Debauchery Worlds 20 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Southmonk

Debauchery Worlds

Chapter 20

-VB-

Major Michael Anderson

2981.03.01

Orders came from the top brass.

The 41st Avalon Hussars were to invade Proserpina IV, one of the most heavily contested Draconis Combine border worlds that served as a minor prefecture civilian capital and command center. They would take with them their entire regiment and one of Marris Mercenary Company’s battalions.

The battalion the mercs offered was their “1st” Marris Battalion, named so because it held all of their core veterans.

Now, as a long-time (and only) liaison between the AFFS and the Marris Mercenary Company, he wanted to know what constituted “veterans” in the eyes of the Marris Mercenaries. Their company was new - too green in the eyes of the Mercenary Review Board - and didn’t hire anyone as new mechwarriors, despite having lost some in the recent defense of David II.

… However, he wasn’t going to question their “veterans,” none of whom were registered with the MRB prior to their appearance within the Marris Mercenary’s ranks as nothing but faceless letters and numbers that actually had someone behind those things.

No, what he was more concerned about - and the reason why the general dispatched him - was because of what they had reported would be participating in the invasion.

And now, he warily looked up at the hull of the thing that had caused his general a great alarm. He felt that alarm himself as he stared at the hull of a spaceworthy beast that would dwarf everything that the AFFS could field.

“Ah, major! It’s good to see you.”

He looked down and to his right, where he saw the unmasked commander of the mercenary company join him.

“Commander Marris,” he greeted with a nod before looking back at the ship. “This is … quite the ship you have here.”

“She’s pretty, isn’t she?” the commander hummed in agreement.

Pretty was … a decent way to put it. Before the two of them and the mercenary company’s variety of odd workers was a ship. Michael didn’t know if this ship was supposed to be a dropship … or an assault dropship. It was longer than how wide Union was. Union was very spherical at 80-ish meters, so this significantly longer and about two-thirds as wide ship was at least 60 meters wide and more than 120 meters long. It was also decently tall, and Michael estimated that it had to be at least 40 meters tall.

Assuming this ship had a similar function and weight for the volume, this dropship had to be at least 4,000 tons. It also possessed 6 guns on just this side of the ship, and he saw 4 bigger guns on top; these guns closer to him and on the lower hull of the aerodyne dropship looked like they were AC/10 or Large Lasers at the very least. He also saw 14 missile ports on just this side. They could be SRM, LRM, or even cruise missiles for all he knew, but he’d assume they were LRM from the size and the norm for dropship armament.

What scared him, though, were the 2 big barrels in the front.

They looked like MACs that the Marrisians installed around their compound. You know, the big angry anti-orbital dropship killing guns.

If this ship could also jump on its own, then it would mean that the Marrisians had built a warship on Davion soil.

That would mean an escalation of the Third Succession War or even the prelude to the Fourth.

He shuddered.

Regardless of the implications of the ship’s existence, the ship itself thus had a total of 2 MACs, 28 LRMs(?), 4 AC/20 or Large Lasers(?), and 12 AC/5s or AC/10s or Medium Lasers(?), making it a superior to Union-class dropships in armament.

But it was aerodyne. The philosophy of the ship design stated that this ship was meant to be out on planetside and space battles, which would mean that the Achilles was no longer the queen of assault dropships.

This ship was.

“We call her Eve, because she’s the first of her line of spaceships we intend to keep making,” Commander Marris spoke up. “2 MACs, 8 250mm Autocannons -”

“Stop. Pardon. What?” Michael blurted out.

The commander looked at him before realizing. “Right! So, yes, those four guns on top of the ship are the exposed half of the 250mm Autocannons. There are four more hidden at the bottom of the hull. They are currently held inside the ship and will only come out once the ship is either in the air or in space.”

That was … It was AC/20 if it was slightly larger. And halfway to AC/30, which was a naval autocannon.

Normally, he would verify the actual shells they meant to load into those guns but he’s heard, seen, and experienced enough Marris bullshit to just go along with it.

If the man said 250mm autocannon, then he meant 250mm autocannon.

“Sorry, please continue.”

“Sure. So 2 MACs, 8 250mm Autocannons, 8 LRM-20s, 20 Cruise Missile Launchers-”

Michael wanted to throw up in disgust and horror at the firepower inside this ship.

“- 12 standard AC/10s, 20 flare launcher ports, and 2 ASF fighter bays fit to serve 3 ASF at the same time if we really push it.”

He took a moment - a long moment - to let it all sink in. “How many battlemechs can it carry…?” he asked without being able to keep his wariness showing in his tone.

