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Nautilus Expedition
Chapter 29 - Aurigan Dreams (BattleTech CYOA)[]
Problems Arise[]
“Are you sure that staying in orbit is a good idea?” I ask Lord Karosas as I join him and Lord Espinosa in the Argo's '’command center, “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have some boots on the ground?”
“Not until we have ascertained the status of Outpost Castle Nautilus’ automated defenses." replies the older man, “They won’t have anything capable of hurting us up here in orbit, but they could be serious enough to cost us some ground forces. If there is a chance we can neutralize them without a fight, then the best course of action is to hold our forces in reserve until a fight has been avoided or has become unavoidable.”
“I’ll trust your judgement." I say, turning to the holographic projection of Outpost Castle Nautilus in the middle of the command center.
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Holotank viewing the situation.
This part of the Argo might have once been as impressive as the rest of the ship, but thanks to the damage that the DropShip has sustained over the centuries, that is no longer true. Doctor Murad and the engineers at Tyrlon might have gotten the holographic display working again, but they had to do so with modern knowledge and parts. It might have once shared the Argo's '’Star League engineering, but these days, it is nothing too special, just high end by the standards of the Periphery.
“Thank you, Colonel." replies Lord Karosas, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to focus on getting us access to Outpost Castle Nautilus. I would not suffer any interruptions if I don’t have to.”
“Right, I’ll just go over there." I tell him before wandering off to the other side of the command center whilst Lord Karosas gets to work at one of the terminals.
“How are things going, boss?” says Belinda as the Canopian woman floats into the command center and makes a beeline for me, “Do you need my boys and girls in their ‘Mechs?”
“Not yet." I answer, “Lord Karosas is trying to get us access without a fight.”
“The MechWarrior in me is disappointed at the prospect of there being no action." replies Belinda as she reaches me, “But the Mercenary and leader in me appreciates the chance to get the job done without any risk of death or property damage.”
“I know what you mean." I say, “Part of me wants to do something, but most of me is fully aware that it will work out better if we don’t have to do anything.”
“Hmm." purrs Belinda, “Got an answer for me yet?”
“I’m going to need some time to think." I tell her, “Don’t expect a response one way or another before we get back to Coromodir.”
“I’ll be waiting then." says Belinda, “Mind if-”
“I have the Argo handshaking with Castle Nautilus." declares Lord Karosas, “Waiting for-ah, got the command line up and running. Now, where is the Argo’s ID code?”
Part of me wants to speak up, to ask what is going on, to get involved in the action, but I stay silent. Lord Karosas is one of the Reach’s best and I wouldn’t want to distract him. Especially after he specifically asked me to not interrupt him.
“Okay, that does it." continues Lord Karosas, “Now where are the door controls-ah, there they are, Let’s see…blast, I was hoping the codes would be enough.”
“Is there a problem, Simon?” inquires Lord Espinosa.
“A small one." answers Lord Karosas, “You see, Santiago, we need both valid SLDF codes and valid access codes to gain entry to Outpost Castle Nautilus. The Argo provides the former, but it is completely lacking when it comes to the door codes?”
“What are our options?” asks Lord Espinosa sharply.
“Beyond trying the brute force approach?” replies Lord Karosas, “Which for the record, I strongly advise against until we exhausted all other options. I can try something, where is the-found it. Okay, Santiago, I am going to need some time to work. I have an idea that might work, but I would not get interrupted if it can be helped.”
“Of course." says Lord Espinosa and Lord Karosas gets to work.
He plugs something into the terminal-wait, that is the advanced electronic codebreaker. I recognize it from when we first retrieved the Argo. Oh crap, hopefully this doesn’t trigger the automated defenses like it did in canon.
“This should work…ah, got the door codes-damn it." says the man before saying a few mild curses as he works away furiously at his terminal.
“Belinda." I say quietly to my battalion commander as we watch Lord Karosas frantically doing whatever he is doing, “You may want to get your company ready for a combat drop.”
“Got it, boss." she replies before speedily leaving the command center with the agile grace of someone who has plenty of experience moving in zero gravity.
I spare her a glance as she leaves before turning back to Lord Karosas as he is struggling with whatever he is doing. I strongly suspect he has found the Locura virus, but the Argo isn’t in a boatload of chaos. I remember there being a lot of bad things happening to the Argo when Doctor Murad found and unleashed the Locura virus.
Unless I’m misremembering things? It has been several months since the year started.
“Damn it." mutters Lord Karosas into the silence of the command center as his terminal gives out.
“Simon, what happened?” demands Lord Espinosa, his tone making it clear he’ll be getting answers.
“I used the code breaker to access a sealed portion of the Outpost Castle’s database." answers Lord Karosas with a grimace, “I hoped to find the door codes in there and I did, but I also found something else. I would estimate that it was either part of what they were researching here or an aspect of the security system. Fortunately, I had the foresight to isolate this terminal from the rest of the ship systems.
“Bad news is that I will need to set up a new terminal to continue gaining access to Castle Nautilus. The good news is I now know which files have the door codes and I’ll be able to get them without having to touch other parts of the sealed database.”
