Chapter 7

By Cliff

Fact Checked and Sanity Checked by Drakensis

Editor (that I at least sometimes listen to, so the screw ups are all mine) Drakensis

The Triad, Tharkad

Donegal March, Lyran Commonwealth

April 3026

Colonel Cranston Snord was sitting in the main VIP briefing room of the Triad - the centre of the Lyran government. He was still mentally working through the change of orders that had been passed to him through Wolf Net out of the blue. It had taken some time, but he had started getting everything ready for the sudden shift in this almost quarter century of him being within the Inner Sphere.

With his staff well in hand and more head way had been completed than any sane person could have had hoped, Cranston had gotten on the calendar for his longtime friend…. The Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth. That deep friendship had meant that it had only taken two months of waiting to get on her calendar. Hoping to take care of more than one bird with the trip to Tharkad, he had jumped on a jumpship to take him from Clinton to Tharkand City as fast as he could. He had been surprised that not long after asking for that time on the calendar, he had been ordered to attend a meeting with senior leaders of the LCAF on the capital planet of the Commonwealth.

Now he was waiting to see how upset Katrina Steiner was going to be when she found out about his hiding of some real Star League era mechs and a Castle Brian from her and the rest of the commonwealth's people. Cranston felt his heart skip a few beats and his mind shifted into neutral as one of the most striking women in the whole Inner Sphere entered the same room as him like she owned the place. Well, she more or less did own the whole planet (and several others) so maybe it was not that odd.

He felt his stomach fall just a little when he saw that the Archon's sister was only a few steps behind the leader of the Commonwealth. One part of his mind noted that Nondi Steiner was nearly as beautiful, but she was nowhere near as striking as Katrina was. The Archon's sister had no sense of humour about flirting, whether directed at her or at her sister. It was a wonder to the mercenary that she'd ever married.

Cranston's request had been for a private and very secure meeting with the leader of the Commonwealth. This was not the meeting that he was hoping for. Now that a third person was involved, there would be a witness to what he was going to be talking about and instead of his friend he would be dealing with the Archon. That could be very bad for Cranston and his Irregulars as a whole.

Katrina took the deep bow that Cranston gave her with a slight nod of her head before she took a seat at the head of both a highly polished and expensive conference table that dominated the room. "Okay Colonel Snord. You wanted this meeting, so what are you planning now?" She ended her statement with the slight rise of her eyebrows and a tilt of her head.

Cranston did a second and deeper bow that was almost Combine-like, but this was an expected question to be asked of him. After all he was well known for coming up with some borderline crazy ideas. Okay, most were well past borderline crazy and well into the hairbrained category for a mission's plan. "My Archon! First, I need to apologize to you."

He stopped talking to let those words sink in as well as it appealed to his inner actor for the need to be dramatic. "I have been keeping some things hidden from your inspired leadership of the Commonwealth. But now I can finally show you some of the things that my people have been working on in secret." His voice shifted to sound more conspiratorial. "You never know if we have another KDI waiting to bite some of us in the ass."

The two Steiners shoot each other looks that said they were not happy that Snord knew enough about KDI to use the threat in a way that made sense. What was not known but for maybe a hundred people in the whole Inner Sphere was that after their factory on Hoff had been damaged by the Black Widow, the Federated Suns had contacted the Lyrans to find a replacement facility to make something that had not been made for hundreds of years. This information was planned for release as a show of what the future might be like, at least the future when the joined realms worked together using the information of KDI supplying the FedSuns and Lyrans sides of the Inner Sphere.

Then a source reported to LIC that there was something odd going on in KDI, and it possibly was very high up in that company. Before the carefully hidden source had always been correct, at least they had been correct in the limited reports that had been passed along. A few mole hunting teams from LIC had been sent to look around and they had been surprised when after only a week of looking they had been able to stop a shipment of two dozen 'culled' Prototype Freezers going off planet. This golden nugget had pointed out some other leads that the mole hunters could start checking, and this had led to a second and larger shipment of Freezers going to new owners outside of the Commonwealth and Suns.

Again, more information had been gained from the find and fingers and eyes started looking towards the CEO of the company as being hip deep in this treason. It had taken some more time but soon it was found with damning evidence, that unfortunately was not admissible in court, that the CEO was heading the whole treasonous operation. He had 'died' in a hover car accident used to cover the tracks of the snatch team, and the next day had started the crash of the company's stock price. The Lyran government had to step in and take over the company 'until things settled out', or more to the point that the mole hunters could squeeze the man formally known as the CEO until they were sure that they had ended the threat of this operation. His body was then dropped into a metal case that was then put into a gravity assisted orbit into the life-giving star of this system.

What was not known was that Colonel Cranston Snord had been told about KDI and it had been his contacts that let LIC know about the bad apple in the first place. He was part of the Dragoons but both Jaime and Stanford didn't fully trust a man many thought was not totally sane and the same went for his collection of misfits. That was the reason that he had not been brought in on Caveman and a few other operations of the Dragoons, and why Plan B for his retirement was still being looked at by Wolf Net if he went totally off the rails.

Katrina didn't say a word and Nondi's face went very still when she looked up from her noteputer to stare daggers into the mercenary commander. Cranston hit a button and a holo image of his land hold on Clinton was displayed for the two women to see. Slowly the display started rotating through images and just as slowly, but at a steady rate Cranston started to talk in a different tone as more and more details were seen on the spinning images. It was like an onion was being exposed one layer at a time.

"My people have been slowly working on bringing parts of the Castle Brian base that we found under my land hold back online, if with a different mission. This project is something that we have only been doing on our off time and when we had the extra money to buy the supplies that the worked required. The first part that we made sure was completed was the museum that has become so popular on and off of my part of Clinton."

He waited for a few more images to pass to hit a point that should have a major impact on the two women. "We also recovered some wrecked old Star League mechs…. that we didn't tell you about. We have been slowly repairing and studying them at the same time of our rebuilding of this underground base, not everyone is cut out to patch holes in walls or haul rubble."

What he was not going to say was that this was technically a breach of both contract and trust, both could see him tossed in a cell or even taken out back and shot in the back of the head. Even wrecked and hulked battlemechs fell under the salvage clause of the contract that mercenaries worked under, even one with the reputation like Snord had.

Cranston paused and a single room of the base started to slowly rotate in the holo display that first was a wire frame but quickly was filled in with images of physical workstations. "We have finally finished half a dozen classrooms that we remodeled into some of the more exposed areas of the Brian."

He held up his hand to show that he had a but coming. His lips did a down turned that was pure acting skills. "Each of the training rooms are only good for about a dozen students at a time in each of them not counting any needed instructors and physical training aids. With what my techs have learned already, we can start classes as soon as LOKI and LIC can clear the students to arrive for the training. I would ask and suggest that we only use one of the classrooms until the people that we have on site have finished working up as competent instructors. My people will still have to get used to both teaching and to the subjects that you would expect in dealing with late Star League grade weapons technology. It's not like I have a pool of people with that kind of experience to call on first." This was not totally true, thanks to about a third of his support people having come from Clan space, but he was the only one in the room that should know something like that.

The leader of the LCAF locked eyes with Cranston and her tone was as cold as deep space. "And what of these mechs that you failed to report to US?"

Cranston felt ice flow down his spine at both the tone and the look he was getting from a person that he would have called a friend just a few hours ago. He started to ramble a little as he answered her question and not get shot after the words fell out of his mouth. "If things went as planned? Classroom Number 12 should be coming online by now with one of them at its center as both a project and trainer."

The hidden Clanner let a small smile come to his face. "I believe that it's a MON-66 Mongoose." At the blank looks he was getting from both Nondi and Katrina he could not help but let a huge smile come to his face. "The Mongoose was the primary deep reconnaissance mech before the SLDF went on the Exodus. The MON-66 was built around an endo steel skeleton, wrapped in GA3 ferro-fibrous armor, and…. and mounted a beagle active probe." Katrina's eyes got the knowing look at the words endo steel, and Nondi's mouth fell open at the active probe part of his waterfall of words.

Now seeing that he had their full attention, Snord dropped another dime. "That would leave another two dozen machines, that we had been planning on being used for the students to work on and bring them fully back online with their labors. I was hoping to keep them in my unit, but we can talk about that… later." His plans were to refit his unit with those SLDF machines, machines that were closer to being combat ready than anyone should know about outside of one of the Snord's Irregulars or Wolf Net.

