personal3

I strode into the meeting room in the Baronial Palace to find my council once again already gathered. All except for Minister Kowalski, whose presence was necessary to begin the meeting, but who had been detained thanks to an urgent report from Koskenkorva. I took a seat at the head of the long, polished-wood, table as we waited for him to arrive. General Jorgensen was probably the most anxious of my councilors, though the career soldier would never say it outright or show it on his face. I picked it up from the way he was tapping his foot in a staccato rhythm on the polished marble tiles of the meeting room floor. Did he really want to invade Gotterdamerung that badly? Whatever the reason, his demeanor was the polar opposite of that of Minister Huber, who had a smug smile on his face.

"While we wait for Minister Kowalski, it appears as if you have some good news you'd like to share with us, Minister Huber?" I questioned.

"Indeed I do. Since Botany Bay agreed to fall under our rule, I have managed to levy an export tariff on sales of Black Sand to Jarnfolk-owned enterprises. I'm happy to report that this has had the expected effect and we have been able to cut down on the monopoly of the Jarnfolk traders on sales of Black Sand to the Ore Mines of Sigurd, increasing revenues and, of course, stimulating the civilian economy of Botany Bay. Already the number of companies chartered in Neo-Sydney on Botany Bay has jumped up, both in terms of freight hauling companies and Black Sand mining companies." Grinned Minister Huber.

"We've also seen some new settlements pop up in some of the areas opened up by the Storm Inhibitors we've put up in orbit of Botany Bay. Two new small towns of around two thousand people have popped up in the Black Sand Belt to the east of Neo-Sydney. Neo-Sydney's also seen a slight rise in immigration as well, though it's negligible compared to new settlements." Offered Minister O'Neill.

"What they aren't telling you is that there's been some degree of smuggling going on. The Gendarmes in Neo-Sydney busted a Jarnfolk Freighter, a Buccaneer-class Dropship Variant affiliated with the Hastrup Family's Trade Fleet. They'd been caught with holds full of Black Sand that hadn't been properly paid for. We're holding them and the Merchant-class Jumpship they came in on for now, but where there's one, there's bound to be others." Cut in Minister Jonsson.

"Where was the Merchant-class Registered?" I queried.

"Ferris. That doesn't mean anything, though. A lot of merchant Jumpships are registered in Ferris ever since Hendrik Grimm took them under his protection. They've got a decent-sized population, enough industry for spare parts production, and with the Oberon Confederation's Military Might backing their shipping, it's a stable place to run a trading company out of." Pointed out Minister Jonsson.

"Impound the Cargoes, fine the Jarnfolk Captain, then release the ships. Have the local Interior Ministry boys keep an eye out for the Smuggling of Black Sand. You two can work together on this, right?" I asked Ministers Jonsson and Simowitz.

"Shouldn't be a problem. It might even be good to draw attention toward Botany Bay with regular customs patrols. It draws attention away from Iron Land." Affirmed Minister Simowitz.

"Just like we wanted. Anything else to report while we have time?" I questioned.

"Indeed. Duke Watson of Apollo has placed an order for three-hundred-thirty-five-million C-bills worth of our Specialized Ammunition for his Ducal Forces. It is a nice chunk of change, especially considering we can produce ammunition quite easily compared to certain other things." Smirked Minister Huber.

"Excellent, that should go a long way towards padding out the budget for next year. What else?" I pressed.

"The Mineral Exploration you wanted done on Last Chance is complete. There's a lot of Lithium, Copper, and Titanium there. Also some Germanium, but it won't ever be one of our big sources. Aside from that, there's a few other heavy metals in commercially viable quantities there, mostly Chromium and Cobalt for the production of various hardened metals and chemicals. The problem is that most of the deposits are on the Secondary Continent where there's only one settlement of any note due to the weather conditions." Reported Minister Kovar.

"And we've prioritized Storm Inhibitor placement for the Primary Continent first." Added Minister O'Neill.

"Right, well, how long until we can expand storm inhibitors to cover the Secondary Continent? And are any of the deposits in the habitable zone?" I queried.

"Some of the Titanium, Lithium, and Cobalt are. The Germanium and Chromium are pretty far outside that area, and only some of the other Cobalt and Titanium deposits as well as some of the Copper Deposits, are in areas considered marginally habitable." Informed Minister Kovar. 

"And how long until we can finish rolling out our current program of Storm Inhibitors?" I asked.

"We're averaging four every two months. It won't be until sometime in the Spring that we can finish that up and begin expanding placement to cover the Secondary Continent. Even with the knowledge to make them, the production of the Storm Inhibitors is complicated." Sighed Minister Kovar.

"Right, well, Authorize some expansion on the Secondary Continent, but only in the habitable zone. Nothing we can do about it at the moment, anyway. How is factory construction going on Zertarum?" I switched topics.

