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Begin series.

I am writing a storyline a bit out of the ordinary here.  I have had this one on the back burner for a while, but I am moving it up to the front and kicking up the fire

It is set during the time of the end of the first Star League.  I am trying to write it from the perspective of a SLDF officer who sees the end of an era, who has to rise to the occasion and become something he thought he never thought he would be.

I hope you enjoy it.



I. A Letter Home

27 July, 2762.

Hi Wendy,

Please forgive my tardiness in sending this letter.   The regiment has finally finished transferring to Chatham.  The 326th BattleMech Division is a great posting for us, they are a regiment short in the 2nd Brigade and we are filling it for the foreseeable future as part of a garrison posting.  Yes, I said a garrison posting!

You and the kids can finally catch up to me and be on the same world for more than just a vacation or a week’s leave!

Chatham is great and has a couple of bases besides Fort Chatham that you can visit and shop.  The locals are not as distrustful of the SLDF as most Dracs are.  They seem to use their brains a little more and actually have free thinking here.  This has been refreshingly different from our other postings throughout the Draconis Combine.  While this is still considered a hardship post because of the increased tensions here, say compared to the Federated Suns or the Lyran Commonwealth, at least our family can be together.  At least the 125th did not get posted the Periphery, not like the 347th Battle Regiment we are replacing.  They got sent to the 19th Army in the Taurian Concordant.  Talk about hardship there eh hon?

Constant protests, constant danger from terrorists, constant pressure, and no family because of the threat level.  

While I still have to stand as the regimental Gunslinger if we get a challenge from one of the local yokel Combine ronin warriors wanting to show up the SLDF, I still do not feel threatened all the time.  At least I can relax when I am off duty, no worrying about the constant noose of death hanging around my neck from the stress.

I guess it is funny that an independent regiment like the 125th Dragoons gets assigned to a garrison bivouac, but you gotta love a large bureaucracy like the SLDF High Command for this little lovely posting.  At least I am, I get my family on the same planet, what more can I ask for?

Anyway, enough of that mushy stuff lover.

The regiment is getting along fine.   We have all our gear here with us, believe that one or not, ha ha.  My company continues to purr along like a 25’ Thorin hover racer.  The attached jump infantry and hovertank platoons are really something to see.  Those Kanga jump tanks are a sight to see running flat-out at a hundred twenty-five kph then jump over a hundred eighty meters sailing over ten foot walls is simply awe-inspiring!  God I love Hegemony technology!

The jump infantry is a good addition to my company of assault mechs too.  They give us a presence on the ground that only they can do.  At least I don’t have to dismount my Banshee and climb all the way down that chain ladder so much anymore in the field.  It’s good too to have them as jump infantry as they can keep up with us Mech jocks on a mobile battlefield.  Lieutenant Peterson is a fine young officer who I think will go high and command her own division someday.  I cannot way the same about the tank commander Lt. Carpenter.  He just always seems to be late, fumbling with something that is the latest tech gadget from his ole science club.  He says he has a buddy that he grew up with that is in the R&D department back on Terra.  I dunno, but he seems to take care of his people and equipment, so I give a passing qualification score on his form thirty-five when I grade him on officer basics, but God help save me from all these olivebars after they get their promotion from sergeant after they prove they have what it takes to be a SLDF officer.  Makes me wonder why I do not just retire from active duty and take a nice cushy cadre gig at some private Mech academy back home on Terra.

Ah, well, this is starting to run long my love.  I will wrap it up as I am in the process in finding us a nice house off base for you and the kids.  There are several neighborhoods that are SLDF-friendly near the base.  Wish me luck bargaining with the local neighborhood leader for a place in his community, lol.  

Anyway, give the kids my love and tell my folks and yours I miss them,
Your husband and lover,
David.
  
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2009, 02:15:12 PM » Quote Modify Remove  

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II. Station.

Fort Chatham,
Chatham, SLDF Draconis Combine Military District Region 2,
12 August, 2763.

Over a full year had passed since the 125th Dragoon Regiment settled into the routine of garrison and becoming a part of a larger formation, the 326th BattleMech Division.  The posting on Chatham was a welcome relief from the constant movement that normally came with being an independent regiment in the Star League Defense Forces.  The regimental family caravan had caught up with the 125th within three months of planet fall on Chatham.

With the arrival of the families, the regiment’s posting took on an unfamiliar sense of normalcy.  David was marveling at this very thought at the moment as he set at his desk shuffling all the paperwork necessary to keep a five platoon and lance company functioning properly.  Everything from fuel and oil for the jump infantry’s jump packs to blades for the lift fans for the hovertanks to all manner of actuators and such for the Mechs.  

Oi, I do really at times envy the regular line regiments because they have it easy when it comes to maintenance and paperwork, thought David.  

The SLDF had a set system for line regiments versus independent ones.  The line Mech regiments used only one type of Mech for an entire company and sometimes in whole battalions.  It so simplified the ease of ordering spare parts that a warrant officer only had to check the needed parts on a data pad and hit the send button to have parts ordered.  The entire process was done by the SLDF to minimize the burden on the supply chain and to ease repairs because each company had large stockpile that fit any Mech in the unit.  The SLDF took this one step even further with its armor regiments.  In these units, the entire regiment had only one type of tank, be it light or assault, hover or tracked, only one type.

In the independent regiments, the supply chain was the exact opposite.  Each company had a variety of Mechs that covered all the tonnages from light to assault.  The maintenance needs increased exponentially because of the myriad of parts needed to keep the Mechs running and then add in the parts and supplies needed to keep the extra attached units in the independents and you had a potential nightmare for supply officers.  Of course the supply officers in the independent regiments were called miracle workers for their abilities of using whatever they could land their hands on and making it work.  It was just the way the SLDF had its unit's setup.  The independents were made to be able to have minimal supplies and still be functional, albeit at a lower efficiency than if they were part of a regular supply chain as the line regiments were.  On the other hand the line regiments maintained a higher efficiency rating at a more constant level, while becoming very vulnerable to the cutting of the supply chain that gave this very advantage.   The SLDF contained both unit types in order to be able to meet all the challenges that the Star League’s military could be called upon to meet.

