Collection 29 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 29

-VB-

Edward Arlaoskas

Claybrooke, Free Worlds League

3003 June

My name was more or less cleared within the Free Worlds League and anyone who paid attention to detail. Even ComStar quieted down when the Captain-General started asking very pointed questions directed at them. I was sure that he was putting everything he had to use by shifting the failure of the Solari Campaign as a result of potential Lyran infiltrators within ComStar ranks, and thus eroding the public’s trust within the institution. 

And how he went about it was actually pretty clear cut and transparent. 

He laid everything out on the table from how the orders were communicated, what was said where, and how the Lyrans reacted to orders that should have been kept confidential. So unless ComStar was insinuating that the general in charge of the Solaris Campaign was actively sabotaging himself, then they better have a good fucking excuse as to why it looks like ComStar’s own rank and file had been selling information to the Lyran Commonwealth.

Which, when coupled with Kendall Incident, looked mighty suspicious, yes? 

This shifted the League’s public outcry from going against the Captain-General to going against ComStar. With how transparent the Captain-General had been, at least about the Solaris Campaign, there was no doubt that ComStar was at fault and had been, by neglect, in breach of the neutrality that they claimed. 

ComStar, already hindered by the Kendall Incident, were trying their best to deflect and object to the accusations but the other Successor States were starting to pay attention. 

Because when linked together with an incident that ended with a dead jumpship and ComStar’s potential hand in it, they were starting to get suspicious, too.

Were the intelligence they got really what their spies managed to pry or what ComStar allowed them to pry? 

… But that was a story for someone else to tell. I was not the Captain-General, a Marik, or involved with any other Successor State. I was the Fleetmaster of my fleet with ambitions of my own. 

It was why we were back in Claybrooke. 

Parts of my plan moving forward involved the following.

First, openly build up a fleet in Claybrooke. This will prevent ComStar from acting on my move. Sure, it will have to be slower than what I’d like, but I’ll just use the time to make sure that each and every ship I made was not only commanded by an exceptional combat AI loyal to me but also that the quality of each ship was top notch. 

Second, Claybrooke was close enough to the Aurigan Reach and the Magistracy of Canopus. I will soon visit the latter with a somewhat redacted version of the memory core. They might not trust me but, hey, if they decided not to use the memory core, then that’s their loss. Oh, and if they also tried to be a dick (or pussy cat with claws), then I’ll just not give it to them. Let the League roflstomp them.

Third, once I dropped off a memory core for the cat girls, I was going to start roaming the Aurigan Reach publicly while hunting down pirates. I’ll make my way to Aurigan Coalition and Taurian Concordat and drop off copies there, too. 

And from there, I’ll enter the Federated Suns, which was currently headed by First Prince Ian Davion. I was sure that by the time I entered the FedSuns, they would have learned quite a bit about myself and the memory core. And just like all of the states I intended to visit, they will get a chance. If they shoot first, then no memory core for them.

The finally part of the plan was for me to jump from the Federated Suns to the Lyran Commonwealth and to offer the Archon a near identical copy of the memory core. 

I … do not hate the Lyrans but I love my nation. I’m not willing to just ignore them but I am not willing to risk the safety of my people. A delay was my compromise. 

“You are taking on a lot of responsibilities upon your shoulders.”

I looked away from the screen-window and saw dad walking into the bridge. Everyone should have been sleeping by now. 

“I suppose I am,” I replied noncommittally as I looked back at the scene on the other side of the ship’s hull. 

Smaller drones moved about fulfilling orders for a specific type of construction. 

This was going to be my mini-yardship-carrier.

… It’s a mouthful.

You know what?

Let’s just call it a mothership. 

The Nidhoggur-class Mothership.

“... That is quite the monster you’re building,” he hummed. 

“It is. But it’ll be sturdier than Solo Killing by far. It’ll be able to keep everyone safe. It also has a ship maintenance bay, so we won’t even be caught off guard on a planet because we won’t need to land anywhere for repairs.”

Dad stared out into the void. 

“... Son, what happens if the other side decides to escalate?”

“Then I escalate with them,” I replied evenly.

“If they go more?”

“... Well, I know where their headquarters are. I know that their ships aren’t a match for mine.”

“So you will kill.”

“If I must. I think I made my stance very clear, haven’t I, dad?”

“You did. You were far more generous than most would have been in your position. The technological wonders you bring about … you could have sworn yourself to a Great House and they would have worked with you to bring an end to ComStar.”

I did everyone in the family about my blueprints and designs for Comm Relays. Those real time FTL communication buoys would have broken ComStar’s monopoly, and I could place them very cheaply and easily. 

Hell, I could even start von Neumann probe for exactly that purpose. 

(Probably not a good idea, though. Stapler making machine and all that.)

I paused when I felt another point stock up and after a moment of contemplation, tossed it into AI Software Development. At Level 3, I was now as good as the experts in that field, not that there were many in this universe for AI development.

I supposed that if I were to compare myself to any of the settings that I’ve already drawn my skills and knowledge from, I might stand out a bit? Not a lot, though. Someone good enough to get hired but have no overall say in how a business might get managed. Yeah, someone like that. 

‘I’ll add two more points to it as they come,’ I thought to myself. 

At Level 5, I would enter the “superhuman” borders. I wondered what kind of AI’s I would have under my control by then.

… Would Cortana be possible? Or would I be making Machine Spirits of Warhammer 40K? 

(Murder drones…?)

“The comm relay won’t even be my big thing if I really need to go all out,” I grinned.

