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Chapter 273 - What Could Go Wrong[]
Ciotat (Federated Commonwealth, Lyran State)
1st September, 3047
The continent of Martin had been off limits to everyone not in the LCAF or AFFS since 2843 when the Lyran Commonwealth had established a massive Space Port and supply depot by the LCAF Quartermaster Corps. Only two jumps from Hesperus II and a single jump from Furillo made it just too convenient not to establish it there. The landing or taking off of multiple Dropships was a regular occurrence and attracted very little attention. For the Lyran side of the Federated Commonwealth, it was the main distribution point for equipment bound for the units assigned to the Lyran State Command. Defiance performed much the same for those assigned to the Federated Suns State Command.
Field Marshal Nondi Steiner stood inside a massive warehouse, one of many, that stored equipment for the AFFC. For a year and a half these warehouses had stored half the production of the most advanced designs being built across the Federated Commonwealth, the other half being stored on Defiance. Strict orders had come down that they were not to be distributed to any unit until January 3048, which was fast approaching, and preparations were being made for these machines to finally reach the troops of the AFFC. To give the various manufacturers time to not only build them but for the advanced spare parts to be built in the quantity needed to support the machines.
The clipboard she held told her what was actually stored in every warehouse here on Ciotat. This particular warehouse housed one of the most imposing new designs being built, 68 AS7-D-H Atlas II Assault BattleMechs . She had to agree, they were imposing to look at. She glanced down at the clipboard and glanced at the various lists. It was enough equipment to fully outfit 17 Battlemech Regiments.
68 Atlas II, AS7-D-H
144 Marauder, MAD-2R
144 Thunderbolt, TDR-5Sb
144 Warhammer, WHM-7A
24 Nightstar, NSR-9J
36 Cestus, CTS-6Y
144 Archer, ARC-2Rb
230 Locust LCT-1Vb
144 Dervish, DV-6Md
200 Phoenix Hawk, PHX-1b
72 Crusader, CRD-2R
72 Battlemaster, BLR-1Gb
230 Stinger STG-3b
72 Lynx, LNX-9Q
144 Griffin, GRF-2N
24 Stalker, STK-3Kb
24 Battlemaster, BLM-3Gc
12 Rifleman, RFL-3N-2
144 Samurai, SL-26 Light Aerospace Fighter
144 Rapier, RPR-101 Heavy Aerospace Fighter
Since so many companies had already begun the process of retooling their factories to take advantage of the recovered technology, along with the recovered design and maintenance plans for the advanced designs, quite a few of the designs had achieved impressive production rates. Several of the newest designs were just now ramping up to more usable production rate. Many of the now upgraded production lines could match the Corean production rate on New Avalon of 130 Valkyrie per year for light Battlemechs. Those with multiple production lines could even exceed that number as they retooled to manufacture the new designs instead of existing designs. The manufacture of the advanced weapons, engines, armor, double heat sinks and Endo Steel were finally reaching a level that could support the deployment of the advanced designs in the numbers about to be fielded along with the heavily trained technical support troops.
While she did not really like sending half of the Lyran production of the advanced designs to the Federated Suns State Command, she had kept her mouth shut and did as ordered. Every ounce of her being had wanted to deploy the new designs the second they left the factory floor, but she had seen the wisdom in holding back until everything was in place to fully support their deployment. She turned and walked back outside and looked around, in the distance, even more warehouses were being constructed to handle the projected increase of equipment passing thru Ciotat. The decision had been made to upgrade full regiments at once instead of in stages so equipment would be gathered, stored and then a massive upgrade would occur at once. She had questioned the extremely strict and exclusive way certain company's had been awarded access to the new designs where she had been told that any company that had production sites outside the borders of the Federated Commonwealth would not be allowed access to the designs to prevent any other nation from gaining access to them.
This massive upgrade was sure to send shockwaves in the Free World League, Draconis Combine, and Capellan Confederation. She could only imagine how they were going to react, but she smiled as she thought about the panic and dread they would be feeling when the AFFC fully upgraded 34 Battlemech Regiments at the same time. Even if it would take another 7 years to fully upgrade just the AFFC's line commands and primary Militia commands.