than just inside, but I always had that urge." He says with a smile, seeing the matching rolled eyes between the Survey team members and his right-hand man reaches into his bag to pull out a rifle and starts to walk in front of the pair as they make their way to the entrance.

"Wonder what happened to the doors?" He asks, mostly to himself, and then he looks over to Drake, "Seriously, you ain't gonna need that here." He says, pointing to the rifle, knowing it's a futile effort. "And we are only gonna spend a few minutes, just want to peek before everyone else gets here." He says, stepping into the cavern.

It's too small for a Mech, but more than large enough for trucks to move in and out at the same time, the entrance way turning out to be a ramp about a hundred meters long, moderately slopped to where it disappeared into the hillside the base was built into. It's all of a 10-minute walk, a team not a few meters behind him setting up a string of lights that add to the lights the three are packing.

At the end of that short stroll, the ramp opens into a large bay, space for a number of trucks to move and position themselves at any of a dozen loading docks, a large office built into the wall to the left, and like the main door, its door being long gone as well.

He steps up into it, seeing where a computer terminal was once built in, the space bare of anything save for the concrete the room was made from. "They even took the carpets?" He asks, laughing as he is pretty sure there was none in an office like this, but his sense of humor has always been questionable.

Drake and Tommy are looking about, a door leading to the docks, another leading into the base proper, and those doors are still there, though broken out of their frames. "Yeah, they really didn't leave much." Drake says, shaking his head, "Betcha a donut that we are not going to find anything at all here." He says over to his boss, who sniffs and looks offended.

"Bet taken." He says, and then grins as Drake points out, "Anything of note."

Will nods his head, agreeing as Tommy looks at his Boss and shakes his head a touch before he casts his light through the door leading to the docks.

"Looks like a loading area for whatever they were working on in here this way - bunch of large openings that look like they go to warehousing." He says, before Drake pipes up himself.

"And this way is just more offices and the like, no chance of anything being in the warehouses; care to look over the offices?" He asks his boss.

Will looks like he is about to agree, and then recalls he promised Doc Carter he would be in here only a few minutes. "Nah, lets head up, and get set up - let the guys like Tommy here get on with things." He says, chuckling over as Tommy nods in agreement, the three stepping out of the dock office to head up to the camp.

A few hours later

The smell of a roasted meats wafts through the air, the sizzle of steaks over flames as the teams gather around the camp for the traditional first night on planet BBQ Dinner. Guards roam the outskirts, the mechs lined up nice and proper by the entrance to the camp, tents set up left and right for living and working, and all the signs of a well-practiced team setting up shop on full display thinks Will as he looks around, a bottle of beer in hand, and a large thick stoogie in his fist.

"So Doc, got the first walk through done, did a little myself, and I have to admit, I was hoping we might find at least a paperclip." He says to Doc Carter.

Doc is staying upwind of the cigar in Will's hand, and unlike everyone else, she has a glass of wine in her hand. "Yes sir, but like you said, we knew that there wasn't much hope of finding anything at all here." She says, glancing over to the grills to see when the food will be ready.

"But the one thing that caught my eye was that digging, did you get a chance to look at that?" She asks.

"Yeah, that was weird." Will says, shaking his head, "Clear that something collapsed, but don't think anyone got past that, or even bothered. You can see where the original guys started digging, but you can also see they stopped, and it wasn't for lack of gear." He says, as the one thing that was found was shoring equipment, clearly dating back to the Star League era.

"Yes Sir, and you can see where the follow-on people made an attempt to dig deeper, where they used the left-over shoring equipment to get a fifty or so meters deeper down that hall." She notes, the evidence that there had been at least three dig teams that came by after the place was abandoned.

"Yep. And they got nowhere as well. Hell, you know we are in the mining business, and to get any deeper than where they got you would have to bring out the proper tools. And even we don't carry those sorts around with us in the amount we would need I don't think." He says, thinking back to what might be loaded on the Worst Case.

With that Andrews walks up, a beer in hand and a fresh one in the other, which he hands to his boss, "Yes sir, I looked into that on Doctor Carters request." He says, having been with the boss all of two years, and more than willing to work cheap for the chance to not only get to drive a mech, but what a mech!

"They have some equipment, but it's all the sorts that would be more useful for pulling someone out of a small cave-in, not a full-blown project that will take." He says, with some degree of knowledge: before being hired on into his Boss's mech lance, he was one of the team leads in the mining side of the house.

"No sir, if you want to see what is on the other side, we are going to have to bring some proper mining gear." And seeing his boss about to ask a question, he grins and answers it before it's asked. "Already working on a list sir, I'll be spending all day tomorrow, and probably the next if you don't need me in my mech making sure that all the t's are crossed and I's dotted." He says to Will's nod of approval.

"Yeah, think we are all gonna pretty much hang out around here. We all could use a break, and it's not like we have a schedule to keep." He says with a chuckle before he looks over to the sound of a triangle being rang, and grins, "And looks like dinner's up, let's get fed!" He says, turning to head back towards the rest of the camp.

Week and a half later, in orbit about Teras's Moon.

Space can be dark, space can be dangerous, but then there are moments where even something that by rights should be ugly, isn't - all because of space.

"Damn. I know those things are trashed, but Lockheed did make them pretty, didn't they?" Asks Captain Thomas as he looks at his screen where the camera focuses on the two dead Leviathans of the deep, quietly orbiting the Moon, and eventually doomed to become one with it.

"Yep. That they did. To be honest, I can't blame Summers to want pics of the things. And I can't lie, if those things were even in the slightest possible way able to be salvaged, well, I'd spend money I haven't got to make that happen." He says, and then grins. "How long has the survey crew been over?"

