Seras little snippet thread

Donegal
3024

The full factory for the Praetorian, start to finish run took a while to get started. I mean, in Inner Sphere time, it was pretty quick, but almost a year to get the automated factory fully producing was a long time.

The Praetorian 2A unfortunately didn’t make much of a wave for the sole reason that the LCAF bought all of them.

Arnold assured me it was because the LCAF was very impressed with the design, but I was wondering if it was more that they wanted to keep the MOVE system under the hood for as long as they could since every version of those I was producing were also going straight into the military pocket.

Either way I didn’t care. I had shipped two Lances early at the LCAF’s request and went back to working on getting the factory fully automated. Or at least as much as I could.

I still had to put in orders for 250 Fusion Engines, buying them from Pitban which was pretty funny, as their main use was actually in the ASF Sabre.

But we’d started ordering them early, apparently that was okay, Arnold had said we had the money at least.

And then putting in orders for all the usual stuff that we didn’t produce ourselves. Nightwind Large Lasers, which I didn’t mind being super bulky. Pulling the same trick the Wyvern did you could integrate the Small Lasers into the primary feed for the Nightwind, and still have both weapons function perfectly. A nice little reduction in maintenance because of it.

And on and on it went. Cockpit’s, Targeting computers, and on.

I of course wanted to fiddle with things, make better targeting computers, make better everything.

But the 2A was meant to be the cheap option. Able to integrate cheap off the shelf parts from all over the Inner Sphere, so making it use such common parts was actually the point.

It was fast. It had good fire power for its size, and most importantly it was as cheap as it could get despite the upgrades it did use.

That was my vision for the 2A, and so I built a factory, and one day I looked on as the first 2A coming off the completed automated line was finished.

Instead of being sold off, it was actually brought into the company grounds and set up as a show piece.

Things were going pretty good.

—-

New Earth
3024
Frederick Steiner

The Alliance Games had begun and already Frederick was sure this was a sick joke played upon him by the Witch.

One of the lances he had been given were mechs with Rocket Launchers!

A humiliation indeed. He’d heard of the Praetorian, the newest designed mech in the Commonwealth. He’d had some hope at first a counter to the Davions Hatchetman, even if it was Lyran Defiance Industries that was producing the mech.

But then he’d seen the load out.

These ‘Medium Range Missiles’ were nothing but a humiliation. Some periphery weapon system added to what should have been a stick right into the Federated Suns eye.

The only good thing he’d heard was that like many of the more advanced regiments now, the MASC system had been installed in the mechs making them far quicker.

Glorified scout hunters weren’t what the LCAF needed.

At least his Zeus now had a MASC as well. As did many of his regiment. The Tenth Lyran Guards had gotten their share of the Lostech that had been spreading across the Commonwealth.

He’d accepted the equipment, even if it felt like a bitter fruit. Davion gifts to improve the Commonwealth, just like all the rest.

This entire ‘game’ was a joke and it was already humiliating Frederick. What should have been a fair war game between the two militaries had turned into Davion trickery.

They were on the back foot from the start, and as much as it ground his teeth to admit it, only the improved maneuverability of the Lyran Heavy and Assault mechs had kept them together long enough to actually settle the battle.

Obviously the commander in charge of the Davions thought a sneak attack would break them, but it wouldn’t!

He watched the battlefield, and had to admit, as much as he disliked them, those Praetorian were performing… Well.

Fast. Much faster than any light mech that Davion had. Unlike most Lyran mechs, they’d taken to hit and run tactics, skirmishing constantly with the Davion lights, and running or fighting retreats against their mediums, while simply disappearing from anything heavier.

It led to openings that Frederick was desperately trying to exploit, but there was trouble in command. Too many fools rushing forward when they should be holding back, and worse fools holding back when they should be rushing forward.

This Wargame was not going well, and Frederick wasn’t feeling fulfilled, he wasn’t learning. He simply felt like the butt of a joke.

Damn the Witch.