“Is it still possible to gain access without a fight?” asks Lord Espinosa.
“It should be." replies Lord Karosas, “That said, don’t send any DropShips or ground forces after Castle Nautilus at the moment. Whatever I unleashed was able to trigger the defences. I’m not sure what those consist of, but given this is an Outpost Castle, it should be capable of shooting down a few DropShips at once.”
“Noted." says Lord Espinosa as Lord Karosas gets to work.
Once again, I am left watching, unable to assist as Lord Karosas and Doctor Murad get to work on preparing another terminal for his next attempt to access Castle Nautilus. Maybe my Phantom ‘Mech could be used against the automated defenses? If ‘Mechs, tanks and the like can’t detect me, I doubt the drones will be able to. I know for a fact that the turrets have been unable to sense me back on Coromodir and the same should apply for the turrets here at Castle Nautilus.
But Lord Karosas needs some time and space to work so I give it to him, even as I itch to do something, to do anything.
“I am done." declares Lord Karosas after a couple of minutes, a clear glint of victory in his voice, “I have successfully gained access to Outpost Castle Nautilus.”
Early Discoveries while exploring Nautilus[]
I insist on being part of the initial group that enters Castle Nautilus. Both Lord Espinosa and Lord Karosas do the same as none of us are going to pass up the chance to be amongst the first to discover the secrets of Outpost Castle Nautilus.
Unlike the other two, I already have some idea of what to expect. There should be an Atlas, Highlander, Black Knight and Griffin amongst several other ‘Mechs and those four will be the special variants used by the SLDF’s Royal Command. So four Royal ‘Mechs, two of them Assaults. That isn’t much, but even just that would be significant.
And given the discussion between the older versions of Kamea and Yang, I am certain there will be plenty more goodies hidden away in Castle Nautilus. That cutscene certainly had more than four ‘Mechs in it.
Belinda gives me a ride in the rumble seat of her Zeus as we enter Castle Nautilus. Lord Espinosa and Lord Karosas are taking one of the APCs. We disembark once we are inside and away from the freezing cold of Artru and I am left in awe at walking through the corridors of Castle Nautilus. Objectively speaking, there is nothing particularly special about the sight, but I know that I am walking around inside an Outpost Castle. It isn’t the same thing as a Castle Brian, but it is the next best thing. Especially since it is fully intact and functional rather than being in ruins or a mess.
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Zeus Assault 'Mech
“Take that corridor and down the left and then right, you’ll find the ‘Mechs,” says Lord Karosas after he has accessed one of Castle Nautilus’ computers, “I’m sure that is what you will be most interested in. I’m going to go through the systems to try and find a map and a list of this place’s assets. Maybe even figure out the purpose of this place and what happened to it.”
“I’ll leave you to it, Simon,” replies Lord Espinosa, “You have the confidence of both myself and Tamati when it comes to this.”
“You don’t need to tell me that.” says Lord Karosas, sounding distracted as he waves away Lord Espinosa.
“In that case, shall we?” asks Lord Espinosa as he turns his attention to me.
“Sure,” I reply, “I want to see what Castle Nautilus has in store for us. Major Arkos, want to come with us?”
“You bet,” replies Belinda, “Lara, you’re in charge here while I’m with the bosses.”
With one of Lord Espinosa’s bodyguards taking point, we quickly find the storeroom in question. It is hard to miss when a single peak inside reveals all of ‘Mechs standing there, all lined up in rows.
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Spider Light 'Mech
An Atlas flanked by either a pair of Spiders or a couple of Highlanders depending on how you look at it. And that is another Atlas back there, which would be more impressive to me if I didn’t already have a dozen-that Griffin has two missile pods, one on each shoulder. That makes it the GRF-2N variant, the one with LosTech that was used by Royal Command.
The only downer is that my trained Mech Tech mind tells me that all of these mighty machines of war are currently mothballed. They won’t be going anywhere any time soon. Not under their own power anyway.
“There’s an entire company of ‘Mechs in here,” says Lord Espinosa from right beside me, sounding slightly awestruck at the sight.
“And I bet there are more ‘Mechs for us to find,” I say, knowing there must be at least one more Royal ‘Mech in Castle Nautilus as none of these ones are Black Knights.
“I hope you are right, Lady Nora, but these ‘Mechs alone would make this trip worthwhile,” replies Lord Espinosa, “A dozen ‘Mechs will be a great boon for the Coalition, especially when half of them are Assault weight.”
“What model are those Griffins?” asks Belinda as she stares at the closest of them, “I don’t recognize them.”
“GRF-2N,” I answer, “The Royal variant. And since those are Royal Griffins, there is a good chance that some of the other ‘Mechs here are Royal variants, full of LosTech.”
“Maybe if God is smiling upon us.” says Lord Espinosa before grinning, “As delightful as this find is, we do have the rest of the castle to explore.”
“But what about those Spiders?” I ask, pointing to one of the Light ‘Mechs flanking the foremost Atlas, “I don’t recognize them. No known variant has that sort of weapon set up.”