Finishing up the paperwork and printing off a copy for the hard copy files kept at the main divisional administrative offices in case of a catastrophic failure of the computer cores, David gathered up the various reports and supply requisition forms and passed them off to his adjutant Corporal Pullo.  Pullo would make the magic happen getting them where they needed to go and making sure that the sent forms were responded to in  timely manner.  Without him, David could not effectively run the company.  

Good thing I kept him the unit after that little matter back on Benjamin during the transfer out here.

That matter had been a near firefight with the local Combine garrison after they were called in to put down a group of protestors that were only asking for a better school to be built for their children as they tolled eighteen hours a day to the greater glory of the Dragon.  Sergeant Pullo had had to be physically removed from his Mech as he had slipped his Black Knight off the company’s Fortress-class dropship and was in the process of bringing his Mech up to full power to protect the civilians from the Draconis troops’ severe crackdown.  That he had to be removed by a squad of jump troopers forcibly but reluctantly was a sad statement on the laws of the Star League.  

We are sworn to protect them all but we cannot interfere in the internal affairs of the member states without order of the First Lord.

After the said matter, Pullo had been demoted to Corporal from Master Sergeant.  David had called in quite a few favors, but it they were worth it because he gotten Pullo as his adjutant with no questions asked.  The thirty days hard labor from the regimental commander Colonel Nuygen had turned out to be pushing the company supply forms with no help from the computerized file resources.  

David had not asked any questions after the Colonel had winked at him at the hearing.  Nobody had seen that wink, but David had fully understood it.  The Colonel had meant to let Pullo off without giving the impression that he was too lenient.  The cut in rank and the thirty days had been enough.  Course, Pullo had enough paper cuts to be awarded the Purple Heart, but instead David has silently, with the Colonel’s approval, awarded Pullo the Hegemony Medal for his actions.  

While the SLDF meant the Hegemony Medal to be given for the non-military actions that SLDF troopers did in relation to the member states that upheld the principles of the Star League,  the action that Pullo had started and nearly enacted had been nothing more that any of the rest of the 125th had felt.  And of course all Pullo had seen was a picture of the medal in his service jacket along with the award certificate, right before it had been classified as sensitive material and stored away at regimental HQ.

Ah the wonders of the monstrous bureaucracy that is the SLDF, David thought to himself humorlessly.

Just the thing to give him an award and then hiding it where no one will really see it.

David hurried along to find his personal vehicle for a ride to the base Post Exchange to buy a birthday gift for his oldest son Davy.  A nice new HO-scale train set, probably something from the Lionel-Interstellar Toy Train Company.  It was a good thing the base PX was built to service a full division plus its families and auxiliaries on planet.  

I guess it is a good and bad thing to say about the paranoia that DC feels about outsiders who have not been grown and mind-melded into automatons.  

That the SLDF was seen as an occupying army instead of protectors and guardians was a bit insulting, but all in a trooper’s life in the Draconis Combine.  Luckily the 326th was a full division and had a huge base complex plus the many training grounds and ranges scattered across Chatham.  The PX had the latest and greatest in Hegemony and Star League fades and fancies.  Just the things needed to remind the troopers and their families of home and heart even in the middle of the somewhat alien Combine.

Glancing at his watch David thought.”If I hurry I can just make the 1700 hours end of day rush.”  
  
 
« Last Edit: August 13, 2009, 03:46:23 PM by Savage Coyote »  Report to moderator    97.82.144.78  
 
 
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2009, 02:16:16 PM » Quote Modify Remove  

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III. Orders.

Fort Chatham,
Chatham, SLDF Draconis Combine Military District Region 2,
13 August, 2764.

David was back at his office on time the next morning at 0500 hours Terran Standard Time.  As usual, Pullo was there with the morning’s briefs and reports from the company’s platoon and lance leaders.  Short, concise readiness reports were all David needed and that is what his commanders had been trained by him to give.  Nothing fancy, just the facts about what was happening.  

Five minutes into the daily minutia, Pullo commed David that he was needed at regimental HQ for a briefing.  

“Roger that, thanks Pullo.”  

Quickly closing out his desktop computer and filing the reports in his in-box, David began to get ready for the trip over to regimental headquarters for the 125th Dragoons.

Ten minutes later found David standing in a group of officers that comprised the main leadership of 1st Battalion.  Standing in the group were the battalion commander Major Robert Mosteller, the battalion executive officer Captain Timothy McMahon, Bravo Company commander Captain Savang Moua, Charlie Company commander Captain Suzanne Dean, and David himself, the Alpha Company commander.  They were speculating about why the senior leadership of the regiment had been gathered.  He saw the other two battalion staffs standing in their own groups off to his left in the main briefing hall at the regiment’s HQ.  

The hall itself had the standard rows of chairs with armrests and data pad plug-ins in a semi-circle around a lectern standing in the middle.  Immediate behind the lectern was a wall-mounted screen that covered the entire wall on that side of the briefing hall.  The screen could display in one solid projection or be divided into multiple displays by manipulating a simple light pen screen.  Right now the screen held the table of organization of the 125th.  

David noticed the dropship company and the quartermaster detachment assigned to the regiment were on the screen.  Both were showing signs of an increased state of readiness.  The regimental command group showed full readiness as well.  The three line battalions were in various states of readiness also, none of them below eighty percent, David noted silently with pride.  The independent regiments had an unwritten mission statement to always be ready for whatever may come.  

The hall went silent when the regimental sergeant major came in the room and called, “Attention on deck.”

All personal present snapped to the position of attention as Colonel Juranga Nyugen came into the room and walked to the front of the room before turning and calling, “At ease, take a seat people.”

The hall sounded quiet as the various staffs took their seats in the semi-circle and clicked their data pads as they focused their attention on Nyugen.  

The sergeant major lowered the room lights with a remote and called up the wall screen control queue and made a few adjustments that brought up a host of new screens.

David raised an eyebrow as he read the top row of screens in a brief glance.  The very first was an order from the High Command calling for the 326th BattleMech Division to prepare for movement to the 19th Army’s operational theater, the Taurian Concordant.  

A quick glance around revealed various looks of dread and excitement from the gathered officers.  The older officers had looks were of dread, while the newer, younger officers looked excited.  The older knew the terrorist attacks and the constant protests from civilians was nothing to wish for.  The younger officers were excited because they were thinking they could get some action and make a name for themselves.