And damn the Davions!

—--

Donegal
3024

“No, I don’t care what they think!” I growled wanting to throw something at the wall as I continued to read through an after action report made during the Alliance games.

There were actually quite a few good things said about the Praetorian, which was a good sign, despite engaging in combat after combat, very few of them had been fully disabled, and most had been able to just keep retreating in good order and doing damage…

But if I had to read one more request for LRM’s instead of the MRM 10, I was going to kill someone!

“I did inform you this was likely what would be requested.”

“I know!” I gruffed at Arnold who had set a cup of tea in front of me again.

Ugh.

“The Praetorian needs the MRM’s for the punch, the equivalent of an LRM 10 on each mech, two fives, isn’t going to be enough to really do any punch. They’d spend all their time traveling back and forth to be reloaded, shoot off some LRM’s from over a hill and then reload again. The MRM’s let them knock out punch lighter mechs!”

“I’m aware. I agree that the MRM system has grown on me as well, but getting military men to adopt it is another matter.”

“I know. I bet in a decade when pirates and Mercenaries all over are using it, no one will complain but for now we have to get them to accept it.”

“Or give the customer what they want.” Arnold said, making me want to growl.

“Fine! I’ll make a chart for mech techs to refit the MRM’s into LRM’s. Even if they’re stupid.”

“Very good Miss Katherine. I’m sure we’ll have many happy customers.”

“Yeah yeah. I made the stupid boxes easily replaceable anyways. LRM 5 and some extra ammo in return for the MRM is fine I guess. Don’t know why they want to give up ten missiles a shot.”

“It’s an old reliable system. One they know.” Arnold demurred and I sighed and nodded.

Making something new was always harder than-

“Fuck it. I’m making Gauss Rifles.” I decided. Make fun of my MRM system! I’ll just make some bullshit tech that blows all their fucking minds.

“What?” Arnold said, sounding actually startled.

“Let me just finish this refit first I guess. Should take a week, then I can start building some Gau-”

“Miss Katherine.” I looked up from my Noteputer.

“Yeah?”

“I believe… That getting a Gauss Rifle produced would be far better for the company than a refit for the Praetorian… I believe focusing on that would be for the best.”

I blinked.

Wait. If I just throw even better tech at Arnold he’ll stop bothering me about making a downgrade refit for my Praetorian?

I smiled brightly.

“Okay!”

—--

“Uuugh.” I groaned as I pulled myself free from the machine. I’d been trying to get this line going for a while, and I think I’d lost track of time again.

My back ached, and I realized as I looked around. I felt greasy, and not just in machine grease…

How long had I been working?

Fudge.

I pulled myself free and limped out of the factory. Stupid leg fell asleep.

There was a room next to my office in the admin building I could crash in if I wanted, and I almost always did.

Frankly it was more like a studio apartment that I lived in, rather than a sometimes crash house.

But Arnold had actually made sure I had a real home.

I took a few minutes to clean up a bit so I wouldn’t cover my car in grease and walked out to the parking lot.

It was the middle of the day so most of the lot was filled, but that was details, I slipped into my little car. I honestly don’t know who manufactured it, but it was cheap, and rugged. The sort of shit box car that you could leave sitting for a month and fire it up without too much trouble.

As always it took me a while to get used to the stupid driving configuration.

For some reason this car used a completely different setup from Earth vehicles. Gas was a lever connected to the steering yoke. Yeah yoke, not a wheel. Clutch was on the other side of the yoke, and brakes were the only pedal.

Nonsense silliness, but I had figured it out.

I drove ‘home’ taking the not too bad roads.

Donegal was… Strange. I drove down a mostly empty road into a more urban district and was struck that I wasn’t on Earth. That this was an alien world, crafted by human hands for habitation.

So many things changed, and yet so many things were the same.

I looked up at the sky and for a moment, felt that itch. To travel.

I’d liked being a merc. It had been freeing. Travel to new planets for contracts all the time. Plush Jungles, dense Metropolis, and dead moons.