“Only 6 battlemechs but it can also carry about 4 artillery pieces.”

So a demi-lance of battlemechs and an artillery lance, which was half the number of battlemechs a Union dropship could carry.

“And cargo?”

“300 tons even.”

“... Why so much cargo space?”

“For the cruise missiles. Each missile should be half a ton.”

That meant that each of their cruise missile was at thrice the weight of the LRM-20 missile.

“And armor?”

“40 tons in the bow, 50 tons on top and bottom, 30 tons in the stern, 50 tons each in the port and starboard for a total of 270 tons.”

That was twice the armor of a Union and four times that of the Achilles, the best assault dropship in the Inner Sphere.

When did they make this? How did they make this? Why did they make this?

And where and what was the MIIO doing while this beast was getting made? Didn’t they have agents inserted into the company town already? Were they incompetent?!

“... So the prototype, huh?”

“She is,” he hummed. “We’re hoping that by the time we have the regular design down, we’ll cut down the manufacturing time from 4 weeks to 1.”

“... Excuse me?”

---

“It is as you feared, general. It’s a warship.”

Michael pretended that he didn’t hear the general letting out a muffled scream into her crumpled hat. Once she stopped screaming, she set her hat down while looking like she hadn’t just spent the last ten seconds screaming.

“Your analysis of the ship?”

“General, I’m … I’m not an engineer or a ship designer. Or even a mech tech. I am a mechwarrior, and the only thing I know is that unless you intend to ram a dropship into their Eve or swarm it with at least two companies of ASF, then we can’t fight it.”

“... Do you believe their words about the capabilities of their ship?”

“Ma’am, both of us have seen their works. They already have almost thirty dropships coming and going with asteroid ores.”

Yes, one of the Marrisian mining dropships landed in their private spaceport once a day to unload their haul before going back up.

“... If it wasn’t for the fact that I have a tight grip on who goes in and out of the system, then I would already be interrogating some of them for suspicious activities and ties to foreign powers, but there’s nothing,” she grunted. “They’re just bullshit.”

“At least they are our bullshit, general.”

“... Yeah. Until they aren’t.”

Michael swallowed.

This was true. Marris might have a landhold here now, but how long would that last if the news about them leaked and someone offered them a deal too good to pass?

“Then it is the job of the prince to ensure they remain favorable to us, isn’t it, general?” he asked a little cheekily. “I don’t think Commander Marris would turn his back on a customer who buys so much of his more normal arms.”

The general hummed in agreement.

When it came to Marris’s factory, there were exactly four types of goods: RB arms, exceptional arms, normal arms, and civilian goods. RB stood for reality breaking, and exceptional arms were mechs and parts that simply worked a little better than they should, and most chalked it up to better manufacturing techniques and machines.

While Marris didn’t sell any RB arms besides hand out a few to the AFFS for shits and giggles (because why else would they just hand some over?) and the biggest - and only - buyer of the exceptional equipment was the AFFS through the constant buy orders of the First Prince.

“And how many factories do they have again?” she asked him.

“Four, general.”

“... They expanded again?”

“They did, and because the orders are to permit sale of land on David II to the Marris Mercenaries, they have been buying as much as they could. So much so that I am actually confused about if they make any profit.”

The general didn’t say anything for a while before speaking again but more firmly.

“Remind Commander Marris that while the Federated Suns does not put a limitation on the firepower and equipment mercenary companies have within its borders, we would still like to know what kind of naval power they possess. In the meantime, I’ll have to report this to the higher-ups.”

-VB-

A/N: So! How did Marris build a warship so quickly without plot, hmm?! The answer is actually in a few chapters before this one. In chapter 14, we mentioned that the Crawdad Mining Ship was designed off of the Catepillar from Star Citizen. This was meant to be literal. As in we, in-universe, acquired a blueprint of the Catepillar from Drake Interplanetary from Star Citizen universe. IE we already have access to that particular universe and the story just hasn’t been taking place there because, well, Star Citizen doesn’t exactly have LORE and PEOPLE to write about (I could make new characters, but there is enough of a character pool for the story size so far, so I opted not to). IE we have acquired not a small number of manufacturing technologies available to Star Citizen shipbuilders. Also, Marris is selling some of the refined minerals directly to Star Citizen companies and uses that money to buy ship parts that he may or may not be using and selling as his in the Battletech verse. Those asteroid miners? Half of their hauls aren’t for manufacturing or sale to locals; they are being sold to Star Citizen-verse companies who have no idea they are buying from multiversal mercenaries. And Marris continues to explore new worlds, too.

As for shields?

You’ll have to see.