paulobrito
Well-known member
Nope, not that one.
Battletech An SI in the Concordat - GhostRider's Revenants (Battletech CYOA)Rev.2
- Thread starter paulobrito
- Start date
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
BQ is currently on its third thread and in the aftermath of the wedding on Terra with the group about to head off to war. A war that has just been drastically changed do to someone having a visit by the good idea fairy and then trying to kill the Bride and groom.
Billyking11
New member
With a possible independent HPG network that will be revealed chances are comstar will go wild
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
@paulobrito what happened to that second Leviathan jumpship? was it too wrecked to be salvageable or could it be recovered?
paulobrito
Well-known member
Cannibalized for parts for the other.
Chapter 57
paulobrito
Well-known member
We never knew what happened. Much of what we know was obtained from extracts from various HPGs and interrogations from various Comstar adepts.
On March 27th, 3041, a series of contradictory orders was issued from the HPG on Earth and after that all went silent for quite some time.
From the First Circuit orders were issued for a general Interdiction to be carried out by all HPGs without exception, and without explanation.
In the Concordat, emergency plans were activated and the TDF advanced to take control of the HPGs who refused to resume activity. As had been expected, several were damaged, although two weeks after the crisis started, all operational HPGs in Concordat were in “our” hands.
While said HPGs were armored and protected by elements of the ComGuards and ROM agents, the superior number the TDF could deploy had prevailed. For example, in the Concordat, only the Taurus HPG had more than one lance of ‘Mechs protecting it, most of the others barely had a lance or only infantry. Against these defenses, the TDF brought their Royal level ’Mechs together with Jacks battle-armors and several support units.
HPGs were well defended locations, but no fortress, nor designed to survive fire from ‘Mech units. In some, like the Taurus one, the defenders survived long enough for the Adepts inside to utterly damage beyond any hope of repair the HPG itself. In New Vandenberg, on the contrary and much to the amazement of the TDF when they arrived, the ComGuards had taken control of the compound and maintained it operational, but informed the Taurians that any tentative of taking its control would result in the defending forces destroying the unit. For a time, the TDF restrained to invade, while both sides waited for clarification orders.
By mid April, of the Comstar HPGs in the Concordat, one, the HPG of Pinard, was captured intact. 60% were captured but had been damaged beyond the possibility of repair with the spares available, 20% were operational and in ComGuards hands 15% were in ComGuards hands but not operational at the moment and the rest was completely destroyed. Taurian technicians swarmed the HPG on Pinard to analyze in microscopic details how it worked and the differences with the ones of the Concordat. A couple of things were made evident really fast: first, each station had very few spares and almost none in several key areas, being all dependent from deliveries from Earth, second even if the core of the HPGs was similar, the control boards were very different from those built following the blueprints of the Star League and third, not all the installations shared the same internal design.
In Coromodir, we were more or less taken by surprise by the shutdown of the HPG. Sure, I had the reunion with Thomas with talks and plans about that, but I really never believed that Comstar would be so bold as to implement a full wide Interdiction. Contingency plans, like in the Concordat had been made, and soon Aurigan forces moved against the HPG. At 4AM, while a company of ’Mechs was moving slowly to get all the attention of the defenders, every single Jacks available, 6 in total, after taking painful care to arrive near the walls without being detected, stormed the compound jumping over the walls and immediately engaging the defenders, while the single lance of ComStar ‘Mechs, all light and regular models, were caught between the fighting inside and the ‘Mechs outside that at same time accelerated to launched their attack. From another side, a company of Jump Infantry from the Revenants also jumped the walls and proceeded at maximum speed towards the inside, ignoring the defenders if possible, trying to capture the control room before any sabotage orders were sent. Unfortunately, the control room that they stormed was a decoy one, the real being deeper inside and the Adept in the post did its job and the core unit was completely useless by the time the Aurigan and the Revenants forces had taken the compound. The only option now was to send a JumpShip to Taurus to inform them of the failure and wait for a HPG unit from the Taurian factories when one would become available.
In all the Aurigan Reach, only the HPGs of Mechdur and Detroit were working at the end of April, both in the hands of the ComGuards.
JumpShips arriving from other nations told us that in the Magistracy, Federated Commonwealth and even in the Capellan Confederation, the Interdiction order had been issued as as well.
The situation was creating an immense mess as all areas, from diplomacy to business, to intelligence, was being affected by it.
