Chapter Eighty-Seven: Education
Kentares IV, August 25th, 3018
"Dr. Rogers." I met my lead engineer's eyes. "We cleared the compound in the mountains and had it evaluated by the architects." I paused.
"And?" Rogers asked. "Am I allowed to establish the learning center?"
"Yes," I smiled at her. "We're going to reinforce the walls, and the Argo will still be a source of some zero-g labs and classified experiments, but we'll be allowing y'all to begin getting everything established there in the next couple of weeks."
"I take it, we're allowed to expand it?" She asked me. "Because it's not quite big enough to hold a whole college as is."
"I'll assign some people to help expand the underground and above ground facilities." I agreed. " The facilities will take a couple of weeks to be restored as is, and you can move in and start ordering the things necessary to get it established."
"We were meaning to ask you about that." Rogers threw in, meaning her colleagues on the planet and the Argo. "Would you mind if we partnered with Sharpshooter in order to start expanding?" She held up a hand before I could answer. "We know that you're working on setting up schools and hospitals in the periphery and the Outback, and we want to help contribute to the science, engineering, and math curriculums with the hope of the really good ones potentially being offered a job."
"What would you call the learning center then?" I asked her. "After all, I thought most people who established a school wanted it named after themselves?"
"We'd go with simple Hull." She smirked, "You should know by now that we prefer that, I'm thinking of the Sharpshooter Learning Center."
"You would teach more than just engineering and materials science right?" I asked for clarification.
"Yes," She nodded in response. "We would have degrees in everything that we can hire people for, but with a more of a focus on materials science and engineering studies." She shrugged. "We have plenty of history scholars in the Inner Sphere, what we lack is people who understand the first principles of what the Star League manufactured and accomplished, and that is what we are going to be trying to teach."
August 30th, 3018
"Dunham, Mathis." I greeted the two of them. "Now that we have solid data on how long the Texas will take to finish repairs, I figured it was time to go hit one of the last locations that I have data on."
"What location?" Dunham asked me, seeing as he had most of my SLIC information.
"There were always rumors of a massive SLIC data center on New Dallas." I said with a shrug. "I was never able to confirm said rumors, but I figure that if there were anything there we should go and see if we can locate it now."
"Isn't that all the way over towards Marik and Steiner space?" Mathis brought up, "And why tell us before Paterson and Packer?"
"Because you two will be in charge of taking the Age of Discovery and four Mules to see what can be salvaged from the planet." I said. "Colonel Stone is going to be launching a raid on Carver V in order to grab a couple of aerospace lines that were mothballed a long time ago."
"And it'll be a useful distraction I take it." Dunham said. "Why send Mathis with me though and why Stone and the 2nd Marksman instead of Peterson and the 1st?"
"Because you're the intelligence chief." I replied, "But Mathis is my personal hatchet man." I shrugged. "He's there to make sure that anyone who tries anything monumentally stupid dies a very quick death." I took a breath. "Peterson and the 1st need a break, and the 2nd need to be bloodied." I sighed. "I hate to say it like that, but while they have a solid core of Veterans, they're still a mostly green unit, and so I'm going to be using them to conduct the raid in order to get them some more experience."
"What do we do if we find a bunch of salvage or old mothballed mechs or something?" Mathis questioned. "Are you sending an engineering team with us?"
"I'll have Dr. Rogers send along a couple of teams with both you and with Mason Stone's 2nd Marksman." I nodded. "If you find a bunch of old designs and mothballed Mackiies or something then that's what the Mules are for, and if you manage to find a set of mothballed DroST's or something than that's what the extra collars are for." I chuckled a bit. "You can never have too many of the Sting refits after all."
"Amen." Both Dunham and Mathis agreed.
"Now, I'll make sure you have what data I have on the New Dallas system." I stood up, "Let's go check the Messenger's logs shall we?"
"Just one last question." Dunham said. "You did tell Peterson he wasn't going on this trip right?"
"Nope, I'm letting his son do that." I gave a sad smile. "He's spent more time deployed than with him, and I've been half raising him in the meantime with Sheppard's assistance."
"Ouch." Mathis gave a small shudder. "Hit him straight in the gut next time, it'll hurt less."
"Needed to be done." I said sadly as we began to walk to the garage attached to the Ducal estate. "He needs a wakeup call, and his death wish is going to have to take a backseat to his remaining family."
September 4th, 3018
"Second Marksman," I began to the assembled regiment in front of me. "I'm sending you out on your first op with us." I smiled. "I know you've spent a lot of time training, and that some of you have just finished the therapies that made you combat effective again, and I'm proud to claim you as part of one of the premier Mercenary units in the Inner Sphere, I expect you to punch above your weight and to get the job done." I grinned wide. "Follow your training, and remember that we want you to all come back alive. Colonel Stone," I turned to the CO of the 2nd Marksman. "I trust you with this command and expect great things to come out of this." I shook his hand and then saluted the regiment. "Godspeed, and good luck."
There was a loud "Click" as the assembled troops clicked their heels together and saluted me.
Colonel Stone then took the podium and stood at attention. "2nd Marksman, fall out!" He commanded; the various battalions and companies repeating the command.
"You have one day to get your affairs in order." Stone told the assembled group. "I expect you all on the dropships and ready to lift off at 0930 in the morning." He inhaled.
"Yes sir!" Echoed throughout the parade ground.
"You think they're ready sir?" Stone asked me. "Because they've been itching for a deployment for the last year or so."
"They've been ready for a while, I just wanted to make sure they got the extra training." I looked him in the eye. "I know you're young Stone, and that this is your first command but Sheppard says that you are ready, and the senior NCO's are there to help you out." He had risen through the ranks over the last five years or so and had proven himself well in the 1st Marksman before Sheppard had recommended him for the command track and suggested he be placed in a command role.
"If you're sure sir," He still sounded a bit uncertain. "I just feel unqualified for this position sometimes."
"Want to know a secret?" I asked, and he nodded his head. "Everyone feels unqualified, even when you've been doing it for as long as I have." I half shrugged. "Rely on your senior NCOs and Veterans, they'll assist you, they know that you're young, but they trust Sheppard, Peterson, and myself to make wise decisions with commanders, and for my last piece of advice." I chuckled. " "Better a good plan executed violently now, then a perfect plan later"" I quoted from memory. "Don't worry about making the plan perfect, in war it's always better to advance and to do something than to sit and do nothing, inaction get's more people killed than anything else in a commander."
"Thank you sir?" he said with a questioning look on his face, trying to unpack everything that I just said.
"You'll get it later." I patted him on the shoulder. "It just takes time."
September 15th, 3018
"Mary," I paged my secretary. "Did we ever manage to get a message back from McKinnon's raiders?" I asked.
"Yes sir," She replied, "Their CO, Ross McKinnon will be dropping by next month to discuss some things with you." She consulted her notes, "There was also a note in the file attached by Hanse, and it's for your eyes only sir."
"I'll take a look at it in a minute," I said as I looked over Sharpshooter Inc's numbers for the last quarter.
"Looks like the Jumpship yard is back up and running." I observed, "And Norse is accepting our offer of funding in exchange for partial ownership." I leafed through some more reports. "We're going to need more Sting lines."I said after looking through the list of back-orders. "We're going to be booked on sales for the next ten years at this rate."