Colonel Nyugen allowed the mission orders to sink for a moment more and then spoke again, “The 326th has been chosen to replace the 328th Royal BattleMech Division in XLVI Corps in the 19th Army.  They are due to rotate back to the Hegemony and join the 1st Army for a rest and refit period.  Our tour of duty is due to begin in late December of this year, with our entire division to ship out in thirty days.”

“Our deployment will be for at least a year and maybe longer.  The High Command is suspecting with the rise in attacks from an increasing number of terrorist groups that we maybe in for a long stay if things continue to escalate at the current rate.  We are to begin training in crowd control, urban combat, and general peacekeeping operations in additional to our normal combat role.”

“The 326th has traditionally been concentrated here on Chatham for the defense of Luthien, if the need were ever to arise.  We are not on Luthein itself because of the political crisis it would create having a full BattleMech division on the Kurita capital.  Here on Chatham, we are only one jump away and can be the vanguard of any relief force for the units currently stationed there.  Given the resistance the Combine has shown even our regiment in our time here, you will find the Taurian Concordant even more hostile to our presence many times over.”

“All right then on to our specific orders,” Colonel Nyugen continued.  David, along with every other officer in the briefing hall prepared to make notes on their data pads.  

“We are to commence prep for long distance movement.  All equipment is to be primed for deployments with requests for ordnance and supplies to be sent to the quartermaster no later than the end of this week.  All regimental personal are to have their inoculations and medical records up to date and their legal arrangements finalized and handed in to the medical department within three weeks.”

“All personal are to be given one week’s leave within the next three weeks.  We will be in space for at least three months and will have few chances to ground on planets and stretch our legs.  The rotation of leaves is up to the commanders, but I want at least a third of your people on leave.  It will put a strain on the rest of us, but I feel it important to give our people the chance to relax before they enter into a constant siege mode mentality when we get to the Concordant.”

“I will expect your movement orders and plans to be sent into regimental HQ for approval within the next two days.  And that ends the official part of the program.”

“I expect you all to set the example for your people; we are going into a hostile land with people who do not want us there and have the will to use violence to remove us.”

“All right, I think we are about done here for now,” Nyugen said, nodding to his top sergeant to call the room to attention.

“GROUP, ATTEN-TION!”

Rising to attention with the rest of the gathered officers, David started to think of how he was going to break the news of his soon to be departure once again to his wife Wendy and his family.

At least we have had a year together without me tromping through some god-forsaken jungle on some backwater world of no importance.

With that thought and his orders in hand, David made his way to the entrance of the briefing hall to commence his preparations for movement to the Taurian Concordant.
  
 
« Last Edit: August 13, 2009, 03:45:56 PM by Savage Coyote »  Report to moderator    97.82.144.78  
 
 
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2009, 04:21:31 PM » Quote  

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Thanks for your posting, SC!

It's a great read and I look forward to more.  
 
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 All I want is just a nibble of 'Mech armor & myomer... is that so wrong?
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      Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2009, 06:13:01 PM » Quote  

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Nooooo.
More things to read.  

I wonder where it will go.
 
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In Turn they tested each Clan namesake in trial against the Ice Hellion's mettle. Each chased the Ice Hellion, hunting it down. All failed to match the predator's speed and grace. Khan Cage smiled and said, "And that is how we shall be."

The Remembrance (Clan Ice Hellion) Passage 5, Verse 3, Lines 1 - 5
 
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2009, 07:03:56 PM » Quote  

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Quote from: Ice Hellion on July 08, 2009, 06:13:01 PM
Nooooo.
More things to read.  


Yeeesss! More things to read!

I can't help it, I'm a compulsive reader.  
 
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 All I want is just a nibble of 'Mech armor & myomer... is that so wrong?
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      Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2009, 07:40:41 PM » Quote  

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Quote from: MechRat on July 08, 2009, 07:03:56 PM
Yeeesss! More things to read!

I can't help it, I'm a compulsive reader.


Me too and I can never get enough of good BattleTech things (probably because they are so difficult to find here).
 
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In Turn they tested each Clan namesake in trial against the Ice Hellion's mettle. Each chased the Ice Hellion, hunting it down. All failed to match the predator's speed and grace. Khan Cage smiled and said, "And that is how we shall be."

The Remembrance (Clan Ice Hellion) Passage 5, Verse 3, Lines 1 - 5
 
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2009, 09:05:51 PM » Quote  

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I'll have to give this one a good going over, very nice SC! Welcome aboard once again.  
 
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muttley
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    Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2009, 11:56:58 PM » Quote  

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More please!
 
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"It matters little how we die, so long as we die better men than we imagined we could be -- and no worse than we feared." Drago Museveni, CY 8451
 
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2009, 03:23:08 AM » Quote Modify Remove  

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IV. Preparations.

Fort Chatham,
Chatham, SLDF Draconis Combine Military District Region 2,
14 September, 2764.

The past month had pasted at what seemed like light-speed.  The long hours of paperwork, filing, prepping the company, getting the dropship loaded, ordnance and supplies requisitioned, secured, and stowed away, endless drilling in urban combat and crowd control, getting the inoculations (always a thing David hated, needles, enough said), and the rest of the seemingly unlimited amount of details needed to make a reinforced company ready for movement off Chatham.

The hardest part was leaving Wendy and the kids.  It always is, was, and will be.  I never do find a way for everyone not to cry, but at least this time it was not a two week leave and then I am gone again on duty.

The time spent on Chatham by the 125th Dragoons had been some of the best of David’s life.  The everyday routine of home life was something that had made David think about resigning everyday after the first time he had come home from work to be welcomed by the whole family.  A nice little country estate near his home city on Terra on the eastern portion of the North American continent was really tempting at times.  

Of course I can always resume my duties as Duke from my cousin Grant.  I always did hate the limelight and the attention, but you have to do what you have to do as a royal.

The family title of Duke had been in the family for ten generations.  It had been awarded for what the family historical records called a “minor affair.”   The Terran Hegemony records of the same “minor affair” were somewhat different.  They recorded name of the first of David’s forefathers to be awarded the title.  That forefather had been in the famed 30th Mechanized Infantry Division, The Ole Hickory Division, when it was stationed on Lyons in the Lyran Commonwealth in 2408.  