"Good, we've gotten two factories up and running to build the tooling we need for the next phase of industrial expansion. They're churning out equipment for the production of the Ferro-Aluminium and Ferro-Fibrous Armor Materials. Once we have that up and running, we'll need a third factory to build the nano-lathes for the more advanced composite work, and then we'll have everything we need for Ferro-Aluminium and Ferro-Fibrous Armor Factories. I'd calculate that production line to be up and running by the end of next year at the latest." Explained Minister Kovar.

"Zertarum has also seen some immigration from the Inner Sphere to service these factories. We're predicting another forty-thousand people to have become citizens by the census you ordered for the New Year. Construction has started on two new hospitals to accommodate them." Offered Minister O'Neill.

"Have these immigrants been vetted?" I questioned.

"Their stories check out and we've been able to verify most of their identities, though there were a few dozen or so that went to the two new settlements on Botany Bay turned out to be Combine and FWL Spies sent to take a look at our new holdings. Fortunately, only a single cell of them went to Zertarum, so far as our new surveillance capabilities can detect. One singular agent committed suicide at Botany Bay before we could apprehend them. A cyanide tooth, apparently. Such tactics are not unheard of in some of the more secretive intelligence cabals. Fortunately, we were able to figure out they were an agent and locate them quickly. It seems that those computer and camera drone designs have already proven their worth." Nodded Minister Simowitz.

That could be a few people, the Black Dragon Society, Jarnfolk, or ROM were the safest bets. The Black Dragon Society was active in this section of the Periphery if the upcoming Trellwan Incident was anything to go by, and the Jarnfolk trend more towards special operations than large-scale armies, and would have reason to try to infiltrate Botany Bay thanks to the apprehension of affiliates of House Hastrup's trade fleet besides. If it was ROM, however, well we'd caught them quickly enough that they wouldn't have gotten a message out, and this area of the Periphery is lousy with pirates. We may be able to play it off as that.

"Well done. I'm concerned about the unknown agent that committed suicide. If anyone asks, we should plant a story about them being killed by pirates. This section of the Periphery is known to have several pirate bands and havens, after all. It's dangerous for lone travelers out here. That might give us some plausible deniability and buy us time to work out another countermeasure. How goes the progress on deciphering the schematics for the double heat sinks we obtained?" I queried, switching gears to technology.

"The new class of computers we've reverse-engineered to work out the polymer formula computations helped some, but it's still slow going. I'd say we'll have them figured out before the end of next year, but by that point, we'll be out of low-hanging fruit we can crash-develop based on the data you've given us. Developing anything else is going to take more time. I'd say that it will take us until at least twenty-forty or so to get back to where the SLDF was. Give or take a year, and that's with expansion in industry, economy, and population, as well as assuming we build out the technology base in steps so that each step builds on the last." Reported Minister Macszek.

That meant that by the time the Clans Attacked, we'd have nine or so years worth of extra technological development that the Inner Sphere didn't have, and that was if everything went right. I wasn't certain that would be enough to do more than stall them temporarily, which meant I would need to factor in obtaining a military alliance to my plans. My current inclinations were to try for an alliance with the Lyrans, and possibly with Rasalhague as well should that play out the way my dreams insisted that it would. The Lyrans I could sway through the Duke of Apollo and whatever other allies my father had cultivated in the Tamar Pact.

Rasalhague, on the other hand, would be more difficult. As far as I knew, we only had cultural roots there and not any real ties. I would need to build connections from scratch there. Of course, Rasalhague was currently under Draconis Combine domination, but we weren't even trading with any of their worlds right now. That would need to change as it became practicable, but do it too early and we risked Combine Infiltration or possibly even invasion. If things played out roughly along the schedule my dreams insisted they would, it would be another thirteen years and three months before the Free Republic of Rasalhague gained independence. That was a long time to avoid trade ties.

"So with the bump in economic output, what exactly are we looking at?" I asked, switching topics again.

"Hard to say until the census is finished in the new year, but between adding another hundred-forty-thousand taxpayers, immigration, the economic growth we've undergone so far, and our plans for economic growth in thirty-twenty-one, our projections of GDP gains by the end of thirty-twenty-one to be at least another one-point-five-billion C-Bills." Informed Minister Kokkonen.

I wracked my brain for a comparison and found one in the dreams of the man whose life I'd been dreaming of for most of a year by now. Before, our Nominal GDP was akin to that of the Solomon Islands of his version of Old Terra. If these projections were right, however, we'd have a GDP akin to that of his version of Old Terra's Cape Verde. Of course, comparisons were difficult, as the Economy of the Human Sphere and that of the nations of Old Terra were already fairly hard to compare to begin with. Adding what was apparently an alternate timeline to the mix only made the picture even fuzzier. It was still a decent amount of growth for a two-year mark. And that was if nothing changed. I planned to have retaken Butte Hold by that point, however, which would also be a hefty increase in GDP and population.