"About three hours and as expected, they left the ship open to space, which isn't a horrible thing, and it's stripped pretty bare." He says in reply to his boss. "We won't have a complete survey for a few more hours yet though." He points out to his as usual impatient boss.

Will nods his head, "Make sure they go in depth - we have the time after all, the last message from Summers is that they are looking at another week or so before they are at the point of being comfortable at jumping out." He says, and then shoots a smile, "In the meanwhile, I do believe we have work to do." He says, leaning forward in his chair as the meeting between the heads of the shipboard departments begin.

The meeting was about as boring as anyone could expect, things needing fixing, some that could, some that would need a shipyard, the old Union being well used and older than the succession wars itself. But even those miserable meetings must end, and the timing from Will's point of view was right on point as the beep of the intercom coming on right as the last point is made and decided.

"Sir, report on the survey is in, the teams are heading back now." The officer of the watch announces, a second beep indicating the arrival of the file into the briefing rooms computer, where Will brings it up on the main screen where everyone starts to read it for a long couple of minutes.

"Huh" says Captain Thomas, "It looks like the original issues with the ships weren't all that bad, but they weren't the only busted up Jumpships in the yard." He says, seeing notes of where there was damage vs. stripping.

"Agreed," Pipes up his own Chief Engineer, a swarthy fellow who goes by the name Adams and nothing else, "If I had to guess, they had one or two other Leviathans here for work, and when they decided to pull the plug, they stripped these two to get the others up and running, and then stripped it again for anything that wasn't nailed down. Hell, they even emptied the toilet paper bins." He says with a laugh seeing a particular pithy note in the report.

Will for his sake was no engineer, so he let those that was trained speak for the most part, but he had to ask, "Any good news?"

"Not sure, Adams, what do you think of these notes here?" Captain Thomas asked his Chief Engineer.

"Yeah, maybe." He says, as clearly, he and the captain are working on the same logic tree: one that leaves Will looking between the two as if they are speaking Greek.

After a moment Adams speaks up, "Well, the basic problems with the two jumpers are not all that serious, if the SLDF would have stuck around a few months more, assuming that they had the parts handy that is, they could have brought these two back into service assuming one of the stripped parts wasn't one of the issues."

And with that note, Will leans forward, "So what you are telling me is, we might have a chance to get those up and running once more?" He asks, waving his hand in the general direction of the two derelicts.

Adams and Thomas, look to each other, back to the report, and then back to the boss. "Maybe." Says one, "Probably." Says the other.

With that William sighs, "Ok, Adams, you first. Why Probably."

At the request, Adams turns to look at Will, "Well, mostly because the base issues with the KF Drives on both ships are simple really. Sure, this one," He says, pointing to the JS Sovereign, "is a bit more than the Hamilcar work wise, but they both are really not that much worse than what we are looking at with the Footloose."

At which point, Thomas speaks up, "And the reason I say maybe, is that it really is impossible to tell without the missing equipment." He points out, to which Adams pipes out with, "Yeah, but we would have to replace that anyways."

To that Thomas could only shrug, "True, but that really isn't the real problem. How many of those ships are still working out there, and how common are the parts?" he asks.

And at that, William nods his head with a wince. "Yeah, might be 12, 15 tops." He says, tapping the desk as he thinks, "And the parts, well damn you're right, they're almost unobtanium." He says, leaning back and thinking a moment.

A long moment in fact, as the other heads look to the boss curiously, knowing better than to interrupt.

"Right." He says, leaning forward after what felt like three or so minutes, "This is what we are going to do. Odds are, these things are deader than the Star League, in fact, I'd say damn near certain they are. However, I didn't get four Jumpers by assuming things couldn't be done." He says, and grins as he gets a chuckle from Adams.

He raps the table firmly, and then speaks with confidence and authority. "Right, Next morning ship time, I want the survey teams back out - I want an in-depth review of anything missing that they can sort out. I know no one has a book on what's supposed to be there, but that's fine."

He then looks to Thomas, picking back up,"Then, we are heading back to the Footloose. At that point, Summers is gonna leave his XO in charge to do the final polishing on the repairs, and we are heading back here with his Engineer and a few other members of his team and we are going to have him review those lists and adjust them with his more practiced eye - especially since he just got some practice in getting broke ships up and working again. Once he does that, we head back, jump out and head back to the barn. I don't think we are going to be able to do anything with these, but like I said about that belt, it doesn't mean I am going to assume nothing will happen."

"I will say this however." He says, chuckling as he leans back, "We will be back in about a year, this time with proper gear to dig out that tunnel. I want to know what's on the other side of it. Ain't gonna be no mechs and tanks and all that cool stuff, but there might be something worthwhile."

He pauses, and then grins wickedly, "And who knows, we might even get lucky."

September 24th​ 3004, City of New Vandenberg, New Vandenberg

"Why are we meeting your Dad here of all places, doesn't he have some office back in your Building?" asks Akahana Burton as she steps out of the ground car and onto the sidewalk facing a storefront that looks like it has been here since the reunification war.

She stands there waiting for Robert Bruce to step around the car, looking at the store front and seeing how carefully it has been made and decorated to make it appear that it's older than old, but now that she is taking a moment to look harder, she sees it's actually a well built – overbuilt even – building. She stands all of a meter and a half on a good day, rust colored hair in a braid that reaches down her back to a silly degree. Her slim build and genetic makeup would cause most observers to think that her family was originally from Tokyo, able to blend in - or rather, with her looks, stand out - the Draconis Combines court without even trying.