What he had said was not the whole truth, but it fit with most of the facts that anyone might find over the next few months. His Irregulars could have turned over to the LCAF a battalion's worth of SLDF Militia and Regular Army machines that they had up and running. If he had another few months, and he had not been ordered to open talks with the Commonwealth, every one of the recovered ex-SLDF war machines could be back on the firepower line for his command. Now he was at risk of losing it all. Over the years he had recovered almost a regiment's worth of SLDF grade war machines that he had kept hidden from LIC.

Thinking that he needed to put one more card on the table right then, before LIC started crawling around his base and people. "While we were working on getting a handle on this level of technology, we were able to return a few found hulks back into a combat condition with the support base we paid out of my pocket to have rebuilt."

Katrina lets a snort slip out and then shoots Cranston a level look and a slight fire comes to her eyes. "So that was what you were doing to that Castle Brian you thought that you were hiding from me."

Cranston didn't say a word and he could only look wide-eyed at his Archon, very few people had been able to knock him speechless after leaving clan space. When he didn't say anything for a time, Katrina kept her face saying just what she wanted. "Whenever you want to tell me more things that you think that I don't already know about…my door is always open. I will pass along to LIC that they can start sending over vetted people with the right skills to Clinton sooner than had been expected. I would think that the first of them will be able to lift with you, when you return to your unit."

The Archon looked over to her sister. "Nondi would you please add the Irregulars to the list to be supplied some of the production grade Freezers." She stopped talking for a second. "In fact, the next shipment should be sent to them." She looked back to Snord with a look that she knew held just the right amount of fire. "You will be charged for these few dozen heat sinks, but only at the normal rate for units of the LCAF. Don't make me regret this."

Cranston now shot the woman a look and he lost control of his face for just a few seconds before it settled on a sly little smile of its own accord. He wanted to see if he could roll a hard 6. "Well now that you said something. Do you remember that card game I'm famous for using to set up my own little merc unit? Well, now that you asked, it didn't exactly happen the way that most people had been talking about it."

It turned into a longer meeting than any of the three people had planned on even that morning, but it worked out for all parties that a 'come to Jesus' had been achieved between them that should last for decades. They didn't cover where the Dragoons came from, but that Cranston was reporting to and receiving reports from Wolf Net along with personnel and some supplies from the larger unit. It was also covered that Jaime Wolf, and the rest of the Dragoons were going to jump from the Combine into FedSuns's space. He did get a raised eyebrow from Nondi Steiner that he planned on turning over this unit to his daughter, when she was ready, to take up just being a loyal noble of the Commonwealth. Oh, and he wanted to spend more time with the running of the museum he had first set up. He had no idea that some of what he was briefing to the pair of Steiners on was already known to the pair of women for some time now.

It was a few days later when Cranston was sitting in a meeting of some very senior LCAF military leaders that all were being brought into a possible Inner Sphere changing mission. He watched as none other than Hanse Davion was giving a briefing about a major raid that he would like some help with. Cranston and his unit would be recalled via a command circuit and used to provide covering attacks to let the raid slip in without too much notice or interference from the FWL and its related military. It had not taken long for Cranston to know that his unit had been a last-minute change to the plans that they had been looking at for some indeterminate time. Before a few days ago, his unit would have been providing secondary covering missions for the real forces recovering items from Helm without knowing about the reason for the Helm raid or the other covering missions. All he could do was blink when it was revealed that the launch date was set for June.

Zenith jump point, Helm

Stewart Commonwealth, FWL

15 June 3026

Lieutnenant General Wilson Mandella of the 33rd Avalon Hussars mech regiment grinned as his command checked in. Almost three mixed regiments of combat forces was less than a third of the Regimental Combat Team that was usually formed around his Battlemechs but the constrains of this mission meant that lift capacity was limited and he'd been able to bring only a small, picked force.

Admittedly, the number of jumpships and dropships assigned to him could have carried the entire 33rd Avalon Hussars RCT and more, if they had been only carrying the normal type of mech dropships. But except for the combat transports used to carry his forces, most of the dropships occupying collars were cargo haulers pulled from all over the Commonwealth and parts of the FedSuns. To escort this fleet, the last of the dropships being carried were a powerful naval squadron made up of two Union CVs, two Avengers, and a very rare Achilles-class dropship that served as their flagship.

Thanks to the Dragoon's hidden ground team, the FedSuns knew down to the nearest hundred tons what was hidden on the world they had come to attack. The commander of the Hussars had been brought in to the combat leader of this mission under the direct orders of the First Prince and after getting over the shock of the mission and the detailed data, he went to work. Wilson had to keep the staff very small, and all actions had to be covered by Galahad 3026.

It was assessed that even this fraction of the 33rd Hussars was overkill to go after a few battalions of defenders on Helm, but a planet was a huge place. They also had to have enough firepower to keep the planet long enough to get a massive stock of items not only safely off the planet but also get it all the way out of FWL space. The colonel would have loved to bring a few more regiments with him, but each dropship collar that held a combat ship was one less that could collect one of the Star League hoarde items. That had not stopped the LCAF from wanting to send their own mech regiment and technical observers. The only positive was that they were good units, and they fell under his command… as long as he was willing to have some Lyran social general second-guessing him for the next few decades thinking that they could have done a better job from the safety of their armchairs.

Also, thanks to the Wolf Net team on the ground, the dropships under his command would have a place to land other than the drop port that a defender would be expecting them to use for your run of the mill invasion of the post 2800s. FedSun units and Lyran units would form a ring around the Nagayan mountain range, based out of the mech-carrying dropships. A logistics team would oversee the emptying of the cache supplies under the mountain range while combat units took care of the local defenders. A team from NAIS and the Dragoons would oversee a mission that only the team and six people in this fleet knew about.

The mission commander knew that he was on the clock as soon as his ships jumped into this system at the Zenith point well inside of FWL space after using what were called dead systems to covertly cover the distance from their mission launch point. The combat dropships had launched at 2gs thrust to make a high-speed run towards the planet from the jump point. The cargo dropships would be making a burn at a slower but still a bone cracking 1.4gs for their crews following the gun fighter dropships and a small cloud of Aerospace Fighters.

The plan had it that they would have to be lifting off of this planet in fourteen days or less. If they were on the grounds of this planet after twenty-one days? They were going to be in deep trouble, because by then reinforcements could be arriving from nearby worlds - ComStar would probably expedite any messages sent to arrange that. Also, the covering battles and raids along the border between the FWL and Lyran Commonwealth were going to start winding down by that date. That and it was about the time when the nearest unit might be able to make it to this planet after the HPG sent the attack alert off planet. The leaders of the FedSuns and Lyran could not risk this much shipping, if the FWL got a little loose with any weapons fire at the congested jump point full of jumpships.

The population of the whole ComStar compound was outside looking up as dropships started to enter face with the upper layers of the atmosphere of the planet. War was coming to this battered world and even the Precentor of the complex had no idea why this was happening. Peter Fregene was brought back to ground level when a crying young woman bumped into him while she had been distracted by the falling dropships.

The young woman still had enough sense to notice the bump and started to apologize with a tear-streaked face. "Oh Precentor, I'm so sorry… I didn't see you."

Precentor Fregene put on his fatherly face. "It's not a problem, Acolyte Titus." He waved his hand to indicate the falling dropships high in the night air. "This is enough to distract Blake himself."

After a few seconds the young woman seemed to get herself back together again. "What do they want?"

Peter let out a slight huff at being asked a very good question. "I don't know. There shouldn't be anything worth what looks like an invasion by half a hundred enemy dropships on this planet."

Acolyte Libby Titus didn't seem to like that answer. "I hear that many of the less worldly of the locals and even some of those in ComStar think that the Lyrans are coming to take this planet and put it under a new flag. Only that doesn't make sense to me. Helm isn't a border world - it's at least three jumps to the nearest known Lyran world."

Peter now really looked at the young woman and he had to think. "You make good points, and I hope that you have spread this to your other peers. Its just too bad that it raises more questions than it currently answers."

With her brain not thinking about the massive number of falling dropships and distracted by the praise of the head of this facility her innate bravery stepped up. "Are we going to send an alert to the rest of the League about the attack?"

