Chapter 8

Doctor Sokabe had apparently been looking for what exactly had happened here when I arrived at where she'd set up shop in the former command center because she was looking through various personal logs trying to piece together a timeline. Scanning through the logs she'd pulled onto her noteputer from the memory core revealed that Doctor Sokabe had pulled from a wide collection of personal logs, from Admiral Straczynski and General Tomino to the Colonel in Command of First Jump Infantry Battalion of the Third Amaris Dragoons stationed here, to various research personnel, Mechwarriors, or ASF Pilots. She'd also pulled general data on the base. It was a lot of effort dedicated to nailing down a precise timeline, as compared to trying to pul any other data off the control room's systems, but fortunately, it was an effort I agreed with.

"What have you found out about this place so far, Doctor?" I questioned, causing her to start slightly as she turned.

"This place was apparently part of a joint project between Stephan Amaris and Richard Cameron known as Operation: Redoubt. Apparently, it was one of a string of four such bases and outposts constructed throughout the Coreward Periphery meant to serve as a fallback point for Richard Cameron if the Great Houses decided to revolt instead of following Executive Order One-Fifty-Six forcibly disbanding the Great House Armies back in the last days of the Star League. Supposedly, they only completed this base and two smaller outposts before the Coup kicked off." Informed Doctor Sokabe.

"What smaller outposts?" I asked.

"Supposedly, there's an outpost on a Planetoid in the Dark Nebula orbiting a brown dwarf referred to as Pavise Outpost and one buried deep in the polar icefields of Last Chance referred to as Pheonix Outpost. The memory core has coordinates and generalities but not much in the way of specifics. We know that Pheonix Outpost was a medical facility that seemed to suffer some sort of communications blackout shortly before the coup, Pavise Outpost seemed to be a more general-purpose cache and attached listening post with minimal staff, in place just to garrison the listening post and maintain the cache." Answered Doctor Sokabe.

"All right, what about the timeline of events here? What exactly happened?" I queried.

"Well, I've pieced together a rough timeline based on various accounts from various personnel on base, but essentially it seems like Stefan Amaris had been quietly moving his personnel into the Operation: Redoubt facilities, shuffling units around in secret for several months prior to starting his coup. He'd managed to gain upwards of seventy-five percent control of all of the bases except this one, where he had around sixty percent control of military forces in the base. Admiral Straczynski and General Tomino were apparently tipped off by the Base's Chief Medical Officer who had a Cousin in the Rift Republican Army who had a source on Stefan Amaris' Staff. Unfortunately, they weren't tipped off quickly enough and were only able to organize a hasty defense by the time D-Day came for the Coup." Explained Doctor Sokabe.

"That'd explain why all the military stuff was here, along with filling in the blanks of what happened. Did the system have any information on what the Research and Development labs were for?" I pressed.

"Apparently they were trying to develop military technologies further, in order to maintain their technical edge in the event of a general revolt by the Great Houses. I don't have any idea about the specifics of what they were developing, though, because that data is stored in the secondary Memory Core in the Research and Development Labs. The system does have a nominal accounting of what equipment was kept on-base, but it's already differed somewhat from what we've seen so far, so take it with a grain of salt." Shrugged Doctor Sokabe, handing me a printout of a manifest.

She was right, we'd already seen some things differ. For instance, there was supposed to be a company of Royal King Crab Assault Mechs that were nowhere to be found, likely moved in the rapid shuffling of personnel and equipment that had preceded the Coup and the struggle for control of the base. The Volga-class Military Transports and Commonwealth-Two Light Cruiser were also supposed to have been augmented with a pair of Mako-class Corvettes that hadn't been in the port and the Thumper Artillery Pieces were supposed to have been Sniper Artillery Pieces. It was still a decent guideline for what I could expect to find in the Vehicle Bays and Aerospace Fighter Hangars. I suppose I'd find out just how closely this manifest resembled what was supposed to have been here soon enough.

Making my way back through the Mech Bay, manifest in hand, I found myself being joined by Lieutenant Adamski, who fell into step slightly back and to my right. I nodded at him as he joined me and he grunted in response as we made our way to the Combat Vehicle Bay. Royal Puma Main Battle Tanks, Royal Burke Fire Support Vehicles, and Royal Nightshade VTOL Recon Craft, as well as various Royal APCs in a mix of Hover, Tracked, and Wheeled all stood in serried rows. They were joined by Royal Rhino Fire Support Vehicles, Royal Lightning Fast Attack Hovercraft, Royal Ripper Transport VTOLs, and Royal Demon Fighting Vehicles, as well as a number of Rim Worlds Republic Ignis Fire Support Vehicles, Tracked, Wheeled, and Hover APCs, and Hipparch Scouts. Enough to outfit a Brigade of Armor and a Brigade of Mechanized Infantry, plus there were a few automated repair bays with spare parts, fuel, and munitions.

