Chapter 26
Date: October 20, 3028
Location: Kalidasa, Free Worlds League
"I think I can see the appeal," I muttered to Rebecca,, chewing thoughtfully on some popcorn as I did my best to ignore the information trying to dump itself into my brain and just focus on the fighting itself. It wasn't easy, but I'd had a lot of practice since I discovered I could somewhat turn the ability off.
"Ain't nothing like watching your favorite champion blast through all of the competition to reach the top," Rebecca replied, breaking into a cheer as she watched an assault autocannon blast through a light 'mech, leaving nothing but daylight through the armor and chassis.
"So, who have you been a big supporter of?" I asked.
"When I was a kid, I used to really love Orlando Perez," Rebecca admitted with a slight blush on her face.
"First crush?" I asked.
"Yeah," Rebecca nodded. "Nowadays, I don't really care about who wins. Champions are going to change every year unless it's Noton. I just really like seeing heavy and assault 'mechs destroy the idiots who thought they could make it in a Locust."
"You ever want to go and compete?" I asked. "You learned how to drive a 'mech, right?"
"Every kid thinks they could make it in Solaris," Rebecca shook her head. "I'm not even military trained, I've done a few military sims every now and then. But despite my collection of weapons and my having driven a MiningMech for a while, I've never had the spare cash to justify purchasing a battlemech."
"A shame," I pulled her into my side and we continued watching the recorded fight. "Colonel Lezzhov suggested we try to get a stable set up on Solaris to represent our products."
"That could be fun," Rebecca hummed in thought, turning the volume down on the tri-vid. "Would you use militiamechs?"
"I think that would be a mistake," I closed my eyes for a moment, just long enough to gain control of the information feed in my head. "Not that our mechs aren't durable and tough. But if we're going to be showing off, then we need something with a bit more punch and stay to it. I'll probably get with Sylvie and Eddie when they get back to see if they want to head this sort of project up."
"They are working with the scrapyard," Rebecca yawned. "I could see them working on something interesting. You'll need to see about finding someone to sponsor. You don't necessarily need a champion. You just need someone or several someones who can put a 'mech through its proper paces, show off its ability, and the craftsmanship you're putting into both one-off designs as well as production models."
"I'll put some feelers out," I felt a sympathy yawn take over my face. "Might be someone we can pick up."
Realizing we were both tired after a long day's work, Rebecca simply reached for the remote and muted the Tri-Vid before snuggling down into my chest. Closing my eyes and yawning one last time, I squeezed tight and drifted off to sleep.
–
–
Next day…
"We're gonna have to shut the line down!" I yelled out over the alarms that filled the factory. "I've got to get this repaired before we try and make anymore lasers on it!"
"That'll set back production!" Billy called back.
"No, this is why we made extra and stockpiled them!" I finally found the button that killed the noise part of the alarm and sighed in relief as the noise died down. "I'll take some of the guys and keep working until we've gotten this line up and running. You just keep the rest of the factory going smoothly."
"What happened?" Susannah ran up, a hard hat and yellow reflective vest over the usual jeans and blouse she wore.
"Some screwup in power feeds. When the load test went through it caused a chain reaction with the capacitors in the unit," I leaned against the wall, looking at the blackened husks of eight large lasers. I chuckled as I realized why the damage had been so much worse. "Ironically, because we build everything else really well, if our quality was worse, they wouldn't have sent shrapnel around the way they did. When one cap blew, the pressure wave set off the rest of them, and shrapnel from the first unit hit the next laser's capacitors. Fuck," I swore. "I'm going to have to rebuild entire sections before we can start producing large lasers again."
"We only have enough stockpiled to outfit half a dozen units," Billy showed up again with a clipboard in hand. "The rest of our surplus was earmarked to other companies who wanted to purchase them from us."
"It'll take me at least a month to get this fixed," I accepted the clipboard, stroking my bare chin in thought. "But if it takes longer, we can stretch things by pulling some Magna Longbows from the Locustswe haven't stripped yet to put in place of one of the lasers. It'll suck and it won't be as much direct firepower, but it'll work."
"I'll have James work on the gyros if it comes to that," Billy sighed. "A month is the early date, isn't it?"
"Yeah," I stopped leaning against the wall. "Even worse, the Phoenixwas going to take larges from this factory too. So, even when we ge that factory set up, if this one isn't at a hundred percent, then we'll have to start looking into outsourcing parts."
Outsourcing parts wasn't something any of us were interested in. The benefits to making everything in house, even if we were licensing the autocannon was just too great to give it up.