The Terran Hegemony had made a bargain with the Commonwealth to garrison certain worlds in exchange for raw material rights on those planets.  The Draconis Combine had been making a huge push in to the Commonwealth at that time in the Age of War.  The good Colonel and his mechanized infantry regiment had been assigned to guard the flank of the main Terran line when Kurita forces invaded Lyons.  They ended up saving the 3rd Armored Assault Division when the regiment pushed through a brigade of Kurita heavy tanks to relieve the encircled 3rd Division.  Incredibility, his men had come through the vicious fighting that occurred that bloody day virtually intact with only three percent casualties.  

The very next year the 30th Mechanized Infantry Division had been assigned to Terra Firma supporting the 309th Armored Assault Division, the famed Black Chargers, in their bid to push the invading Capellan Confederation troops off planet.  The Colonel had been given a brigade command because of his skills and the way he had led his regiment during the fight on Lyons.  It was with these three regiments he led the charge that broke the main defensive line of the Capellans opposing the HAF’s landing zones, thereby creating the opening for the Black Chargers to ride to glory and virtually overrun the main defensive works and Capellan opposition.  

The good Colonel had called it just another day of duty on both occasions.  The Hegemony Armed Forces High Command and the Director-General Judith Cameron had called it extraordinarily going above and beyond the call of duty.  The resulting avalanche of awards included the Hegemony Medal, The Medal of Valor, induction into the Order of the Sword, promotion to Major General, and inclusion in one of Judith Cameron’s Peers List and the resulting awarding of the title of Duke of Appalachia, the region of North America on Terra that the Colonel was from.  The family history was usually the ignored one as compared to the official Hegemony one.  

But the long story short, as the noble titles slowly became hereditary, instead of being held for only a single generation as originally intended by Director-General Michael Cameron, David’s family had held onto the title.  David was the tenth generation Duke.  Being only thirteen when he became Duke, David had done his duty until he reached the age of seventeen.  He had done a good job with all the advisors and friends of the family helping him rule efficiently.  But, being a young man, David he wanted to explore the world and universe outside the Ducal Palace, so he had applied to the family’s alma mater and its less-well known military officer program.  After being accepted, he let a cousin stand in as regent to rule in his stead.  It was to have been only a temporary stint, but David had turned out to be quite content as an officer in the SLDF.  David had decided to continue his career for the time being and return in a few years to resume the title.  The few years had turned into a decade and more as David had found where he thought he belonged when he had been assigned to the 125th Dragoons.

But those are stray thoughts for rainy days I suppose, David mused to himself.

Looking around at the various stations on the bridge of the Fort Fisher, the Fortress-class dropship he was on, the dropship was battened down for the first in a long series of hyperspace jumps across the Draconis Combine, through the Federated Suns, and then into the Taurian Concordant.  The ship’s Captain was going over last minute details with the engineering officer, while the dropship pilot sat with one hand over the emergency drop collar release if anything should happen to the jumpship they were riding, be it anything from a K-F Drive collapse to enemy attack to radical decompression somewhere in the dropship.  The Petty Officer manning the weapons control console was busying running yet another diagnostics routine in a near-ending series of tests and procedures that kept the Ft.Fisher’s weapons bays ready for action at a moment’s notice.  

And those were just the visible stations from David’s seat on the bridge.  As Commander of Ground Troops Onboard, he was afforded a station on the bridge for coordination with the dropship crew for onloading, unloading, combat drops, and everything in between.  No say in the ship’s running, but a vital link until David had his boys and girls off the ship and on the ground.

Wandering thoughts for these moments of inactivity.

Waiting was the part that David seemed to hate the most, nothing to do but sit in a seat and wait for something to happen.  It was a spacer’s normal mode of operation though, endless boredom separated by moments of sheer terror of crisis and combat.  The normal boredom was what veteran spacers wished for.

Ah well, at least it beats being stuck in my cabin below decks.

Currently the Fort Fisher was attached along its massive spine of the Potemkin-class Troop Cruiser Novosibirsk,  The cruiser was a beehive of activity as the twenty-five dropships attached to it were prepping for the first hyperspace jump towards the Taurian Concordant.  The various signals being to its bridge were a plethora of reports running from readiness reports to a last-minute arrival who were docking at a collar on fifth spinal row of docking collar around the portside.  A similar docking was taking place aboard the Vladivostok, another Potemkin, off the Novosibirsk’s starboard side.  The rest of the 535th Armored Transport Squadron hovered in formation around the two Potemkins.  All of them were ready for the jump.  

The captain strapped himself into his chair and told his comms officer to signal the Novosibirsk’s bridge his ship was ready for jump.  The other dropships docked onboard also signaled they were ready.  When all of them had checked in, the warship’s bridge crew signaled the squadron flagship that they were ready.  A final check on the squadron and the Rear Admiral in charge of the 535th gave the command to jump.

A series of three bells and chimes rang out the hyperjump signal and then the world went into a kind of suspended animation as the troop cruiser jumped the twenty six and three-quarters light years to Corsica Nueva.  The wave of familiar nausea hit David about the same as it always did after a jump.  The minor sinus pressures would recede in a few minutes.  

“All dropships, jump number One complete,” came a report from the Novosibirsk’s bridge.

“Only thirty-three more to go till we reach Sterope,” commented the Fort Fisher’s captain.
  
 
« Last Edit: August 14, 2009, 11:54:04 PM by Savage Coyote »  Report to moderator    97.82.144.78  
 
 
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2009, 03:23:36 AM » Quote Modify Remove  

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V. Excerpts I

Appendix K[/u]
Jump movement line

The following is the planned jump line to the 326th BMD’s new posting on Sterope in the Taurian Concordant.  Relevant notes have been included in parenthesis.  Numbers included are star type and estimated hours to recharge K-F drives.  Any additional notes are included denoting notations such as national borders and military region boundary lines.  