It also mostly matched up with the manifest except for a few details. There were supposed to be a few Royal Nightshade ECM VTOLs and Royal Fury Command Vehicles for instance. The Royal Pumas were also supposed to be Royal Von Luckner Heavy Tanks, but it was more or less the same line-up of equipment as the manifest except for those few differences. If the Aerospace Fighter Hangar followed suit, then I would be in control of the most potent force of arms this side of Apollo. I'd likely be able to field three SLDF-style Regimental Combat Teams filled with SLDF Royal Equipment, plus WarShips, Dropships, and Aerospace Fighters.

This was the sort of thing that could conquer a large swathe of planets, the problem was that doing that and just going full-force with what I had was a great way to paint a target on my back. I wasn't just talking about the Great Houses of the Successor States, Redjack Ryan, or Hendrik Grimm, either. That was exactly the sort of thing that ComStar looks for when deciding who to assassinate, at least if the Dreams and my Father's information were anything to go by. If I took my massive doom stack of SLDF Royal Equipment and used it to become King of the Periphery, I would be just begging for assassination by ROM. I was going to have to keep the majority of this stuff hidden away until I was sufficiently established and built up.

Likely, I would limit myself to a combined arms regiment for the foreseeable future. Wolf's Dragoons has multiple Regiments, so I figured as long as I keep things to half of their strength, ComStar would prefer to chase down the origins of Wolf's Dragoons over investigating happenings on my end of things. The Dragoons are actively changing things in the Inner Sphere, Proper, after all. Compared to them, some periphery Baron who lucked into an SLDF Royal Cache and isn't doing too much to oppose the Blakists' goals of keeping the Successor Houses weak and backward isn't as big of an issue. At least so long as I keep the SLDF Royal mechs to just a battalion, and fill out the rest with Mechanized Infantry and Armor while not tipping my hand to the WarShips, I should be fine.

Even then, I was still going to have to be very careful not to do too much too quickly when it came to conquest. Retooling factories to produce SLDF components and the like will take time, and is the sort of thing that can fly under the radar. Conquering a large swathe of the Periphery in a massive blitzkrieg is not. I was gonna have to keep my true capabilities hidden until it was too late for ComStar to do anything about it. To do that, I would have to employ Maskirovka, and by that, I meant military deception, not the Capellan Intelligence Service. For now, though, I made my way toward the Aerospace Fighter Hangars, which was apparently a level above this one via the lift at the back of the Combat Vehicle Bays.

Here is where the starkest difference between the manifest and the actual contents of the base came into play. Fully Half of the SLDF Royal Designs that were on the manifest had been replaced with Rim Worlds Republic VLC-Six-N Vulcan Heavy ASF. Of the remaining SLDF Royal Squadrons in the base, there were two SLDF-Standard groups of fighters for a full one-hundred-eight SLDF Royal Aerospace Fighters. These were mixed units of Royal Sabres, Royal Gothas, Royal Rapiers, Royal Tomahawks, and Royal Ironsides. With the Rim Worlds Republic Vulcans on top of these SLDF Royal Designs, that made four groups of Aerospace fighters for a full two-hundred-sixteen fighters in total, plus a few automated repair bays with spare parts, ammunition, and fuel.

All told, the weight of metal here was staggering. Three combined arms Regimental Combat Teams worth of SLDF Royal equipment, five wings of Aerospace Fighters, with a mix of SLDF Royal and Rim Worlds Republic designs, three WarShips, four JumpShips, and Fifteen Dropships, attendant small craft including a pair of SLDF Royal NL-Forty-Three Battle Taxi Stealth Assault Craft, plus an extra independent Combined Arms Regiment worth of SLDF Royal Equipment with an accompanying two independent groups of SLDF Royal Aerospace Fighters, along with spare parts, ammunition, fuel, and repair facilities for all of that.