As I was pondering that, however, Minister Kowalski finally arrived, huffing and puffing as if he had hustled all the way from the Foreign Ministry building, which apparently was actually the case. Apologizing for his tardiness, he took a seat and we could finally begin the meeting that was scheduled, instead of going through the ad-hoc report session I had been conducting until now. We waited a few moments for Minister Kowalski to regain his breathing and composure, and then we began the actual meeting.

"Right, well. First things first, we've had a bit of a snag come up in the negotiations." Began Minister Kowalski.

"What kind of snag?" I questioned.

"A Maria Morgraine kind of snag. She's offered the Archon of Koskenkorva the equivalent of a free hand in taking control of the systems of Ilium, Ylemelke, and Vargtass, plus a high noble title to go with it, so long as he swears to her. Archon Konstantinos wants to know if we will allow him the same or better." Answered Minister Kowalski.

"That would boost Maria Morgraine's Valkyriate's population substantially." I frowned.

"Oh yes. In fact, it would give the Valkyriate a population of roughly a third of our own. They wouldn't have the same industrial base, mind, but if they joined up with Redjack Ryan in Butte Hold, with the industry your father put in place there, and their combined populations?" Mused Minister Huber.

"If that happens, we're looking at at least eight regiments and an equivalent number of militia, all with reasonably good-quality equipment." Intoned general Jorgensen.

"How goes our preparations for war and build-up, general?" I queried.

"We have five combined arms regiments equipped in Rim Worlds Republic Army Vintage Equipment, plus five wings of Rim Worlds Republic Vintage Aerospace Fighters. We have the Jumpship Crews to carry them and the dropship crews to defend the Jumpships. We also have an equivalent number of Militia Regiments and Aerospace Fighter Wings equipped with a mishmash of Inner Sphere Gear plus our new Rifleman Three-C Variant, though only the First Company of the New Ålborg Militia's Mech Battalion has the version armed with the Ultra Autocannons." Relayed General Jorgensen.

"How are the Baronial Guards fixed for training?" I pressed.

"Our original three regiments are filled with fanatically loyal veterans by now, you can count on them to handle almost anything the Periphery can throw at them. Our fourth regiment is filled with reliable regulars, but the fifth is still filled out with reliable but green troops. Our militia tends to be green but reliable as well, and they're only reliable because breaking means their homes are on the line. Of course, when you only train on weekends, that's what tends to happen." Informed General Jorgenson.

"General, in your opinion, if we go to war with Gotterdamerung and Koskenkorva, will we win at this point in time?" I pressed.

"Absolutely, my Lord. Maria Morgraine's Valkyrie Regiment might be a match for one of our Veteran Baronial Guards Regiments, but the rest of her forces are Militia and the Lackhove Auxiliary Battalions. Her Militia are even worse than ours are, thanks to being light on quality equipment, and the Lackhove Auxiliary Battalions, while regulars, have the same equipment problems. Koskenkorva has the same issue as Lackhove. We absolutely can take both Koskenkorva and Morgraine's Valkyriate on and come out on top." Grinned General Jorgensen, viciously. 

This, I realized, was the reason he'd been antsy. He'd known we stood a good chance of winning a war against Koskenkorva and Morgraine's Valkyriate right now, but that chance would grow slimmer as time went on and Maria Morgraine was allowed to build up. He was probably more right than he'd known. The Forces of the Greater Valkyriate had never been fully defeated by even the Clans in the timeline of events my dreams showed me. Several Battalions and the Heriess to the Valkyriate had managed to withdraw in good enough order to Star's End to carry on the fighting alongside the Belt Pirates. While I'd likely already derailed the formation of the Greater Valkyriate, it wasn't a chance I wanted to take.

"All right, I'll be joining you on the campaign. We're going to war." I ordered. And with that, the die was cast. We would be attacking both Koskenkorva and Morgraine's Valkyriate.

I just hoped the war would turn out as victorious as everyone thought. . .

XXXX

AN: So yeah, there's a number of things going on in this update. The economy, population, technical base, and Baronial Guards have all grown by a sizable amount since Jozef took over, yes, but with success comes rivals. One of those rivals, Maria Morgraine, is even desperate enough to expand that she's offered the Archon of Koskenkorva what would be effectively the number two position within the Valkyriate. It was a move that wasn't going to be acceptable to Jozef or his council. There's now a war over the issue, the thinking being to hit them before they can become too much of an issue. If he pulls this off, Redjack Ryan is going to be next.

On the topic of the unidentified agent, that is set up for a later plot. While the pirate attack story will buy Jozef some time to sort things out, it won't buy him indefinite time. It helps that other agencies sent agents to infiltrate Botany Bay and Zertarum and those agents were caught as well. When the agent's handlers eventually figure out he committed suicide, it can then be assumed he died in a general anti-espionage sweep. That means sending another agent, rather than attacking outright, even for ComStar. Expect that to come up again down the line.

For now, though, the next chapter will be the attack forces setting out on campaign and the start of what I'm calling Morgraine's War.

Stay tuned. . .