Chapter 8

They didn't return. For the last three days we have been resting and repairing Mechs. After the main Mechs were repaired, second rides were assigned and repairs made. When each pilot had two rides ready to roar it was relax time for the Techs and Astechs. They had kept us going, repaired, armed and armored when we were fighting for our very existence. We had gone through more ordinance, armor and repairs during this ten days than we had done during the whole of the last year. They now deserved to be able to relax. We had an on-call crew to handle any immediate problems and let all the others off. Sleep, drink, sun, what ever they wanted to relax was what they did. Over half of them came in to the Mech bays to check on what work was being done, needed to be done or was yet to be done. Working at their own pace, that was relaxing to them!

Quiet time like this gave you a moment or two to reflect on what you had been through. We had been extremely lucky. I now understand what they had been trying to teach me at the Academy about Fire Control and Discipline. While we were a Company of individuals we also hung together when necessary. We didn't act like the typical Mercenary group. We followed orders. By concentrating our fire we were able to take out superior numbers because they acted as individuals. Our Company fired on their Lances. Even when they were heavier than us our three to one concentrated fire overwhelmed them. When we were manning Mechs as large or larger than them it was instantly deadly.

If they had attacked together it is doubtful we would have lasted passed the first engagement but they didn't. They attacked by Lance and thereby passed to us all the advantages. Leadership, Discipline, Fire Control and Luck had seen us through what should have been a slaughter. As it turned out they were the ones that were slaughtered.

The Invasion Fleet made its landing without any losses. They just overwhelmed the Pirates. They hit with three Star League Destroyers at each jump point, the Zenith and the Nadir point. Don't ask me where they got six Destroyers. They had'em hidden some where. The battle was short and brutal. Only one ship was able to jump outbound.

As soon as the Fleet landed Karuska showed them how to access the Pirates main computer. It took the Pirates two days to realize that we were using their own computer against them. When they tried to destroy the main frame computer the rest of the population rose up against them. The battle for Tortuga Prime lasted one more day after that.

The Concordat now rules not just Tortuga Prime but all of the Tortuga Dominions. They're going to need some hard working settlers. This planet and entire system has been abused for years. It had been all take and no give back. Most of the heavy metals have been stripped away with no thought of tomorrow. Many of the streams are polluted or full of silt. The land is rich though and farming should help bring back much to this world. Cleaning up the streams will provide needed water for irrigation, power, cleaning, bathing and drinking. Neither of the two water purification plants had been damaged in the fighting so that meant additional water would be available. It will never be one of the industrial giants but as an agricultural world they should have an excess of foods to sell before many seasons.

We have finished this contract. The Concordat and the Eager Beaver Mining Company just paid us all a good healthy bonus. Between this one and the earlier one they paid us I was again very well off. Most of this was our share of what was captured by the Invasion Fleet. We were to get a share of that for coming in early and relaying the needed information. This was over and above the salary and bonus that I was receiving for Shadow. We are going to Galatea to refit, rearm and recruit. Before we left we wanted to look at selling some of these lesser Mechs. We could get a better price for them here than in Galatea.

We sold the five Wasps, the three Stingers, the Cicada, the two Locust, the Panther, the Shrew, the Flex 20, the Battlemaster and the Atlas. Granted that a Battlemaster and an Atlas are not considered lesser Mechs but they would not fit into our company right now. They were the only Assault Mechs we had and regardless of who got them the other pilots would be jealous and envious and we could use the Credits in other ways. We had just sold sixteen Mechs and we now have only, only mind you, 39 Mechs left! The sale earned us 51.9 megacredits and made the Company very healthy. We also purchased a load of electronics to take with us.

While enroute to Galatea from the Periphery Captain Larson called a Company meeting. We had held a smaller meeting just prior to the Company meeting so the Mech pilots knew what was coming. "Folks, it's payoff time. We are taking 20 megacredits and throwing them into the pot and dividing the pot by shares as normal. As you know Astech get one share, Tech get two shares and Mech pilots get five shares each. We pilots held a short meeting just a bit ago and decided to split one share between the Techs and Astech and we'll only take four shares. That is our way of saying 'Thank you' for the work you did just recently in keeping us going on Tortuga Prime. Shares for Astechs will be a little over c190,000, for Techs it will be a little over c340,000 and for pilots a little over c615,000. In other words with the earlier bonus' you received from the Mining Company and from the Concordat this has been an extremely healthy contract. This might make some of you Astechs study a little harder to pass your proficiency exams to receive your Tech Ratings. The credits will be deposited to your accounts upon arrival in Galatea. That is all, dismissed."

