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Chapter 82 - A Long Journey[]
2 August 2787
Mackolla (Federated Suns)
Before General Samuel Mitchell and the 322nd Armor Division had even reached the waiting Dropships, Warrant Officer Bart Cooks was pulling out all the stops to get ready to do the first Tracker conversion into a full bore aerospace carrier. He was in no mood to play around. They were back at war and there could be no slack until victory.
"We are going to work until we are done. You need a nap, go take one, but we are in this for the duration. If the 322nd Armor gets no sleep, be damned if we will either. All the rest of the Trackers will be the carrier version. You have all seen my plans. We leave the capital weapons as they are, we are not touching them. Get the anti-fighter weapons installed and bore sighted with the fire control. Rip the armor off and replace it with 86 tons Ferro Aluminum, we have plenty of that and it is quicker to work with. Fuel bunkers go to 8,000 tons, so you folks get ready to enlarge it and I want it made out of Ferro Carbide. Riggers, you be ready to start running the fuel lines to each hanger bay. One on each side of the ship, three doors each and damn I am glad we kept working on building fighter cubicles and have a crap ton of those ready to go. I want eighteen Aerospace fighters in each bay. Armor the weapons storage, they will be packing Alamos and I want them protected real good." Mitchell told his staff.
"Now we need a name, a good one....okay, the carriers get named after old United Kingdom carriers. Someone get my book of ancient warships over there, yeah that one, flip to the, yeah, smart girl, what is the name of that beauty? SLS Formidable, good strong name. I want SLS Formidable completed in less than sixty days, sixty days folks and I expect the next one to go even faster. If work can be started before she arrives in a few days, get on a shuttle and get on her and start working. Once we figure out or complete a task get on a shuttle and head for the next ship waiting to come in and start work over there. Someone make sure when the next Merchant arrives to pass the word to the recovery site, I want part of the Tiger team, two Tramps and one of the Tugs back here. Damned if we lose a ship because of a breakdown. WHAT ARE WE STILL STANDING HERE???!!!! GET MOVING PEOPLE!!!!!" Mitchell ordered
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Mammoth Class Cargo DropShip
On the surface, Amos Anderson was watching a rented Mammoth being unloaded at the space port, he was tired of paying rent for the Dropships. Storage container after storage container was off loaded and placed in rows at the edge of the space port. Lieutenant General Paul Jefferson happened to be walking by after speaking with the local Wing Commander, they had plenty of pilots but not enough fighters to outfit everyone with one.
"Mister Anderson, are those what I think they are?" Lieutenant General Jefferson asked
"Seventy-two Trident, but they are the original TRN-3T. I was going to upgrade them to our new Royal variant. I didn't have a buyer yet when the order came to pack up everything so I packed them up." Amos Anderson replied
"They are now ours. We need them. Get your people to start putting them together, I will even send over any free techs we have to help out. Use the hangers over there for assembly. I need to free up the heavier birds for the war effort. They can act as our air support here if we don't need them to fill out the ships. It didn't cross your mind to tell us this the other day?" Lieutenant General Jefferson asked
"Honestly, no it didn't. Once I had them upgraded, well then I was going to sell them to you folks." Amos Anderson said
"Things are pretty murky around here and the lines are really blurred on which side is what but I am sure there is no "sell them to us". It is more of a we need, you build sort of deal. Catch my drift?" Lieutenant General Jefferson said
"That is going to show as a loss on my bottom line." Amos Anderson replied
"Better a loss on the bottom line that a bunch of lost lives and pissed off survivors don't you think? Get those birds put together and ready to fly. I have pilots with no fighters and that cannot be tolerated." Lieutenant General Jefferson ordered
3 August 2787
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Crab Medium 'Mech
Master Sergeant Jennifer Frumby stalked the various warehouses that were once packed solid but with the 322nd Armor Division off to war, they looked almost empty even though they weren't. She stopped and checked one of the cargo containers cargo listing. She yelled for several astechs who came running.
"Get that cargo container unloaded. You, get your butt over to Lieutenant General Jefferson and tell him we need.....770 double heat sinks as soon as possible. Folks we have forty-eight CRB-27 Crabs that we can easily turn into Royal's with what we have right here. Smitty, get your ass over to the hangers and round every tech there and then send for the ones that are off screwing off. We have work to do and by dammit we are going to get it done." Master Sergeant Jennifer Frumby ordered