Collection 34 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 34

-VB-

Edward Arlaoskas

Coromodir VI, Aurigan Coalition

3004 January

I stuck around for a bit to lend my technological expertise as well as to provide any services as a mercenary commander. The Arlaoskas Fleet thus gained its first job: the defense of the Coromodir System.Not just a single military installation on the ground or the planet but the entire star system. 

I used this chance to get the rest of my family to get more involved in the fleet’s operations. This meant that Marco finally got the thing he wanted as I gave him his own tank, modeled after the Starcraft Siege Cannon, and a dozen more automated and AI-driven tanks slaved to his own tank’s computers. 

Amy, of course, remained as both the spymaster and the “manager” of the fleet’s operation when I wasn’t involved. 

Armas was the commander of the drone fleet. 

Dad and mom decided to take this chance to have their second honeymoon on Comorodir V. It was a very warm tropical planet ruled by Lord Nathianiel Espinosa, whose son Santiago Espinosa managed just a small holding on that world. I knew what Santiago might do in the future, but it wasn’t my business so I wasn’t going to do anything. 

“So for this kind of microchip, you’re going to want a dedicated clean room manufacturing,” I told the head engineer while his high lord watched the interaction from behind. 

“Yeah, that’s not going to work on Coromodir,” the Lyran-born man - who apparently fled to the other side of the Inner Sphere and then the Periphery after sleeping with some noble’s daughter - grumbled. “Coromodir doesn’t have a clean room.”

“High Lord Tamati, who wasn’t versed in engineering terms, cleared his throat, making me, his engineer, and half a dozen engineers look up from the blueprints and schematics. “What is a clean room?”

“It’s a very climate controlled room, milord,” the head engineer replied. “So controlled, in fact, that you can control the number of pollutants and aerosol particles. Such rooms are … expensive. It is the kind of manufacturing center a mech factory needs to make the most sensitive of equipment. The reason why mechs like Phoenix Hawk, Locust, and Chargers are ubiquitous is because none of their components require clean room manufactured parts.”

“I can make one for you,” I replied with a hum. “But it’ll be up to you lot to maintain it.”

The engineer’s head snapped to me. “... You can do that?” he asked me. 

“Yeah,” I replied. “It’s not a big deal for me.” Compared to making a giant warship, a small clean room manufactory that was no more than a square kilometer wasn’t going to even impact my manufacturing capacity. Hell, I might even get it done today if I started right now. 

“And what would you like to be paid for that?” Tamati asked me. “Such a facility can be used to create many other parts and equipment. It would be a boon for the entirety of the Aurigan Coalition.”

I scratched my chin. “I think you being able to use the technology I gave you is an extension of what I want. Oh, how about this? Allow me to set up a factory in the Coromodir system.”

“... That’s it? I ask you what payment you want and you want to give us another boon by setting up a factory here?” he asked incredulously. 

“If you want to look at it that way, sure.”

“I accept. Just send me what you will be making and selling.”

… Would it be too much to start selling jumpships or would that be too much for the Aurigans to handle? Like if I make an Inner Sphere version of the Kite and started selling them, then would it work? It would have the jump capability, enough cargo hold and hull integrity to be able to move to and from a jump point to a planet, and whatnot. Cheap enough for the 2,000 ton weight limit but not as expensive as a true jumpship with dropship capacity.

It would still be expensive, if only to prevent people from swarming the factory for its secrets. 

But then again, since Tamati gave permission, I also needed to “provide” security, right? 

I could certainly make sure that the factory not only makes “Kite (J)” but also Kite (Dr) that will be used to defend the factory. 

And if the factory in question was a space station and sold not only to the Aurigans but also neighboring Taurians to make sure they grew in power… 

Well, then.

It was just my way of fucking over ComStar even more. 

-VB-

Report

HPG Class B, Coromodir VI

Precenter Naralm de Veuganoe

Time of Report: December 24, 3003

Summary:

On December 19th, 3003, the Arlaoskas Fleet jumped into the orbit of the Coromodir VI with a warship and a fleet of dropships and exchanged a conversation with High Lord Tamati Arano the Second of the Aurigan Coalition. The contents of the conversation remains unknown at this point in time, but the result has seen the Arlaoskas Fleet staying in the Coromodir System. The duration of their stay is unknown.

…

---

Report

HPG Class B, Coromodir VI

Precenter Naralm de Veuganoe

Time of Report: January 3, 3004

Summary: 

The Arlaoskas Fleet summary: 

1 carrier-focused warship, The Maw

8 “Glimmer”-class assault dropships

Speculation (with evidence) of The Maw

Mass: 800,000 tons, minimum

Size: 1,200 meters length, 250 meters wide, 160 meters high

Fighters: 50 fighters minimum (Alert Black)

Thrust: 2G capable (evidence of 2G thrust attached, video)

Armor Thickness/Mass: unknown

Threat Level: Black

…

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Report

HPG Class B, Coromodir VI

Precenter Naralm de Veuganoe

Time of Report: January 26, 3004

Summary: 

THREAT LEVEL BLACK

The Arlaoskas Fleet built a space station over the course of two weeks. 

High Lord Arano claims that it would make mini-jumpships, each of which will be sold for 400 million C-Bills.

“Corlaos Shipyard” has begun manufacturing. 

