96

The following days were very busy in Luthien.

Fortunately the Clans had not interfered with Luthien Naval Yard, probably thinking that their capture would be a given after conquering Luthien IV. Because of this, all available tugs could be used for SAR / recovery missions and the Taurian WarShips could receive light repairs - the most important ones would be done in one of the Concordat shipyards to prevent secrets from being revealed and also while the Kuritans didn't have the necessary components.

Among the wreckage, two Overlord-C hit by Naval Lasers had missed the planet, and were captured, drifting in space, with much of the equipment intact or slightly damaged inside.

Understandably, Takashi and Theodore were very interested in not only buying large quantities, but also obtaining the production rights to the advanced versions of the Arrow IVs used by Concordat - AAM, SAM, A2G/AGM, Thunder/FASCAM, AShM and Advanced Smoke. Admiral Ostergaard, for reasons that would be known in the near future, delayed the negotiations.

To that end, they offered not only first choice on all Clan equipment captured in the battle, but access to Black Box technology, which they knew Concordat wanted to obtain.

Interrogation of the prisoners revealed that not only had the IlKhan been present at the battle, but also the Khan of the Smoke Jaguars. A closer check of the identity of the numerous bodies recovered confirmed that both Leo Showers and Lincon Osis had died. Sarah Weaver, the Jaguars saKhan, had not been present, and was therefore the highest ranking Smoke Jaguar still alive. The number of Bloodnamed Warriors captured or killed was quite high, indicating a more than likely succession crisis within the Clan.

Meanwhile, the Draconis Combine had gone into full propaganda mode, not only announcing in every possible way the extent of the victory, but also performing impressive ceremonies to honor both the fallen in combat and the victors - including awarding honorary titles to several Taurians.

For obvious reasons, the TEF (Taurian Expeditionary Force) extended its presence in Luthien, rather than quickly moving on to the front line. It had to wait at least until the WarShips had completed their emergency repairs and the supply fleet train arrived, which happened in mid-September.

When it arrived, it also brought something else of vital importance as it had along the way established a direct line of HPG satellites capable of communicating directly between Taurus and Luthien, without going through the HPGs controlled by the Federated Commonwealth. Many of the satellites previously used to communicate with the Lothian League and taken back after, had been re-used in this new, secure line of communications. The advantage was that the Concordat could deploy said HPG network without the knowledge of the Federated Commonwealth intelligence services.

Like the TEF before, the supply train used uninhabited systems during its pass over the Federated Commonwealth territory. During the movement through the Federated Commonwealth, both groups (the TEF and the resupply convoy) got a FedCom JumpShip escort, to 'help' the crossing. In reality to guarantee that nothing unusual would happen. That made necessary some creative / precisely calculated positioning of some ships of the supply train to mask the launch of the HPG satellites, or sometimes the ship with that task suffered from a "misjump" to execute the operation after the FC JumpShip already departed.

The fact that the Concordat had not only sent 7 WarShips with the TEF, but 4 more with the supply fleet, even though the latter were Corvettes, did not go unnoticed by the DCA, which at this point had an acute shortage of WarShips.

With a secure line of communications with Taurus established, negotiations regarding the licensing / sale of Arrow IV advanced technology, proceeded apace. At this time the Combine also wanted to buy at least two WarShips, preferably four. They were ready to buy anything including Pintos as they had to replace the losses suffered in Luthien. After all, the Concordat Navy had 11 WarShips at Luthien, while the DCA total inventory was 6 WarShips, all on the front-lines and for those under construction, the closest to being delivered was still 9 months away from being fully operational.

In return, in addition to Black Boxes technology and first choice in captured Clan equipment, they were also offering sharing their development on OmniMechs with local technology and a wide range of Combine equipment production licenses. Basically, anything the Concordat wanted related to licenses and research, in exchange for some WarShips and the desired technology.

Edward, after a long conversation with Kamea and me, made a counter-proposal that basically guaranteed for the Concordat everything that this expedition was intended to obtain.

In exchange for two Pintos, the two Ajax, which the Combine would have to repair, half the Arrow IV ammo types that the supply train had brought, and an order for several Arrow IV advanced types of ammo, which would take at least five years to be fully satisfied, at an excellent rate, the Draconis Combine would deliver a battalion of Omnimechs and the equivalent of another battalion of miscellaneous Clan units, full access to the Black Box tech and Omni tech developed by the Combine, as well as a choice of Clan prisoners to be delivered to the Concordat, an extensive list of production licenses and a considerable amount of C-Bills. The contract would provide the Combine with enough missiles during the time they needed to built the local factories, and for these to achieve cruise production levels, to cover their needs.

For unknown reasons, the HPG network between the Combine and the Concordat stopped working two months later. Ping testing, confirmed the problem was with one of the satellites inside Federated Commonwealth territory. Several months later, a TMI Mryia JumpShip arrived at the location with a replacement, but instead of a dead satellite, and after a very exhaustive search, only found what could only be the result of said satellite self-destruct activation. The consensus, was that the FC escort ship had detected at least that launch, and that a team had been sent to analyze or capture the satellite, causing the explosion. The replacement satellite was placed in a very distant place in the same system, and the network was calibrated. The TMI ship had now the undesirable task of verifying all the nodes of the network inside the Federated Commonwealth territory searching for tampering.