I’d been to them all.

But now I was stuck in the city, at least that’s how it felt.

It wasn’t too bad I guess. I had a nice little apartment, good food, better than traveling on the Edelweiss for sure. Merc’s had to cut corners to survive after all.

I could go see movies, not that I really did… I suddenly realized how disconnected I was from the entire Inner Sphere.

I lived and breathed my tech, which was nice, but it left me feeling… Lonely.

Arnold was around but… I think I hadn’t talked to another person in like a month? Oof.

There was just always something more to do. Gauss rifles would be a huge seller, I still wanted to build an ECM factory as well at some point, although that would take a bit more work than just making an ECM device.

Maybe I could beg the Archon for a still working Guardian ECM to make more of them?

I shook off the tech haze in my brain again. Tired. I was tired and going home to sleep. My home was in an apartment block, but it was secure. A high end sort of place. I had to enter in a code to get my shitbox inside the underground garage, and then I had a secure elevator up to my apartment.

There was even a doorman at the lobby.

I stumbled into my apartment, and dropped my stuff at the door. There was actually a sort of room service here, and they’d launder my stuff, which was kinda nice. I stripped out of my junk and headed for the bathroom.

A nice warm shower later, I felt like I was actually sort of a person and not the component of a factory line.

I turned on the TV and rolled over onto the couch.

It didn’t take long before I passed out.

—--
Donegal
3024

“Okay get ready for the test fire!” I called out, and my workers rushed around, everyone ensuring they had hearing protection.

The First Gauss Rifle was complete. We’d tested it a few times already, but…

Well there was more than just a gun.

I was playing around with some ammo ideas.

Gauss Rifles were the truest reach out and touch someone, weapons of the Inner Sphere. A large slug traveling very very fast, tends to ruin someone's day sure, but…

It could do more.

“Firing.” I called out and pushed the button.

The wave of force washed over and through me, rattling the protective windows in front of me.

Gauss put out a lot of power after all.

I looked over at the screen that showed the ‘target’

I blinked… Huh. Yeah that was fairly effective. Instead of a solid chunk of watermelon shaped ammunition that was designed to retain the force over long distances, why not make something good for closer ranges as well.

Or even something for fast moves, where you struggle to hit that magic shot even with a Gauss.

Instead of doing what I remembered the Clans, and future Inner Sphere had done, which was completely remodel the Gauss, making it even heavier and clumsier…

Why not just alter the ammunition.

Metallurgy, engineering and lots of whispers from the song in my head later I’d created what I liked to call the LBX Gauss Ammo.

It did exactly what it said on the tin. Instead of retaining the force of the Gauss Round. It splintered, but instead of just spinning into shrapnel, the round splintered along the correct lines, and instead became a few dozen smaller rods that were shaped to retain most of the force.

Basically it was a Flechette thrower Gauss round. The numbers weren’t out yet, but… Less range, as the smaller rounds were being affected by wind pressure a bit more, although on low atmosphere planets it would get just as far as a normal Gauss, and instead of a single large strike, it would strike a dozen times and spots.

It was a critical strike ammunition. If even one flechette found an actuator, or an ammo box…

But more than that. The ammo didn’t break apart until after it left the barrel. It was capable of being shot out of the bog standard Gauss that were still around from the Star League. No retrofits, no alterations. Just swap ammo boxes and fire.

Yeah.

I looked over and realized that Arnold had likely been waiting for me for some time. I took off the hearing protection.

“I believe this is another completed project.” I said to him and his little mustache twitched in happiness.

“Indeed Miss Katherine. I’ll complete a report.”

“Great… Gauss Rifles huh? That’s going to cause a stir.” I muttered and Arnold nodded.

“Indeed Miss. I don’t believe Lo-Cat will be considered a minor company any longer after this.”

“Making a brand new mech design still meant we were a minor company?” I couldn’t help but ask, but yeah… Considering how big some of the big companies were?

