Pirate Wars Aquagea
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Imperator Pax
Talon Master
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Pirate Wars Aquagea
Given its position, given the Alavi were going to want to stick around... they might be able to justify leaving a small detachment of ASF, but they would have to be Azami Eagles, the Altair... maybe some of their Sabres... but those would be Azami assets.
Gene suspected that once upon a time the 'Junkyard' had been some kind of Capellan industrial shop... that had through age, and changes in demand sprawled out as pieces of machinery were left to sit in the arid desert. The Free Worlds League had probably blown up any of the heavier industry, but the desert preserved hulls, and pieces of metal, and since then Via Cabellero's inhabitants had drug things out from the sands. Gene was still a little leery about the risk of unexploded ordinance but as far as a muster area went, everyone knew where it was.
Centurion, Hunchback. Wolverine. DervishShadowHawk. Then there were the couple of heavier mechs. "What doyou think?" He asked the Azami man who had walked up to join him.
"They are in good condition, but of all makes, from many manufacturers." The man replied, "The handful of centurions I think came from House Davion's defense against the Dragon, but their warehouse has spare parts. At least one of the Hawks was built by Magistracy of Canopus, probably to fight the SLDF." Haqim spread his hands, "How it ended up here, I cannot say. The Wolverines some are from the Star League, one of the Hunchbacks was originally built Winter, but another was from House Marik's invasion force. If you mean to rationalize the force... you have your work cut out for you."
Gene nodded. "Do you have the tally?" The man extended his hand offering over a piece of waxy waterproof paper from a notebook. The Hunchbacks were in the lead by headcount. Centurions were represented but were all within a few years of each other represented by early production. A much wider gap existed for the other machines. If the master chief was correct then, at least four states had contributed to the pool of Hunchbacks. That wasn't really a surprise given the machine had been sold throughout was sold throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery. On the one hand... well on the one hand they had enough to make a Lance of Hunchbacks, Bubbles could work with that probably pretty easily. "Lets start with hunchbacks then, get with Darryl and see if we can try and fit them all with the same weapons. I'll talk to Bubbles about setting their pilots aside."
"All of the hunchback pilots?"
"Yes." He replied. The senior non com excused himself. There were no Vindicators on Aquagea, or rather the only ones on the planet were down in Leon. None that he was aware of dated to before the Marik occupation. For the same reason, while there probably were hulks of lighter mechs there weren't any up here. Leon reportedly had a couple of them around, but instead of desperately trying to buy Stingers, or Hermes or whatever might been available had sunk money on Quickcell tanks which had been for sale in Rock City. "If they can buy tanks what do you recommend?"
Alois Hammer had been silent up until then, "More of what the planetary government bought. If your driving concern is logistics and keeping machines running." The armor officer replied, "I'd keep the locals away from our Bandits, or Fury tanks. That preacher is talking up the latter," And those wouldn't fit with what Aquagea needed, never mind what was available, and they could afford. "The locals have more experience with fusion engines than I would have expected," So if the objective was to keep long term costs down, a fusion powered tank really needed to carry energy weapons that didn't need ammunition. In terms of internal combustion designs though, "LRM carriers could provide them with a mobile rocket battery if they could keep them fed and away from whoever they're fighting."
Hammer had a point particularly in not expecting the local 'rubes' away from SLDF cache material. Aquagea was looking at defending the town, the rail line, the mines, but they weren't going to be doing expeditionary warfare as they were envisioned. These were largely twenty year olds looking to protect their homes and families. This wasn't Luxen. They weren't trying to build a formal military structure, or train enlisted and officers of a state military to fight pirates. "Get with the Azami technicians about the fusion power plant." That was their strong point after all, they didn't like being reliant on long supply trains, "If we have to expand the armor we're going to have to buy what's available. We can use this to feel out what's plausible." The conversation died as the hover trucks approached, their blowers coming to vertical and cutting thrust to let them sit there... that meant it was time to talk about what all they had to work with, with the people who actually had to use the equipment.