The head of this compound had thought about sending an alert out for a moment. "Acolyte, yes this is a Class B station, and there is a public notice that an off-schedule transmission could be sent, but it would be very costly, and that bill had to be paid at the time of transmission. Blake has set the rules, and we must follow them, even when we don't understand them."

The Precentor was not going to say that if he sent that message that it would be noticed by people way above his pay grade. If he decided to send a message on his own, some very pointed questions would be asked not just by ComStar but also by the FWL, and every other great house that had to pay this bill over the last few hundred years that it had been levied.

He kept his fatherly tone. "Libby, all we can do is wait until the schedule to send a 'news' update to the next Class A on our schedule or wait until the local militia commander can come up with the money to send an alert out."

He raised his hand to stop her from interrupting him. "I'm confident that Blake will protect his compound and his people. Besides we are safe from both attackers and defenders, because only a fool would attack us and risk the wrath of ComStar falling all over their heads."

Now Libby looked steadier on her feet and the water works had stopped. "Thank you, Precentor. That makes a lot of sense, I'm sorry that I lost my self-control."

The Precentor let a real smile come to his face. "Nonsense my child. This is a stressful time for everyone. All we can do is follow Blake's guidance and be vigilant so that we can send the most accurate information we can." He stopped talking and looked around to all of the heads still watching the falling dropships. "I would suggest that you try to help those still in distress with Blake's words…before you return to the assigned task."

The young woman beamed with a smile and went looking to help those that had been like her until running into the leader of the ComStar compound. Peter for his part started counting dropships before returning to his office where he would start collecting as much data as he could to send in covert data back to ROM when the next transmission time opened.

The commander of Helm's militia was having a world-class bad day and he suspected the rest of the week would turn out to be a total crap show. It should have started when jumpships had been detected at the Zenith jump point, only the alert of their arrival had not come down until dropships were detected already doing their deceleration burns. At least that hadn't spoiled yesterday, but that wasn't much comfort.

The invasion fleet was a massive number of dropships with most of them large enough that some of them could have held Lieutnenant Colonel John Bermingham's entire command… and multiplying that by the number of the dropships came to a frightening total that could have crushed the militia easily if they'd landed at the drop port.

Except the dropships had not landed near Helmsdown or near the militia base. No instead they had landed near the old drop port and capital of this planet, now called the Freeport Ruins. And while it had been a major city, at least until House Kurita had blasted it with nuclear weapons, so now it was a ruin with nothing of value outside as a training site for mock battles. That is unless the Lyrans were dumb, and the commander was not going to bet on that sliver of hope. They might have social generals, but they also had a lot of heavy metal to call on to do their bidding. And he only had a mech company with their Wasp, Vulcan, and a Hermes II down for repairs and a tank company with the heaviest hitters being a lance of Vedette tanks.

Still, he had to find out what was going on, because besides a few overflights of aerospace fighters there had not been any actions taken against him, his command, or his people. He was leading everything but the three mechs that were deadlined and waiting for needed parts to make them combat ready once more in his base. His tank and infantry companies were digging in around Helmsdown waiting for the Lyrans to come to them in hastily prepared positions.

It had been a long run from Helmsdown to the south edge of the Nagayan mountains, and not for the first time the militia commander kicked himself for not doing more training events out this way and instead staying closer to their bases. John felt like he was bumbling around in the dark trying to find out what the hell was going on and part of his training told him that this was a good way to have your command taken out by enemy actions. His Scout Lance made up of a twin set of Stingers and Locusts were only about five km ahead of him, not that they helped in these mountains. It was the best that he could do…. for now.

The radio activated. "Boss! Smily and Kim just got their wings clipped. They didn't make it a few dozen km from the base."

John slammed his fist on an MFD, and he still needed a few seconds before he could reply. "What happened?" The pair of Imstar-made Defender conventional fighters had been the replacement for a pair of Thrush TR-7s assigned to the planet but that had not worked in decades. That was all of the air support that the militia had and now they were gone.

As a military commander you were expected to be able to send anyone under your command to their deaths but knowing that you had just made your granddaughter technically an orphan tended to hurt more than say a grunt that you hadn't bounced on your knee.

The CAS controller sounded the way John felt. "They were bounced by a pair of Sparrowhawks coming down from above angels 80. They didn't have a chance in hell." It was quiet for a few seconds and the voice sounded somewhat lighter. "I just got an update, we have a pair of beacons, looks like they were able to punch out."

"Let me know when any medical telemetry comes in." Just as he finished talking one of his command MFDs changed to show the two rescue beacons about eighty kilometers behind him.

John was brought up from looking at his display map hoping that his son and sister-in-law were okay when the radio crackled again, and a stranger's voice came through. "Colonel Bermingham, we are not here for you. I would suggest that you pull back to your base and sit this one out. We should be gone in a few weeks, and this has nothing to do with you. So how about we don't start shooting at each other?"

The militia commander looked at the radio and for some reason that voice sounded familiar to him. "Well, you know my name. So, you didn't land here by accident. And since that you know my name, but I don't know yours how about you tell me?"

You could almost hear the grin on the other end of the radio. "Oh, I'm Patrick Kell. I think you might've heard of me?"

John's blood ran cold for just a second and then he laughed. "Yeah, right and I'm the Easter Bunny."

A second and older voice that also sounded like he had been laughing comes across the speaker. "Oh, he is Patrick Kell. But now look to your right… on the ridge."

The massive head of the 50-ton Trebuchet battlemech turned and thanks to the optic zoom that still worked on this patched together fire support mech. He could clearly see an Archer and a massive Thunderbolt. The T-Bolt was in the well-known Kell Hound colors and the Archer sported a gold coin painted on the nose that was a dead giveaway to anyone raised within the FWL. There was only one man in the whole Inner Sphere that drove an Archer, had that coin painted on the nose, and that was Cranston Snord.

These were not just a pair of elite battalion-sized units, they were ones that were known to take jobs that the leader of the Commonwealth wanted done, and they were used for things that she had a personal, or in a few well publicized events very personal interest in being done in a certain way. The officer quickly worked that out and then hit a stumbling block.

"So, what are the Hounds, Irregulars and whoever else landed with you doing on this planet?" asked the militia commander.

It was Kell that replied. "The 33rd Avalon Hussars were tracking a group calling themselves… The Toyoda's. They found that some of them were caught selling a nuclear weapon to the Combine some months back. The FedSuns tracked them first into Commonwealth space where we were added to the command already looking for them. After some work, we tracked them to this planet and we're going after them and any other WMDs that they might still have. Don't you think that Helm has seen to many nuclear weapons used on her?"

John's mouth went dry, but he had not been given his rank just because he knew someone with some political power in their back pocket, it had been done the hard way. "Toyoda? Never heard of them." He was just hoping that he was wrong.

The older voice comes back over the speaker. "I'm not surprised, the briefing I got said that it was led by some cat named Vesar Kristofur and he is somehow connected with your old buddy Anton Marik."

The voice that he now believed was the younger Kell brother snapped: "That's enough Snord!" After a sigh he came back onto the radio. "Look Colonel you know that if any nuclear weapons are used in League space, that it would be blamed on us. If SAFE finds the slightest hint that we knew about the group and didn't do something about them, then they would be green lighted to launch cross border raids above what is normal. Let us deal with this and be gone and let the power players work out the fallout."

John made a face. "Bad choice of pun, Kell. If you're looking for this group that might have nuclear weapons, I need to be there… at least as an observer."

Snord and Kell over road each other by speaking in unison. "Not bloody likely." The latter got his next words in before the Irregular. "Snord that is enough, back off! Now Colonel that is not going to happen, you might see some of our people that do undercover work. They would be burned when you file your report after we're heading back home. So please go home and we will get out of your hair as fast as we can." He didn't need to say that they would be LIC agents used to working within the FWL…. That kind of thing could be hinted at and believed by anyone with at least average intelligence. It was just too bad that that automatically removed over 90 percent of the politicians ever born.

Before John could say more, the voice that now was connected to Snord spoke clearly. "My daughter will follow behind you, just to make sure you go back to base safe and sound."

As the eccentric mercenary commander was talking eight more battlemechs powered up and activated their sensors. And just like that the militia commander found himself danger close with a Shadow Hawk, Phoenix Hawk, Crusader, Griffin, Riflemen, Wolverine, Scorpion and a Warhammer.