At least until she opens her mouth that is.

"You know I really don't like the smell of cigs and the like, so why did you agree to bring me here of all places?" she asks in a drawl that would blend perfectly with 20th​century Texas. She looks at the sign that indicates the store is a luxury tobacco shop, along with other stuff, but her focus is on the offending tobacco as Robert steps up to her from around the car.

Robert knows more about this shop than Akahana, and that frankly causes him to be even more surprised that his dad wanted the meeting to take place here of all places. "Well, we shall soon see. Shall we?" He asks, extending his arm to her.

And what a odd sight that is as the door opens and they step through it, for while Akahana can be considered to be outright tiny, Robert is quite the opposite: Pale skin that won't tan no matter how hard he tries, thick brown hair atop his head, and built in the fashion that is more often seen on professional athletes. But that isn't the real reason the pair gets odd looks, for after all he stands a bit over two meters.

When they let the surprisingly heavy door close behind them, Akahana looks around and sees the to be expected tobacco off to the left, to the right bins and jars of coffees and teas with behind that a small collection of bottles of scotches and whiskeys. But what really causes her to pause is the tobacco is made up of cigars and pipe tobaccos, and the scents of those mixed with the various tea blends and roasted tones of the coffees, mixes shockingly well together lending the shop a smell that is almost an attraction in and of itself. Well, that and the fact that the shop has gone out of its way to offer up the rarest and highest end items as possible.

Robert looks on with a warm smile as she moves right off towards the section possessing the tea blends, giving a short laugh as somehow she manages to find perhaps one of the most expensive items present there.

Akahana grins as she picks up a tin of white loose leaf tea, the markings indicating that it's an import direct from Terra, and then turns to look to Robert. "Alright, I'll admit, this place is something of a surprise. And I am even impressed." She notes, looking at the tin before looking to Robert and giving him her best cute and innocent look. "I don't want to know the price of this, but honey please?" She asks, holding the tin like it's a prize on some entertainment show.

Robert just laughs, taking the tin and then putting it back into its place to a pout from Akahana, before leading her towards the back counter. "As you might have noticed, nothing here has a price on it – very much a case if you are asking, you are not really meant to be a customer here." He says to her as he walks her up the counter located at the back of the store.

Robert comes to a stop at the counter, and after a bare moment or three, a storekeeper, dressed sharper than even Robert steps up to him, giving Robert a polite nod of greeting, and then giving the same to Akahana as well before Robert speaks.

"Did you get my order from Illiushin in yet?" He asks, smiling to the man.

"Indeed sir, as well as what you were looking for from Pinard." The counterman says, hitting a buzzer as Robert speaks once more.

"Good, that is quite outstanding." Says Robert as the door marked Private swings open, once more taking Akahana's arm and leading her through it where the door swings shut behind them.

Akahana isn't stupid, like Robert she spent her time in the TDF, so she picked up on the heavier than normal door, the shop windows made of something other than glass, the sign/countersign: and she waits till that door closes before speaking up. "So. Not just a shop I take it?" She asks, looking up to Robert curiously.

"Yes and no, it is a shop that makes us an impressive amount of money, but we don't officially own it really, more cutouts than you can shake a stick at for that." He says with a chuckle. "But no, not just a shop. Long time ago Dad decided that the big guys like the Timmies and VMI are always on the lookout to snap up smaller companies, are more than willing to bend if not break the rules in the process." He says as he pauses at the inquisitive look from Akahana as he walks down the long well appointed corridor.

"Timmies?" She asks, tilting her head as she does so.

"TMM: Taurus Majoris Mining, Dad really doesn't like them at all, says they couldn't have gotten that big without cheating." Robert says before picking back up. "So anyways, Dad thinks that it is a matter of time, if they are not already they are bugging the hell out of our building and sending in people to snoop about, so while we do almost all our business there, the really black stuff? The burn before reading sorts? That gets talked about here. After all, who would talk business in a public shop, and everyone knows my Dad can't turn down a good drink and a good smoke."

With that Akahana can't help but laugh, even she has picked up on that after all. She steps into a very well appointed office with Robert, seeing that it's the sort of office that someone has really spent a few bulls on, and has far more taste and style than she gave Roberts dad credit for.

"And look at the bright side of coming to a nasty tobacco shop," Robert says with a grin, "If he is letting you in on our deepest secrets, he really does approve of you." He points out with a wink as he guides her to a sofa in front of the desk.

Akahana doesn't get a chance to reply before a side door opens, and in through steps William himself, and out of deference to Akahana he isn't holding a cigar: however he does have a tumbler full of amber fluid in one hand as he extends the other to Akahana, smiling to her.

"Akahana, so very glad to see you again, I did try to make it back for your birthday, but well, you heard about our whoopsie." He says with a chuckle, giving a shrug of apology as one of the staff wheels in a cart with a tea service laid out – and with a twinkle of his eye, William continues to speak. "Saw you looking at this out there, so thought I would grab a tin for you to drink while we all chat." He says smiling as the tin of tea that Akahana was looking at is in pride of place on that cart. William then shows his breadth of skills by serving both his son and his soon to be daughter in law.

With the staff member leaving the room and letting the door lock shut behind him, William steps over to a chair that faces the small sofa the couple are sitting in, and settles into place rather comfortably as if he is at home, which after a fashion he is. "Right, as I am sure Rob here told you, this is where we do our really super sensitive business, the stuff I really don't want anyone to know about. And while this last trip of mine went a little sideways, it had some interesting things pop up." He says with a chuckle as he leans back.