In the Reach, of the 26 systems, only 14 have HPGs, right now only two of these are operational. In the Concordat 21 systems didn’t have one and in the Federated Commonwealth, several systems in the Davion Outback and others in the ex-Rim Ward Republic were also without HPGs. The situation was more or less the same in all nations as the HPG network while very wide never, not even in the Star League time was deployed in all systems.
On March 27th, 3041, a series of contradictory orders was issued from the HPG on Earth and after that all went silent for quite some time.
From the First Circuit orders were issued for a general Interdiction to be carried out by all HPGs without exception, and without explanation.
In the Concordat, emergency plans were activated and the TDF advanced to take control of the HPGs who refused to resume activity. As had been expected, several were damaged, although two weeks after the crisis started, all operational HPGs in Concordat were in “our” hands.
While said HPGs were armored and protected by elements of the ComGuards and ROM agents, the superior number the TDF could deploy had prevailed. For example, in the Concordat, only the Taurus HPG had more than one lance of ‘Mechs protecting it, most of the others barely had a lance or only infantry. Against these defenses, the TDF brought their Royal level ’Mechs together with Jacks battle-armors and several support units.
HPGs were well defended locations, but no fortress, nor designed to survive fire from ‘Mech units. In some, like the Taurus one, the defenders survived long enough for the Adepts inside to utterly damage beyond any hope of repair the HPG itself. In New Vandenberg, on the contrary and much to the amazement of the TDF when they arrived, the ComGuards had taken control of the compound and maintained it operational, but informed the Taurians that any tentative of taking its control would result in the defending forces destroying the unit. For a time, the TDF restrained to invade, while both sides waited for clarification orders.
By mid April, of the Comstar HPGs in the Concordat, one, the HPG of Pinard, was captured intact. 60% were captured but had been damaged beyond the possibility of repair with the spares available, 20% were operational and in ComGuards hands 15% were in ComGuards hands but not operational at the moment and the rest was completely destroyed. Taurian technicians swarmed the HPG on Pinard to analyze in microscopic details how it worked and the differences with the ones of the Concordat. A couple of things were made evident really fast: first, each station had very few spares and almost none in several key areas, being all dependent from deliveries from Earth, second even if the core of the HPGs was similar, the control boards were very different from those built following the blueprints of the Star League and third, not all the installations shared the same internal design.
In Coromodir, we were more or less taken by surprise by the shutdown of the HPG. Sure, I had the reunion with Thomas with talks and plans about that, but I really never believed that Comstar would be so bold as to implement a full wide Interdiction. Contingency plans, like in the Concordat had been made, and soon Aurigan forces moved against the HPG. At 4AM, while a company of ’Mechs was moving slowly to get all the attention of the defenders, every single Jacks available, 6 in total, after taking painful care to arrive near the walls without being detected, stormed the compound jumping over the walls and immediately engaging the defenders, while the single lance of ComStar ‘Mechs, all light and regular models, were caught between the fighting inside and the ‘Mechs outside that at same time accelerated to launched their attack. From another side, a company of Jump Infantry from the Revenants also jumped the walls and proceeded at maximum speed towards the inside, ignoring the defenders if possible, trying to capture the control room before any sabotage orders were sent. Unfortunately, the control room that they stormed was a decoy one, the real being deeper inside and the Adept in the post did its job and the core unit was completely useless by the time the Aurigan and the Revenants forces had taken the compound. The only option now was to send a JumpShip to Taurus to inform them of the failure and wait for a HPG unit from the Taurian factories when one would become available.
In all the Aurigan Reach, only the HPGs of Mechdur and Detroit were working at the end of April, both in the hands of the ComGuards.
JumpShips arriving from other nations told us that in the Magistracy, Federated Commonwealth and even in the Capellan Confederation, the Interdiction order had been issued as as well.
The situation was creating an immense mess as all areas, from diplomacy to business, to intelligence, was being affected by it.
In the Reach, of the 26 systems, only 14 have HPGs, right now only two of these are operational. In the Concordat 21 systems didn’t have one and in the Federated Commonwealth, several systems in the Davion Outback and others in the ex-Rim Ward Republic were also without HPGs. The situation was more or less the same in all nations as the HPG network while very wide never, not even in the Star League time was deployed in all systems.
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
Something big must have happened on Terra. Maybe Myndo did something stupid.
Doomsought
Well-known member
Something messy that rhymes with goo!
paulobrito
Well-known member
Myndo doesn't like at all that other nations also have HPGs, and reacted 'not nice'. Shocking, really.
Tryglaw
Well-known member
What is shocking is that the rest of the ComStar went with it.