That wasn't even including the Full Military Memory Core or whatever we could pull off of the Research and Development Memory Core down in the labs. It was basically the Holy Grail of LosTech Prospecting and if I hadn't known what was coming, or been a stereotypical Noble Scion, I might have been tempted to sell the majority of it for the billions of C-Bills such a sale would net me and live my life in comfortable retirement on a resort world somewhere in Canopian Space. Fortunately for the Inner Sphere, I did know what was coming, at least somewhat. The Clan Invasion and the Jihad afterward meant that retirement was out of the question.

"Besides, I don't even know what I'd do with myself in retirement." I muttered under my breath.

"Sir?" Questioned Lieutenant Adamski.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud." I shrugged.

"If you say so. Between the mech bay, vehicle bays, and now these hangars, it's going to take a while for us to sort everything out for transport. In the meantime, if you'd like to head on down to the Research and Development Labs, I'd suggest getting all the Science People together so we only have to make one trip." Offered Lieutenant Adamski.

"I do say so. As for transport, would it be possible to arrange things so that only a single regiment of equipment gets transported back to Iron Land, plus a group of Aerospace Fighters?" I asked.

"You're thinking of controlling access to the cache at the source?" Questioned Lieutenant Adamski.

"Easier if people think we only found enough equipment to outfit a single regiment. There are some units out there with more SLDF Vintage Equipment than that. Wolf's Dragoons has a full regimental combat team, and last I heard had gone off to go get more supplies." I hedged.

"It's a good plan, but you'll have to station patrols and security on the base. I'd recommend at least a battalion of security troops plus a dropship and fighters be on station at all times, just in case." Advised Lieutenant Adamski.

"I need to check in with the Baronial Guards to see who I can put on the security detail." I mused.

"Might not be a bad idea to look into paying off any debts the officers you select for duty might have either." Added Lieutenant Adamski.

"Is that working here?" I queried.

"Well, it's only been a day so far, but those who've noticed have had a marked increase in morale. I'm confident the others will come around once they notice their debts have been cleared as well." Confirmed Lieutenant Adamski.

"It's a good plan then. For now, I think I'll go round up the scientists for a trip down to the Research and Development Labs." I nodded.

An hour later, a group consisting of myself, Doctor Sokabe, Doctor MacAllister, Lieutenant Adamski, and two of his men took the lift down to the deck below the one we'd entered on. Down in the bowels of the hollowed-out asteroid just a single deck above the engineering deck, a number of laboratories housed a number of technologies intended for military use that they were testing out when the Coup happened. At least, that's what should have happened. In actuality, most of the labs were wrecked, as a number of armored corpses lay scattered haphazardly around the labs, armor blasted open to show mummified flesh.

It looked to all the world like a major firefight had happened here, though interestingly, none of the corpses wore lab coats. The researchers hadn't been killed here, they'd starved to death in the lockdown along with the victorious Rim Worlds Republic Troops that had forced Admiral Straczynski and General Tomino to flee. Unfortunately, the nature of the firefight had meant that none of the terminals or lab equipment was functional. Doctor Sokabe moved over to a doorway that had been locked down with an access code to try and get inside while I took in the scene.

"The SLDF Loyalists must have retreated here after the Admiral and General fled to make their last stand." I remarked.

"These labs are a rat's nest of tunnels filled with all sorts of lab equipment to use as cover. Not a bad place to hole up if the intent is to make your enemy bleed. Of course, there isn't a way to escape from here, but that's last stands for you." Pointed out Lieutenant Adamski.

"So they just decide to destroy priceless research in the process? What sort of backward caveman logic is that?" Demanded Doctor MacAllister.

"I don't think research was on their mind, exactly Doc. They were being shot at." I retorted.

"It was a last stand, the research probably wasn't exactly everyone's first thought." Agreed Lieutenant Adamski.

"So go make it somewhere else. I can't imagine the engineering deck was any less cramped and full of cover." Groused Doctor MacAllister.

By this point, however, Doctor Sokabe had managed to get the door open to reveal an alcove with a single mainframe and terminal inside. On the chair in front of the terminal was the corpse of an SLDF Royal Jump Infantry Colonel, a single shell casing from his autopistol on the floor, and a single bullet hole in his mummified face. He must've committed suicide once he'd sealed himself inside. Doctor Sokabe meanwhile, just moved to the terminal and began trying to hack in. She started by using Admiral Straczynski and General Tomino's clearance codes, but those only got her through the first two screens, leaving her on a screen demanding a single, specific, clearance code, which was different than the security screen from the terminal that had held the Primary Memory Core.

