New Dawn in the Sun's (Battletech AU)

[Blade4]

On another note I wonder how aware Corean is of the fact that the 2 right hand dudes of hanse just went on a trip to Brockton and a large chunk of the visit was related to industrial stuff

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Or how fucked they technically are. The current board might not even know their predecessors committed major crimes. They might think the Brocktonites are just really salty about Corean taking their stuff out system and it turned into a generational grudge. Though now the Brocktonites are going big time because Hanse has to respond. The payments and royalties Corean will have to pay out alone will be a huge shot in the arm and they should get a grant to begin mass production and licensing their autocannons and designs as well throughout the realm. Add into MIO still has not checked in either and who knows what they will report...

 

[Bofors40mm]

Or how fucked they technically are. The current board might not even know their predecessors committed major crimes. They might think the Brocktonites are just really salty about Corean taking their stuff out system and it turned into a generational grudge. Though now the Brocktonites are going big time because Hanse has to respond. The payments and royalties Corean will have to pay out alone will be a huge shot in the arm and they should get a grant to begin mass production and licensing their autocannons and designs as well throughout the realm. Add into MIO still has not checked in either and who knows what they will report...

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the real question is how the hell everyone reacts to the whole wait a second where the actual hell did you get this tooling corean because it looks nothing like the documentation we have on the shit that you stole from us. and your own records say its the same tooling so.....
also I suspect the payments will have to include stock and a lot of it since i doubt the company has sufficient liquid assets lying around and again production isn't going to be allowed to be disrupted by the federal government

 

[Blade4]

the real question is how the hell everyone reacts to the whole wait a second where the actual hell did you get this tooling corean because it looks nothing like the documentation we have on the shit that you stole from us. and your own records say its the same tooling so.....
also I suspect the payments will have to include stock and a lot of it since i doubt the company has sufficient liquid assets lying around and again production isn't going to be allowed to be disrupted by the federal government

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If/when they do. Corean will him and haw and delay as much as possible and declare how they cant afford to give up any in face of the states need for production... though at some point brockton will get to see it and realize something is weird and this is not the tooling they use and based on what was stolen.

As for repayment i doubt stock. Nether side would want it. Stock means Brockton would have some say and dividends from corean and Brockton wants nothing to do with thieves and murderers. Long term payment plans and having to share licenses even proprietary ones perhaps? Not sure what GSpectre would do but I would find it hilarious if they have to give back all the design schematics/specs they stole plus other corean designs like the centurion out of spite thinking they wont touch it. And then out of spite themselves Brockton make a praetorian design that is superior.

Depends what happens. Hanse knows they have committed treason at least once in recent history raiding a rival company and have done so at least once before in the past. MIO might find enough Hanse might have to seize the New Avalon branch. Harry directly accused them of treason and industrial espionage and if that is proven true?

 

[Bofors40mm]

I never said Brockton had to keep the stock did I?

 

[Blade4]

I never said Brockton had to keep the stock did I?

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Hanse might give them the side eye at least if they dump it fast on whoever wants it like coreans enemies. The Brocktons are vindictive and will cut off their noses to spit enemies why give them a perfect opportunity?

 

[Bofors40mm]

Hanse might give them the side eye at least if they dump it fast on whoever wants it like coreans enemies. The Brocktons are vindictive and will cut off their noses to spit enemies why give them a perfect opportunity?

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Point. Still does mean just how the hell Corean pays becomes a big question.

 

[Bofors40mm]

You know I never got why the trebuchet isn't really mentioned as a mech the suns use a lot since it's also made on new avalon by corean in addition to their stewart plant. On another note assuming canon is roughly the same on this front Corean's HQ is on New Avalon proper.

Also if Brockton wanted to export some tooling Ozawa would be a excellent place to send some since they make kinataros and assuming someone is willing to do a salvage op in the radioactive ruins of the Diplan Mechworks site they could probably make Jenners and Mongooses if some tooling was provided albeit I suspect the Jenner would need to be made into something else for obvious reasons

 

[Blade4]

Maybe Brockton could fund it? Mongooses were the sldf preferred recon lead mech iirc and a Jenner line could be very useful if only for spare parts for Davion Jenner's on the draconis front. They would be used if disliked and not having to raid worlds for spare parts would be nice.