Point of Origination: Chatham (Home posting) (XXXV Corps, 15th Army, Army Group Kurita, DCMR D2)
Jump 1 : Corsica Neuva (K2 - 74 hours) to
Jump 2 : Philadelphia (M3 – 78 hours) to
Jump 3 : Havdhem (M5 – 84 hours) to
Jump 4 : Minowa (K3 – 76 hours) to (Cross into 14th Army, DCMR D1)
Jump 5 : Valmeira (A8 – 64 hours) to
Jump 6 : Kopiang Chian (M9 – 92 hours) to
Jump 7 : Irurzun (G4 – 74 hours) (Leave Draconis Combine) to
Jump 8 : Galtor III (F0 – 58 hours) (Independent world – Draconis Combine/Federated Suns border) to
Jump 9 : Tripoli(G0 – 66hours) (enter Federated Suns) (XVI Corps, 2nd Army, Army Group Davion, FSMR D1) to
Jump 10 : Dobson (A9 – 72 hours) to
Jump 11 : Doneval II (B5 – 62 hours) to
Jump 12 : Layover (G3 – 72 hours) to (IX Corps, 2nd Army, Army Group Davion, FSMR D1)
Jump 13 : Corydon (F2 – 60 hours) to
Jump 14 : Batavia (K9 – 88 hours) to
Jump 15 : Markesan (B2 – 50 hours) to (LII Corps, 2nd Army, Army Group Davion, FSMR D1)
Jump 16 : Strawn (A2 – 54 hours) to (LXX Corps, 4th Army, Army Group Davion, FSMR D3)
Jump 17 : Argyle (A8 – 70 hours) to
Jump 18 : Belladona (M3 – 78 hours) to
Jump 19 : El Dorado (K2 – 74 hours) to
Jump 20 : Remagan (B9 – 70 hours) to
Jump 21 : Waxell (F7 - 72 hours) to
Jump 22 : New Damascus (B5 – 60 hours) to
Jump 23 : Grosvenor (F8 – 68 hours) to
Jump 24 : Kaguyak (G1 – 66hours) to
Jump 25 : Alsek (G6 – 78 hours) to (LXII Corps, 4th Army, Army Group Davion, FSMR D3)
Jump 26 : Darwendale (K4 – 78 hours) to
Jump 27 : Marodzi (B3 – 56 hours) to
Jump 28 : Die Moot (G9 – 84 hours) to
Jump 29 : Keuterville (G6 – 78 hours) to
Jump 30 : Lothair (B1 – 52 hours) to
Jump 31 : Hyalite (A4 – 62 hours) (Final preparation for entry into Periphery)(Leave Federated Suns)  
Jump 32 : Amber Grove (A4 – 62 hours) (XLVI Corps, 19th Army, TCMR) (Enter Taurian Concordant) to
Jump 33 : Euschelus (M2 – 74 hours) to  
Jump 34 : Sterope (End point of jump line)(Garrison posting/relief of 328th BattleMech Division).
  
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2009, 03:24:28 AM » Quote Modify Remove  

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VI. Excerpts II.

Appendix A
Table of Organization & Equipment

326th BattleMech Division

Divisional Headquarters Group

326th Divisional Headquarters Battalion

Divisional Command Lance – 4 BLR-1G Battlemaster
1st Company - 12 LNX-9Q Lynx
2nd Company – 12 CRB-27 Crab
3rd Company – 12 PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk

326th Dropship Battalion

Dropship classes and assignments

1 Overlord-class  (Divisional Headquarters)
1 Dictator Command-class (1st Brigade Command Company)
4 Overlord-class  (225th Heavy Assault Regiment)
1 Triumph-class  (225th Heavy Assault Regiment)
1 Dictator Command -class (392nd Battle Regiment)
3 Dictator-class   (392nd Battle Regiment)
1 Dictator Command-class (393rd Battle Regiment)
3 Dictator-class   (393rd Battle Regiment)
1 Dictator Command-class (2nd Brigade Command Company)
1 Colossus-class (125th Dragoon Regiment)
1 Fortress-class   (125th Dragoon Regiment)
3 Union-class       (125th Dragoon Regiment)
2 Dictator-class    (125th Dragoon Regiment)
1 Titan-class        (125th Dragoon Regiment)
1 Dictator Command-class (1312th Battle Regiment)
3 Dictator-class    (1312th Battle Regiment)
1 Dictator Command-class (454th Striker Regiment)
3 Dictator-class    (454th Striker Regiment)
1 Titan-class         (454th Striker Regiment)
1 Triumph-class    (3rd Brigade Command Company)
3 Condor-class     (5307th Mechanized Infantry Regiment)
3 Triumph-class    (5307th Mechanized Infantry Regiment)
3 Condor-class     (5308th Mechanized Infantry Regiment)
3 Triumph-class    (5308th Mechanized Infantry Regiment)
3 Condor-class     (5308th Mechanized Infantry Regiment)
3 Triumph-class    (5308th Mechanized Infantry Regiment)
1 Triumph-class    (4th Brigade Command Company)
3 Triumph-class    (686th Heavy Armor Regiment)
3 Triumph-class    (687th Heavy Armor Regiment)
3 Triumph-class    (233rd Royal Hover Armor Regiment)
1 Dictator Command-class (5th Brigade Command Company)
3 Triumph-class    (849th Artillery Regiment)
3 Triumph-class    (867th Artillery Regiment)
3 Triumph-class    (948th Artillery Regiment)
3 Titan-class         (728th Aerospace Fighter Regiment)
1 Triumph-class    (1148th Mobile Transport Regiment)
1 Triumph-class    (937th Tactical Air Regiment)
3 Union-class        (326th Reconnaissance Battalion)
1 Seeker-class      (326th Reconnaissance Battalion)
1 Triumph-class    (326th Combat Engineer Battalion)
1 Gazelle-class     (326th Signal Battalion)
6 Mammoth-class  (326th Supply Battalion)

Assigned Divisional Totals: 5Overlord, 7 Dictator Command-class, 14 Dictator, 6 Union, 1 Colossus, 5 Titan, 20 Triumph, 3 Condor, 1 Fortress, 2 Seeker, 1 Gazelle, 6 Mammoth
Total Combined Strength: 71 Dropships

1 Brigade

Brigade Command Company

12 AS7-D Atlas

225th Royal Heavy Assault Regiment

Regimental Command Company

12 EMP-6A Emperor

1st Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 FLS-8K Flashman
1st Company – 12 FLS-8K Flashman
2nd Company - 12EXC-B2 Excalibur
3rd Company – 12 FLS-8K Flashman