…

---

Report

HPG Class B, Coromodir VI

Precenter Naralm de Veuganoe

Time of Report: February 5, 3004

Summary:

THREAT LEVEL BLACK

Corlaos Shipyard has finished constructing its first mini-jumpship, Mercury-class Jumpship. 

The Arlaoskas Fleet possesses manufacturing capability far exceeding Star League’s capacity. Impossible. 

Potential unknown actor working in conjunction with Arlaoskas.

…

---

Report

HPG Class B, Coromodir VI

Precenter Naralm de Veuganoe

Time of Report: February 20, 3004

Summary: 

Four non-Mercury-class dropships have been made by Corlaos Shipyard. 

Unknown show signs of automated nature (evidence: 5G thrust and turns, video attached).

Unknown class ships are equipped with one naval autocannon each. 

…

-VB-

Nathaniel Espinosa

Coromodir IX orbit, Aurigan Coalition

March, 3004

Two months. 

In the span of two months, Coromodir System went from the capital of a periphery nation to the home of the ONLY periphery shipyard. 

And what a shipyard it was. 

“And most of this is automated?” he asked as he looked over the machines that were working in vacuum on the other side of the “layered plastisilicate glass” windows. They were impossibly wide windows that had no place on a space station, never mind a dropship, but here it was. 

He stroked his long beard and looked at the silent machines as they welded and fitted everything as materials came in at a rapid pace. It was almost too fast for his eyes to follow everything that was going on. 

“Most of them are, yes,” Fleetmaster Edward Arlaoskas, a young man who had to be younger than his own son Santiago, nodded. “The ones that aren’t will be manned by my people,” he said as he gestured to the man in charge of this space station. “This is Theresa. She has been … trained … specifically for this facility’s operation. I hope you won’t mind that I won’t be hiring anyone outside of my fleet. This includes the security inside the shipyard and outside of it.”

Nathaniel nodded to the woman who was probably the second most powerful individual in the system, if not the entire Aurigan Coalition space, and the long brown haired woman with noble features and a heart-shaped face, nodded back with a soft smile. 

‘If I wasn’t married, then I might be asking her out on a date…’ Nathaniel thought. 

Sure, he was already a grandfather, but he was still young enough for some adventures. Never mind that he was eighty years old.

Too bad his wife wasn’t up for that kind of adventure. Very jealous, that woman.

“If that’s what you want, then that’s what it’ll be,” Tamati replied almost placatingly. 

The thirty year old High Lord could be placating to this weird captain for all Nathaniel cared. That placating nature got them a shipyard! That was more progress for the prosperity of the Aurigan Coalition than the rest of the work by their predecessors put together! So what if they didn’t have control over the shipyard? The mere fact that the jumpships were being made here meant that people would come here. Commerce would arrive in droves! Companies will beg to have branches set up on Coromodir V and VI! 

Yes, he knew that there will be trouble. This kind of progress always brought trouble. However, jumpships were too crucial these days for anyone to dare attack. Not even pirates dared to shoot at jumpships. 

Well… no one dared to until recently.

Still.

Besides, he’s been “in the know.” House Arano and House Espinosa worked together since the founding of the Aurigan Coalition. Something like this? The young Tamati shared it with him immediately, which wasn’t something he did with the other houses. After all, Coromodir may be the capital system of the Aurigan Coalition, but everything within it either belonged to House Espinosa or House Arano. Renting out a whole moon? That was their business, not any of the other houses. 

And a deal like this was what they had needed to curb the powers of the other houses. 

Just in the last three weeks, this shipyard put out five ships! That was … that was beyond Star League. 

Oh, he knew that people would be coming for them and the shipyard, but Arlaoskas had already thought about that, apparently. 

After the first proof-of-concept mini-jumpship had been made, the shipyard spat out four “Kite” assault dropships. They were tiny nimble things that carried a naval autocannon as their primary weapon of which. 

Sure, it was a NAC/10, the smallest naval autocannon caliber, but it was still powerful enough to destroy smaller dropships in one-hit. 

And with how fast and maneuverable it was, nothing short of an Inner Sphere fleet was going to take one of them down.

If the worst scenario came to be, then…

Well, Arlaoskas told them that he would be making similar shipyards in Taurian Concordat and the Federated Suns. Any pressure they would feel would be eased by the existence of those new shipyards. 

And Nathaniel knew that it was a good thing Arlaoskas wasn’t building a shipyard in the Capellan Confederation. 

“What if the shipyard has to expand to meet demand?” Tamati asked. 

“It won’t,” Arlaoskas replied. “It’s not meant to be expanded upon.” Then he paused. “I think I’ll move on now.”

“... Pardon?”

Arlaoskas looked at him, and Nathaniel realized that he’d been the one to say that. 

“I’ve done everything I’ve set out to do here. I think it’s time I moved on to the Taurian Concordat.”

Darn. There went their free developments.

Oh, he wanted to make the man stay. Hell, he even tried to get the Aurigan Intelligence Agency to try honeypotting Edward Arlaoskas. Alas, the man was a recluse when he wasn’t explaining his technology. 

… At the very least, this meant that he would be building another shipyard or something equally insane over in the Taurian Concordat and then the Federated Suns.

“Oh, and I’m going to be leaving behind a blueprint that will let the shipyard here to make something called FTL Comm Relay Buoys.”

“Say what?”