Trebuchet is just on of those mechs there but not really seen especially as era moves on all the new shiny keeps supplanting it.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Maybe Brockton could fund it? Mongooses were the sldf preferred recon lead mech iirc and a Jenner line could be very useful if only for spare parts for Davion Jenner's on the draconis front. They would be used if disliked and not having to raid worlds for spare parts would be nice.

Trebuchet is just on of those mechs there but not really seen especially as era moves on all the new shiny keeps supplanting it.

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True but in this era Damm useful. Also I will note that Ozawa isn't the only place that some cleanup and tooling would go a long way. Caph has 2 sites that fit that definition. Ironically enough one of them made the Oppie aka the GOAT support vehicle for cleaning up WMD sites and the other was a Skobbel site of some sort which at least on sarna never was clarified what it made. Albeit Caph and Ozawa alike are pretty far from Brockton being pretty close to Terra and indeed being ex TH worlds. And at that point you might as well add places like Erari, Northwind, Quentin, ect to the list of places that if given more tooling could restart/boost production

 

[Vikteren]

True but in this era Damm useful. Also I will note that Ozawa isn't the only place that some cleanup and tooling would go a long way. Caph has 2 sites that fit that definition. Ironically enough one of them made the Oppie aka the GOAT support vehicle for cleaning up WMD sites and the other was a Skobbel site of some sort which at least on sarna never was clarified what it made. Albeit Caph and Ozawa alike are pretty far from Brockton being pretty close to Terra and indeed being ex TH worlds. And at that point you might as well add places like Erari, Northwind, Quentin, ect to the list of places that if given more tooling could restart/boost production

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Like to point out the dervish fills a similar role as the trebuchet. Might be better to build a light scout or heavy trooper.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Like to point out the dervish fills a similar role as the trebuchet. Might be better to build a light scout or heavy trooper.

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Already under production on New Avalon as is though.

On another note I just had a thought. Why exactly are major non milita mech builders caring about more people entering the proper mech market. The demand for new proper mechs eternally outstrips the supply

 

[Blade4]

Already under production on New Avalon as is though.

On another note I just had a thought. Why exactly are major non milita mech builders caring about more people entering the proper mech market. The demand for new proper mechs eternally outstrips the supply

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Because there is always need there is not infinite purchasing power. If Davion is buying swordsmans it is not buying centurions which costs corean potential profits. That and it is cheaper to fuck over smaller competitors than risk them become peers and force you to compete and innovate instead of just rake in cash.

 

[GSpectre]

The reason I've always assumed for why Corean didn't make trebuchets in the suns was achenar. They were already in direct competition due to the enforcer centurion preference in the suns. Trying to push Achenar out of the medium fire support market would have drawn a response that Corean wasn't sure they would survive due to the damage they took in the first and second war. Achenar is just as well placed politically as they are and has a longer history in the suns, meaning they were well placed to win a corporate war if Korean started one.

 

[Bofors40mm]

The reason I've always assumed for why Corean didn't make trebuchets in the suns was achenar. They were already in direct competition due to the enforcer centurion preference in the suns. Trying to push Achenar out of the medium fire support market would have drawn a response that Corean wasn't sure they would survive due to the damage they took in the first and second war. Achenar is just as well placed politically as they are and has a longer history in the suns, meaning they were well placed to win a corporate war if Korean started one.

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It's on their sarna page as in production on New Avalon so ...yeah

 

[GSpectre]

June 30th​ 3016
Proving ground Alpha
New Avalon, Federated Suns


"Your thoughts Yvonne?" Hanse asked not taking his eyes away from the binoculars he was watching the experimental mechs through. The Transportation and Resupply working group had already put them through their paces, and submitted an exhaustive report, but Hanse had wanted to see at least one test with his own eyes. You could only get so much from a report after all.

