27

Before I got back to the Concordat, I didn't miss an opportunity to perform one more coup. After the conflict ended, the mercenary force known as the Markham Marauders was in a much worse position than in the video game. Without access to Argo or SLDF 'Mechs and with the number of Assault 'Mechs in the Periphery not being inflated as in the game, they had suffered severe casualties.

In fact, at this point, they only had one injured MechWarrior (Jessica Chernovskaya, call-name Glitch) and their only surviving 'Mech (a Griffin GRF-1N) was more junk than 'Mech. What they had, and what I was interested in, was a good team of technicians, an excellent DropShip pilot, and a Leopard.

It wasn't hard for me to convince them to sign for the Revenants, a superbly equipped force, by Periphery standards and with much more means.

Even Darius had his usefulness, after all, he had good contacts in mercenary circles and in some less legal areas. You never know when these contacts would be useful.

As I suspected and as the Marauders files confirmed, they had found in Panzyr the hulks of about a hundred Griffins GRF-1N. The Directorate had used the available parts to repair about a company, but they didn't have the expertise and industrial resources for the rest, as far as I knew, nor the Restoration or the Magistracy. Only a few companies in the Concordat, including mine, could do that. The others that were capable of that were all in the Inner Sphere.

Just as we entered Concordat territory I had one message waiting for me: Proceed to Taurus at full speed. The Lord Protector wants to talk with you, ASAP.

While I went to Taurus, the Revenants returned to New Vandenberg for a well-deserved R&R. The return trip went smoothly, but Taurus was clearly on high alert when we arrived, something had happened during my absence.

Calderon Palace

Thomas and Edward immediately received me, another sign that something serious had happened.

'Welcome back, Jean-Luc. I regret to inform you that Concordat is in a much worse situation than when you left.' Thomas began by going straight to the point 'when Edward was charged with fixing our relations with the Davions, Grover had a fit of rage. Using forces that he managed to trick, he tried to take over the two Warships to use them to attack the Federated Suns. In the ensuing conflict, we managed to stop him, but both the ships and the dockyard were seriously damaged. We lost several of our special forces that day. The first estimates for the repair of the ships and the dock is a decade and that is the best scenario we have.'

Edward leaned towards me 'If you have any more miracles or hidden bases to visit, now is the best time to inform us. The Concordat needs a backup immediately. Right now we don't have any way to stop any of the Great Houses if they want to invade us, outside of massive use of nuclear weapons'.

'It is the exact situation as before the WarShips turned operational, isn't it?'I asked, not seeing the big problem. Then I remembered that the existence of the operational WarShips played a big part in reducing Thomas' fears and paranoia regarding a Davion invasion.

'Well, yes, but right now we strongly suspect that at least one if not more of the IS Houses know that we have ships and that they are no longer operational. It is only a question of time until one or more of them try to grab them. We even suspect that Liao has already done that.'

'Why do you suspect Liao's hand in the Grover case?' I asked puzzled.

'Well, we don't have any proof, mind you' said Edward, after looking at his father and Thomas silently nodded 'but TMI found some advanced electronic codebreakers, of very recent Liao manufacture, on the bodies of some of his men. Codebreakers that were used to gain access to the WarShips' computers. Also several of these people couldn't be identified and the reports talk about a high number of very capable fanatics.'

'In other words, Death Commandos or ROM Rho', said a small part of my brain that I tried to keep quiet with effort. Crap. Liao or ROM, both use the ships to start a war between us and Davion. Any of them would love that. 'I can only recommend increasing the defenses there.' I said softly, was my answer.

Damn, that was not good at all. I took a quick decision.

'In fact, I know some places we haven't visited yet, but they're all distant or complicated.' I replied as I began to see the scale of the disaster.

'Whatever is needed and that the Concordat can provide is yours.' was Thomas' answer.

'Ok, let's play cards on the table then. I know the location of a weapons test place of the SLDF Navy.' At that mention, both Calderon looked to me with hope in their eyes. 'There is no guarantee that any WarShip will still be there to be looted but it is possible that we find something useful.' I said in a calm voice.

'And the catch is?' asked Thomas, 'because if it was easy, you would have already taken action.'

'For starters, it is further away than the place where we found the dockyard'. I said and I saw the look between both Calderon's good news is that I also have four possible cache locations that could be 'visited' during that voyage.' With that being said, I was sure to get what I wanted.

'It is a long voyage, but we can provide you with the same force used in the previous mission' said Thomas, while Edward nodded in agreement 'let's hope that they will find useful things there then. We won't forget your help on this, Jean-Luc. Are your forces also available for this mission?'

'Not this time, my Lord.' I said 'I want them for some missions including trying to obtain more Star League files. They are also vital, after all.' I explained.

'Changing subjects, about the Arano case, if we leave the area alone, the Magistracy will not take control. They already have immense influence over Kamea, I think it is better to try to counter it.'

'Mmmm' Thomas looks at me pensively 'and what do you propose?'

'While I'm not trying to dictate our diplomacy in the area' I started (yeah, right, I thought very quietly), 'I think that providing some support is going to do us a lot of good. Like helping Kamea with the nascent pirate problem or help her rebuild these Griffins the Directorate found on Panzyr.'

'You are funny, I give you that' Thomas laughs, 'in the first case your mercenaries are the best option and in the second one, your company is tailor-made for the job.'

'I never said I didn't want to gain something from the area' I said lightly, looking at Thomas in the eyes. 'But the truth is that both options will help us immensely with the Aranos and help us to reduce the Magistracy influence so close to our borders. By the way, before I forget, before you execute the Espinosas, can TMI obtain their Combine contacts? That can be useful in the future.'

'Sure, I already said I like your style,' said Thomas in a good mood.' But it is up to you to secure both contracts from High Lady Kamea. If you want it, you will have to work for it.'

'In that case, I need two things' I asked Thomas. 'One is a comprehensive team of ex-TMI people, which covers security, infiltration, code-breaking and interrogation. Because of the needs of chain-of-command and deniability, I can't take any current unit, but because I'm going to operate in another nation and with a third one operating in the area, I want these capabilities available to me'. I know full well that they are going to report back to TMI / Thomas but that is a price that I'm comfortable to pay.

After a few moments Thomas answered 'No problem, I can arrange that for you. And the second one?'

'I also need to know your intentions about the Aranos and Centrellas – while in theory, I'm going as a mercenary/ industrialist, we both know that I'm also a Concordat noble with close ties to you. So, I need to know what you want or plan for that area to not put myself in a delicate or contrary to your intentions position.'

'That reasonable. Well what I want his...'