“A question for later once Lord Karosas has finished going through Castle Nautilus’ data or our Mech Techs have taken a look at the Spiders,” answers Lord Espinosa, “Our job is to take stock of Castle Nautilus’ contents so we can get ready to bring them back to Coromodir.”
“I understand,” I say.
Taking stock of what has been uncovered so far[]
We find the rest of the ‘Mechs in the next few storerooms, all of them mothballed Royals. A dozen Atlases, a dozen Highlanders, a dozen Black Knights, a dozen Catapults, a dozen Griffins, and a dozen Spiders. Basically a company of each for a grand total of two battalions worth of Royal BattleMechs.
I was expecting to find some Royal ‘Mechs here, but to find that all of them are Royals is something else. Not that surprising when I think about it. Around one in six SLDF ‘Mechs are Royal variants, but they aren’t evenly spread around. Castle Nautilus has something to do with research into the M-2 Drones that were used by the Terran Hegemony’s Space Defense System so it makes sense that it would have Royal Command protecting it.
The real question is just what the Terran Hegemony was up to out here and why they were doing SDS research out here in the Periphery. Unfortunately, I won’t be getting answers to those questions until Lord Karosas has finished looking at Castle Nautilus’ files.
Thankfully the investigating into Castle Nautilus’ physical goodies is going much better as we run into the next set of storerooms, these ones full of mothballed tanks.
“Those are Von Luckners,” Belinda tells me and Lord Espinosa, “I’ve run into them before. I don’t recognize the variant, but those are definitely Von Luckners.”
“What about the other ones?” inquires Lord Espinosa.
“That turret placement with the triple barrels wants me to stay Schrek PPC Carriers, but the curves and general shape of the tank is wrong,” answers Belinda.
“Not to mention that the Schrek is a post-Star League design, only invented during the Succession Wars.” I add, “The SLDF wouldn’t have had them. Kerensky would have left for the Exodus long ago when Schreks started getting produced.”
“Also those aren’t PPCs,” says Belinda before frowning, “Not lasers or autocannons either.”
“Oh, oh!” I exclaim as the shape of the barrels clicks into place for me, “Those are Gauss Rifles! These are Alacorns!”
“You know what they are then?” inquires Lord Espinosa.
“One of the best tanks produced by the SLDF,” I answer, not entirely sure how accurate I am, “They’re Assault weight tanks with thirteen tons of armor, three Gauss Rifles and an extra-light fusion engine. If you give them a decent firing angle and enough range, one of these is capable of making even an Assault ‘Mech turn and it can slaughter Light and Medium ‘Mechs.”
“They are certainly a prize then,” says Lord Espinosa, “Both the Von Luckners and Alacorns.”
“I’ll be calling dibs on the Alacorns.” I warn him and the man chuckles.
The rest of the vehicles that we find are less impressive, at least to me. We find a company of Padilla artillery tanks, but despite their LosTech, I am not that fussed with them. Their primary weapon only has a limited supply of ammo that we cannot make more of and limits its usefulness in my mind.
The rest of the vehicles are even less impressive as all of them lack LosTech and are still in production to this day. Numbering around eighty, we guess that the Goblin tanks were to act as APCs for the infantry contingent of the garrison. The Goblin is a decent vehicle though having a large laser on a tank with a combustion engine seems like a waste to me.
The next set of rooms we find are the infantry armories, full of elite infantry kits that have been carefully stored away. Well, elite is overstating it as while this is elite gear by Periphery standards, it is a normal kit in the eyes of the SLDF. A difference in standards that can be attributed to a mixture of the Star League’s wealth and knowledge alongside the general technological decline that humanity has suffered over the course of the Succession Wars.
We find around a thousand infantry kits in total with roughly a quarter being standard infantry equipment while the rest is specialist gear for cold weather operations. Given the local environment, especially around the remote Castle Nautilus, it makes sense that the majority of the infantry kit would be for frozen climates.
Oh, and every set of infantry kit we find comes with a Mauser 960 Rifle. Which are as heavy as I’ve heard them to be, something that I discover when I attempt to lift one. I succeed, but only briefly as I quickly put the hefty gun back down.
Given the limited role that infantry play on the battlefield, the infantry kit won’t be that great in the grand scheme of things, not compared to the ‘Mechs and tanks. On the other hand, they are vastly superior to pretty much any other infantry gear in the Periphery so if the ACM reserves them for their elite units, it could give a significant boost to any infantry engagements.
At least for as long as we have them. Unfortunately, old SLDF gear is a finite source and as the first couple of Succession Wars showed, LosTech gets used up on the battlefield sooner or later.
And then it is as we are investigating the last of the infantry armories that we start to find the good stuff.
Author's Chapter Notes[]
- Word from the Author
- And here we have the Aurigans getting access to Castle Nautilus except they have someone more specialized for the job than Doctor Murad and the lack of an unknown DropShip means that they didn’t need to get ‘Mechs on the surface.
Anyway, the Mechs, the tanks and the infantry finds have been covered in this update while the next update will be handling the more exotic finds such as the drones amongst other things.