It's one thing when they have unchallenged monopoly, it's completely different when they don't. Because right now, the Inner Sphere can tell ComStar "You know full well that you imposed blackout for no apparent reason other then having lost monopoly on HPGs. Guess what, we don't need you anymore. We could have kept you around for sake of practicality and stability, and because you were the one and only reasonably trustworthy and impartial intermediary. But right now, we can't trust you anymore. We can't afford the risk of trusting you again. So screw you, we don't need you anymore."
With a side of "hmmm, all those nice, sweet industries in Sol, maybe we should take them before others come in and do it themselves. Err, I meant destroy. So yeah, let's annex Sol for the Greater Good (of ourselves). Yes, the Greater Good."
paulobrito
Well-known member
Yep, as soon as C* loses the HPG monopoly is in big problems. Even more so if you consider that no love lost exist with the biggest player in town - the Federated Commonwealth.
Hmm.. we haven't heard much about the civilian side of things. Let me play around with somethings behind the scenes.
Lorie Fournier looked at the report, 20 years ago those numbers would have been insane. Every month at least one regiment's worth of each type of civilian mechs were leaving New Vandenberg. Considering roughly a dozen types of civilian mechs were produced, while a company's worth of each stayed in the Taurian state, most of that gear flowed into the near bottomless pit that was the Sun and Lyran economies.
Flipping though the report to the Sun's civilian attempts to start building their own civilian mechs in quanitity was almost painful to her, mostly from an economist view point. As a Taurian national, it was a bright spot, as they first ran into the issue of building those production lines, then running into the issue of getting the tech for the mechs, followed by half a dozen things to get a reliable factory line up and running. Not even taking into account their rulers (local or otherwise) trying to get them converted into battlemech lines.
Already half a dozen, partially setup lines had actually stopped construction and focused on trying to provide parts for Taurian industrial mechs. Common parts that required frequent replacement, which VMI was making a nice amount on, certifying the parts were to standard, not that they were required to work with VMI given their mechs were not protected, but given the ongoing issues with poor quality from the Suns industry, that was still trying to rebuild, it provided the mech owners peace of mind. VMI even had a small group of engineers that helped their certified parts manufacturers get some training to help make their certified parts and that amount wasn't covered in VMI and the Taurian government's agreement.
New Vandenberg was just out competing full up industrial mech lines, shear economic scales was now preventing areas that VMI had a foot in. Even factoring in shipping costs, most VMI mechs were 3/4 the price of a home made mech. The glut of spare parts that VMI had and produced tended to make impacts in areas that VMI didn't even have mechs in. With a surpising number of non-VMI new build industrial mechs adapting to use VMI parts.
On the Sun's periphery was even worse with VMI parts, if not full-up industrial mechs. Many planets had modified their pre-existing industrial mechs to run off VMI parts and even a few reactors that got sent out in the parts shipments.
The Lyran side of things was less rosy, distance and their stronger economy helping to shield their manufacturers. Granted, they ran into some of the same issues the FedRats did. Less so in finding trained people and money to build the factories, but still massive issues in getting all the tech setup. A couple dozen Lyran industrial mech factories had opened up, a few of them had then shut down to be converted into poor battlemech lines.
Lorie flipped past a few pages on sales projections, seemingly ripped from a VMI report, skimming over the sections that noted while critical economic areas had been mostly supplied in the Suns and Lyran economies, that actually made things better. As government restriction on who could and who could not buy the still fairly rare equipment. Not even counting the steady demand from their militaries logistics due to losses from raids, combat, and accidents. Estimates were that it would take decades to fill demand, even using conservative economic growth numbers for the sphere.
Lorie stared for a moment at the economic numbers that her people were assigning to the constant supply and demand effects. The Turian numbers were solid, less so for the Suns and worse for the Lyrans, still both those governments could account roughly a percent from relativity direct impact of the VMI mechs, likely a couple more percent from the indirect impacts.
New Vandenberg for instance, it was now viewed as a bad year, when their system's economy didn't grow at least near double digits. Even the more back water worlds were seeing a steady couple percent economic growth, even if things from the wider nation didn't impact them much. The Reach was hitting an GDP growth of 11% from all the building and expansion, New Vandenberg was dumping a lot of their lesser factories onto their planets to use the lower payroll there. In addition to trying to build up the lower worth areas of the state.
VMI's factories, at least the civilian ones seemed to be in a constant state of expansion to try and fill the demand. Even as they lowered their costs to keep market share as more advance manufacturing processes and equipment kept coming online.