“... Do you have some sort of ethically objectionable weapon of mass destruction up your sleeve, son? You know I’ll have to object-.”

“Ah, no. See, I’m just going to tell the entire Inner Sphere about Operation Holy Veil.”

Dad grimaced. 

Yeah. When I told my entire family about that bit of ComStar history…

Sufficed to say, any lingering feelings about ComStar’s place in the Inner Sphere that might have survived the assassination attempt - things like begrudging acceptance about ComStar’s continuance - died a very ugly death in their hearts and minds just as it did in the mind of Janos Marik when I explained the ComStar situation to him. 

“... So that ship will be our little pirate hunting base, huh?” he asked, switching the topic. “How is that going to work?”

“Ah! Let me explain that bit…”

It was nice to just talk about the kinds of things I can build. 

-VB-

Precentor Atreus

Pedrigor Aliz

Atreus, Free Worlds League

3003 June

“He is openly MOCKING us!” Precentor Dieron roared loudly and harshly enough that his side of the real time HPG connection staticked for a second. 

As the youngest in terms of both age and membership in the First Circuit, Pedrigor Aliz kept his mouth shut for now. 

Like many meetings that took place before today, this meeting was about the latest thorn in the side of ComStar’s holy mission: the mercenary commander Edward Arlaoskas. Not only had the man survived ComStar’s assassination attempt, he managed to get it recorded and distributed across the entire Free Worlds League. As expected, ComStar faced a backlash it had never before experienced in its current iteration, and it was driving many to the corner.

Like Precentor Dieron Michael DuCant. Apparently, the elderly precentor had been forced to meet with the Dieron Warlord and explain to the warlord why the supposed neutral ComStar attempted an assassination on a mere mercenary and if Draconis Combine should need to be roused.

While the elderly man hadn’t shared the details, it was obvious that he had been humiliated at the very least. 

“Yes, he is openly mocking us,” Primus Allen Rusenstein huffed. “But if we move now when the eyes of the entire Inner Sphere is on us, then we would only doom ourselves. So stop demanding that we do something when you know we can’t.”

“But we can’t not do anything,” Precentor Tharkad spoke up. “Arlaoskas is careful. Cautious. He looks far ahead. Saw us coming even though no connection was made between our previous attempts and the last one. And you saw the last message he sent our way.”

‘Keep fucking with me, and we’ll see if I can’t find your Hidden Worlds and release their coordinates to everyone. Maybe I should also release information on how to build FTL comm relays.’

The bastard knew about the Hidden Worlds, and if he knew about the Hidden Worlds, then he most likely knew what protected them, too. 

‘Is he that confident that he can win against warships?’ Pedrigor thought to himself. 

Then he remembered the timeline for the man’s ascension. 

Less than five years to go from somehow commandeering a dropship to being the fleet commander of over eight dropships, each of which were unique and powerful in their own right. 

He had no doubt that each of those “Glimmers” could and will take on an Achilles-class assault dropship. He didn’t have any evidence for it, but he also knew that Arlaoskas started his career by taking over one such Achilles dropship and then modifying it to such a degree that the end result could have been a separate class all on its own.

Because those “siege cannons” were naval weapons, after all. 

If anyone knew the capabilities of an Achilles, then it was Arlaoskas. 

Worse, his threat about “FTL comm relays” spooked them all.

Could Arlaoskas truly be capable of building such a thing? He built those dropships. Did he find something that they couldn’t? A Star League black site, perhaps? Was there such a black site on Kendall? If there was, then it would at least explain how that man learned how to be 

“Precentor Atreus.”

He looked up and saw everyone looking at him. 

“Yes? Pardon me, but I have been deep in thought.”

“Hmm,” the primus muttered. “No mattered. “What do you think is our option forward.”

He stared at them all one by one before letting out a sigh. 

“As I see it… with all honesty,” he began slowly. “The order has only four options going forward.”

“Continue,” the primus granted him.

“First, we send someone to infiltrate his fleet. Considering that we don’t even know who’s part of the fleet aside from Arlaoskas and his family, this is unlikely to work.

“Second, we continue indirect hunting. We offer high enough of a bounty through intermediaries that someone might take it. Again, unlikely to work. It didn’t work when the man only had two ships, and it won’t work when he now has eight. That is a number of ships that require a warship and escorts to take care of, especially if we extrapolate the data we have on those new dropships.”

“And what data might that be?” Precentor New Avalon asked. 

He turned to look at her screen. “Those ‘Glimmer’ dropships have no vehicle or mech bay that we can determine from any of the pictures.”

There was a pause before the primus’s eyes widened. 

“All of them are assault dropships?!” he hissed. 

“Most likely. Which means that Arlaoskas doesn’t just have 8 dropships, he has a carrier dropship, naval weapon loaded pocket warship, and six assault dropships that can probably fight like an Achilles if how they shrugged off the attack on Kendall is any indication.”

Murmurs broke out. 

“May I?”

“Yes, please continue.”

“Third, we co-opt them. Offer them high enough of a position within ComGuard or ComStar. Make him one of us and he may naturally be inclined to protect his own new power base.”

“I doubt that’ll work,” Precentor Dieron grunted. 

“I also believe so. I merely suggest it as an option,” he agreed. He cleared his throat. “And finally, fourth, the option that has the highest risk for us. We unleash our warships. We did it once with New Brandenburg. We can do it again when Arlaoskas inevitably flies to the periphery.”

All of the First Circuit contemplated his recommendations. 

“We will … discuss it later,” the primus granted before moving on. “What is the situation in the League like?”