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A Long Journey (Chapter Cover Art)

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Chapter 106 - A Long Journey[]


29 December 2788
Mackolla (Federated Suns)

Lieutenant General Paul Jefferson was not rushing into anything without some serious research nor was he going to launch the Exodus operation until he knew exactly what they faced here on Mackolla. The eruption was over 4300 miles from where he sat and it did not seem very threatening to him at the moment. He was currently going to wait until the experts arrived and told him what he needed to know. He looked up as Major Tabitha Kennison entered his office and sat down across from him.

"The eruption is currently spewing a shit ton of ash into the atmosphere. So much so that it is risky getting anything conventional even close to the continent. We did send a shuttle down to collect some air samples but it will take a few days to get the findings from the lab." She said

"Well, nothing we can do about it right now. Have you located the Comstar ships hauling our incoming guests?" Lieutenant General Jefferson asked

"Yes, sir. They are currently at Shawnee so about five weeks away, a single Monolith with 9 Dropships, all civilian. I was not informed as to what they have in the way of equipment but I can only assume it is personnel only and the ships are all broadcasting Comstar registries so I can only assume they will be returning to Terra once they deliver them to us." Major Tabitha Kennison replied

"At least they are close." He paused when Gerald Mitchell entered the office and he gestured to another seat. "Thank you for coming, Gerald. Seems our new personnel are about a month away. What do we have in storage equipment wise?" Lieutenant General Jefferson asked

"Currently? Quite a bit. All of your current commands are at full strength and equipment has been fully upgraded to what we can produce and support internally. That is what Sammy asked me to do. How many troops are you getting?" Gerald Mitchell asked

"No clue on actual numbers, but they are from the 79th and 123rd Mechanized Infantry Divisions, so we will go best case on equipping them. Call is twelve Mech Infantry Regiments, six Battlemech Regiments, six Armor Regiments, two Artillery Regiments and two Aerospace Wings." Lieutenant General Jefferson said

Gerald Mitchell consulted his notebook and frowned some as he looked up "That is going to suck our stockpile down to next to nothing and we might still be short. But we can outfit them, it just might not be as support friendly as we want it. I can cull some production designated for the AFFS if you want me to."

"No, the AFFS gets what they contracted for. No need in upsetting that apple cart. Besides, we would not be able to move both units at the same time, not combat loaded anyway." Lieutenant General Jefferson said

"I have been working on that, I have secured the license for both the Dictator and Titan Dropships from Di Tron, but I have no clue when we will be able to start building them. I also managed to purchase Riga Interstellar Shipyards outright after the DCMS blew their orbital assets to hell and back. Designs, licenses and all. I contracted with Comstar's monopoly on shipping in the region to move them all out here, we will see if their Sphere wide neutrality actually works. Cost me two Billion for Riga Interstellar......highway robbery if you ask me, but it is all ours now. Finally managed to purchase licenses from Krester's Ship Construction, for another three Billion and a ten percent royalty. But between those two purchases, once we get Riga's people and surviving ground facilities out here we should be able to start building our own transport Dropships." Gerald Mitchell said

"That is your area Gerald, future stuff is not my concern at the moment. I have trouble looking past a year down the road, too many variables at play in this new time we find ourselves in. Those plans are years down the road and not applicable to today. We have bigger problems anyway. How long would it take to break down, pack up everything and get it off world?" Lieutenant General Jefferson asked

Gerald Mitchell's face went pale on hearing that "Sweet Jesus, we just got everything up and running. Perfectly fine tuned. Several years to do it the right way. Then another year to put everything back together again. We would need a shit ton of collars and the Dropships to pack it all into. Honestly, I would say it would be next to impossible to accomplish correctly. Not during this damned war. The Houses are sucking up all new production of everything not to mention the DCMS is blowing every JumpShip to pieces as they find them. The moment we even start to shut down production the AFFS is going to come in and prevent us from doing any sort tear down and movement. We could even be risking nationalization of all our assets."

"Start thinking about it, we have to plan an event out of anyone's control forcing our hand." Lieutenant General Jefferson said


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