The militia commander didn't need any computer support from his mech's systems to total up the amount of enemy metal he was now facing and then he snorted. Oh, and let's not forget about the Archer and the pocket assault mech not too far away, and that is just what they are using as the forward line of contact.

The locals outnumbered the closer enemy mechs, but most of the militia firepower was made up of bug mechs with the only heavy hitters made up of John's Trebuchet and his 2Id/bodyguard in a Hunchback. The lieutnenant colonel's mind told him that he was outgunned, outmatched, and out positioned. He was a box of dead just waiting for someone to make the wrong move.

"I'll pull back but if you leave these mountains without telling me first, blood will be spilled," he said at last It was only a little bit of bravado, and everyone knew that most of that spilled blood would be from his people and not the invaders.

As the Colonel turned his mech, loud music started playing from the speakers mounted near the head of the enemy Shadow Hawk. True to Snord's word the two lances of mechs followed the local mech force from half a km until they left the foothills of the mountain range. Not a word more was said but also not one drop of blood was spilled between them. It was only after they were about halfway back to base that the commander remembered about the team that had been sent from Irian Technologies looking for the rare minerals needed in making battlemechs. They had been on the search for months without success, only coming back for breaks and fresh supplies. He made a mental note to check if anyone had seen them or if they were maybe now the guests of the Fedsuns or Lyrans. It was just another, if minor, piece he was going to have to juggle in the future.

Yvonne Davion watched as a pair of Star League painted prime movers moved past with the engines sounding like they were working hard and just short of burning out.

The Hounds, Irregulars and a company of Hussar 'mechs had done a hot drop to secure the landing zone that had mostly been marked out by the agents on the ground. It was always a challenge working with an advance team who you didn't know, but it was one that Mandella, Snord and Kell's people had risen to.

From there, Yvonne had left establishing a perimeter to Mandella and the Lieutnant General seemed happy with how it was going, perhaps even confident that the 'contracted lostech prospectors' noted in the unit briefings wouldn't know how many dropships were coming much less a break down in type.

Now she just had to make sure that nothing fell through the cracks, or the egoes of units from two different realms didn't undermine their mission. But that was why military commanders had a staff for handling the little issues like this. It felt good to be back in the field again.

Thanks to the undercover Wolf Net team, they had been able to start loading the heavy cargo ships fast, maybe even a few minutes before it was safe for that loading to be undertaken. As soon as the dropships had landed, the massive doors of the underground complex opened to expose half a dozen ramps going deeper into the mountain range waiting on them.

It was accepted as a general rule that Special Forces teams don't normally do well with too much free time on their hands, it's just something that drives the personalities of the people that can pass that kind of training. So, to keep them busy and not bouncing off the walls, they had worked on getting some of the large prime movers ready and even filled as many flat beds as they could find.

Even before the cargo dropships could start unloading their trucks and Loadermechs the first loads were coming out from under the mountain range. This almost caused an issue with the load plan that had been worked out, but after a delay of maybe ten minutes the first loads were being inspected and tied down in the right dropships. This was still faster than anyone had the right to expect or even planned for before they had entered League space.

The Prince's Champion hopped out of what would have been called a jeep at the small building near what was being used as the main entrance to this underground base. The small standalone building had two large and heavily armed soldiers at the door. While they were checking Yvonne's ID to make sure only the right people were allowed in, the Field Marshal looked around the building. She saw some damage that she knew had been artfully done to conceal the sign that had said that it was the Helm Field Library DE890-2699 only a few days ago. As far as anyone not on a very short list knows, this was just the manifest and shipping office of the SLDF support base that they were cleaning out.

The commander entered the room and found that the normal spacious building was already filled to overcrowding. She moved around to the edge of the room to get closer to a man sitting on a military green box used to keep fragile things safe. And in a low voice, she spoke to the nondescript and forgettable man sitting on the box like it was a throne. "Mr. White, how are things going?"

The agent looked up at the woman and he had a sly little smile on his face. "I wondered when you would make it down here. I must say that I would have lost the pool on that one." The accent was one that could be found on half a thousand worlds was as fake as the name that Yvonne had used.

The First Prince's righthand woman snorted, "I have a whole mission to observe for the First Prince and be the big hammer if needed."

The agent still has that smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You have a whole staff for that kind of thing, don't you?"

Yvonne gave the seated man a level look but manage to not role her eyes like a teenager. "Yes, but I wanted to make sure that the merc's took care of the local militia or give any orders if it turned out that the locals didn't want to play ball."

At the raised eyebrow from the MIIO agent he continued. "They didn't want to dance and RTBed. They were given the cover story, but we won't know if they bought it or not until Phase 2." Now Mr. White did give a smile that reached his eyes. "I have no idea who Vesar is, but the Wolvers don't like him… a lot. I have to wonder what he did that Anton or a few others have done and still didn't warrant this level of… anger."

Now Marshal Davion shifted her feet, and her underarms grew just a little damp. "I don't know either, and I have a feeling that I don't want to think about that, much less ask the questions. And again, how are things going?"

The MIIO agent lightly tapped the case he was sitting on with his right pointer finger. "This is an exact copy of the library on a known-to-be-good core." He pointed over to a small group that took up the rest of the room. "Mr. Brown is over there watching the NAIS and Dragoon teams. They are two hours into reformatting and compiling the core into something that both Suns and Commonwealth's current generation of computers can read. They hope to be done in five or six more hours. Then they'll start the copying in earnest."

Now the Marshal understood why the other man is sitting, even if it was rude. He was not going to let that core get lost or damaged unless it was over his dead body.

Then the agent's chin points to another group. "Mr. Black is watching that group copying every data file and the document on the base's main server. You never know what else might be found… if you have the time to look through the chaff for the golden needle."

Yvonne gave the man known on this mission as Mr. White a nod. "Did we bring enough cores with us?" The Prince's Champion had the pull that if they needed to, they would rip a computer off one of the dropships even if it meant leaving the millions of C-Bill vessel behind.

People moving nearby had distracted the agent for just a few seconds. "Yes, the ground team found a few others that we are going to be using as my personal Plan C. Every major combat dropship will have a copy along with a two-person escort. The last thing we want is for a mis-jump to take our prize away from all of us." There was not much more that needed to be said, and the mismatched duo just watched as the mixed group of LIC, MIIO, NAIS, and Dragoons went about their own tasks of stripping of the computers in this find.

Day Four of the Helm recovery mission started with the command staff being told that a HPG pulse was detected coming from the ComStar compound, but they couldn't tell if it was outgoing or incoming. At first this caused some concerns for the Staff until it was pointed out that this burst was within five minutes of the published schedule time, and this was the first scheduled transmission from that HPG sense arriving in the star system. Now the staff was split on what this would mean for the overall mission.

General Wilson Mandella had taken this in, and he made a sour face before addressing the tent/room that was part of his HQ truck. "Contact Colonel Kell and tell him to go with Phase 2 of his orders."

When he didn't see enough people moving, he raised his voice just a little. "People I just gave orders, see them done. This was something we had planned on, not a shocker."

The sun was just passing noon when a hover truck also called a jeep for reasons lost to time pulled up to a war-ravaged camp on the edge of the Nagayan Mountains nearest the dried and battered bed of the Yehudan Sea. As soon as it comes to a stop and before the blowing dirt had settled, three people more or less jumped out of the contraption that had seen so many better days that it was held together more by hopes and dreams than sheet metal.

Patrick Kell was propped up against the foot of his massive war machine that currently was acting as a signpost more than a weapon of war as the small hover car came to a stop. The lead man of the passengers held out his hand when they were close enough. "Patrick Kell? I'm John Bermingham. So, what did you find that let your minders okayed the calling of me out here. It's not like they accepted my offer to be a FWL liaison for this mess."

The Kell brother pointed to a shack after finishing shaking hands with the League officer. "I think that I had better show you, it would save everyone a lot of time and pain."

John turned and signaled for his friends to follow in behind him. "Now that doesn't sound good at all. I was almost thinking that you had found what you were looking for when you radioed my command. I'll have to find out how you knew our encryption before you leave by the way." He was sure that SAFE was going to ask that same question to him when they got off their butts and got out this way.

Kell didn't even miss a step as he kept walking. "It's not good, and good luck for you and SAFE in finding out some of my secrets. I have to keep the rest of the Inner Sphere on their toes."