2nd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 KGC-000 King Crab
1st Company – 12 KGC-000 King Crab
2nd Company – 12 HGN – 732 Highlander
3rd Company – 12 CRK 5003-1 Crockett

3rd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 NSR-9J Nightstar
1st, 2nd Company – 24 NSR-9J Nightstar
3rd Company – 12 BMB-12D Bombardier

4th Battalion

1st, 2nd, 3rd, Company – 36 Padilla Heavy Artillery Tanks
4th Company – 12 Zephyr Scout Hovertanks

392nd Battle Regiment

Regimental Command Company

12 BL6-KNT Black Knight

1st Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 CTS-6Y Cestus
1st, 2nd, 3rd Company – 36 CTS-6Y Cestus

2nd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 GLT-3N Guillotine
1st Company – 12 GLT-3N Guillotine
2nd Company – 12 EXC-B2 Excalibur
3rd Company – 12 LNX-9Q Lynx

3rd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 CRB-27 Crab
1st, 2nd, 3rd Company – 36 CRB-27 Crab

393rd Battle Regiment

Regimental Command Company

12 MAD-3R Marauder

1st Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4MAD-3R Marauder
1st Company – 12 WHM-6R Warhammer
2nd Company – 12 MAD-3R Marauder
3rd Company – 12 ARC-2R Archer

2nd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 CRB-27 Crab
1st, 2nd Company – 24 CRB-27 Crab
3rd Company – 12 PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk

3rd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 LNC 25-01 Lancelot
1st, 2nd Company – 24 LNC 25-01 Lancelot
3rd Company – 12 GRF-1N Griffin

2 Brigade

Brigade Command Company

12 CP-10-Z Cyclops

125th Dragoon Regiment

Regimental Command Battlegroup

Regimental Command Company – 4 AS7-D Atlas-D, 4 STK-3F Stalker-D, 4 CP-10Z Cyclops-D
1st Artillery Company – 12 Marksman Artillery Tanks-D
1st Hovertank Company – 12 Kanga Hovertanks-D

125 Aero Group

No. 1 Squadron – 6 RPR-100 Rapier-D
No. 2 Squadron – 6 IRN-SD1 Ironsides-D
No. 3 Squadron – 6 RPR-100 Rapier-D

1st Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 2 AS7-D Atlas-D, 2 CP-10Z Cyclops-D
Alpha Company – 4 BNC-3E Banshee-D, 4 BK6-KNT Black Knight-D, 4 GLT-3N Guillotine-D, 4 Jump Infantry Squads, 4 Kanga Hovertanks-D
Bravo Company – 4 CRK 5003-1 Crockett-D, 4 WHM-6R Warhammer-D, 4 ARC-3R Archer-D
Charlie Company – 4 HGN-732 Highlander-D, 4 VTR-9B Victor-D, 4 GLT-3N Guillotine-D

2nd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 BLT-1G Battlemaster-D
Alpha Company – 12 MAD-3R Marauder-D
Bravo Company – 12 NSR-9J Nightstar-D, 4 Jump Infantry Squads
Charlie Company – 12 LNC 25-01 Lancelot-D, 4 Kanga Hovertanks-D

3rd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 2 AS7-D Atlas-D, 2 CP-10Z Cyclops-D
Alpha Company – 4 EXC-B2 Excalibur-D, 4 BMB-12D Bombardier-D, 4 SPT-N2 Spartan-D, 4 Kanga Hovertanks-D
Bravo Company – 4 CTS-6Y Cestus-D, 4 GLT-3N Guillotine-D, 4 AWS-8Q Awesome-D
Charlie Company – 4 CRD-3R Crusader-D, 4 TDR-5S Thunderbolt-D, 4 THG-11E Thug-D, 4 Jump Infantry Squads

1312 Battle Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 12 MAD-3R Marauder

1st Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 WHD-6R Warhammer
1st, 2nd Company – 24 WHD-6R Warhammer
3rd Company – 12 LNC 25-01 Lancelot

2nd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 LNX-9Q Lynx
1st Company – 12 GRF-1N Griffin
2nd Company – 12 LNY-9Q Lynx
3rd Company – 12 WVR-6R Wolverine

3rd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 RFL-3N Rifleman
1st Company – 12 CPLT-C1 Catapult
2nd, 3rd Company- 24 RFL-3N Rifleman

454th Striker Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 12 LNC 25-01 Lancelot

Aerospace Fighter Group – 18 ZRO-114 Zero

1st Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 TLN-5W Talon
1st, 2nd Company – 24 TLN-5W Talon
3rd Company – 12 MON-66 Mongoose

2nd Battalion
 
Battalion Command Lance – 4 PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk
1st Company – 12 MCY-99 Mercury
2nd Company – 12 PHX-HK2 Phoenix Hawk LAM
3rd Company – 12 STG-A5 Stinger LAM

3rd Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 CRB-27 Crab
1st Company – 12 CRB Crab
2nd Company – 12 HSR 200-D Hussar
3rd Battalion – 12 MON-66 Mongoose

3 Brigade

Brigade Command Company

3 Mechanized Infantry Platoons

5307th Mechanized Infantry Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 3 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
1st Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
2nd Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
3rd Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons


5308th Mechanized Infantry Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 3 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
1st Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
2nd Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
3rd Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons


5309th Mechanized Infantry Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 3 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
1st Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
2nd Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons
3rd Battalion – 10 Mechanized Infantry Platoons

212th Striker Battalion

Battalion Command Lance – 4 WVE-5N Wyvern
1st Company – 12 WVE-5N Wyvern
2nd Company – 12 STN-3L Sentinel
3rd Company – 12 FNHK-9K Falcon Hawk

4 Brigade

Brigade Command Company

12 Alacorn Mk VI Heavy Tanks

686 Heavy Armor Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 12 Burke Heavy Tanks
1st Battalion – 40 Burke Heavy Tanks
2nd Battalion – 40 Burke Heavy Tanks
3rd Battalion – 40 Burke Heavy Tanks