She didn't even want to really look at the battlemechs. True, the export models were only sold to mercs. Not that it helped much, given most of those mercs were employed by the Suns or Lyrans. It was almost painful, even for her, to see Turian build battlemechs in the Suns. She just had to comfort herself with two facts, despite the numbers, most of those mechs wouldn't last five years before they were destroyed in conflict. Her second comfort was the shear gold mine that those mech were worth, which was pouring into their economy.
Lorie Fournier looked at the report, 20 years ago those numbers would have been insane. Every month at least one regiment's worth of each type of civilian mechs were leaving New Vandenberg. Considering roughly a dozen types of civilian mechs were produced, while a company's worth of each stayed in the Taurian state, most of that gear flowed into the near bottomless pit that was the Sun and Lyran economies.
Flipping though the report to the Sun's civilian attempts to start building their own civilian mechs in quanitity was almost painful to her, mostly from an economist view point. As a Taurian national, it was a bright spot, as they first ran into the issue of building those production lines, then running into the issue of getting the tech for the mechs, followed by half a dozen things to get a reliable factory line up and running. Not even taking into account their rulers (local or otherwise) trying to get them converted into battlemech lines.
Already half a dozen, partially setup lines had actually stopped construction and focused on trying to provide parts for Taurian industrial mechs. Common parts that required frequent replacement, which VMI was making a nice amount on, certifying the parts were to standard, not that they were required to work with VMI given their mechs were not protected, but given the ongoing issues with poor quality from the Suns industry, that was still trying to rebuild, it provided the mech owners peace of mind. VMI even had a small group of engineers that helped their certified parts manufacturers get some training to help make their certified parts and that amount wasn't covered in VMI and the Taurian government's agreement.
New Vandenberg was just out competing full up industrial mech lines, shear economic scales was now preventing areas that VMI had a foot in. Even factoring in shipping costs, most VMI mechs were 3/4 the price of a home made mech. The glut of spare parts that VMI had and produced tended to make impacts in areas that VMI didn't even have mechs in. With a surpising number of non-VMI new build industrial mechs adapting to use VMI parts.
On the Sun's periphery was even worse with VMI parts, if not full-up industrial mechs. Many planets had modified their pre-existing industrial mechs to run off VMI parts and even a few reactors that got sent out in the parts shipments.
The Lyran side of things was less rosy, distance and their stronger economy helping to shield their manufacturers. Granted, they ran into some of the same issues the FedRats did. Less so in finding trained people and money to build the factories, but still massive issues in getting all the tech setup. A couple dozen Lyran industrial mech factories had opened up, a few of them had then shut down to be converted into poor battlemech lines.
Lorie flipped past a few pages on sales projections, seemingly ripped from a VMI report, skimming over the sections that noted while critical economic areas had been mostly supplied in the Suns and Lyran economies, that actually made things better. As government restriction on who could and who could not buy the still fairly rare equipment. Not even counting the steady demand from their militaries logistics due to losses from raids, combat, and accidents. Estimates were that it would take decades to fill demand, even using conservative economic growth numbers for the sphere.
Lorie stared for a moment at the economic numbers that her people were assigning to the constant supply and demand effects. The Turian numbers were solid, less so for the Suns and worse for the Lyrans, still both those governments could account roughly a percent from relativity direct impact of the VMI mechs, likely a couple more percent from the indirect impacts.
New Vandenberg for instance, it was now viewed as a bad year, when their system's economy didn't grow at least near double digits. Even the more back water worlds were seeing a steady couple percent economic growth, even if things from the wider nation didn't impact them much. The Reach was hitting an GDP growth of 11% from all the building and expansion, New Vandenberg was dumping a lot of their lesser factories onto their planets to use the lower payroll there. In addition to trying to build up the lower worth areas of the state.
VMI's factories, at least the civilian ones seemed to be in a constant state of expansion to try and fill the demand. Even as they lowered their costs to keep market share as more advance manufacturing processes and equipment kept coming online.
She didn't even want to really look at the battlemechs. True, the export models were only sold to mercs. Not that it helped much, given most of those mercs were employed by the Suns or Lyrans. It was almost painful, even for her, to see Turian build battlemechs in the Suns. She just had to comfort herself with two facts, despite the numbers, most of those mechs wouldn't last five years before they were destroyed in conflict. Her second comfort was the shear gold mine that those mech were worth, which was pouring into their economy.