The militia commander had his head on a swivel as they walked deeper into the camp that even a novice combat veteran could have said it had been the site of a battle. They were halfway through camp going towards the center when they passed a group of troopers carrying dead bodies and putting them into a pit that had been dug near the feet of a mech that had the apt name of Firestarter. It didn't take a genius to know what was about to happen to those bodies, after all dead human bodies were full of things that could get out and decimate a town after rotting in the sun for too long. He just had no idea that these bodies had been frozen and stored before being dumped into that pit to be burned as part of the cover story he was currently being shown.

The group was thankful that they were brought into the largest shack in the center of the battle ravaged camp before the flamethrowers were fired up. The leader of the Kell Hounds pointed to a missile-like weapon that was sitting on a table made from an overturned thick plastic crate.

The locals looked at the weapon and then back at the mercenary with an odd look on their faces and the commander spoke first. "Okay so it's a missile? I will grant that it's a large one, but why all the drama."

The mercenary commander tilted his head to one side and then passed over a plastic print sheet that had been sitting beside the weapon, but he didn't say another word. The first thing that Lt Col John Bermingham noticed was the silver and black Cameron Star on the top two corners of the flexible plastic sheet. That had gotten him to raise his eyebrows high enough that his two escorts felt the need to step up to read the sheet in his hand.

What the reports said was still confusing and it was the second in command of the militia that spoke up next. "What in the devil is an Alamo?"

Cranston walked into the small wood and canvas shed right at that second. "Well, if you were on Terra, I would say a battle that took place somewhere called Texas. But knowing what we found, it's a missile specifically made to carry a nuclear warhead. You know like the one on that table." He pointed to the makeshift table with a casual wave of his hand.

The three locals got wide eyed and almost as one body they took a few quick steps back, thinking that they didn't like being that close to a can of instant sunshine that had been aging for who knew how long. Patrick couldn't help but smile at them as they moved back, and then he took a step closer to a hidden part of the weapon. He made eye contact with the commander of the local defenders and kept his face very still.

"Oh, we already removed what the white coat said was the physics package." He does a soft underhand toss of a metal ball to the local commander. The Colonel reacted like most men do when tossed something round… he caught the ball. Only this ball was a solid two kilogram and made of metal and not leather or plastic. When the higher functions of his brain kicked in, he almost dropped the part of the nuclear bomb that made it a bomb in the first place.

The Kell brother was still smiling as the other officer first turned white and then a few different shades of purple. "You can keep that, and the rest of the weapon. That way even SAFE can't screw up understanding what we were doing out here."

He tosses his thumb over his right shoulder to indicate the burn pit outside. "The rest of this bunch found a huge cave system running under the mountain, so we're having to do a mole hunt, but we will get these bastards. The Archon and the First Prince gave very detailed orders on what to do if we found something like this in their hands." The smile on the young man's face was because he was enjoying playing this mind game on the FWL.

It took some help prodded by the mercenaries, but the command of the Militia was able to get the Alamo into the back of the jeep and the ball of nuclear material was put into a second case that the commander was not going to let out of his sight, not for love or money even if he was holding it with shaking hands. There were many eyes on the group as they very slowly, for a hover car made their way back to the local base.

The weapon was real, and it had been pulled out of the stockpile of hundreds that had been hidden under that very mountain range and first found by Wolf Net. When SAFE and ComStar finally got their hands on it and the physics package, every test would point to that it was a real SLDF made weapon, and it was made before the fall of House Cameron and the Exodus. And with this and ComStar knowing that Vesar had been the Head of ROM would divert a lot of attention away from why a joint mission of Commonwealth and Suns had been sent there in the first place.

Yes, yes, the Dragoons had a hate on for the man that pulled the strings that killed Jaime's wife, kids, brother, and others. That this information would help get one over on ComStar and the FWL was just icing on the cake. Then there was the fact that Toyota was very close to Conrad Toyama just was sauce for the goose.

General Mandella, Marshal Davion, Colonel Snord, and Major Kell were all tired and so was everyone else on this mission. They had been moving at the quick step for the last seven days and the only breaks had been enforced by a special safety team to make sure that nothing dumb was done, but still it was only six hours of sleep, and many were too excited to sleep… for the first two days. It was all they could do so that this mission was not blown because someone thought they were tough enough to not need the rest and a dropship crashed on takeoff or God forbid on landing.

Loading for this mission had been tight and for every truck they brought was one vehicle they didn't have room for, and for every Loadermech carried was a SLDF battlemech that could be displaced. The same was true of people and a plan had been made to fill every empty rack or cabin in the entire combined fleet. Even before the second day of loading had ended, they had started moving tank and APC drivers to being behind the wheels of prime movers working on this mission. Even with this being a support base and 90 percent of the 'small' things still in packing material or loading boxes that needed forklifts to move them. That left a lot of things that the repurposed infantry and others were hand loading onto trucks and trailers without killing themselves or blowing up anyone.

One of the things working for the planners was that the FedSuns was only made up of 10% assault mechs backed up by 20% heavyd designs. That remaining 70% were made up of light and medium machines. With the limited number of loadermechs they had on this mission, mechs like Spiders, Javelins, Commandos, Shadow Hawks, and Wolverines were doing double duty of guarding and helping load prime movers with their massive mech hands. As the colonel watched Snord and Kell were using their Archer and Thunderbolt to load a Mackie onto a trailer like it was a huge metal cover man or knight being put on a medical stretcher.

The command staff had taken the time reviewing the data supplied and a load plan had been made, only for it to be tossed out the airlock by now. All of the computer cores had been filled and put under guard, some of them were more obvious than others. That left the NAIS team free to wander around the massive facility to see what else might be useful. That was when the loading plan was tossed right out the airlock. They soon had tech support teams following around with tools to strip out anything they thought was worth the time and effort. That stripping had started with every one of the computers or data servers that they could find. Then came the mech and vehicle repair bays that were so high tech that even the Dragoon team were drooling after it was pointed out to them the built-in capabilities.

The plan said that they had enough cargo space for everything in the reports, but with only 500 tons to spare. That spare was quickly used up and Plan B and C were pulled out and dusted off. Then the loadmasters and dropship captains started to have rising levels of anxiety with every truck load of cargo they had to find room for, and still more cargo was coming out from under the mountain range.

At first the military dropships were exempt from this stress, and then some other plans had to be dusted off that few of the commanders thought they would need. The first asset that was dumped from the combat dropships were the 10-ton APCs from their light vehicle bays spread around the fleet. This was viewed with some glee from the troopers that had to ride in the death traps, but some not so thrilled looks had come from the commanders that were signed for the light vehicles on the property books sitting back at the home garrison bases.

Many of those cheap tin cans were replaced by recovered SLDF made APCs, but there was a world of difference between a gasoline powered ICE, 30k C-Bill, and easily replaced machine and a SLDF made fusion powered craft fitted with a class 5 LRM and Artemis IV fire control systems, all supported by a 5cm laser. They also were not replaced one for one, some outside of the box thinking had found a way to put two in each of the light vehicle bays with just some welding of metal bars. Then the heavy G loading fabric screens would be pulled down and welded shut to make sure nothing broke loose in flight. This was a great way to move more than expected loads, just as long as you didn't need to deploy into combat at your next stop. Still the order was given to pass this little trick to the rest of the dropships, but very soon space was running out again. So, after that. Cargo was put in any of the open spaces, and it was packed with whatever could fit in the bay and in the support areas the bay personnel normally used for working or storing any extra spare parts or tools.

Then the 'common' ammunition was marked as expendable, and it also would be left behind on Helm. Any ammunition found under the mountain was first inspected for safety and then it was checked to find out if it was worth the cargo space. Most of the time a few tons were kept as test examples, despite the risk, but the rest had their Streak and Artemis guidance packages and the like removed and the warheads and missile bodies left in the bunkers. A few dozen tons of gauss rounds were kept but not much more than that, all they needed were examples so that matching metal slugs could be produced after they made it back home.

All of the Class 5 auto cannon rounds were replaced with ones that the double rate fire cannons used, even the missile ammunition stocks on the dropships were culled for their storage space and the same was for the Class 10 rounds dumped for cluster and a few examples of solid rounds. Any blasting powder was left behind with the newer FedSun or Commonwealth made ammunition. All had been rigged to be blown up when this mission was over and everything of value was recovered from underground.