"What do you need from me?" Susannah asked, a hair tie having found itself in her hands and now turning her blond hair into a ponytail.
"I'm going to have to go to each of the computers that work on the line," I stood up and began heading for the beginning of the Large Laser sectors, tracing the twisting bits back to where it started as raw materials. "And we're going to have to go through each of their diagnostics to see where the problem is," I gestured for her to follow me. "Lots of notes and data to go through."
"Sounds more fun than doing crosswords at my desk once I've finished the work you assigned me for the day," She laughed. "I'll go grab a notebook and I'll meet you at the head of the line."
"I'll keep everyone on task 'vrywhere else," Billy grunted.
"Have the guys who work this line write a detailed report on what they did before the explosion, and then have them take the rest of the day off. They'll still get paid, but we need to figure out what happened here."
"You'll want to have Hammer and his group with you when you meet with them," Billy said, an odd look in his eye. "Sometimes accidents aren't…"
"I'll do that," I said, taking a moment to remember that I wasn'thome. Espionage wasn't just a vocab word that you heard. It was a real and present danger in the here and now, and this might just be the first strike in a war…
Date: November 21, 3028
Location: New Delos, Free Worlds League
"Thank you for allowing us to inspect the factory lines before purchasing them and removing them from the world," Sylvie shook Adam Levante's hand.
"It's not a problem," The CEO of the company that was selling off one of their old and most profitable assets replied with a sad smile. "We've done what we can to keep afloat, but when you're out of the markets for long enough, you realize that eventually you just have to cut your losses and let go. At least this way we ensure that everyone gets a final payout before having to figure everything else out."
"Well, I'm sorry it had to be this way," Sylvie allowed Eddie to move in and start looking at all of the factory lines. He'd be the one to know more of what might be damaged and in need of repair. "But we're going to put the lines to good use."
"I'm aware," Adam replied, gesturing for Sylive to take a seat in the break room while Eddie wandered. "The board and I did our research before accepting the offer. It's not the first time we've seen people work on militiamechs. They're just not something that's been really sold or produced since the Age of War. In all honesty, if I'd thought of it a few years ago, you might have had a competitor. As it is, most of us are just willing to be done with this and wash our hands of industrialmech world. We've got some other investments that are local and still profitable. This one just, isn't. People buy new industrialmechs once every few hundred years. It's not like battlemechs or your new militiamechs that people are going to need to buy parts for or replace after a disastrous battle. Used to be, we did parts for tree and timber farms that stretched out for hundreds of thousands of acres. We helped process and package up the exotic lumbers, and then shipped them offworld to be used in projects across the Free Worlds League. Now, we only need enough to maintain what's used for local businesses."
The CEO reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flask of liquor before pouring it into two plastic cups.
"Hopefully we don't end up in the same boat," Sylvie tried to smile.
"There'll always be a need for war machines," Adam slid a cup over to Sylvie. "I think you and yours will be just fine, and if you ever need someone to help with managing things, you and Mister Blaze reach out. I'm retiring after this, but everyone needs something to keep busy with."
"I'll do that," Sylvie nodded. "Eddie, how do things look?!" She called out through the empty warehouse.
"It'll take some work," Eddie appeared beside her, causing Sylvie to jump back and reach for a concealed weapon she didn't have on her. "We'll have to retool the lines and get them tuned to our specs."
He looked at Sylvie with a raised eyebrow and waited for her to return to normal. "
"It's well worth the money we're paying," Eddie confirmed. "We just need to get it packed up onto the Mules and we'll be good to go."
"Mister Levante," Sylvie turned around. "If you'll allow me access to the phones, I'll begin the wire transfer."
"Thank you very much, Miss Siler," Adam smiled. "And keep my offer in mind."
–
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"It'll take two to three weeks to load everything onto the dropships," Eddie said, his pencil tracing information into his notebook. "If everything's set, we're looking to be entering production of the Phoenix by May or June of next year."
"Hopefully demand won't drop while we're getting things figured out," Sylvie sighed, helping pack up the documentation that went with the factory machines. "We never know how the markets will turn out."
"Markets for militia and battlemechs haven't dropped since the development of the original Mackie," Eddie replied. "Concern is unnecessary. We are far more likely to face espionage that terminates our ability to fulfil contracts than we are to lose demand."
"Great," Sylvie facepalmed. "Now there's something else that I'm going to be worried about. Thanks Eddie."
"You are most welcome," Eddie finished labeling a box and taping it over, not picking up the sarcasm that she was using. "Now, I finished the schematics of what the Legend-Killer might have been. Would you like to discuss it while we work?"
"Sure," Sylvie grunted. "Might as well."