687 Heavy Armor Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 12 Alacorn Mk VI Heavy Tanks

1st Battalion – 40 Alacorn Mk VI Heavy Tanks
2nd Battalion – 40 Alacorn Mk VI Heavy Tanks
3rd Battalion –  40 Alacorn Mk VI Heavy Tanks

233 Royal Hover Armor Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 12 Kanga Hovertanks
1st Battalion – 40 Kanga Hovertanks
2nd Battalion – 40 Kanga Hovertanks
3rd Battalion – 40 Kanga Hovertanks

5 Brigade

12 Bombardier BMB-12D

849th Artillery Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 4 Mobile HQ, 8 Zephyr Scout Hovertanks
1st Battalion – 36 Marksman Artillery Tanks
2nd Battalion - 36 Marksman Artillery Tanks
3rd Battalion – 36 Marksman Artillery Tanks

867th Artillery Regiment

Regimental Command Company – 4 Mobile HQ, 8 Zephyr Scout Hovertanks
1st Battalion – 36 Padilla Heavy Artillery Tanks
2nd Battalion - 36 Padilla Heavy Artillery Tanks
3rd Battalion – 36 Padilla Heavy Artillery Tanks

948th Artillery regiment

Regimental Command Company – 4 Mobile HQ, 8 Zephyr Scout Hovertanks
1st Battalion – 36 Marksman Artillery Tanks
2nd Battalion - 36 Marksman Artillery Tanks
3rd Battalion – 36 Marksman Artillery Tanks

456th Ground Aero Wing

728th Aerospace Fighter Regiment

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Squadrons – 24 ZRO-114 Zero
5th Squadron - 6 THK-63 Tomahawk
6th, 7th Squadrons – 12 IRN-SD1 Ironsides
8th, 9th Squadrons – 12 RPR-100 Rapiers

1148th Mobile Transport Regiment

54 Cobra Transport VTOL

937th Tactical Air Regiment

54 Ripper VTOL

326th Reconnaissance Battalion

3 Companies – 36 STG-A5 Stinger LAM
1 Company – 12 Beagle Scout Hovertanks
1 Company – 12 Rotunda Scout Cars  

326th Combat Engineer Battalion

326th Signal Battalion

326th Supply Battalion

535th Armored Transport Squadron[/b]
Squadron warships are named and have attached dropships outside of the 326th BattleMech Division in parenthesis.
1 Black Lion-class CA – Deborah Gibson
2 Avatar-class CA – Tarawa , Valley Forge (1 Titan each)
2 Aegis-class CA – Yorktown, Ticonderoga (1 Titan each)
2 Congress-class FG – Cass Ballenger, Patrick McHenry (2 Pentagon-class each)
2 Potemkin-class TC – Vladivostok, Novosibirsk (2 Achilles, 2 Titans, 2 Elephant Mk 96 each)
4 Lola IIII-class DD – Fletcher, Hara, Johnston, Blue
  
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2009, 03:25:31 AM » Quote Modify Remove  

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VII. Another Letter Home

15 October, 2764

Hello again Wendy,

Just writing to you again to let you know all is well.  The unit has reached Galtor III finally.  It’s a fun planet to land on, if only for a day, at least that is what I think after being in a tin can for over a month in transit form Chatham.  The locals are very proud of their planet and its achievements in the Star League.  The main continent is a marvel of modern Hegemony agricultural engineering.  Fields as far as you can see.  Enough to feed this planet and a hundred others with enough left over to feed all of the SLDF.  Amazing how a little high-tech, genetically-modified wheat grain can do to such fertile soil as Galtor III has.  

We gave all of the divisional units an eight hour pass to work off their space legs and have some time planet-side in normal gravity.  The grav decks on the warships are really nice in that they can simulate a 1G planet, but they are always overcrowded no matter the time of day, at least they are on the Novosibirsk at any rate.  But then again, when you have twenty-five dropship crew and a warship crew to give exercise to, you are always overcrowded, he he.  

The Rear Admiral commanding the 535th Squadron has been debating over whether or not to burn some fuel by letting the dropships detach from their carriers during recharging operations after each jump and letting us get a 0.5 to .75G into each star system we travel to.  It gives us some semblance of gravity while conserving fuel.  It also lets us do some training under gravity conditions.  The Periphery rebels would love it if we arrived with a whole division in the Taurian Concordant with a bunch of marshmallow for muscles troopers from the commanding general on down to the privates unloading the supply battalion’s Mule-class transports.

It seems a bit wasteful, but hey when it’s the SLDF, nothing is too good or wasteful for our troopers.  With the economies of three thousand star systems to draw on, we can do it.

Well on to you and me.  Your last letter I got over the HPG uplink was sad.  I understand that you and the kids miss me and you want to go home to Terra.  Please do what you feel you must.  I will join you when I next get leave, but that may be at least mid-June of next year before I can get leave approved.  At least I can get a quick hop back to Terra as there are always transports coming and going all the time.  I have to get the company settled into its new base of operations.  Then I can relax a little.  You will be welcome back home as always, just try to relax and let the household staff do things at the manorhouse.  Just tell them how you want things to run and they will have it ready to go in no time.  

It may be for the best that you go back to Terra.  With the way war seems always ready to break out with the Combine, Terra is about the safest place in the universe I guess.  I just never will trust the SDS’s.  I know, I know,  you say it is safe, but I still say it is better to use the resources to buy more warships and have real people running them, not a bunch of computer programs.  It seems like a bunch of damn ghosts in the system to me.  Course you are the computer engineer in the family, me, I just a grunt <wink>.  I just hope our ultimate creation just does not ever turn around and bite its creator.  

Well, gotta go for now.  I will buy some local gifts and souvenirs and get them in the next courier run out to you.
I hope you like the whole grain lingerie set I got for you, lol.  Its bound to look great and it is bio-degradable too <wink>

My love always,
David
  
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2009, 03:25:56 AM » Quote Modify Remove  

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VIII. A Quick Charge Up
Zenith Jump Point,
Belladonna System,
SLDF Federated Suns Military Region District Three,
12 November, 2764.

Waiting was always the hardest part of a massive move such as the 326th BattleMech Division was undertaking.  The warships of the 535th Squadron could quick charge their engines using their fusion drives.  The main problem from quick charging the K-F drives was an accelerated and increased risk of damage to both the K-F drive and the fusion plant, effectively stranding any damaged ship in whatever star system it was in unless a rescue effort could be mounted or the ship’s engineer’s could repair any damage taken.

