Collection 21 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 21

-VB-

Edward Arlaoskas

Orbit of Cursa, Free Worlds League

3002 October

Well.

I now had another dropship.

I also had half a mind to just sell it. 

I also also knew that was my impulse talking and I shouldn’t sell a dropship. Aside from the fact that I wouldn’t get the full value that it was worth, building or purchasing a ship would put me into an unacceptable amount of debt. 

Ping.

I paused as the Inspired Inventor sent a notice to me out of nowhere about a spare point. 

I didn’t think much about it before using it to level up Close Quarter Combat and raising it from 3 to 4. 

Already, my brain was flooded with criticism about how stupidly I fought on the dropship and how I got carried by my equipment. 

‘Yes, I know that. That’s the whole point of technology,’ I grumbled before focusing back at the problem at hand.

Namely, the dropship currently sitting between Solo Killing and Humpty Dumpty in space in orbit of Cursa.

An Invader-class dropship was not an uncommon dropship. It wasn’t as ubiquitous as a Union or a Leopard but it wasn’t uncommon. It was actually used frequently by any mercenary command and most militaries for their ability to ferry around aerospace fighters. 

For someone like me who could make drones and my version of Land-Air-Mechs, an Invader-class dropship was less of an asset and more of a luggage. 

But that’s what it was perfect for. It was a luggage bag. If I modified its hull, then it could serve as a semi-permanent cargo hold that could occasionally make a trip to a planet while I and Solo Killing remained in orbit and ready to get the hell of dodge if someone decides to bring a lot of heat. 

And considering that I already had one encounter, I wasn’t paranoid when I planned for the next defense, routes of escape, and potential MAD devices, okay? 

Speaking of which…

Did I care about all of the innocent people on Terra? Subjectively, no. Ethically, maybe, considering who they paid their tax to (beyond the somehow still existing nation-states). Morally, yes.

So, yes, I guessed that I did. I wasn’t heartless, then. That’s a good thing, I think.

Actually, was that a good thing? To ignore the fastest way to securing my own safety because … someone else was in the way? I mean, surely, at the very least, their Hidden Worlds shouldn’t be that bad of a deal if I decided to crack those planets open, right? Just a few blasts here and there with antimatter warheads… Not like anyone there would be clean of telephone company propaganda, religious doctrine, and …

I shook my head. 

Internal philosophical(?) debate later. Decide what to do with the dropship now.

It was also pretty much beat up. The Siege Cannon shots, the laser burns, and random autocannon hits it suffered made it look less like a ball and more like a half-rotten fruit ready to fall over.

It certainly wasn’t getting offworld on its own thrusters, that’s for sure. 

So did I want to do that? Turn this dropship into a semi-permanent attachment to Solo Killing? It couldn’t be anything else, that’s for sure. I wasn’t going to turn it into a manufacturing ship because I didn’t have anyone else I could trust it with. I doubted my pastor dad and homemaker mom would come along on my journey if I asked nicely. 

… But I supposed that there was one person I could ask. However, I didn’t want to let the telephone company read my mail, so even that was out of the picture. 

My littlest sister might have liked running her own ship…

Oh well. I’ll ask her when I go back home. 

In meantime…

Yeah, it’s gonna be a cargo hold.

-VB-

Amy Arlaoskas

Crusa, Free Worlds League

3002 December

It’s ugly as hell,” Amy bluntly said once the work was completed. 

The spherical dropship had been slimmed down and lengthened horizontally. Or rather the top half of it had been taken off and welded to the side. It would have been two half spheres welded together if Edward hadn’t gone and made many steel armor plates and sheets to turn it into a trapezoidal ingot-like hull. The wide face of the ship had the connectors and sat on top of Solo Killing. This addition removed the biggest weapon on top of the ship, which also limited that side of the ship’s weapon capabilities because Edward didn’t add any weapons to the … cargo hold. 

It was thickly armored, though, so it would be a very good shield. 

She snorted at the thought. 

Right now, Solo Killing looked like a turtle with its sides exposed. 

Thankfully, the berth for Humpty Dumpty’s dock was still open on the bottom of Solo Killing, so there wouldn’t be any issues there, not that there would have been an issue. There might not be any bullshit weapon on the underside of the ship, but Humpty Dumpty’s capabilities as a carrier alone offset the loss of potential damage the weapon placements could have pumped out. 

The new cargo hold did open up options, though. 

Because it was a bigger hold, Solo Killing’s cargo hold was now redundant. If Edward wanted to, then he could cut down on Solo Killing’s cargo hold by more than half to put in more manufacturing capacity or weapons. 

Like bigger missile pods, for examples. 