Robert looks over to his dad, giving him a curious look. "I read the report, none of the systems save the Teras one had anything interesting in it, and that last was an abandoned and stripped base, a pair of skeletal ships not worth the scrapping, and an admittedly rich belt."

"Yep. That about sums it up, and we were honest about that belt find even, it really is that rich, but you know our unofficial motto boy." William points out, getting a snerk from Akahana as he speaks.

"Yeah yeah, don't lie but don't tell the whole truth and always under promise and over deliver." Robert dutifully states.

"Exactly that." He says and then looks to Akahana, "Lived by that since I got started, and it's worked out well. Sure, we didn't get a lot of contracts that we would have gotten otherwise for mining or transportation, but every contract we got, we finished ahead of schedule and almost always met our performance bonus conditions. Which means we might not be all that big, but by God, no one has a better rep than us."

To that Akahana nods, "True – one of the reasons I was interested in getting to know Robert here in University. Your family reputation preceded you."

Robert just sits there with a slight proud smirk, but otherwise doesn't address that point. "So I take it you left stuff out then?" He asks, tilting his head curiously.

"Sorta yes, sorta no." Will says. "All the known stuff was reported in the document is true, if anything the values of the materials we found was understated." He says, and then leans back once more. "The stuff I left out was there was a bunch of material that was in the catalogue, but beyond rare, and no notes at all present as to what they are good for. So, no point in reporting mystery materials, right?"

To that Robert and Akahana could only nod, sure they are still young, in their late 20's, but they both come from families deep in the business scene, and they both understand the benefits of keeping some things close to the chest.

"Now, sadly, still quite a mystery, and Doc Carter has been tasked with sorting out what if anything can be made of them, but it isn't a priority project of hers. If something good comes of it, great, if not, well, we still expanded our knowledge base, never a bad thing that." William says. "Now, that said, there is something that really is worth coming out this way and talking about it in here." Will adds, giving the pair a smirk that can be better found on a shark seeing a school of fish. "When we checked out that old base, it was cleaned out to the max – everything that could be stripped was stripped. But," He says, holding up a finger as he pauses for a moment.

"But?" Interjects Akahana, Robert for his sake just arching an eyebrow, knowing there is a shoe dropping somewhere.

"But there was a passage leading off of one of the storage rooms that had collapsed on itself, and whatever was behind it was worth the SLDF to start to work on clearing it out, but not worth enough to postpone their departure from the system. And it's still there, since all the other groups that came through the place attempted to go deeper, but all of them also failed to get through as well. But, that was them, and you know what it is we do." William says with a self satisfied smirk.

With that Robert laughs, "So, take it you are already planning another trip then?"

William nods his head, "Yep, and since I got back, been poking about in those files that has been collected over the years of the various goings on they had out this way when they had their Civil War."

"So you know that there is something there and what it is?" Asks Akahana, leaning forward herself.

"I know there is something there, that's a simple fact. What is however an educated guess, but one I feel comfortable making."

Robert and Akahana sits there, both looking to William with a skeptical but interested look, "And?" They both ask, looking to him and waiting.

"Well, we have a good knowledge of what sorts of refurbishment and maintenance facilities they liked to have as close to where the action is as possible, and what they was willing to leave further away because they wasn't too critical. And we know what they assigned to what level of critical parts. As best as I can figure, the sorts of things they worked on in bases like that one is things like small arms, engine tear down and repairs, electronics, that sort of thing. So I did something different."

"Which is?" Asks Akahana, discovering that waiting for William to drop the other shoe is as aggravating as Robert told her it is.

And with a barked laugh from Robert as William starts speaking, "I'll get to that in a moment, there was one other thing I wanted to point out which is much more in line with the family business. As much as we are into the Mining Business, a solid chuck of our income is from our Jumpships right?" William asks.

Robert gives his dad a wary look, and nods his head, "Yes. A little over half our income comes from leasing and collar fees." He agrees, leaning back as he watches to see what his dad is planning to pull out of his hat this time.

"Right, now, when we had our whoopsie a lot of little things failed, but we were lucky in that none of the big things failed. But we rediscovered what we already knew, Jumpships are very complex machines that small things tend to look a lot larger when they go wrong." He starts, taking a sip of his drink before picking back up. "As you might remember, there was those two stripped down jumpers that everyone assumed was junk right? Well, they were right – and wrong. The ships were indeed stripped to the bone of anything that could be stripped easily. But Thomas and his Engineer pointed out that the really important bits need a proper yard to strip out, and that the original issues that led to them being there in the first place couldn't be too bad, since they would have to have been towed to that yard by a tug, and why do that to a dead ship?"

Now that got Robert and Akahana's attention alright as they leaned forward at the same time.

"Exactly." William points out. "The ships as they stand are deader than the Star League. However, no one bothered to scrap them all the way because they are of an obsolete class no one really liked out here in the Periphery. This means the cores of their drives are still there and probably in repairable shape. All we need to do, and I admit, this isn't going to be easy or cheap, is find a mountain of Leviathan parts: a class that I have discovered over this past week or so to amount to a grand total of 13 still in service per all the known sources we can access."

Robert speaks up at this point, "Ah, and that's going to be a problem isn't it, where are we going to find that many parts?" He asks, leaning back a touch to think about it for a moment.

William smiles, and gives him a sly grin. "Believe it or not, I sent out some feelers, and a lot, maybe two thirds of the parts, don't need to be authentic Leviathan parts: ships computers are ships computers, tanks are tanks, thrusters are thrusters. Sure, that only accounts for half, maybe two thirds of the parts we need, but that will save more than a few bulls. And what parts we do need to get that are specific to the Leviathan, well, they are out there, but more than little expensive. But they are out there."