Defiance had multiple plants on different planets and produced a dozen different mechs and parts.

“How is the Alternate Praetorian line coming?”

“They’ve run a few test runs, but there are still teething issues miss. Nothing that they aren’t solving on their own.”

Good. I’d had the idea of just handing the design documents on how to build a factory from scratch to some of the loyal workers on Lo-Cat, and basically telling them to get at it.

Arnold was as always handling that, but I thought it was important, if we were ever going to be more than a one woman show that we had workers that could build a new factory themselves.

Yep. I was bringing back ‘how to build a factory’ tech to the Inner Sphere. My most insidious creation yet.

I was quite pleased with how everything was going, which is why suddenly the feeling of rumbling through the walls around me caused me a sudden sense of dread.

“That was an explosion.” I whispered.

—--

Factory Line 1, had been hit by a bomb truck.

One of the delivery trucks, that was supposed to be full of metals and materials for the DHS line, had instead driven forward past the unloading point and rammed into the factory.

It then exploded.

Suicide bombing was… A bit much.

The assumption from LIC was that it was a Combine attack. Apparently there were similar attacks on the other DHS lines from other companies across the Commonwealth.

I had my suspicions it had nothing to do with the Combine, or at least that they were just patsies, but I had no proof.

So I’d worked to rebuild Line 1 after the damage, but while I had no proof it was ComStar…

Well I was a little angry about it you know?

So I’d handed everything I knew about Helm over to Arnold asking him to let the Archon know that I was fairly confident that I’d tracked down a Star League Memory Core.

It really felt good to know that when Arnold hurried off with the data on Helm that ComStar would not be happy when the Commonwealth found that cache…

I should probably put together a list of other Lostech caches for the Archon too huh? We were getting close to the Fourth Succession War, and finding a whole host of Lostech caches would really help make sure we won.

—--

Tharkad
3025
Katrina Steiner

“S-Say that again?”

“We confirmed the intel. There is a Castle Brian on Helm, and we’ve confirmed it has a very extensive SLDF Library. The Memory core is currently on route through four separate paths to ensure it isn’t lost.”

Katrina felt like her entire world was stopped for a moment.

This changed… Everything.

—--

Donegal
3025

“B-But I don’t want to!”

“I believe the Archon was quite firm, Miss Katherine.” Arnold explained and all I could do was fall to my knees.

This was an epic blunder! I’d messed up!

Total Fission Mailed!

“I don’t want to be a duchess!” I cried out my grease stained jumpsuit, my hair in a messy ponytail, my everything that labeled me as a complete girl failure on full display!

“I believe the Archon’s desire to reward you for service is… Not going to be up for discussion Miss Katherine.”

How!? How did it come to this!? What had I done wrong? Should I have fled to another state? I’m sure the Capellans would just let me work! I mean sure I’d be some sort of slave which wasn’t good, but they certainly wouldn’t shower me in titles!

I would have to go to like… Elite parties, no wait they were called soirees or something because rich people wanted to be fancy.

“B-b-but I can’t go! I have to finish the uh. The uh-”

“Miss. Even if you did have a project that needed your attention, your Archon is calling for your attendance… And you’ve only been tinkering and adding additional lines to the factory Miss. You are on a ‘break’ from inventing. I believe those were your own words?”

“Fuck.” I said and Arnolds eyes rose, and I knew I was half a second away from being told sternly “Language!” or something.

So instead I just slumped.

“Alright. Alright.”

“It won’t be so bad. Miss, I believe considering your actions that the Archon will ensure you have an enjoyable time.”

“But I just want to build stuff.” I grumbled as I got up and headed off.

The worst part? Arnold had to stay here to keep Lo-Cat going… Wait, Arnold wouldn’t be around giving me tea all the time!

Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

—-

“More Tea miss?” The maid. A literal Maid, in a french maid uniform and everything offered me as the Dropship rocketed towards the jumpship.

I just pouted harder.

This sucked.