75

'Emma must have access to an advanced equipment source somewhere in the Deep Periphery' concluded Anne-Marie at the end of her report on the Magistracy of Canopus. 'Otherwise how did she get about two regiments of 'Mechs, all late SLDF or unknown designs, as well as the dozen Dictator DropShips that appeared at the same time?'

'And your sources couldn't find out their origin?' asked Kamea leaning forward with an interested look.

'Not yet. The first series of JumpShips and DropShips, we now know about, came from the Alexandrian Covenant, Emma captured an intact shipyard there, as well as several operational Ships. Letting this information leak out is an indication that the Magistracy is probably done with the place, as they do hope that other intel agencies will waste time and resources looking in the place. SOP for the MIM. We still don't know exactly where the installation has been bought but it likely to be in an uninhabited one near Canopus' replied Anne-Marie consulting her notes 'Regarding these new forces, my sources are adamant that this new equipment comes from another place. Apparently, they got several civilian DropShips, about a dozen JumpShips, Star Lords and Monoliths, a dozen Dictators, and I think an operational WarShip'.

'An operational WarShip?' I asked, astonished 'what are you basing this on?'

'Well, Emma, in recent years, has been very insistent in negotiations to get some WarShips from Thomas' answered Anne-Marie putting down the documents and looking at us 'more recently, she basically no longer press on this issue, and I'm reasonably sure that no other nation is even willing to sell WarShips. My conclusion is that along the rest, they probably also found at least one operational or in a state that Emma thinks she can repair without help'.

'Aunt Anne-Marie, couldn't Emma just have changed priorities or simply have no money to buy one?' asked Sara, that had just recently started to participate in these reunions.

'Yes, in both cases, Dear' replied Kamea 'but with all her neighbors getting WarShips or already having some, and that nasty civil war on her border, it is difficult to believe that Emma don't want one or two also.'

'But, how can we be certain Emma got one WarShips?' asked Sara again.

'There are at least two ways' answered Kamea ' TMI can get that info' as these words were pronounced we could hear a snort from Anne-Marie's side, 'yes, Dear I know MIM is still way better than TMI even if TMI has improved a lot but I am sure they could do it.' and without a pause, Kamea continued in stride 'The other option is sending a ship to look for us in all these uninhabited systems near Canopus, the most probable location of the hidden shipyard and logically said WarShip.'

'But Mother, if a WarShip is in one of these systems, don't we risk losing the searching JumpShip?'

'No, if it is a Mriya as they have LF battery, and could escape before interception, Dear. But, it is both a time-consuming and expensive operation,d I don't know if Thomas would authorize that. Anyway, we don't have any Mriya or any orders to give to the TMI, so it is not up to us.' finalized Kamea.

'As for the origin of these supposed warships, I've never heard of a colony in this area with that kind of equipment and the SLDF list of bases doesn't include anything either' I replied thoughtfully, looking at my notes in my personal noteputer. 'That leaves us with some options, none of them good. First, a base or a colony created after the Amaris Crisis, and that for this reason is out of the Argo database. Not impossible but unlikely because at that time, the Star League lacked the resources for new colonies, and new bases would have been in areas closer to the conflict, not in a remote area. Second, it may be related to the SLS Dobrev, which was more or less lost in this area'.

'The SLS Dobrev? I've never heard of it, Jean-Luc' replied Anne-Marie with a curious look, while Kamea and Sara also leaned towards me with an interested look 'what are you talking about?'

'Do you remember when the Revenants captured that Assault Mech, the Bull Shark? At the same time we fought pirates having advanced weapons.' They all agreed, and I continued, after looking again at my notes 'Good, when we captured the base of the smuggler who was behind those weapons, a Notker Baumann, we also found the records of a JumpShip that belonged to SLDF, the SLS Dobrev. This JumpShip was totally wrecked, had supposedly left with Kerensky in the SLDF Exodus, but was found for some reason, by Baumann South of our border with the Deep Periphery. Now, we know that Kerensky went North, so something must have happened. Stranger is that the shipping records, even if damaged, recorded part of a voyage coming from a location far in the North. It could be a second Exodus, from part of Kerensky's forces, that went wrong, somewhere South of the Aurigan Reach'.

Kamea and Anne-Marie looked at each other with a thoughtful air.

'It may be, but it seems a bit far-fetched,' Kamea said, then turning to Anne-Marie, 'See if your connections can find out more about this equipment. An increase in the Magistracy power, even if at the moment, a friendly nation, is always to be looked at with caution.'