At this point Akahana speaks up, not as invested nor as knowledgeable on Jumpships and their operation, "So, you really think you can get both of them up again? Adding one ship of that size is a pretty big deal, two would make you one of the bigger players here in the Concordat." She says as she shakes her head as she can only imagine what having a fleet with 24 collars would be like.

"Make us." Robert says, correcting Akahana with a laughed agreement from William.

"Indeed. A big player once it becomes known, which means we have to make sure we are in a position that we can't get moved on by the other guys. This is why we are talking about this in here and not back at the office." William points out.

"Hell, getting the funding to get the parts and the like, not to mention hiring the crews to make the repairs, and crew the ships once they are repaired enough to jump out of there and into a shipyard for a more complete rebuild isn't going to be easy. Not sure if we can even find a way to swing it." Robert muses out loud.

"Yeah, I penciled in what I think it would cost to get one of them out of there and into a shipyard. A Half Billion Bulls. That's Billion with a B. At least." He points out, to matched whistles of amazement from the couple.

"And that's just the one?" Asks Robert, taking a sip of his tea finally, and then looking at the cup as it is as good as he could ever imagine, no wonder Akahana has been inhaling it since it arrived, he thinks.

"And if we show up with one, it would be easy to guess where we got it, and if we got it up and running, there would be a race to get to the other." Robert points out.

"Exactly, this is why we don't need a half billion bulls. We need one." Says William.

"Sell Sneak Thief?" Akahana suggests, "The TDF won't say no to a Jumpship, even if and perhaps better still because it is a Scout Class."

"That's my thinking at the moment, but I think we would need to sweeten the pot if we are going to be able to convince the Government to keep quiet on the sale for at least a while. After all, A Billion isn't small change, that is more than this company is worth after all, outside of our Jumpships and Dropships." William points out, and then grins. "But that is what I will be talking to one of the Admirals in system about this weekend when I head up to the yard to check in on Footloose." He says, and then waves his hand lightly, "Oh, just off the cuff, just asking for the laughs, so on and so forth. I think we can get maybe half of what we need from selling it, but that is a cut on our cash flow until one of the Leviathans does enter service."

"One I think we ought to be willing to suffer for if we can pull it off though." muses Robert out loud as he thinks about it. "And what would we say we need the money for?"

William actually laughs at that. "Oh, that's easy, remember the Thun system we looked at back when you two was in university?"

Both Akahana and Robert nod to that, "Yeah, was a rather nice place, asteroid belt between the habitable planet and the sun, which is odd, but from what I recall, the original survey data said the resources was good, but it was a quick survey right?" asks Robert.

William nods his head, "Yep, planet on the colder side by a smidge, but very nice. And since then I sent out Footloose to do redo the survey a few years ago, and while it isn't as good as the Teras system, it's better than most. Three safe jumps from Taurus or New Vandenberg, two if you want to use an empty system. Think it's time for BMT to get into the Colony business. Expensive, money sink everyone keeps telling me."

To that Robert chuckles, "And anyone who sees us get that sort of cash will think we are going to sink ourselves into a system that will eat up every single bull we have. Nice."

"Don't get me wrong, I do want to settle the system. I really do think we can do well there, and I really like the place. And you know me and my crazy plans: building factories and the like, it's a nice safe place to let me tinker with them." William says, his best butter won't melt look on his face.

A look that clearly Akahana nor Robert believes for a moment.

"OK, Fine. We have a plan, sell Sneak Thief, get some of the money we need, apply for colonization loans I assume, get a lot of the rest. And if that's not enough?" asks Robert.

"Well, I have a few plans, this and that, but I think there is a good chance we can not only get the funding we need, but the cooperation we could really make use of."

"And that is?" Asks Robert, giving his father the gimlet eye.

"Well, like I said, some things remain a mystery, even to me, but I am willing to make a bet or three to see if I come up aces."

"And are you going to tell us this bet?" asks Akahana.

"Nope, but I will show you if you two are willing to take a trip after your wedding." He says with a smirk, knowing that while Robert isn't as adventurous as he is, Akahana picks up the slack with spades.

Robert glances to Akahana, and sighs. "We are spending our honeymoon on a Dropship, aren't we?" He asks her to her enthusiastic nod of agreement.

William just laughs, "Just get used to saying 'Yes Dear', you'll be saying it a lot."

"OK, fine, we will go along with you. I assume you are taking us back to the Teras system to dig out what you think is there right? And which is what exactly?" Robert asks, curious to what his father thinks is to be found.

And with that question, William leans back, and gives him the smuggest grin Robert has ever seen in his life. "You'll see. Now, ya'll want some Q? The place next door is the best in the city."

New Years Day, 3005. Teras System.

This time the advanced planning came in handy, the Dropships having landed a week before and the mining team brought along aboard the Worst Case as well as a leased Mule getting right to work. It's amazing how fast work can be done when you have an experienced crew and all the proper equipment you could ever want thinks William.

The Team breached the caved in section, and cleared it enough to see the large hall continue another 50 meters before coming up to a large door, still closed, yet more evidence William pointed out that what is behind the door still being there and the decision was made to make an event out of it come New Years day, and served as a good excuse to have a real proper New Years Eve party.

"Right." Says William as he stands there before the closed doors, looking to not just his son and his daughter in law, but as much of the crew that could fit in the passageway, which isn't a small number being that it's large enough you could drive a truck through it almost. "Now, as I was telling others, no one knows what was in here, and what is still here. For all I know, it's empty. But we all doubt that don't we?" He asks, smiling as no one speaks as they are all impatient for him to get on with it.

