personal 2

I sent the Recover team to explore FE32-YT48-XZ90, another cache about 4 months away from New Vandenberg.

During this time, I stayed home and decided to study some more. I wanted to be taken seriously when dealing with the nobility of any realm and not for some barbarian from the Periphery. This is why I contracted some teachers, to learn the basics of Chinese and Japanese as well as the the ways and mannerisms of the people of the high society. Thanks to the fact that I was already proficient in English, German and French, I would be able to understand most people without any help, even if I might "officially" need some.

Just after the departure of the Recover team, I detected that someone had accessed my personal files, without any alarm being triggered. Thanks to my paranoid side, none of the data on the SLDF list was in the computers. I had long ago placed everything in the smallest data-chip I could buy, keeping it with me, disguised in my id-tags that were now made into an alloy that had defeated all the scanning systems I put them through. An emergency backup was hidden in a hole in a remote place. I knew that if the TMI or any other intelligence agency made an extensive search on me or my movements, they would probably find one or another ; but if the situation was so far awry, I would be fxxxd anyway, so…

Other than that, everything went normal, ie boring; that is until the mission returned This one was a mixed bag, to say the least.

The location they were sent to was a depot of ground hardware, and was about a third full but only with equipment from the times of the Reunification Wars, nothing recent. And even worse, there was not a single BattleMech, just tools for mechanized and infantry forces.

We got our hands on 38 Merkava MK.VIII, 4 Thumper towed artillery pieces, dozens of trucks, APCs, jeeps. We even got 10 Karnov VTOLs as well as enough field gears and weapons to fully equip at least two infantry regiments. Good for expanding the Revenants, but nothing spectacular. And we also got some non military stuff, things like industrial / cargo 'Mechs, a central computer, a big fusion engine, defensive turrets and some comms array. What we didn't use or convert to parts was be sold on the market providing the company with a nice extra cash.

A few days after their return, I received a summon to Taurus, to the Ministry of Defense again.

This time, not only were Marshall Tharn and Lady Sartre there but they were accompanied by a new player, a middle-aged, plain normal guy. If that guy was not from the TMI I would eat my jacket- without salt.

'Good morning Mister Bassot' started the Marshall, without presenting the new guy 'I see you keep on finding interesting places.'

'I do my best Marshall. However, I find your people well informed about my small business. May I ask why I was called here this time; we all know my latest "exploit" is nothing special' I said in a bored voice.

'Very simple Mister Bassot' said Mr. X, 'you obviously have in your hands a list of SLDF caches. You probably got that information from the Argo don't you?. If you have more places to 'visit' in that list, we want to be part of it.'

'Not bad.' I answered, looking directly at him 'Yes, the list is extensive and covers all the Periphery . Several places are however in the other side of the Inner Sphere. And how do you want to be involved Mister ?'

'You can call me Mr. Smith' he answered not even smiling 'we want access to the list of course.'

'No way, if I provide you with the list to you, several people are going to analyze it, and very soon everybody will know about it, with undesirable consequences for me. For now I'm the only one with it and I'm very comfortable with that. I'm open to offer participation to the TDF and TMI in the missions, if you help with the costs and the transport and lift part, but that's all.'

'Typical mercenary' said Lady Sartre 'only looking for profit, not for honor.'

'Well Lady Sartre, a man fights for what he lacks the most. I have expenses that need to be paid and I want a profit like everybody else' I retorted the Exchequer bitch 'if I was only interested in profit, I would have moved to the Lyran Commonwealth long ago. They have far deeper pockets than anyone else, after all.'

'I must insist' said Sartre, with a dangerous look 'we have other means to get this if necessary.'

'Do that and my lawyers are going to love it, furthermore if you go down that path, measures have been taken to leak to the interstellar news agencies like Comstar News and Davion Press. I bet you like to go to the Circus….

'I am sure we can find a solution.' quickly intervened the Marshall, before anyone else could speak 'If I understand your position, you want the Concordat to pay the bill of the traveling expenses and to keep a share of the finding ? The first point is no big deal, but how much could you consider a fair share?'

'Now we are talking' I said calmly 'You can also add the expenses of my people dealing with in the operations. And for the share, about 50% with first choice.'

'No way. 20% for you in hardware useful for a mercenary unit, with first choice for the Concordat. The other hardware, like naval infrastructure or research items, we want it all but we can pay you the equivalent of said 20% in Bulls of course.'

'Change that for first choice for us and add to my first choice, the infrastructure / civil part . Half the payment would be in Bulls, the other half in C-Bills deposited in a Comstar account.' I counter-offered. 'And I want the Revenants included in the operations, I didn't create them to see them used as a counter-piracy in the distant frontiers of the Concordat, after all.'

A small nod from the TMI guy and a emphatic negative from Sartre showed their positions.

'I can agree with that' said the Marshall 'but I am afraid that I must insist that all the payment will have to be in Bulls.'

'I think I can accept your proposal.' I said, enjoying the cringe from the Exchequer bitch at that.

Several hours later, all the papers were signed. Thank God B,T &C - my lawyers had a filial in the capital and they reviewed and approved the new contract.

'I think we have a deal, mister Bassot,' said the Marshall in a much more relaxed voice 'By any chance, does any of the places in your list have any description attached to it or are they all just locations and access codes?'

'Some have descriptions; one is marked as an Outpost Castle, another as a naval dockyard, a third one as a naval base and another as a weapons test site.'

'And why haven't you 'visited' these "things" whatever they might be?' asked the Exchequer bitch.

'An Outpost Castle is the smaller version of the Brian Castle. I think everybody knows about these?' I asked. After receiving nods from all I continued ' But to get back to your question, the answer to it is simple, the Outpost Castle, while near is in another nation and not in a no-mans-land system. As far as the others are concerned, they are all on the other side of the Inner Sphere. It takes a lot of time and it is very expensive to go there. On top of that, if they are that big and if by luck, they wouldn't be empty, I wouldn't have the transportation capacity to take everything with me.'

'Well, for these, I am sure that the Navy could provide enough ships' said the Marshall with a glint on her eyes (clearly after having heard the 'SLDF dockyard' part, she had stopped thinking about the usual priorities, lol) 'the Castle is more a question for the diplomatic side but if they authorize the mission, the TDF could provide enough support for a raid I'm sure.'

'Oh, by the way, Mister Smith' I asked 'was your team or another that copied my files some months ago? Because for your information, none of this dataset is on an available computer. I am no fool.'

''We didn't do it' said Mr. Smith.

Not that he would have said otherwise if it had been TMI I thought.