There was a lot of cheering and laughter and it soon turned into a party. This was the first payoff I had received since joining Shadow and one thing I must say was they did it up right.

When we got to Galatea we did several things at once. We looked for new Mechs, we looked for new Mech pilots and for Aerospace pilots. We hired an agent to recruit pilots, techs and soldiers and we relaxed and partied all over the place. Oh, we also held an election for Officers.

We had been thinking about getting Gentry either a Rifleman or a Jagermech. Weight it down with as many heat sinks as it could carry and let him blaze away. With the damage he does with those two deuces imagine what he could do with a pair of nickels! Here we found Gentry a Rifleman. It was in need of some major repairs so we got it cheap. He's been busy ever since. He and two Techs have been stripping that thing down to frame and muscle. He has been giggling like a thirteen year old girl kissed for the first time. He said something about a 'Long Rifle', 'are they gonna be surprised' and other mutterings along the same vein. I'll just have to wait to see what a Long Rifle is and just who's gonna be surprised.

We picked up eight more Mechs other than the Rifleman. We got another Jenner, two more Shadow Hawks, two more Griffins, one of them a Steiner variant and we got a third Grasshopper. The last two were more pieces than anything else, but it was the important major pieces. We paid a premium price for it but we purchased another Phoenix Hawk LAM. We also purchased four more aerospace fighters. Two Chippawas and either two Stingrays or two Lucifers. I think it was the two Stingrays. Right then I was busy with something else.

With all the additional Mechs we had purchased and hired we were no longer a Company in strength. We were a Battalion, in fact we had four Companies. I had run for election for the Recon Company. That election was something else. Zeke Jones and Rock McKinnon ran for the office of Battalion C.O. Rock had never done anything to draw attention to himself where Zeke was the Executive Officer and Acting C.O. when needed. Zeke was elected and we decided to let Rock stay on as the Exec. That should give him some Command experience at times.

As I said I ran for C.O. of the Recon company. J.J. Ravenhawk, our Doctor decided to run against me. He gave a speech where he talked for several minutes, got a bunch of laughs but didn't say anything. He was a real politician! It was more fun and good times than a serious desire for the job. I got elected.

Johnny Schultz was elected as C.O. for Fire Company and a real upset occurred in the Heavy Company. St. John Knight and the newcomer, Jero Conn ran for the office. The First Sergeant, Milt Jacobs was elected! It was funny, he was always running around saying he didn't want to be an officer, they get killed too easily, they get picked on and other such garbage. He wasn't even running and here he ends up not just an officer but a Company Commander. He'll do good, he was a Lance commander before and looked out for his men. Now he can move and plan for a Company instead of a Lance.

The Commanders were given the option of appointing their own Execs and lead Sergeants. Before I could get to him Johnny Schultz nabbed Captain Larson and got him to take the job as Exec for Fire Company. Larson was very happy with that job. He hadn't run for any of the Company Commander slots nor did he want to be the Battalion Commander. I talked J.J. Ravenhawk into becoming my Executive Officer.

We now needed to organize our companies and start looking for pilots to fill up all the vacancies we had. Along that line we also picked up an Elite Company of Infantry, Walton's Rifles. Not Jump, not motorized but Leg Infantry. Not only are their rifles Laser Rifles but they are Zero 'G' trained. That should help with a little project that I have been dreaming about and trying to put together.

We also picked up three job offers. One with Steiner but they wanted integrated command. Steiner has some good fighters but their leaders suffer from a bad case of SFB (Shit For Brains). Also Karuska refused to work with them. He was working on some projects and wanted them to be ours as we were footing all of the bills for Research and Development. The Steiners are nice enough folks but they tend to get kind of bossy. They want to run everything which wouldn't be so bad if they knew what they were doing. Also when they see you have something they want they take it. You work for them so of course anything that you have belongs to them. NO WAY, JOSE!