In reply to Michael Krieg (msg # 71):

Colin stoked the pipe, clearing some lodged debris from the mouthpiece. He thought for a moment before answering the question. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Notionally? I can be a BattleMech pilot. Realistically? I’m not sure that would work out. My training scores were par at best. Barely enough to graduate the training. I know that my instructors would have preferred me to pick something like infantry or the diplomatic corps to get me out of their hair,” he paused as he took a pull from the pipe. “So, we will see what the Colonel has in store for me. How about you?”

Eileen was good with whatever Sabatino decided.  Truth if he declines her offer, it was less work and paper work for her.  Hearing this news, she decides to take a second helping of food to eat her fill now, since this might be 'it' for a while.

Through sated... she's in a more liersurely mood when she returns to finish work on the engine conversion.  She's done low to no gravity work before which had it's pros and cons.  Moving massive equipment around in low gravity was so much easier to get at those odd places, the wrinkle was when gravity changed unexpectedly and you were still under that equipment it could get... messy.

Calcuations had her figure about 20~25 hours of work to finish the convertion.  Less that if Cassady was going to help her which should have her finishing off most of the work before they made planet fall... or moon fall... Enough time to pack up the engine for finalization and maybe... work out some munitions for the Lunar mission.

Jason stuck around for a bit, helping Sabatino trash what was bad and restore what was still usable. The little guy seemed o complain the whole time. When done he stowed the trash in its proper place and made sure it was secure. Some people might get upset if they got hit by lose trash during zero-g.

After wards he went back and collected his things before wandering around looking for an open berth. Eventually he found one. He secured his belongings and stretched out as best he could in the lower bunk. It didn't take long before he was asleep.

Michael's brows rose a little bit as Colin explained, or in this case, didn't explain his position with the company. Bubba's Raiders got stranger with every interaction he had with them, and he was questioning once again his decision to sign on. Hopefully, there would be some answers and maybe some structure once they arrived at their destination. Still he managed a smile at the rather impressive scores. "Par for a Mechwarrior is an eagle for a conventional pilot Colin; maybe you should reconsider not being a Mech jock." Kreig chuckled and finished his cigarette, snuffing the glowing coal in the sand.

"Me? I'm a VToL pilot. Karnov's and Ferrets mostly. I can fly the Warrior, but I'm not current on my hours with it. Right now, I fly a Ferret, so I think... Or at least I hope the Colonel hired my team to fly reconnaissance and small unit support." He laughed softly. "He'd be better served to put the cook in an Urbie and send him into battle than hope a Ferret can be a gunship."

Colin chuckled a bit and resumed smoking his pipe. "Maybe I will. My real passion is tactics and training. Raw analytics is not my strong suit, but being able to see the bigger picture and act accordingly? That's the true skill. I'm glad to hear that you are looking for scouting opportunities. I am actually finishing my setup of the field sim server. I am hoping that my investment will let us work on coordination in a tighter timeline than most units have. With the enemy breathing down our necks, we can't afford to waste any time," he said and trailed off.

"Sorry, they let me into a Mobile HQ once for a training tour and it's been my goal to get back into one. Hell, if I hadn't been drummed out for losing that Jagermech to a pair of lights, I might actually have been in one by now. And I get the Ferret isn't a stock gunship, but most of the time, a properly placed scout with comm gear can be more valuable than any weapon, especially if there is a Long Tom or Sniper at the other end of the line," Colin finished with a smile.

When Three-Fingers headed to get chow Skinner head to find some of the other new members of the Raiders, he walked in on the conversation which piqued his interest.

"Is this seat taken." He inquired of Browne and Krieg.

Mike set the guitar aside and leaned back against the brace he was sitting against, considering Colin's words. A training officer? It wasn't a bad idea, just a surprising one at this level of command. "Most company-sized units don't spring for C3 positions." He nodded. "Of course, most of them think a bug mech or two is a proper recon element, so maybe Colonel Johnsson is on to something. I know my wallet isn't complaining."