After that? Then it was going to be down to the mission commander and his staff to make some very hard decisions on what would be taken and what would be left behind, and all of this had to be done at the same time that they were on a countdown clock.

General Mandella's stomach sounded off to let the rest of the cabin know that it was not happy with the person that was putting it under these conditions. The combined forces of the LCAF and AFFS had been on planet for eight days and four hours. The last dozen hours had been spent with teams checking every room and corridor of the base with handheld GPRs to make sure that nothing of importance and no one was going to be left behind. Now they were ready for something that if it broke wrong would end the mission commander's career.

They were going to have to launch most of the dropships in such a way that it would look rushed and done at an angle that would make it so that none of the mission's cargo dropships would over fly any area near Helmsdown and the ComStar compound. It was something that had been done before, and planned out many times but this would be the first time in over a hundred years that this type of flight plan would be used. Only the military dropships would not do that with the correct IFF on full power to cover for the rest of the disguised vessels.

The mission commander looked from his chair over as the Overlord rocked around the biologicals that were confined within its metal hull. "Comms. Please contact the defender's commander with the protocols supplied from Colonel Kell." After a few seconds the speakers built into his headphones changed tone and in a slow and almost forced voice he spoke into the boom mike.

"Colonel Bermingham this is Wilson Mandella commander of the 33rd Avalon Hussars. As you can see, we're leaving. Sorry we couldn't let you know before hand, but we ran into a problem in those damn caves." He had been practicing this part of the story for weeks with help from one of the LIC trainers.

The voice on the other end of the radio now sounds very concerned. "After what Colonel Kell and Snord showed me, you have my undivided attention. What happened?"

The AFFS military man was thinking that he was due an acting award after this performance. "We found more nuclear weapons in those caves." There was no need to let them think that it could be something else by using the term WMD on an open radio transmission, not after the 1st and 2nd Secession Wars. "They were trying to do a mass suicide or something and take all of us to hell with them."

"Oh, dear god!" came up to the dropship still climbing into the ever-thinning atmosphere of the wrecked planet.

The General smiled as he kept to the prepared script. "You have no idea. We found them rigging an old Peacemaker warhead with the largest FWL made Asset Management Weapon that I have ever seen." He stopped talking for a second. "If that one alone is not more than 3mt, than I will eat my mech."

The militia commander must have done something because an alarm could be heard behind him and loud enough that it was clear in Wilson's speakers as he kept talking. "Is that why you left like this! You're leaving us to die!"

He jumped and pulled a line from a different area in the story before getting back to the main script. "Now calm down young man. Yes, we are leaving to protect the units under my command, but." He stopped talking for a second to play up the stress. "It was booby trapped, and unstable as all hell, and my best EOD team is still down there working on it hoping to keep it from going off. Why am I contacting you? It's that the damn thing is on some kind of timer so my people don't know if they can deal with it or not. Before you blow another blood vessel, it's deep under the mountain range and my people said that you're safe from the blast now that you pulled back to your home bases. There is a hell of a lot of mountain over and around the blasted thing."

The nuclear attack alert was still sounding in the background and the other man still sounded confused. "So, we should be good?"

"Yes, but I would still get your people under cover and be ready for one hell of an EMP if my people can't deal with it. My command ship will be out of the blast range in orbit waiting for the last of my dropships with my EOD team to lift off. No matter what happens were have completed our mission on this planet and will be leaving." He put just a little more stress into his voice to sell what he was shoveling.

The engineers said that nothing should reach them from so far, but it was good to show that the Lyrans and Davions were really not looking for a fight with the FWL or its people. IF they stayed lower, it might ruin parts of the cover story that needed to last at least long enough for the fleet to get back to LCAF controlled space without being intercepted.

The FedSun's commander cut the line with a hand wave at this throat and let the locals work on any plans that they might have, and they would have those plans with evidence of nuclear strikes on their home still so vivid. Not long after the massive combat dropship reached a good distance from the planet, the main engine was cut off. A few seconds later the small drives started to seemingly randomly fire off, they were needed to keep the huge vessel in a steady orbit directly over one certain location on the planet like it was some kind of metal bird sent by Hades himself.

The head of the mission's staff floated over to the commander and reached for an overhead bar so that he didn't run over his boss. "Sir, we only used two of the most unstable nuclear weapons, but each is only 500kt. Even if each of the detonated as designed that is going to be a lot smaller than the 3.5mt you talked about to the militia commander."

The General smiled at the young Major and pitched his voice very low. "They will see what they want to see, and they will get an EMP along with the other readings given off to say that a nuclear weapon had been detonated under that mountain range. If what the briefing said was true, even a magnitude 7 would just be background noise to the main event. We just need to give the locals some time to get someplace that would make them feel safe from what they think is the main threat." He knew that it was required reading in the AFFS and LCAF to how deadly a situation a 'Fizzle' of a nuclear weapons could be and didn't need to waste his breath.

They had been in orbit for an hour and the staff had just finished briefing the commander that all of the fleet's dropships had successfully launched and were heading toward the jump point at 1.2g. Besides pushing some of the over loaded merchant engines, all of the IFFs were active and filling the local space with false names, fake EM signatures, and false engine readings of dropship types that would say that parts of half a dozen other Regiments were used in this action. The briefing suddenly stopped when the clock sounded off to let everyone know that the show was about to start.

General Mandella could not help but give a soft chuckle at the thought of what his private briefing had told him would most likely happen when the old SLDF self-destruct system was activated under that range. He was not sure he believed it, but then again all of the Intelligence had been so dead-on that he had been growing more worried that the God Murphy was going to stick his fat fingers into this operation and ruin all of his people's hard work.

The main screen activated along with a dozen other small screens showing the same thing a few hundred miles below them. An Intruder class dropship had been left behind to cover the last mission objective that had to be completed to get the clean sweep award. He and his staff had not really wanted to do this, but they could not leave a perfect support base for launching FWL attacks onto the LCAF behind. The Intruder was going to carry what should have been the EOD team but was really just a group that was covering the tracks of the real mission and in a way that could be leaked to help with the cover story to last just a few months more. There was no way that ComStar would not find out about the SLDF equipment in the future, but hiding the library was something that had to be held close hold.

On the screen it showed that a ground team was running like crazy for the dropship along with the 'fireworks' going off behind them that was a LIC special. Not long after that started, now a powerful radio started sending a message to fill in the local area at the speed of light about what was happening. "FLASH! FLASH! Football is active! I say again FLASH! Football is in play!"

Going back to the start of the nuclear age, a Flash message had only been used when Western nations thought that a nuclear detonation was thought to be happening momentarily. It was never used in training unless the radios were turned off, just in case.

As he watched the data feed on the screen of the command Overlord, the Intruder made a max thrust burn to get off planet. A Seeker was a little faster but at over twice the mass and larger number of bays it was a larger risk to lose so the slightly slower but lower mass dropship was used. The 'run like the very hounds of hell are on your heels' had been all staged, but it was sold well by the huge Movem-XL drive doing its part by lighting up the skies as it raced for orbit. The ground team knew to the pound how energetic the anti-temper device had been after some detailed math at the time of emplacement. But most of the people on the ground did not know this fact. By the time the Intruder had made it to orbit, the mountain range was already starting to slump, and the earthquakes were being felt hundreds of kilometers away as the pre party started.

Hidden deep in the old SLDF base, water hit an open wire that caused it to short, just as it was supposed to do. That spark sent a command that hit the dumped ammo and powder in their bunkers with predictable results and it also activated a pair of Peacekeeper-class of nuclear weapons that had been the least stable of the stockpile that the SLDF had left behind. The two 500kt detonations were not quite simultaneous, but you could only find that out if you were a scientist or had a metric crap ton of gear looking at the right type of data. Also, just as the engineers had said, the pair of ancient weapons were so deep under the mountain range that a mushroom cloud was not formed with only a non-radioactive dust cloud rising from a few cave mouths that no one had known about.

By the time that the assault dropship was in orbit the Nagayan Mountains were visibly a lot different and still changing as they sagged or slipped to the sides as their base was adjusted by the SLDF scuttling charge and the pair of weapons of massed destruction now in angry mode. Then the large flow of water shot out what the staff knew as the main entrance to the cache that just happened to be nearest to the now once dry riverbed. From high in the sky, it was like a firehose only larger, a lot larger and the old riverbed was blasted by tens of millions of gallons a second of water that had been hidden from human eyes for the last two hundred years.

