Chapter 11

A week later we showed up at the drop point to Providence. There was a Leopard Dropship with four Mechs and two aerospace fighters waiting for us. They exchanged places with the No-Name Leopard and gave the Colonel the message. He didn't even unload. We just extended the sails and started a quick recharge. Two days later we were on Tortuga Prime. All three of the Dropships dropped. We had every Mech that we could man aboard and went in ready to repel an invasion. Captain Jacobs is a Very competent person. He doesn't call for help unless the barn is on fire and about to collapse around him.

We were a bit shocked to see no signs of invasion. And more than a bit shocked at some of the Mechs that were standing guard duty. We didn't have some of them in our inventory. At least not to our knowledge. When Jacobs explained the situation we could see what all the shouting was about. When news of this find got out (and it would) every treasure hunter and quasi-official in space was going to be putting in a claim for part of this treasure.

"Colonel, you wouldn't believe how well the Kiddy Company did. They tore into that fight like they were Elite troops and the Bitch and her guys were Greenies," reported Milt Jacobs. "That kid Dykson got credit for the Atlas, the Goliath and the Victor. Boss, that's three kills for 260 tons. I don't think my first six kills totaled that much. They're good and now that they have been through one real hairy battle they're eager for more. Not only that they listen more now. They've learned the power of working together and that discipline on the battlefield isn't just a bunch of hot air. By losing little Davy Mason and Fritz Wagner they also learned that it can happen to them and they're a lot more careful."

"I've some more interesting information. From data that we've found here as well as aboard the captured Buccaneer I can tell you something surprising. Dame Bitch was the one responsible for the raids we received on Roebuck. Both the one at the start of our contract and the one just before it was over and she was the supplying force behind the challenge you received from Port Krin and went off to accept. That was a ruse to get your attention away from here. Your outing was the Fourth time we had confronted her and her visit here was the fifth. This is one time that the 'third time' was NOT the charm. I'm glad you're back Colonel. Give me a Lance to run, even a Company to run and leave me alone. Don't give me all this administrative garbage to handle. It can drive a sane man crazy."

A week later Jones took off in our Buccaneer along with a Lance of Mechs. He was headed for Taurus and a private audience with Thomas Calderon, the Protector of the Taurian Concordat. He was going to explain what had been discovered, the potential time bomb it was and await a decision as to how to handle it. He also took along with him several carefully packaged crates to show the magnitude of the treasure that had been found.

We pulled the crews off the other Dropships and had them start an overhaul of the captured Union. While it was space worthy it was not in prime condition. First it was cleaned inside and out. The hydroponic tanks were flushed, cleaned and refilled. Now that we could see what was wrong we began to make repairs. A growing list on needed replacements was kept and from time to time Rachel sent it off to Zeke on Taurus. The Taurus Territorial Industries had a Union production plant. He should be able to get everything that she needed to put this ship back together correctly. Within two weeks Rachel had the Union whipped into shape. All the things that could be repaired were and the things that needed replacing were repaired so that they would function in a fashion until they could in fact be replaced. We even painted it to match the other Dropships we had. When that was finished to her specs we turned our attention to the new Buccaneer we had obtained. It, like the one that had been captured on Roebuck, had been modified and could hold twenty Mechs in light weight cradles. It was in much better condition than the Union. It didn't take as long to satisfy Rachel this time. It too was painted to the Shadow color scheme.

We now had two Leopards, two Buccaneers and the Union Dropships. Enough to carry five full companies. The problem was that we were now nearly six companies in strength. That is if complete repairs could be made on the eight Mechs that Jacobs had captured along with the eleven we had captured. Rachel honestly thought she could repair five of them back to whole condition. If so we would be four Mechs into company number six. A second battalion or a light Regiment. We could pull the fighters from the Leopards and place another two Mechs in each giving us another Lance. We could also stretch the Union as the Pirates had done and place another Lance aboard it. That would carry everyone with some extra space but it would give us NO fighter support on a drop. It was a trade-off.