He chuckled commiseratingly at the loss of the Jagermech. "I feel for your loss there, but I can believe it. Old Hanse Davion has had a lot of good, clever ideas in his day, but the Jagermech ain't one of them, though I'm sure the board of Magna Fusion appreciates his losing that many of their fusion plants in combat. A Jager is a damn deathtrap if you ask me, and the only ones that should be assigned one are the fools that bring the Hauptman's daughter back late from a date with her shirt buttoned crooked."

Looking up at the new arrival to the conversation Mike shook his head. "Like I told Colin, floorspace is free to all, as long as you don't mind bad guitar and smoke. Have a seat. I'm Michael Kreig, good to meet you." Chuckling, Mike picked his guitar back up and tucked into it, lightly strumming the strings before looking back up to Colin.

"So what's a field sim server, and what does it do for the unit?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:18, Fri 10 Mar 2023.

"Welcome to the smoke pit. Colin Browne," he said to the newcomer. Turning back to Michael, he had a shit-eating grin on his face. "Field sim servers act as a hub and processor for near-combat exercises. By mounting sim equipment to each unit participating and feeding the information to the server, any training we do will be as close to live combat as you can get. For Mechs, myomer bundles become unresponsive to simulate battle damage. Combat vehicles lose mobility and functionality. Hell, with enough server capacity and sim modules we could even outfit combat to the individual infantry level. Of course all of this as a manual disconnect and redundant disconnect in easy reach. Don't want to cripple a unit for real. Plus, early adopters found out that if you didn't have a disconnect, advanced EW could mess with your inputs."

"My goal would be to get information about the clans and load it up into the sim. All combat units get HUD and sensor overlays with the training program running and ...boom! Instant clan training exercises. Or as best as we can replicate. I have enough combat footage and sensor data for standard House units. I really need input from the big guy, an Elemental is what the Colonel said? That and once we engage in live combat I can tailor the software and tactics to our..." he trailed off as he realized he was rambling. "Sorry."

"Skinner. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you both."

Skinner takes a seat listening to the conversation. He wasnt a tech by any stretch so he was hoping to learn from Krieg who knew quite a bit it appeared. But he wanted. like Colin to know about the clans. "I would be game. Anything to make us better because we are going to need it. Money doesnt mean shit when we are exchanging PPC fire. I want to pick his brain. Seems pretty early to be trusting a clanner thats betraying his own people."

Colin's effusive explanation was a good distraction for Kreig to fish another smoke out of his pack and start playing again. Nimble fingers danced across the strings, plucking a quiet rhythm to accompany the data dump. Despite his head being down, looking at the vibrating strings of his guitar, Michael was paying full attention to the conversation and looked up as Skinner vocalized his distrust. "You're not wrong I don't think Skinner, but I'm kind of the opinion that Bubba," A small shake of the head. "Has probably done that, or he wouldn't have started hiring to enact a plan. I mean, yeah, I think we keep our eyes open and our ears sharp, but giving 'em the third-degree isn't going to get anyone to open up."

He considered Colin's explanation of what he was trying to accomplish with his simulator and suddenly it struck him that he might be able to help. "Y'know, Colin, my team and I flew recon for the 19th Lyran during the invasion, and when we leased the Dragonfly, I don't recall them wiping the computers. It may not be as good as you can get out of Max or Colonel Johnsson, but you might be able to pull at least baseline performance stuff for the Clans off her sensor logs. Speed, weight, stuff like that. Might be able to extrapolate weapon ranges and performance, but I'll warn you, any time I saw a hostile Mech, I was quick to vacate."

Colin closed his eyes in thought and waggled a finger at the air. "Actually, that would be fantastic. Even profiles of units would be great to have since the intelligence of the Great House forces is keeping that stuff locked up tight. As to your point, Skinner. We don't have to trust him but we can verify the data he gives us. Keep the Dragonfly's sensor and combat readings air-gapped from any information that the Colonel or Max gives us. Compare notes afterward. Unless the clans have a level of EW and camouflage tech that rivals that of the Star League, we should be able to get an accurate idea of the capabilities of the cross-referenced units," he concludes as he shifted himself to be more comfortable and refilled his pipe.