It didn't take long for a wall of grey/white water in a wave as tall as an assault battlemech to start to race down the slight slope of the riverbed to the dry ocean. It would take some time before the parched ocean floor was covered, much less for it to reach what had been the town of Freeport were it would be water blasted by the cold waves that seemed not to be ending any time soon.

Seeing the return of a small ocean, at least the start of it for three hours, was something that Wilson and the rest of the staff would never forget as long as they lived. It was hoped at the highest levels that it wouldn't take SAFE, much less ROM, that long to get a copy of this video and the massive amounts of metadata it would contain thanks to the sensors on this dropship. Even if LIC had to help them more than a little bit to get this recording, but that also was a good way to get a double agent into those organizations. It would not take long before it was worked out that a lot of equipment was recovered from that SLDF base. Parts of it would be slowly released, the first part would be that the nuclear stockpiles would be sent to both parts of what would be called the FedCom. It was hoped that more slowly that the rest of the supply was found out about, even if that data had to be leaked to make it fall in such a way. This was all done to make sure that no one would find out about Star League field library, Helm DE890-2699 at least for the next half decade.

Lieutenant General Mandella gave a soft chuckle at that last thought. "Comms contact the planet and advise them that we are gone, and good luck with their newish ocean." Wilson turned to the rest of the staff and made eye contact with the Navy commander, the same person acting as the backup commander for this command vessel. "When the Dragon's Bane has caught up to the rest of us, I want to increase speed of the rest of the fleet to 1.7gs."

The soon-to-be Marshal got a headnod of understanding of his orders.

"When the whole fleet rejoins into one force? I want to stay at the maximum safe speed of the slowest ship in our little traveling circus until the ship's engineers have passed over the third note to my staff that we are about to damage the engines. I know that we are all running heavy, but I don't want to be here any longer than we have to. I also want us to keep updating the jumpships on our estimated arrival time on the hour. We are on short time, but it won't do our people any good if we lose any of our cargo ships along the way. The First Prince and the Archon would not be very pleased with us if something like that was allowed to happen on our watch."

He stopped talking for a few seconds and then he remembered something that he had seen just before they had started launching for space. "And can someone find out why Snord had a desk, and some other office furniture strapped to the top of his mech?"

The smallest cargo dropship on this run was a lone Mule, the core of the cargo fleet was made up of every Mammoth that the LCAF and AFFS could dig up as long as it would not disrupt or blow the cover of this mission. The modified IFFs said they were Excaliburs or Overlords or even known support dropships for a list of units. It was a very complex plan and one that had never been tried before, and as luck would have it worked, at least it worked this time. Now all they had to do was jump through five uninhabited star systems to get to the next part of the plan.

Abandoned Mining dome, Dead Planet

Core ward Combat Theater, FedSuns

A few weeks later

Simon Johnson sat back in his mini space station that had been set up on the surface of this dead world that had been part of the Terran Hegemony supplying ores before the Star League had shattered like glass on a rock. The upper echelon all had an idea on what was in the cache but there was a big difference between what was there and what they were able to get out of FWL space. That was one of the reasons that they were here, to divide the secondary prizes and confirm that the core was recovered.

He was thinking about the rest of the people that had come to this place that had fallen off the map before even his father had been born. Yvonne Davion was representing the FedSuns and Major Hanson Brubaker was the leader for the Dragoons but was supported by a middle-aged woman in a plain black dress that was like a sack on her body. They had over a month to get to know each other and to work out some opening moves that in the end they could agree with before the mission had been launched.

All of the dropships from the Helm mission had landed but the poisoned air and water kept many of their crews safely inside their hulls or this hastily repaired dome. Besides the safe tents, a dozen Mule and Buccaneer dropships that would help with the cross loading from the combat and larger cargo dropships were spread out on this lifeless world. While the dropships were still on the way to this planet, a mostly consolidated manifest was sent ahead via a device that the Archon had found years ago.

After taking the break that let Simon think about the people that had sat on the other side of the table from him. Now he looked at the memo that would be sent on K-class transmitters to the Archon a few weeks before the rest of the recovered items. This message would be the cover memo for a longer and much more detailed report that would take longer to reach his boss, there was a strict limit on the size of data files that could be sent outside of using a HPG and this was something that would never touch that network.

My Archon,

I have broken down the items that you asked me to negotiate for in his memo. There were not any Aerospace fighters or other like craft, as was in the raw data that was used to plan this mission. In total there were about four mech regiments totaling 576 combat machines. I have broken down the list by Stiener/Davion/Dragoon and then notes on each, if there were any issues and what was worked out by all three groups.

The first major stumbling block had been that no one knew anything about what is listed as 'royal grade' in the files or any data for systems that have disappeared from the Inner Sphere. The Dragoons were kind enough to have quick reference guides for us to use for all of the combat equipment listed in the first data file we were given to plan this mission. They were very quick to hand them out when this issue was first brought up. The only system that both sides were not aware of and shows that maybe the Dragoon's were not omnipotent was the hover APC referred to as the Hover APC MK1.

This does beg the question on how did Wolf Net know about the rest of them, but not the intelligence apparatuses of two great houses. They turned over these reference guides, but could there be more? Could they know more? Also, with this information they could have taken advantage of our ignorance to collect up all of these royal units without anyone the wiser until much later…if ever. My gut tells me that they know what they are doing, and they might be planning on pointing this out at a later time for political points or God forbid wanting a royal favor sometime in the future.

Royal Battlemechs

25 Assaults

4 x HGN-732b Highlander (1,1,1) 1(a gift)

It was decided that the extra mech would be gifted to the clans of Northwind by the Dragoons and AFFS.

3 x Rifleman II (1,1,1)

6 x BLR-1Gb Battlemaster(2,2,2)

12 x THG-11Eb Thug (4,4,4)

12 Heavies

8 x MAD-2R Marauder(3,3,2)

Whoever does not get one of the extra Marauders gets the odd Black Knight. The Dragoons agreed to take one less.

4 x BL-6b-KNT Black Knight(1,1,2)

12 Lights

12 x MON-66b Mongoose(4,4,4)

SLDF Regulars

Assaults
52 x AS7-D Atlas (17,17,13)

The Dragoons gave up claim of the extra mech for the 2 extra Crabs. The Dragoons also gave up a Lance to be traded for the Shoguns and no export taxes on any Shoguns made in Lyran space for Dragoon only use.

84 x AWS-8Q Awesome (28,28,28)

52 x Various Mackies, MSK-9Hs(17,17,17) 1

The extra is hoped by our group to be put in a museum down the road, but of note is that the Dragoons didn't seem to be interested in the machine.

36 x LGB-7Q Longbow(12,12,12)

3 x SHG-2F Shogun (1,1,1) all to Dragoons

20 x CP-10-Z Cyclops (7,7,6) the Dragoons will get more spare parts in place of one of these command mechs.

72 x THG-11E Thug (24,24,24)

48 x STK-3F Stalker (16,16,16)

12 King Crabs (4,4,4)

12 x Spartan (4,4,4)

15 x Highlander (5,5,5)

Mediums

8 x CRB-27 Crabs (2,2,4)

See above about why the 2 extras are going to the Dragoons.

12 x PXH-1 Phoenix Hawks(4,4,4)

12 x VL-2T Vulcans (4,4,4)

6 x DV-6M Dervish (2.2.2)

Light mechs

36 x LCT-1V Locusts (12,12,12)

12 x FFL-4B Firefly (4,4,4)

The Dragoons gave up claim on any extra tanks for all of the Fireflys and Falcons recovered. Not bad for a few light mechs.

5 x FLC-4P Falcon (1,1,1) 2

The FedSuns were not interested in more light mechs that need their own supply chain to support.

30 Wasp/Stingers (10,10,10)

10 conventional RGTs

100 x Alacorn Mk VI Heavy Combat Tanks (33,33,33) 1

The FedSuns got the extra one after I lost a coin toss.

24 x Burke Combat Tanks (8,8,8)

12 x Royal Burke Combat Tanks(4,4,4)

36 x Chaparral Missile Tanks (12,12,12)

36 x Vali Arrow launchers. (12,12,12)

6 x Kanga Jumping Hover tanks(2,2,2)

100 x Von Luckner Assault Tanks(33,33,33) 1

The LCAF got the extra one this time thanks to my skill with the coin.