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I understand that the TC has gotten a very nice leg up in production and such because of the premise here. However, I have a very hard time believing that they are somehow able to get to 75% below other producers AFTER SHIPPING. The costs for interstellar shipment in battletech is rediculously expensive.
Battletech interstellar shipping isn't that expensive, during the SL they were shipping bulk ore from the periphery. The thing that gets you currently in BT is the scarcity of shipping capacity. Which is heavily mitigated by the fact that VMI has a shipyard and repair facility in system, which draws a fairly substantial amount of jumpship traffic on its own. So they are far less constrained by shipping scarcity.
On the cost side of things, VMI has a set of SL tech factories and the full knowledge for them. Everyone else is dealing with a partial memory core so they don't have full SL factory knowledge. Combined with the fact that most nations in the sphere are pouring their efforts into military construction, which gets the best people and equipment, with the scraps left for the civilian side.
Those few industrial mech factories in the Suns side of things will likely charge twice as much as they should to build a industrial mech due to all the work arounds and increased time. This is at best as there are some battle mech factories that have to hand build everything, and this is with the government supporting them to get as many mech as possible, but only produce numbers in the single digits. Now convert this to lower priority industrial mech production, making those industrial mechs closer to artisanal products then mass produced industrial mechs. While VMI's factories on their own likely would charge as much as a normal SL factory would to produce a mech, combined with the scale that they are producing them at and you get an even cheaper mech.
On the flip side, VMI's factory complex likely costs a fair bit more a normal SL factory. Using specialized equipment to produce masses of a single part, but can do it far cheaper per part than an normal SL factory. Which is partially why I had VMI dumping lots of spare parts onto the market, as they are making more parts than chassis. Setting up a factory complex like that is capital intensive, but it drives down the cost per part massively. Given VMI is trying to fill up a black hole (market wise), I would expect them to go this route to produce as much as possible, the side benefit is that it makes everything cheaper.
The SL didn't do this so much as they just built automated factories everywhere that couldn't produce much, but did produce a steady stream. If you look at any SL era factory they produce a painfully small amount, a mech every three days in some cases (one every two days for some others), but they had them everywhere.
paulobrito
Well-known member
Very nice.
Chapter 58
paulobrito
Well-known member
Interrogation of the captured Adepts and consultation of the Logs, demonstrated that the orders for the Interdiction issued on the 27th of March had the seal of the First Circuit. These orders indicated that subsequent instructions for ROM agents would follow and that the ComGuards should help ROM as much as possible. About 40 minutes later, a message sent by the Precentor Martial instead gave orders for the ComGuards to take control of the facilities, place all ROM agents in custody and resume communications. So, the supreme commander of the ComGuards was in the opposing side of the First Circuit, good to known that ComStar was suffering a kind of Civil War. No instructions for ROM could be found – there were two options, or they were not sent, which was considered doubtful, or they were destroyed immediately and the records erased.
As far as the TDF / TMI was able to find out, no communications from Earth HPG reached the Concordat after the one of the Precentor Martial.
In the Taurus HPG compound, after the technicians made sure it that the ‘core’ HPG was operational, a replacement of the ComStar control boards and software with Concordat equivalent was tested. To the surprise of some and to everyone liking, the HPG accepted the new hardware and software and was able to send a message to Bolthole and receive one, confirming the suspicions that the HPG 'core' was the same, or at least compatible, and that ComStar had 'just' exchanged the software and control boards. This was great news, because in most captured HPGs the core system was intact, leaving 'only' to produce the respective control boards. It would take months if not years for every HPG in the Concordat and the Reach to be operational but it would still be a lot faster (and cheaper) than to build complete HPGs from scratch.
However, the lack of communications was causing delays and increased costs because of the need to use an unusual number of JumpShips to transmit messages, like the Pony Express. Fortunately, since it wasn't the first time Comstar used an Interdiction, most if not all nations activated the contingency plans that existed in case they would be targeted by it, most plans resolving around a kinf of Pony Express service.
What no one had planned or anticipated was a total Interdiction. In contrast, the interrogations showed that Comstar didn’t have, or only had very basic plans to counter one or more nations taking over the HPGs. Perhaps because, until recently, they were the only ones capable of producing and understanding then enough to operate them. But, in the Concordat – and the Reach by association – and in the Federated Commonwealth, this was no longer true.