He looked somewhat sheepish as he glanced at the two other men. "If you don't mind me asking, what was it like on the front lines with them? I left the service before the action kicked off and all I have seen so far are the dark net videos from people evacuating."

"I didnt see any direct combat with them. But my unit did. I was in the command headquarters in the company operations cell. Jade Falcon tore through our lines like they weren't even there." He is matter of fact. No emotion. It was clear that there was a seething hatred for the clans.

Kreig didn't answer the question at first, his eyes closing while his fingers continued on autopilot. There were long minutes after Colin asked and Roland answered that he didn't do anything but play his guitar and smoke.

Just remembering.

"I mostly saw the before and the after of fighting them." He was talking to the grating more than anyone else in the small circle. "At first... Well, to say they went through us like grain through a goose is an understatement. A lot of the guys in the 19th felt like we were little kids, throwing rocks at tanks for all the good it was doing us to fight back." Michael switched songs, something slower, more somber. "I remember the smell of burning myomer and carbide when we'd make a hot recovery more than I remember anything that makes a good story, Colin. Do you have any idea how hot you have to get ferro-steel to make it catch fire?" He shook his head somberly.

"It got better after the upgrades started hitting the field; we could hurt them then. Make them pay for the ground they were taking. Slow them down, but we never stopped them, not in a straight-up fight." Krieg stopped for a moment to flick the long ash off his smoke into the bucket before he resumed playing and talking. "Heard someone managed to stop them cold at Twycross, but it wasn't us. We were too busy bleeding and dying." He fell silent again, taking a long drag off his cigarette.

A long trail of smoke jetted out of his nostrils, and he covered the strings on the guitar, silencing it. "Look, I don't mind telling you about the invasion, in all its gory details, but I probably need a bottle or two of whiskey to do it properly. Until we find one, or I raid our supplies, d'you mind if we maybe stay in the present? I don't want to sound too hopeful or like some wide-eyed kid, but if this plan of Colonel Johnsson's is legit, maybe we should be talking about how to make it happen. Would mean a lot less bleeding and dying for everyone."

Colin looked somber as Michael spoke. He hung his head like a shamed dog. “I’m sorry I brought it up. I’ve only been in combat once and that was years ago. I forget that it’s a rough memory for most and not a simple simulation or wargame that I’m running. They don’t teach you that in Filtvelt. That there are people behind the mock ups and casualty counts. I can’t imagine what you went through. What either of you have been through.”

Michael caught the hangdog expression on Colin's face and frowned.

Shit.

Dammit, Nadz had been right when she told him he needed help, but he'd opened his big mouth. Sliding a boot across the aisle and lightly kicking the sole of Colin's boot, he ventured a smile. "Nah, don't worry about it, man. Doc's been telling me for a while now I need my head examined." He chuckled. "And she's probably right, but I'll be damned if I let some witch doctor in to make me talk about my mother or whatever they do these days to make you get all touchy-feely."

He stood the guitar up against the structural brace he'd been leaning against and looked more seriously at the C³ specialist. "Look. why don't we start with the nice sterile bits, get the sensor logs off the Dragonfly and get them loaded onto your servers? I'll go through the gun camera footage with you and tell you what I can about what it's showing us. Don't know how much help anecdotes will be for your simulations, but it's a start."

Colin tapped out the ash in the bucket and carefully put away his pipe. He nodded as he gave a half hearted smile. “Sure thing. The initial compiling is probably done by now. Skinner, care to join?”

“Sure. I don’t know how much time we have before we get to where we’re going. But anything is better than running diagnostics on my Mac over and over and over again. And I’d like to see those gunsight cameras as well.” He said rising.