He then looks to Robert and Akahana and smirks. "Back in our chat, I told you I thought of a trick. I stopped looking for where everything was worked on and stored, and focused on the things no one knew where those things was worked on. Most of those items were small potatoes, something that no one would be bothered with or wanting to bother tracking down. But a few was more interesting." He says, and then waves his hand around the passageway. "And most of the rest could be ruled out as being something that wouldn't be moved this far from the front, or simply wouldn't fit down this hallway. Hence, I think it is one of three things." He says, pulling out a slip of paper from his pocket.

He hands that paper, still folded, to Akahana, "Don't look at what I wrote, but I bet you it's one of these three things."

With that, he then turns to the doors, and nods to a pair of the miners, "Gentlemen, after you." He says, letting them pry the old doors open, the lights set up to shine through them, revealing what is behind those doors.

Which happens to be more hallway.

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Robert says out loud, laughing, but then he half expected something like this being the case, and looks to his dad.

"Relax, there is a few doors down the way there, still something to be found." Williams says, stepping through the doors and walking with the rest towards the matched double doors at the end of the passage, each one arranged at a forty-five degree angle off of the center line of the passageway. As he reaches them, he looks to his father and grins, "Left or Right?"

William thinks about that a moment, and then points to the left. "Let's open that door, see what's in there." He says, pulling on the door after getting a nodded go ahead from one of the engineers who checked it for anything that might lead to things going boom.

The door opens onto what appears to be to no one's surprise, another hall, but this one almost right away opens up into a larger space. Most of the exploration team follows, setting up lamps to illuminate the space, which appears to be mostly filled with stacks of olive drab hard cases, the majority of them in one of two sizes.

Akahana steps up to one of the stacks of the larger cases, picking one out, and then proceeding to take out a rag and wipes over 200 years of dust accumulation off of the markings. "Huh, Mauser 960's per the label." She says, opening one of the cases, and then smiles, "Yep, Case of four, still in the bags even." She says, pulling out one of the heavy and bulky rifles formerly wrapped in an airtight foil storage bag.

"Quite a lot of these cases as well, and looking under the rifles, looks like a few sets of infantry kit, helmet, uniforms, the works. We would have to count them out, but we might have a nice pile of these things." She says, and then looks over to Robert as he laughs before speaking.

"Hey honey, I think they have your size." Robert says, opening one of the other cases and whistling softly as Akahana and William walk over to see what Robert found.

Looking at the size markings on the case, Akahana whistles softly, "It is my size, and I am calling dibs." As she reaches into the case, and pulls out a Star League MechWarrior Cooling Suit, and then giving another whistle as she sees a second suit folded up under it, and then a helmet bag, with the tell tale lumpiness that indicates there is a helmet in that bag, one much smaller than the typical setup. She sets the suit down, and opens the bag, pulling out one of the now almost non-existent advanced neurohelmets.

"OK, that was number 3 on my list." Says William, looking at that large pile of cases, more here and there within easy sight of where they are standing.

With that, he laughs, "Which means number one might be in the other space." He says, turning around and heading over towards the other door in the split of the hallway.

Robert moves to follow, Akahana doing the same before pointing to the case with the suit, "Mine!" She says to laughter from the others.

It's but a moment before William reaches the other door, the engineer already having sprayed a green check on the door signifying it's been checked. William pulls the doors open, and heads right in, the rest keeping up, if only because they are hustling.

He steps into the large space, a smaller twin at first glance to the storage room but instead of being filled with olive drab cases it's filled with an array of large machinery with bins beside them, items lay out here and there as if the space was evacuated in the middle of a work shift.

William pauses as he looks around, then sees the items within the machinery, and whistles. "OK, this is good. This is really good." He says, and beside him, Robert nods his head.

"Yeah, the machinery here was used to refurbish the helmets and suits. They can't make them, but they can fix them and rebuild them." He says, nodding his head, "Now this is a find."

To that William snorts, "Forest and trees Rob, forest and trees. This machinery was used for refurb and rebuild yeah." He says, and walks over to the nearest machine, and grins, "But if you can rebuild with it, you can possibly build." He points out.

Akahana hrms softly, "Sure about that? I would think you would need a lot of raw materials." She says, seeing how there are some helmets set up for repair on the loading chute for one of the machines.

At this point one of the electrical engineers speaks up, "The boss is right more or less. Depending on how complete this set up is, you could probably set up to a smaller scale. You'd have to find raw materials for the automatic machines, and if there are funky bits that are super specialized, well, then you are out of luck." He says, shrugging.

William hrms thoughtfully, and then looks around a moment before speaking. "Right then. Mac, go ahead and start doing a survey and count, have a quicky report ready for lunch to let me know how long it would take to do a proper in depth survey. I think it's time for us to get out of your way." He says, and then smiles to Robert and Akahana, "I think we might be able to do a bit more fundraising now, don't you think?" He asks, smirking to them as they start to head back to the surface.

End of the week, aboard the FancyFree, on the surface of Teras.

"So, what do you think of the final draft of the report on what we found here?" Asks William, leafing through his copy as Robert, Akahana, Captain Thomas, The head of the recovery team Martin Krellig, and Chief Engineer Adams.

Robert speaks up first, "Right, we got a count on the equipment stored away in the storehouse and finished items that was still in the workshop." He says, the workshop winding up to be every bit as large as the storehouse.