With the 'war' against Comstar 'declared' and the fact that the production of native HPGs had become a top priority, the controller board designs needed to convert the ex-Comstar HPGs to our standard HPGs and put them in operation under new management as soon as possible, effectively ending the Interdiction, were transmitted to all companies in the Concordat with the technical capability to produce them. O-P Computer Electronics and Pinard-Dicolais Electronics with the help of other companies and generous emergency government funds were planning to start limited production of the first series in early 3042.
During April, 3041, a series of high tech companies were attacked or sabotaged by unknown forces, that everybody suspected were ROM teams, and at the same time some important or well placed people were killed around the Concordat. Well, not all the Concordat, more specifically, in worlds that had Comstar HPGs…
One of these attacks was against the V4RU department of VMI, targeting the advanced ex-Argo machinery. While in the end, thanks to the surprise and advanced technology, specially in the stealth department, they succeeding in destroying or damaging much of the present equipment, the attackers were all eliminated, thanks to the numerous defenses, that included security ’Mechs, Jacks, military grade defensive turrets and the company security team, even if our forces suffered more casualties than had been expected.
And the mystery of the attackers deepened, when their equipment was inspected as it was an unknown type of PA(L) armor, with more than decent protection and exceptional stealth capabilities. When the results of said inspection was send to me in Coromodir, I identified it as a Tornado PA(L), used by ROM elite strike / infiltration / assassination teams. I immediately sent orders, with the dammit delay that we had in this troubled time, to send these to the R&D teams for further and deeper analyzes and to try to replicate these advanced suits. I only had to hope that VMI research teams would be up to the task.
While they caused a lot of damage, by the end of July, these ‘terrorists’ groups inside the Concordat were all terminated or gone in hiding.
The ComStar compounds inside the Concordat and Reach that were in the hands of the ComGuards but not operational, were soon also captured by TDF forces. In a few, the ComGuards presented little resistance, but in most of them they fought to the bitter end, against forces much superior in numbers. One particular system got more attention. From the beginning me and Kamea found it strange the disproportionate number of personnel in the Aea ComStar compound.. While its HPG had been sabotaged like so many others, the computers and data files were captured intact. And we hit jackpot in that system. This was the HQ of the Rimward Operations Area of the Explorer Corps, with plenty of data on systems that nobody other than ComStar knew about. Unfortunately, the locations of the DRUM network Skyward HPG relays in the area were not in the files we got our hands on.
As far as the TDF / TMI was able to find out, no communications from Earth HPG reached the Concordat after the one of the Precentor Martial.
In the Taurus HPG compound, after the technicians made sure it that the ‘core’ HPG was operational, a replacement of the ComStar control boards and software with Concordat equivalent was tested. To the surprise of some and to everyone liking, the HPG accepted the new hardware and software and was able to send a message to Bolthole and receive one, confirming the suspicions that the HPG 'core' was the same, or at least compatible, and that ComStar had 'just' exchanged the software and control boards. This was great news, because in most captured HPGs the core system was intact, leaving 'only' to produce the respective control boards. It would take months if not years for every HPG in the Concordat and the Reach to be operational but it would still be a lot faster (and cheaper) than to build complete HPGs from scratch.
However, the lack of communications was causing delays and increased costs because of the need to use an unusual number of JumpShips to transmit messages, like the Pony Express. Fortunately, since it wasn't the first time Comstar used an Interdiction, most if not all nations activated the contingency plans that existed in case they would be targeted by it, most plans resolving around a kinf of Pony Express service.
What no one had planned or anticipated was a total Interdiction. In contrast, the interrogations showed that Comstar didn’t have, or only had very basic plans to counter one or more nations taking over the HPGs. Perhaps because, until recently, they were the only ones capable of producing and understanding then enough to operate them. But, in the Concordat – and the Reach by association – and in the Federated Commonwealth, this was no longer true.
With the 'war' against Comstar 'declared' and the fact that the production of native HPGs had become a top priority, the controller board designs needed to convert the ex-Comstar HPGs to our standard HPGs and put them in operation under new management as soon as possible, effectively ending the Interdiction, were transmitted to all companies in the Concordat with the technical capability to produce them. O-P Computer Electronics and Pinard-Dicolais Electronics with the help of other companies and generous emergency government funds were planning to start limited production of the first series in early 3042.
During April, 3041, a series of high tech companies were attacked or sabotaged by unknown forces, that everybody suspected were ROM teams, and at the same time some important or well placed people were killed around the Concordat. Well, not all the Concordat, more specifically, in worlds that had Comstar HPGs…
One of these attacks was against the V4RU department of VMI, targeting the advanced ex-Argo machinery. While in the end, thanks to the surprise and advanced technology, specially in the stealth department, they succeeding in destroying or damaging much of the present equipment, the attackers were all eliminated, thanks to the numerous defenses, that included security ’Mechs, Jacks, military grade defensive turrets and the company security team, even if our forces suffered more casualties than had been expected.