She still remembered a few conversations where Edward began to talk about some wild weapon upgrades. Like bigger LRMs except with antimatter warheads. 

Each LRM would strike with the same power as an artillery strike or some other big bomb with just a microgram. And if a single LRM could do that, LRM-20 would put down anything and everything, assuming the explosive force didn’t toss the target away like a skipping rock bouncing on water, except it would be a mech bouncing on land while the explosive force and tumble sent it breaking apart in all directions. 

… She was awfully getting used to thinking about how to destroy her and her family’s potential enemies. 

It couldn’t be that Edward’s paranoia was infecting her, right? 

… But then again, a mercenary company had come out of nowhere to try to kill them all. It wasn’t paranoia if there was someone out there trying to get them. 

‘So is Edward right?’ 

And if he was, then why was he playing around like this? 

“Edward.”

“Hmm?” her brother-in-law turned to look at her. 

“Why are you playing around?”

He froze. “Sorry?”

“Someone is out to get you. Get us,” she turned to face him fully, turning away from the computer screen in Solo Killing’s cafeteria that was showing a drone’s visual feed. It was how she was seeing the very dropship she was in. “But you aren’t … focusing on protecting yourself. Why is that?” 

“But I am,” he replied. 

“No. You’re playing at being a merchant. You yourself showed your paranoia, which wasn’t paranoia, since we were on our home world. My love might look over it because he thinks that’s just you, but I remember far more clearly.”

He stared at her before leaning back into one of the tables. 

“You think I’m playing around?” he asked contemplatively. 

“Yes. The very books, ideas, and theories you have been teaching me runs counter to your own action. It’s as if you know how to be a spy… but when faced with danger you should be working to uncover and counter, you don’t act like one. Why is that? Or do you think that our current set-up is enough?”

She hoped it was enough. Something that required something bigger than a pocket warship was not something she was sure they could handle. 

He looked back at the screen.

“... If the enemy decides to bumrush us, then it won’t be enough,” he sighed. 

The enemy.

“You know who the enemy is,” she narrowed her eyes. “Know them enough to say that what we have, a pocket warship, isn’t enough.”

He sniffed. “Because it isn’t.”

“And who is this enemy? My love and I seem to be in the fight, so I think we deserve to know.”

But she knew that if Armas or anyone else was here, then Edward wouldn’t talk. Or he would be circumspect about it and clam up about it. 

“... ComStar.”

She blinked. 

“ComStar. HPG running ComStar?”

“Yup,” he hummed. “One of the most powerful organizations in the Inner Sphere.”

“Why would they come after you?” she asked incredulously. 

He raised an eyebrow. “Aside from the fact that we’re Leaguers and Leaguers don’t trust ComStar?”

“Yes, aside from that,” she rolled her eyes. 

“Well, ComStar assassinates scientists, engineers, and teachers who can maintain or raise the technological level of the Inner Sphere. If you somehow got your hands on data on all four Successor States’ records of assassinations of such figures, then you’d see it.”

“Other states could have done it. No, wait. Stop. Why didn’t you tell anyone this before?” 

“... Because no one would believe me,” he shrugged. 

“But knowing that, you still did everything you did?”

“Yup.”

“Why?”

He turned to look at her fully instead of the halfsy he’s been doing. 

“Because I do as I want. That’s all there is to it.”

… And that’s all there was to it.

She believed that, actually. 

Amy groaned as she dropped her head into her hands. She should be focused on getting ready for the baby, not this! 

“Fine. Fine!” she snapped as she pulled her head back up. “You’re going to tell at least me and Armas everything after we’ve had our first baby, got it?!” 

He just smirked as if this wasn’t a big deal. “Sure, sure.”

There. At least, she got a promise out of him this time. 

---

Edward

Was I being complacent?

I stared at the image of our three ships floating in space. The new dropship (I think I’ll name it Cargo Hold 1), Solo Killing, and Humpty Dumpty. Already, these three ships were assets that most House Lords would kill to make theirs. 

If they knew what was inside, then they certainly would send people after us to at the very least try to convince us to join them. Or kill us to prevent others from getting it. 

A factory was a strategic asset that Successor Lords nuked to deny enemy capturing it, after all. A roaming factory was … from the perspective of a successor lord, it was an asset that needed to be secured. 

And I went around flaunting it. 

It might just be that I was lucky so far. 

And if ComStar was now after me (because who else would send a random mercenary company after me), then I have used up my free period of non-interference. 

But I wasn’t about to give up my freedom and powers just because some lord on high wanted me. 

Yes…

I think it’s time I stopped playing around. And, perhaps, I needed to find ways to ensure loyalty among those who I didn’t trust. 

… But how far was I willing to go to ensure loyalty? 

Or should I start programming my own loyal force?