Don't leave on my account gentlemen...
Buford Johnsson had heard the flamenco music, and his interest had been peaked. So he had lit a cigar that was firmly planted in the left corner of his mouth, grabbed his ukelele, and had found the small smoking corner the men had been talking in. And just as he entered, they seemed to be leaving.
I hope I didn't chase you away
He held up the archaic instrument.
You haven't even heard me murder music yet

Maximus nodded in understanding
I can respect that, he said after Nadia explained she would die for her patients. I do want to add that we, being we the clans, do not normally kill wounded. That's more of an Inner Sphere thing. As soon as an opponent down and no longer capable of fighting he is considered defeated and there is no honor in taking them out.  We are a culture of warriors yes, but honor stands high for us. That is why we do a bidding before we attack. Have you heard about that concept?

When Eileen returned Cassidy called her over to the console he had been working on. He pulled up some schematics that seemed bases on a clan tank and zoomed
in on its engine section. I just found these blueprints in this system for a clan XL. A lot of it seems foreign to me, but maybe you or that other mechanic can make something of it? I fear my age works against me on this, it looks like mumbo-jumbo to me...

Kreig was just standing up when the Colonel rounded the corner, and he slid naturally from standing to standing at ease. "Not at all, Colonel." He wouldn't, couldn't call him Bubba... Not his superior officer. "We were just discussing Colin's simulator and its applications, and I suggested adding some old data off the Dragonfly." He glanced down at the instrument in the taller man's hand and smiled before looking at Skinner and Colin.

"Why don't you two go on ahead without me? The Dragonfly is next to bay one in cargo, and I think I saw my crew chief headed that way earlier. Big guy; goes by Darius or Dar. Just tell him I okayed it, and he should let you at the sensor logs. He'll probably hover like an old hen over you, but he means well."

Picking up his guitar from where it was leaning, Mike swung it into position, his fingers on the frets, and grinned at the older man. "Murder away, Colonel; I'll try to keep up."

Skinner hangs back. He gestures for he and Colin to remain and enjoy the music. "Im a music fan. Especially since we are likely to die soon."

Sounds like an interesting plan there Colin. I'll have something nice when we arrive to hook up to it as well... it will give us a clanner's view of things to work into that sim.
He sits down and starts tuning his ukelele.
When the clans invaded they overwhelmed us with their Mechs because we never knew what to expect. We'd see a Mech, try to figure out the armament, and then next time we saw it it was completely different. Running behind the facts all the time... they called them OmniMechs. We all know about them now, but when they first showed up...
Buford starts playing an old terran country riff.
As luck would have it though... when I found this dropship, and found Max barely alive inside it... it also had one of those OmniMechs in the bays. One we designated Timberwolf.

Eileen frowns, and pulls out her Comp unit to do a comparison.

"Its... interesting...", she comments with a puzzled look.  The edges of her lips turn downward in thought while the purse into a pouty petulant look that makes her look younger than she actually is.

"Interesting.", she comments again.

"I'm... following the theory... the problem is... ", she highlights several area as she speaks with Cassidy.

"These parts... are made of alloys... that... don't exist in the inner sphere."

"... and here... these's are using a scale of measurement i've never heard of... so the measurements are off."

"'We' can't use these as is.  We'd have to smelt a lot of new alloys... and machine a bunch of parts to new specifications, or modify the plans to make do with what's available.  Both are sort of time consuming chores.  I'd need more resources than my little Comp unit and tool kits to use these.  They are academically interesting to study though."

"May i make a copy of these schematics to study?", Eileen produces one of several data disc for her comp unit.  This one was blank.

"Along with any other schematics to help me cross reference the power, fire control, and navigational controls.  If were going into clan space, it'll be useful to have a head start understanding how to salvage their mechs.", Eileen looks around for Jo, who seems to have disappeared from immediate view.

"Oh... do we have anything on Bio Tech?", she asked remembering she had a new bookworm room mate that might be interested in new reading material as well.

Be my guest, Cassidy replied. This ship and all the data in it is Raider property. And last I checked... you are a Raider now. No need to ask.
He pulled up some different schematics.
We have one of these back at base, maybe we can learn from that thing too?
The schematics show a Mech foreign to Eileen, one that the schematics call Mad Cat.