And the mystery of the attackers deepened, when their equipment was inspected as it was an unknown type of PA(L) armor, with more than decent protection and exceptional stealth capabilities. When the results of said inspection was send to me in Coromodir, I identified it as a Tornado PA(L), used by ROM elite strike / infiltration / assassination teams. I immediately sent orders, with the dammit delay that we had in this troubled time, to send these to the R&D teams for further and deeper analyzes and to try to replicate these advanced suits. I only had to hope that VMI research teams would be up to the task.
While they caused a lot of damage, by the end of July, these ‘terrorists’ groups inside the Concordat were all terminated or gone in hiding.
The ComStar compounds inside the Concordat and Reach that were in the hands of the ComGuards but not operational, were soon also captured by TDF forces. In a few, the ComGuards presented little resistance, but in most of them they fought to the bitter end, against forces much superior in numbers. One particular system got more attention. From the beginning me and Kamea found it strange the disproportionate number of personnel in the Aea ComStar compound.. While its HPG had been sabotaged like so many others, the computers and data files were captured intact. And we hit jackpot in that system. This was the HQ of the Rimward Operations Area of the Explorer Corps, with plenty of data on systems that nobody other than ComStar knew about. Unfortunately, the locations of the DRUM network Skyward HPG relays in the area were not in the files we got our hands on.
Chapter 59
paulobrito
Well-known member
Aurigan Reach, Coromodir, Cordia City, Arano Palace, High Lady Accommodations
'From what I can conclude from the data obtained, the Magistracy, the Capellans, and the Leaguers are not taking control of the HPGs, regarding the Outworlds Alliance and Rasalhague, we don’t have any information. On the other side, we, the Concordat and the Federated Commonwealth are at war with ComStar and regarding Kurita, the information is contradictory to say the least' was my summary regarding the current crisis.
'It's a good thing that in the last decade the Concordat has been producing Invaders, or the situation would be much worse,' Kamea said, not contesting my conclusions 'even if it has been at a huge cost to the Reach’.
'I detected something strange in the communications with Davion - anything commercial or sent and received by us, takes the right time if you know what JumpShips they're using for mail, but the FedRat ambassador gets his orders from New Avalon and Tharkad clearly faster than they should be, compared to the other messages' Kamea said, looking at me, 'do you know something?’
‘Well Kammy , for starters, that ambassador is sloppy, to reveal that piece of information so easily, but there are rumors that they have an alternative messaging system since the end of the latest Succession War, slower than HPGs and with very limited traffic. That could be it', was my answer. ‘After all, the researchers that both we and the Concordat have studying at NAIS have noted that several Davion and Steiner top researchers in the field of communications rarely appear at NAIS, the intelligence services here and in Taurus think that they are probably involved in another program.’
'A program that officially does not exist, but is active and allows limited communications and alternatives to the HPG network?' asked Kamea, to clarify, and after I agreed, 'of which so far there are only rumors, but the speed of diplomatic messages seems to confirm its existence. As far as I know the Reach has nothing to negotiate for an entry into that program, and the Concordat?’ asked Kamea.’So, Professor, ’she has the guts to wink at me,’ in your extensive databases that you like so much to look, is there anything at all that could give us some help negotiating with the FedRats?’
‘Not that I know of either, but maybe there's something the Federated Commonwealth is interested in.’ Kamea without speaking, raised an eyebrow, inviting me to continue 'on the list of secret SLDF bases, which the Argus database contained, there was one that I never investigated because of its location, but as far as I could tell, it was never discovered after Kerensky left. The reason I never visited it was that, unlike the others that were all in the Periphery, this one wad deep inside the Lyran Commonwealth, relatively close to Tharkad, and very far away from our borders'.
‘And do you think that such base will have something of interest to our 'friends'?" asked Kamea with an interested look.
'I have no way of knowing, of course, the database only has the location and type of base. But what I did find was that this base or another in that area, one that I never found anything about, has been used to repair WarShips by Kerensky during the Amaris Crisis, and it never appeared in any report or any history book or study on SLDF after that, at least none that I could get my hands on. Everything indicates that whatever was there must still be there.’
After thinking for a while Kamea turned to me again and decided 'Pass that information to Thomas, let him decide. The last time we took initiatives of this size the results were not pleasant to say the least, and he was furious with us'.