24 x Royal Von Luckner Assault Tanks(8,8,8)

98 x Demon Combat vehicle. (32,32,32) 2

As noted, the Dragoons let the AFFS and LCAF each get an extra one.

50 x Generic LRM Launcher (16,16,16) 2

As noted, the Dragoons let the AFFS and LCAF each get an extra one.

50 x Generic SRM Launcher (16,16,16) 2

As noted, the Dragoons let the AFFS and LCAF each get an extra one.

12 x PAT-005b Puma Assault tanks(4,4,4)

36 x Royal Zephyr scout tank (12,12,12)

150 x Mobile Long Tom Artillery Vehicles (50,50,50)

100 x Thor Combat Vehicles (33,33,33) 1

The extra is going to AFFS because of a lost card game. You can take it out of my pay if the Estates General gets upset.

174 x Bulldog Combat Tanks (58,58,58)

150 x Vector VTOL (50,50,50)

324 APCs (20ton Hover APC MK1)(108,108,108)

1000 Utility Vehicles were successfully recovered. Mostly trucks and the like but all are fusion powered, and they are a mix of the wheeled and tracked types. Most of the useful things like industrial mechs, construction and engineering vehicles, long range transports; all the stuff that would be of great use as you settle some planet a long way away were gone. We think that they were loaded up by the Exodus fleet as the SLDF slowly assembled for the Exodus or they were lost in the Kurita temper tantrum.
Some other highlights include 6 SLDF Mobile HQs, 2 MASH units and a mobile water purification and the powerful pumping vehicles it needs.
Infantry gear;
20,000 Infantry kits Including standard SLDF Mauser rifles, heavy weapons, and specialist kits, communications gear, and e.t.c.
Spare Parts;
56,553 tons assorted spare parts made it to the transfer point. Roughly 48% would qualify as Lostech by tonnage in 3025. Over 10K tons alone are Ferro-Fibrous field armor patches. Key parts for 60 Mech/Vehicle repair bays that the Dragoons and NAIS said were cutting edge SLDF tech were split up. The Dragoon traded some high-tech weapons to get a larger cut with inside deals that I didn't find out about until later.
Ammunition:
100K tons plus ammunition, mostly left behind as being too dangerous to deal with. Exceptions made for some units with a cross selection of Arrow-IV missiles, heavy gun ammo, some carefully packed LBX/10 shells and all NARC/Artemis/Streak missile sensors were very carefully handled to remove the guidance and electronics from the fuels and explosive. Over a dozen samples of each were kept in whole systems despite the risk.

My Archon many other items were on the smaller side, like chips and other electronic items that had been found in the support structure of the base. It has been found that many of the components could be used to repair some of the factories that were based on Star League technology. These items were split as evenly as possible between all parties. The FedSuns is intending to use them for repairs and Arden thinks that the Dragoons are planning on doing the same or maybe using them to build new production lines. They might have a head start with the parts from the bays they traded for on the side. Also, I would like to pass along to LIC that the Blackwell/Dragoon security unit was a half mech company centered around what looked like a freshly repaired Mackie 9Hs and a pair of what I was told were modified old Battleaxes. I have no idea if this is important… are not. I only know that it was odd enough that it was noticed by our security team.

Your loyal vassal,

Simon Johnson

Yvonne was spinning a thin noteputer on his desktop while she waited for her next meeting in this glorified tent city. This meeting should have been done by the Lyran representative, but there was some bad blood between the two that made that idea not the best choice. There also was the agreement between the two Great House leaders that said that the FedSuns officers were the top dogs in leadership for anything referenced to this mission. Oh, and it had been her offhand remark that had caused a need for this meeting in the first place. On top of that, there was the issue that this officer and his unit would be assigned as its defenders in case anyone found this hiding place.

The airtight hatch to this room opened an in walked the subject of this meeting in a uniform that had not been used by a formation in the last 500 years, but somehow it looked to fit the man many around the Inner Sphere thought was crazy. It was assumed by many that he wore this kind of outfit or one like it to make people think he was really crazy and then underestimate him on both the battlefield and in political meetings. She knew better than to underestimate this man or anyone else remotely connected to the Wolf's Dragoons, and she had been doing that even before she became aware of Project Caveman.

The Davion made sure her work face was on when she addressed the man. "Colonel Snord please take a seat."

The oddly dressed man had a good idea why this meeting had been called and turned on his charm. "Thank you, but what do I owe the privilege of this meeting?"

Yvonne Davion could have smiled but she kept her face very still as the other man took a seat across from his cheap metal desk. "Well, there has been some questions about some of the objects that you were seen with when loaded on a AFFS own dropship. You know how short of space things were when we were pulling out of Helm."

That got her the blank look that Yvonne knew was as fake as a three Kroner note, but she didn't want to waste time after ten seconds of quiet, so the aging Davion continued. "Why were you seen with an office desk strapped to the shoulder of your Archer?"

Now Snord smiled and he moved around in the chair to give off a more relaxed appearance to the right hand of the First Prince. "Oh, I took more than a desk when we left. I took the whole office?"

One of the three most powerful people in the FedSuns rolls his eyes and then looks up and then lets out a huff. "I have a feeling that I don't want to know… but I have to ask whose and why?"

Cranston Snord had a huge smile on his face as he played a game that he had been very much looking forward to. "Why Major Edwin Keeler's of course. I'm going to have it set up in my museum when all of this becomes public knowledge. I was thinking about a life-sized statue of him right when you enter the main building. What do you think? I was torn between having it at the main entrance or near the display of his office?"

Of all of the things that Yvonne had been expecting to come out of the other man's mouth, that had not been on the list. "This has been classified so high no one will know about it." She ended that statement with a snort.

Snord rocked back an gave a laugh that was more like a donkey's bray than a human show of mirth. "Oh, my good woman, if this is not front-page news in the next two years, I have lost my mind. This is just too good for people not to talk about it even before the beers are drunk or the Hors D'oeuvres are passed around."

Now Davion's face dropped, she hated it that the other man was going to be right. But she had to admit that it was a good idea. "Do you think you have enough for a display like that and do the man justice?"

The old treasure hunter and hidden Wolf smiled like the cat that had finely caught the bird. "Oh yes, we took his whole office… down to the bottles of Hot Pepper Cola he had hidden behind some books. My daughter paid off someone to get a copy of his music play list and one of my other people has a stack of his 'official' letterhead that was found in a supply closet." He was not going to spill all of the secrets, but he had a few he was willing to let slip.

He pitched his voice very low and leaned forward in his chair. "He was a Lord of a Rings fan, and I have his Hobbit Letter Opener Set… with all three swords in the original display case. I just wish he liked whiskey or the like, decanters always are good for trading around for a few extra coins or other rare item. That was how I got that Elvis suit a few years back."

Yvonne Davion could only blink his eyes at the other man and then just blurted out something she might not should have. "Do you think that you could work with NAIS? I think that the First Prince would think this was worthwhile if the Suns also had a display set up for the public to view in the near future." In the depths of her mind, she was thinking that she was getting too old for this kind of nonsense.

Notes:

Lt Col John Bermingham Helm's Militia commander: He has 12 mechs (Trebuchet, Hunchback, Vulcan, 2 Hermes II, Cicada, 2 Wasps, 2 Stinger and 2 Locust), 12 tanks with 4 Vedette and 8 Scorpion tanks, a full-strength Infantry Company, and a lot of civilians with guns.

Why was there not a battle on Helm. It was an understrength mech company going against the Kell's, Snord, and what he thinks is a whole RCT. That would not have been a battle, it would have been a slaughter. Now if they would have attacked, then he would have done his best and died with the rest of his unit.

Onion plan: Phase A: Terrorist with WMDs this will be the first story out to the public and military and be that way for months. The covering attacks were only just a little above the 'normal' levels. Phase B: Then the Inner Sphere intelligence teams would slowly find out that a cache was found during a counter terrorist op. This operation was just too big with too many people needed to do the lifting for it not to start making the rounds around the bars after people start getting back to their home bases. Phase C would be the release of more detailed info that the Terrorist had been taken care of and they found the cache that was now being used to rebuild units within the AFFS and LCAF.

This seems rushed. Everyone goes after Helm; the hard part was coming up with ideas that made sense and had not been covered. I think that most people just want to know what was found and how it was split up. So don't blame Drakensis for this rush.

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