"Mauser960's make up a pretty sizable pile in and of themselves, coming in at 6984 rifles, four to a case. There is another 107 in various stages of repair in the shop itself. Those can be scrapped, finished, or tore down for spares." He says, looking at the page in front of him.

"As to spares, not as many as we could hope, but there are plenty of the fiddly bits, so I see no issues keeping these rifles in service for quite the while, especially with the ability to service them at this level." He says, and then leans back.

"Which really is quite the pile, and while I could think of one or two rifles that might be heavier, I can't think of three. But no one doubts just how good of a system it is. Even if we don't want to keep a pile for ourselves, I don't see any problems selling these on. But that's not all." He says, and he then smirks a touch.

"One of the reasons we might want to sell these on, is that the cases also included more than just the four rifles, it also has the basic kit of an SLDF trooper. Outside of some collectors, I don't think those uniforms will be all that popular. Now, I hear there is a bunch of mercs out there that are still acting as if they are still in the SLDF, the Light Horse being both the biggest of them, and the one I would approach that might be more than willing to pony up for these." He says, getting more than a few chuckles from everyone.

William for his sake laughs out loud, "Yeah, those folks are crazy enough that they just might, and then thank us for taking their money." He says, nodding his head once and then pointing to Akahana.

As Robert sits, Akahana stands up and smiles to everyone as she speaks. "Well, as nice as all those rifles are, I think the fact that we just got our hands on a slew of advanced MechWarrior gear is probably going to get the most short term attention." She starts.

"Not breaking things down by size and the equipment Marty here will tell us about in a moment will let us adjust those, we have crated up in their packing cases 1230 sets. Each set consisting of one of the advanced neurohelmets, and two complete suits. Evidently, they had one to wear and a spare for when they need to clean the first or what have you." She says.

To that, Adams gives Akahana a smirk and asks playfully, "1230, does that include the one you already snagged?"

Akahana just laughs, shoots him the bird, and shakes her head, "It does not count mine, or any of those here who have a mech." She says, "Those numbers are our net gain."

After a pause, she then adds, "In fact, we set a dozen aside as well to be modified for our Aerospace Fighter Pilots, which won't be hard since the ability to do so seems to be baked into the systems."

She glances down at her notes, and looks over to William, "If we decide to hold onto say two hundred and thirty of them, and look to sell the other thousand to the TDF, I think we could net more than three or five times what we would get for all those infantry kits and rifles, not to mention making more than a few good friends within the TDF: handing them this sort of gear will make for a noticeably more effective unit."

With that comment Captain Thomas pipes up, "How so? I mean sure the helmets are a lot better, and I think the suit keeps the pilots cooler, which isn't a bad thing, but wouldn't that be a pretty small advantage?"

Akahana nods her head to the Captain, "Yes, but that's an over simplification at some level. If you had say a company, and only one or two mechs had such suits, then yes, you really wouldn't see a difference made in a more practical scale. But when you are looking at say, a battalion, or regiment, everyone just that little bit cooler, reacting just that little bit faster, able to target new targets on the fly faster and more accurately? That you can start to see pretty quickly."

"More a sum is greater than its parts when used in numbers?"

"Exactly." Says Akahana to Captain Thomas's last question before picking back up.

"In the workshop itself, there was another 274 helmets being serviced, and 398 suits, none of which are in the count I gave as all of them are not complete at this time." And with that she sits down, and watches William point to Martin.

"Good news there abounds." The swarthy man says, his voice seemingly coming out through a field of gravel. "First things first. We can hook up power to the shops and go ahead and finish all the unfinished work easily enough. The systems are mostly automated, and all the hard diagnostic stuff has already been done. That work will take about a week." He says, not bothering to stand.

"Secondly, it won't be any problem at all to take everything down, and move them into our ships for shipment. To do that right, and I really think slower the better here, it will take the better part of a month to not just tear down, but fabricate packing material out of the local hardwoods to make sure that nothing gets broken during shipment, and is suitably hid from prying eyes when we unload it later."

To this everyone one nods their heads, this sort of thing isn't something you want just anyone to become aware of before you want them too.

"And for the bit of news I am sure everyone wants to hear, yes, while the final determination will have to happen when we have the right place built up, and other issues outside the machinery sorted, there is no reason we can't use the existing machinery to restart production ourselves." He says, everyone now leaning forward, awaiting the sure to come 'but'.

And they don't have to wait long either. "But, it's not the easiest thing, sure, the Rifle Systems will be easy, everyone knows how to build rifles, the fiddly bits about systems integration and the like are well taken care of with the gear we have found here." He says, taking a moment to let everyone feel good about that detail. "The down side is, the battery packs that it uses are a little beyond us, and the gear we recovered here won't let us build new ones. To power everything up, we are going to have to use larger batteries, which will make the rifles even heavier, or we will have to strip out various features."

No one looks overly happy to hear that, but getting pretty much a factory in a can is never bad, and they can live with that. William speaks up, "And the Helmet/Suit equipment?"

"On that, it's a case of good news, awful news, and decent news." He says, giving a smile as he sees Adams roll his eyes.

"Good news is that it won't be all that hard to convert the gear over to production. In fact, if everything goes even halfway decently, we could, in theory, pump out 50 to 75 or so complete sets a month." He says, hitting the good news part, "Maybe, if all goes really well, we get all our ducks in a row, and everything runs as perfectly as possible, it's theoretically possible we might hit 200 or 300 a month."

"And the awful?" Asks William.

"Well, to get even the smallest number of both done, we will have to supply a number of specialty fabrics, as well certain electronic elements. Without those, we can't produce either the suit or the helmet at all."

To that William nods, he was half afraid of that, and then waves his hand for him to continue.