But all of this suddenly moved to second place when a Comstar JumpShip arrived at Taurus system with a diplomatic team.
'From what I can conclude from the data obtained, the Magistracy, the Capellans, and the Leaguers are not taking control of the HPGs, regarding the Outworlds Alliance and Rasalhague, we don’t have any information. On the other side, we, the Concordat and the Federated Commonwealth are at war with ComStar and regarding Kurita, the information is contradictory to say the least' was my summary regarding the current crisis.
'It's a good thing that in the last decade the Concordat has been producing Invaders, or the situation would be much worse,' Kamea said, not contesting my conclusions 'even if it has been at a huge cost to the Reach’.
'I detected something strange in the communications with Davion - anything commercial or sent and received by us, takes the right time if you know what JumpShips they're using for mail, but the FedRat ambassador gets his orders from New Avalon and Tharkad clearly faster than they should be, compared to the other messages' Kamea said, looking at me, 'do you know something?’
‘Well Kammy , for starters, that ambassador is sloppy, to reveal that piece of information so easily, but there are rumors that they have an alternative messaging system since the end of the latest Succession War, slower than HPGs and with very limited traffic. That could be it', was my answer. ‘After all, the researchers that both we and the Concordat have studying at NAIS have noted that several Davion and Steiner top researchers in the field of communications rarely appear at NAIS, the intelligence services here and in Taurus think that they are probably involved in another program.’
'A program that officially does not exist, but is active and allows limited communications and alternatives to the HPG network?' asked Kamea, to clarify, and after I agreed, 'of which so far there are only rumors, but the speed of diplomatic messages seems to confirm its existence. As far as I know the Reach has nothing to negotiate for an entry into that program, and the Concordat?’ asked Kamea.’So, Professor, ’she has the guts to wink at me,’ in your extensive databases that you like so much to look, is there anything at all that could give us some help negotiating with the FedRats?’
‘Not that I know of either, but maybe there's something the Federated Commonwealth is interested in.’ Kamea without speaking, raised an eyebrow, inviting me to continue 'on the list of secret SLDF bases, which the Argus database contained, there was one that I never investigated because of its location, but as far as I could tell, it was never discovered after Kerensky left. The reason I never visited it was that, unlike the others that were all in the Periphery, this one wad deep inside the Lyran Commonwealth, relatively close to Tharkad, and very far away from our borders'.
‘And do you think that such base will have something of interest to our 'friends'?" asked Kamea with an interested look.
'I have no way of knowing, of course, the database only has the location and type of base. But what I did find was that this base or another in that area, one that I never found anything about, has been used to repair WarShips by Kerensky during the Amaris Crisis, and it never appeared in any report or any history book or study on SLDF after that, at least none that I could get my hands on. Everything indicates that whatever was there must still be there.’
After thinking for a while Kamea turned to me again and decided 'Pass that information to Thomas, let him decide. The last time we took initiatives of this size the results were not pleasant to say the least, and he was furious with us'.
But all of this suddenly moved to second place when a Comstar JumpShip arrived at Taurus system with a diplomatic team.
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
*Random person that is totally not Kemea* *raised eyebrow.* well that was convenient.
*Random person that is totally not the SI who's name I honestly forget right now.* :trap?
*Random person that is totally not Kamea* :trap
OOC: Its Comstar of course I am paranoid about them.
paulobrito
Well-known member
SI - Jean-Luc Bassot (Arano?)
Relax, at this time is 'just' the winning side of C* little civil war that wants to re-start business, as usual, / dictate the rules.
Relax, at this time is 'just' the winning side of C* little civil war that wants to re-start business, as usual, / dictate the rules.
Yeah... C* getting back their HPGs from the Tarians?
"Well, we never wanted to be part of the SL and since you are the 'remainder' of the SL. How about, no? Yes, no, sounds about right. It has been effectively dead for around 200 years."
Along with, "Hey Ambassidor, you are sloppy, but could you send this message to your boss. About a highly likely old SL naval base, you may want to not send this though any C* HPGs or those ships there aren't likely to be there when you arrive."
"Well, we never wanted to be part of the SL and since you are the 'remainder' of the SL. How about, no? Yes, no, sounds about right. It has been effectively dead for around 200 years."
Along with, "Hey Ambassidor, you are sloppy, but could you send this message to your boss. About a highly likely old SL naval base, you may want to not send this though any C* HPGs or those ships there aren't likely to be there when you arrive."