The other method of quick charging the engines was to simply take on energy for the K-F drives from the space stations that orbited most Inner Sphere star systems at one or both of the zenith and nadir jump points.  The problem was the 535th Squadron contained thirteen warships whereas the space stations generally only had only eight energy storage battery banks like those on the mostly standard Olympus-class charge stations that were fairly common around the Inner Sphere.  Being an expensive station to start with, many systems along the main jump routes had one, but only at the nodal points and major worlds in the Inner Sphere had stations at both jump points.  One such system was Belladonna where seven warships were parked in synchronous orbit with the Olympus at the zenith point.  The other six were charging up at the nadir point Olympus.

The transport and command elements of the 535th, consisting of the Potemkins, Avatars, Aegis’s, and the Black Lion warships was at the zenith jump station.  The escort elements consisting of the Congresses and Lola III’s was at the nadir station.  

Belladonna was only a single jump away from the Federated Suns capital of New Avalon and two from Galax, home to the largest Star League naval base in the Federated Suns and Boeing Interstellar, proud makers of the Congress-class frigates that the SLDF used in so much abundance throughout the Regular Navy.  Galax was also home to a large contingent of the SLDF’s mothball fleet.  Most were hulks awaiting dismantling and reuse as scarp metal in the naval shipyards of Federated Interstellar.  

The energy shifts from the massive banks on the Olympus’s to the hungry warships went quickly.  Instead of the normal recharge time of seventy-eight hours plus the time required to unfold and deploy the jump sails and then to retract and recover them was reduced to a mere twelve hour turn around time.  This had not been the case on most the 326th’s voyage, but the times it had been available, the Squadron commander had used the option to cut time off the division’s trip.

A short layover was being conducted though by the admiral, even after the quick charge pick-up was completed.  Both the Cass Ballenger and the Patrick McHenry had been manufactured at the Galax shipyards.  Following a Regular Navy tradition of sending a homecoming message when a warship neared its original shipyard, both warships were in the process of sending their messages to the Belladonna HPG station for transmission to the Galax yards.  

After the completion of this the squadron commenced the countdown to the next split hyperspace jump to El Dorado which also had a set of Olympus charge stations at both jump points.  The ships began to jump in phases and were on their way again.
  
 
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     Re: SLDF RP : 326th BattleMech Division
« Reply #14 on: July 09, 2009, 03:29:11 AM » Quote Modify Remove  

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IX. Waiting On The Rest
Zenith Jump Point,
Die Moot System,
SLDF Federated Suns Military Region District Three,
15 December, 2764.

David wandered around the bridge of the Fort Fisher as he and the rest of the 535th Squadron waited on a group of forces from Fourth Army headquarters in the Hobbs system to join up for the journey into the Taurian Concordant.   Hobbs was the administrative and military hub for the SLDF in the Federated Suns Military District Three which encompassed the outer reaches of the FedSuns from the border with the Capellan Confederation to the border with the Taurian Concordant across the rim towards the independent planets past the Concordant back again into the rough boundaries that the SLDF drew to separate Districts Two and Three near the FedSun capital of New Avalon.  

The 535th had been making better time than originally estimated thanks to a series of quick recharges that they had picked up around the so called “Golden Five” worlds around New Avalon.  These were among the oldest, most heavily populated, heavily industrialized, and wealthiest planets in all of the Federated Suns.  Befitting their status as such, each had a twin set of Olympus-class charge stations, one at each zenith and nadir jump points.  As it turned out, the accelerated timetable was not such a good thing after all.

The advance of the timetable had not gone unnoticed by the SLDF Transportation Command.  Its massive computer banks on Terra had noted that the 535th had reached Die Moot a few weeks ahead of schedule and made its human counterpart aware of this.  The human captain had sent the information up his chain of command to the top where the General commanding the Transportation Command.  She sent back down orders for an additional escort squadron to be assigned to the 326th for its journey into the Taurian Concordant.  Her assistant had amended the order to add a resupply convoy to the mix, on the request from the Quartermaster Command to provide escorts to its supply convoy.  

Added to this was another request from the Replacement-Deployment Command about transferring several new mechwarriors to the 328th Royal BattleMech Division who were replacing many retiring soldiers.  Coupled with the need to return the bodies of three hundred and fifty SLDF troopers who had died in the past few months in the Taurian Concordant, it would be a waste to not combine the whole bunch together in one efficient grouping that could all be done at one time.  

The end result was the 535th actually losing time as it waited for the escort squadron to jump in, then the various military and civilian jumpships to muster over Die Moot, and finally the jumpship from Rep-Dep to arrive from Hobbs.  Not quite what Rear Admiral Sonya Peterson had had in mind when she had tried to trim time off her squadron’s transit time.  

Such was the luck of being in the SLDF with its command structure.  The bureaucracy ran smoothly 99.9% of the time, but sometimes, it was very unwieldy for those it happened to land upon.  The delay did have one silver lining however, it given the division’s mail time to catch up.

Not that that was for all of us, David thought to himself, Most, but not all.

A letter from Wendy had told him that she and the kids were going back to Terra.  Many of the 326th’s dependents were also leaving Chatham and returning to the Terran Hegemony.  The constant xenophobia of the Draconis Combine was a nerve wracking experience on SLDF troopers and their families.   They did not fear attack very much due to the sheer size of the SLDF and its large contingent within the Combine.  Any war there, while it would be bloody , was a foregone conclusion in all the minds of the Inner Sphere militaries’ leaders.  The technology advantage alone far outweighed any other advantage the Star League had over the Draconis Combine or any other state member of the League.  The Combine had some of the best training regimens, but the SLDF had learned well from the First Hidden War when the ronin warriors had challenged the SLDF warriors to duels.  

I will have to send Wendy a HPG-gram that any and all of the 326th’s dependents are to be welcomed back home by my family in our dukedom and to tell her to take out of the family coffers to cover the expense getting them set up there.  We won’t miss the money with all our investments across the League.  IT is for a good cause and the fun thing is I have final say it anyway.  It’s good to be Duke sometimes.