"Decent news is twofold. One, the fabrics are well within our ability to source. I don't know if any are actually being used in any quantity within the concordat, but it would not be hard to purchase the machinery to produce them. Second, the electronics. This is an iffy issue. We have a supply on hand to allow us to make roughly 5000 two suit one helmet sets. Evidently, they had a supply run not long before whatever happened to close off the space happened, as there is only a few open and empty component boxes. Once those parts are used up, we are done for making more. However, there is enough data on the various computers that in theory, we could fab more of those chips."

"In theory?" Asks William, always when he hears that he right away thinks that it will cost a fortune. And he is proven correct as Martin continues.

"We would have to get involved into the electronics industry pretty heavily. Sure, we would only focus on the suit/helmet combination, but the costs to set up that sort of chip foundry is rather prohibitive. Hell, it might be cheaper to buy a Monolith or two right off of the ways." He says to winces all around.

"And worse still, the sort of fabrication units able to produce these chips are borderline lostech. I can think of only three companies that are able to produce them, One is in Steiner Space and last time I looked into chip fabbing they had a backlog running into the 40's, the other is on Terra and good luck getting them to sell anyone anything, and the last? Objectively the best option? It's on New Avalon." He says, the frowns getting even deeper as they hear that.

After a moment, William nods, and then speaks up. "Right. Not what any of us wanted to hear, but we might make things work out anyways. As is, we can produce those five thousand or so units right?" He asks, getting a nod in return, "Excellent. That's what, 8 or so years of production, and turning out these suits can best be described as a license to print money I think we all can agree. But while we were rooting around dirtside, I had Captain Thomas here take a team over to the ships. How did that go?" He asks.

Thomas grins, as here, he is a bearer of good news. "Well, with the techs and the like you hired for the Survey, good idea by the way, we was able to do a proper review of what needed doing. Where you found someone who had any knowledge of the class at all is something I am not sure I want to ask, but Bridger was worth every penny. He took a look at everything, reviewed our findings, and took in your research on it. He says that if you give him a large enough team, a tug, and as he jokes, enough spare parts to fill up a Mammoth or two, he might be able to get them both underway inside of six months of returning here with them. I can get the Hamilcar up in maybe 4 months, 5 tops. The core issues are a little easier. Of course, both ships are so stripped down, the majority of the parts is just to get the things able to run outside of the Jumpdrive."

Thomas looks around, seeing the happy smiles on everyone's face.

"Of course, you still have to buy all those parts, but as soon as you do Boss, you'll have two new Jumpships added to your collection."

"But." William pipes up, seeing Thomas sit down. "The next question is, what is our next steps?" He asks, though with the grin, he has some ideas already.

Robert looks as if he has some suspicions, but at the same time, he has to be a voice of reason. "I would imagine step one and two would be to sell off as many of those infantry kits as possible, and really make the TDF's day. Step three will be to scare up every last Bull we can and place orders for all the parts and people we will need to get the ships up and running, and while we do that, start up a factory back on New Vandenberg to start kicking out gear, right?"

Will nods, and then speaks up. "Sorta right." He says, and smiles. "The order is more or less right I am thinking, but recall I mentioned Thun right?" He asks, seeing mixed looks of puzzlement and a few ohhs.

"You are thinking of setting up a colony on Thun?" Asks Akahana.

"More than that, already sorta started." William says smugly.

With that announcement he gets more than a few looks, though it's clear Captain Thomas and Adams is in on the secret, it's more or less a surprise for the others.

"When did you start on that?" Asks Robert curiously, trying to figure out how he snuck that through past him and the rest of the senior staff of BMT.

"Not long after I got back the revised survey data. To be honest, was thinking more along the lines of a nice little place I can retire to, built and designed from the ground up to be what I want to see in a community." He starts, getting nods from the others.

"So how much have you done so far then?" Asks Robert, the fact that he hasn't caught wind of it at least slightly mollified.

"Not much, laid out the place I want to build up a town, even had plans made up to upgrade it into a proper city. And better yet, I decided to put in the time and money to pay people to design up a proper set up from the ground up. Underground heavy transportation and power lines, above ground being restricted to farming, residential, and light industry – all the heavy stuff dug into the mountains. I want the place to look as pristine as possible no matter what it was that I decided to build there." He says, a faraway look in his eyes as he speaks.

Akahana speaks up, and nods her head, "Can't blame you for that, but you need to bring me up to speed on what's there, what sort of planet and the like if you are thinking what I think you are and planning on building these plants there, need to know if the place will support it." She says, and to that, William nods.

"Not a problem, I will give everyone a brief on what the place is like later today. But that's for later. Right now, Robert, you are right. Those are the steps we are going to take. We already broke ground on a lot of the long lead time infrastructure on Thun, so we are going to head there to store all the equipment we found here. Then, we head back to Vandenberg, and start making arrangements to sell the stuff we are going to sell, and start buying the things we need to buy to get the Jumpers up and running. And while I didn't plan on letting in the Timmies on the full up facts on how rich Teras is, once we have the Leviathan's up I might make a deal with them, and start doing our own mining in the Thun system. See if we can at least break even on the costs of getting the settlement running."

Robert and Akahana is watching William carefully, Robert for his sake he knows when he isn't being told everything, and Akahana because she can tell Robert doesn't completely buy into what his father is saying.

William sees that look and smirks to them, "Yeah. I have a massive convoluted plan for some rather big things that just got opened up by this." He says simply, not saying anything more as he just leans back with a look of smugness that worries more than annoys those that see it.

"I call it plan Hesperus