Gene knew that the Azami had been working with things on Detroit, whether anything was ready, was another story. The Azami would have people here though even after the bulk of the command transferred to Canopian space. He also knew the White Shields Company was pushing to be moved up here. Bardiche under Soren wanted to be involved in 'whatever' this was, and to a less extent that was true also of the Light Company under Akashi. In short of his independent commands only Easy Company under Beau really wasn't objecting to being posted to Leon.
These had not been complaints prior to planet fall. It had only been as Claymore and Curassier had dispersed down that the attention by leadership had begun to manifest. Gene also knew that Hammer wanted a more concrete schedule on going back to the Inner Sphere because in his reasoning the company's association with House Davion's victories on Dieron, and the victory on Elidere were going to attract attention from the other states...and not just recriminations from the Combine though that should also be in the forefront.
The Combine would have been looking to even up just for Dieron. Gene suspected the combine had been pushed onto the back foot but that that the combine was also liable to irrationally strike out over helping the Azami flee out into the Periphery. Not that that was a recent conclusion, but they were out here in the middle of this.
Gene walked forward, and Hammer followed. He had met some of these people. Others were new faces, people from further out in the countryside who while probably had heard of Zathras's attack while it was happening hadn't been able to see it, and might not have come into town until all the scrap had been dragged to the junkyard. Even then, even after the discovery of the underground warehouse most of these people didn't yet have their mechs yet.
Chang was going to speak to them, and anyone else who would listen about responsibilities, duty to one's home, and family. That they were going to learn how to fight back as a community. Via Cabellero wasn't a city... more like a big town but that was at least probably mark of the hardness of the succession wars. The time after the League had fallen.
Hammer seeming to read his expression nodded, confirming he too felt that the locals didn't have the manpower, and on top of that, Germanium mining and a false sense of security could lead to a boom in the region, bring people in from Detroit... maybe elsewhere, but new people could lead to social anxieties and then on top of that, there was still Zathras. Zathras was the threat that worried the townsfolk more so than the pirates ... Black Jack's lot anyway.
"Could always go punch their lights out, sir."
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Zathras has bounty on you, after you stopped their invasion force a few years ago. You destroyed a company of BattleMechs, two ASF, seized the DropShip." Hammer replied. "Frankly if I were them I'd be worried the Company staging here was prelude to you leading an invasion of their so called Empire."
Given its position, given the Alavi were going to want to stick around... they might be able to justify leaving a small detachment of ASF, but they would have to be Azami Eagles, the Altair... maybe some of their Sabres... but those would be Azami assets.
Gene suspected that once upon a time the 'Junkyard' had been some kind of Capellan industrial shop... that had through age, and changes in demand sprawled out as pieces of machinery were left to sit in the arid desert. The Free Worlds League had probably blown up any of the heavier industry, but the desert preserved hulls, and pieces of metal, and since then Via Cabellero's inhabitants had drug things out from the sands. Gene was still a little leery about the risk of unexploded ordinance but as far as a muster area went, everyone knew where it was.
Centurion, Hunchback. Wolverine. DervishShadowHawk. Then there were the couple of heavier mechs. "What doyou think?" He asked the Azami man who had walked up to join him.
"They are in good condition, but of all makes, from many manufacturers." The man replied, "The handful of centurions I think came from House Davion's defense against the Dragon, but their warehouse has spare parts. At least one of the Hawks was built by Magistracy of Canopus, probably to fight the SLDF." Haqim spread his hands, "How it ended up here, I cannot say. The Wolverines some are from the Star League, one of the Hunchbacks was originally built Winter, but another was from House Marik's invasion force. If you mean to rationalize the force... you have your work cut out for you."
Gene nodded. "Do you have the tally?" The man extended his hand offering over a piece of waxy waterproof paper from a notebook. The Hunchbacks were in the lead by headcount. Centurions were represented but were all within a few years of each other represented by early production. A much wider gap existed for the other machines. If the master chief was correct then, at least four states had contributed to the pool of Hunchbacks. That wasn't really a surprise given the machine had been sold throughout was sold throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery. On the one hand... well on the one hand they had enough to make a Lance of Hunchbacks, Bubbles could work with that probably pretty easily. "Lets start with hunchbacks then, get with Darryl and see if we can try and fit them all with the same weapons. I'll talk to Bubbles about setting their pilots aside."
"All of the hunchback pilots?"