"I'm going to try one of the default base codes I found in the main system control room. There's three of them and hopefully, this won't erase everything if I get it wrong on the first try." Informed Doctor Sokabe.

She typed in a string of numbers and letters, only for the screen to flash yellow. A second attempt caused the screen to flash again, going from yellow to orange, but the third caused the display to flash green, then turn blue as she finally used the right code to get into the database. As Doctor Sokabe hissed out a breath between her teeth, I looked over at her, asking her what happened.

"I can only get a partial data dump off this memory core now, but the stuff that got erased is probably better off erased. The formula for some kind of chemical nerve agent that can eat through protective gear was erased, alongside an advanced defoliating agent for use against guerillas in forested areas, as well as an enhanced truth serum for interrogation. We also lost what looks to be work on some sort of advanced combat exoskeleton, a schematic for an EMP Mine, a design for a man-portable particle cannon, and work on a Land Air Mech of some kind." Informed Doctor Sokabe.

"Well, what did we get?" I prompted.

"It looks like what we managed to get is work on some sort of advanced targeting-tracking system. It's only partially complete, but it'd be a decent idea to keep working on the design. Who knows what sort of advanced targeting computer that could result from continued work on this? Aside from that, I have what looks like a design for some sort of point-defense laser system for use on Dropships and smaller WarShips, a design for some sort of advanced Combat Sneaksuit, and designs for three different types of combat cybernetics as well." Informed Doctor Sokabe.

"Good work, pull the memory core, and let's head back to base camp. Once everything is cataloged, I'll be calling a meeting of all staff. We have NDAs to sign, bonuses to hand out, and strategies to go over. I don't think I need to say it, but I will anyway. Not a word of exactly what we found here is to be spoken of to anyone until I give the go-ahead. Doing otherwise will result in termination from the company and forfeiture of bonuses." I intoned.

"That will be the least of your worries once word gets out. If you think for a second that the Great Houses will leave you be once word of this cache filters back to them, I have a moon to sell you. Unless anyone here wishes to be a guest of the Combine's Intelligence service?" Added Lieutenant Adamski for emphasis.

"Hard pass, thanks." Responded Doctor MacAllister. Doctor Sokabe could only nod her head in agreement.

"Good, then we'll talk about how exactly we're going to contain word of all this at the staff meeting. Until then, get that Memory Core, and let's head back to base camp." I commanded. Hopefully, the reminder of the fact that people like the Combine and Capellans don't ask nicely for access to massive amounts of LosTech, plus the promise of hefty bonuses for challenging work will help keep a lid on things. The NDAs I had Administrator Matthews draw up, plus my increased security precautions and debt payback incentives ought to help as well. If not, well, I wasn't the only one who was going to be hurt. Loose lips sink ships, after all.

I just had to hope that my various precautions would be enough to avoid my ship being sunk quite so soon. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here we see the rest of the Iron Land Cache, along with a little bit of backstory about what had happened to get something like this built in the first place. It turns out that Richard Cameron being both paranoid and tyrannical gave Stefan Amaris the perfect excuse to propose a secret redoubt in the periphery where they could fight back from in the event that the Great Houses instigate a general revolt. Richard Cameron wasn't too hard to sell on such a plan, especially with how far under Stefan's influence he was. Once the redoubts were built, Stefan could begin moving men and materiel in to take them over.

As to the amount of material, yeah it's a lot of equipment, but there's no way for Jozef to field all of it at once without drawing a shitload of attention. Even the single regiment he's planning to field openly is relying a lot on the fact that Wolf's Dragoons is taking up a lot of ROM's attention right now with their Brigade of SLDF Vintage Mechs, as well as the general lack of interest in the Near Periphery by ComStar. He may very well have to wind up cutting back on the planned amount of fielded equipment so as not to suffer a Holy Shroud operation.

As you can tell, when it comes to things like metaknowledge, the dreams and his father's information are a double-edged sword. While yeah it's led him to a staggering amount of equipment, it also means he's too cautious about using that equipment and tipping his hand too soon. ROM isn't nearly as omniscient or powerful as their reputation suggests, one look at the Jolly Roger Affair should tell you they have their screw-ups too, but because the Dreams show Jozef the life of someone who's bought into the meme of ROM Hypercompetence, Jozef doesn't realize that. It may very well cause him trouble down the line.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the Staff Meeting and moving forward.

Stay tuned. . .