"Yes." He replied. The senior non com excused himself. There were no Vindicators on Aquagea, or rather the only ones on the planet were down in Leon. None that he was aware of dated to before the Marik occupation. For the same reason, while there probably were hulks of lighter mechs there weren't any up here. Leon reportedly had a couple of them around, but instead of desperately trying to buy Stingers, or Hermes or whatever might been available had sunk money on Quickcell tanks which had been for sale in Rock City. "If they can buy tanks what do you recommend?"
Alois Hammer had been silent up until then, "More of what the planetary government bought. If your driving concern is logistics and keeping machines running." The armor officer replied, "I'd keep the locals away from our Bandits, or Fury tanks. That preacher is talking up the latter," And those wouldn't fit with what Aquagea needed, never mind what was available, and they could afford. "The locals have more experience with fusion engines than I would have expected," So if the objective was to keep long term costs down, a fusion powered tank really needed to carry energy weapons that didn't need ammunition. In terms of internal combustion designs though, "LRM carriers could provide them with a mobile rocket battery if they could keep them fed and away from whoever they're fighting."
Hammer had a point particularly in not expecting the local 'rubes' away from SLDF cache material. Aquagea was looking at defending the town, the rail line, the mines, but they weren't going to be doing expeditionary warfare as they were envisioned. These were largely twenty year olds looking to protect their homes and families. This wasn't Luxen. They weren't trying to build a formal military structure, or train enlisted and officers of a state military to fight pirates. "Get with the Azami technicians about the fusion power plant." That was their strong point after all, they didn't like being reliant on long supply trains, "If we have to expand the armor we're going to have to buy what's available. We can use this to feel out what's plausible." The conversation died as the hover trucks approached, their blowers coming to vertical and cutting thrust to let them sit there... that meant it was time to talk about what all they had to work with, with the people who actually had to use the equipment.
Gene knew that the Azami had been working with things on Detroit, whether anything was ready, was another story. The Azami would have people here though even after the bulk of the command transferred to Canopian space. He also knew the White Shields Company was pushing to be moved up here. Bardiche under Soren wanted to be involved in 'whatever' this was, and to a less extent that was true also of the Light Company under Akashi. In short of his independent commands only Easy Company under Beau really wasn't objecting to being posted to Leon.
These had not been complaints prior to planet fall. It had only been as Claymore and Curassier had dispersed down that the attention by leadership had begun to manifest. Gene also knew that Hammer wanted a more concrete schedule on going back to the Inner Sphere because in his reasoning the company's association with House Davion's victories on Dieron, and the victory on Elidere were going to attract attention from the other states...and not just recriminations from the Combine though that should also be in the forefront.
The Combine would have been looking to even up just for Dieron. Gene suspected the combine had been pushed onto the back foot but that that the combine was also liable to irrationally strike out over helping the Azami flee out into the Periphery. Not that that was a recent conclusion, but they were out here in the middle of this.
Gene walked forward, and Hammer followed. He had met some of these people. Others were new faces, people from further out in the countryside who while probably had heard of Zathras's attack while it was happening hadn't been able to see it, and might not have come into town until all the scrap had been dragged to the junkyard. Even then, even after the discovery of the underground warehouse most of these people didn't yet have their mechs yet.
Chang was going to speak to them, and anyone else who would listen about responsibilities, duty to one's home, and family. That they were going to learn how to fight back as a community. Via Cabellero wasn't a city... more like a big town but that was at least probably mark of the hardness of the succession wars. The time after the League had fallen.
Hammer seeming to read his expression nodded, confirming he too felt that the locals didn't have the manpower, and on top of that, Germanium mining and a false sense of security could lead to a boom in the region, bring people in from Detroit... maybe elsewhere, but new people could lead to social anxieties and then on top of that, there was still Zathras. Zathras was the threat that worried the townsfolk more so than the pirates ... Black Jack's lot anyway.
"Could always go punch their lights out, sir."
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Zathras has bounty on you, after you stopped their invasion force a few years ago. You destroyed a company of BattleMechs, two ASF, seized the DropShip." Hammer replied. "Frankly if I were them I'd be worried the Company staging here was prelude to you leading an invasion of their so called Empire."