"I wish we hadn't lost the ability to produce Shads." Yvonne answered easily. "The upgrades make it into a much more dangerous beast then it has been. I've already recommended that we issue upgrade kits, sourcing remains an issue though."

"I heard… the question is which of the models? From what I've read there was some dispute over that."

"For those in the two dee configuration, the two dee exe one. Between keeping the second medium, the hurt that the largest MML rack can put out, and bringing the armor back up to nine tons it's a no brainer."

"The loss of range?" Hanse glanced at his champion with a sly smile. "I do read your reports after all."

"The two dee was an ambush predator to begin with, the loss of range isn't going to effect how it fights. All the changes just mean that it can bring a lot more firepower to bear, and that it has a chance of surviving the encounter. We've lost too many of them over the years…" Yvonne trailed off not quite willing to bring up the other problem which had been brought to her attention. "The question is more for the two aches we have in service. The exe one is a simple enough refit, and it brings something to the table for very little investment, but honestly? I'm leaning towards the exe two."

"No concerns about the rotary jamming?"

"Less then I had. No ones in a rush to certify the larger rotary, its still too damn jam prone, but the smaller one is close enough that I feel comfortable officially classifying it as a deployable weapon. Especially with a solid mount like what the Shad has."

"And the Swordsman." Hanse wasn't one to hold an unjustified grudge, but he had to admit what Harry Brockton had said to him stung. Worse still, when Janet Olsen had made her way back to New Avalon the data she had brought with her bore him out at least on the technical side. The raid had neutered a company of Kingstone Leigonairres for minimal damage, an impressive showing, especially without any truly brilliant tactical thinking. The raid had been a straight sugging match, and the mechs had shone. He was personally looking forward to seeing what they could do under a brilliant officer. It was enough that he had Nicholas looking into his accusations on the social and political side.

"We need them Hanse." The use of his first name and not his title made Hanses head snap up. For all that she played at being the grandmother to the AFFS Yvonne kept to a certain level of decorum with him, it was a mental trick she used to keep in mind that he was the first prince and not another of her nephews while doing official business.

"You found something."

"I found a lot, and I'm going to be ripping Michael a new asshole sometime in the near future," Yvonne almost hissed in anger. Her long running feud with his brother-in-law was well known, but it usually manifested in complaints from Michael. "I also want to go back in time and smack your father a few times for good measure."

"You're making me nervous here."

"We need to invest in Trevlu beyond getting them funding to work out the kinks on the larger rotary system, badly. The crucis march militias, with some exceptions, have been gutted completely to reinforce the border marches. Remagen, Malagrotta, and Bastian are running sixty percent militia grade mechs. Point Barrows in even worse shape, eighty percent of their mechs are militia grade. We've pulled way too much over the years and those regions are barely teetering along." Yvonnes jaw was tight as she laid out the damage. "The Dracs keep pulling factories out of their asses, and we needed to find reinforcements from somewhere. The problem is we never replenished those regions, then you had the Cabal happen and all too many members were from the outback. Your father was naturally disinclined to let those families have their mechs back, which further drew down the crucis militias strength. When your father died and Ian took over… Michael used the opportunity to do a bit of creative book keeping and a lot of their front line equipment ended up in the Capellan march."

"Christ," Hanse shook his head as if to dislodge an annoying fly. "Its really that bad?"

"I wouldn't have realized if I hadn't had intensions running checks on Trevlu, and as a result of those checks double checking all of our data for the entire region." Yvonne didn't let on that she had been worried about successionist sentiments, but Hanse was more then smart enough to see it anyway. He had after all been the one to suggest testing his training battalion concept on Brockton. Not that it would work there, the system was too well known and the implications of putting a training facility there of any kind would be destabilizing. "Trevlu's the only game in town out there for both militia, and at least a few regular grade mechs a year, which is worrying in its own right given its been bureaucratically obscured for a long time. Unless you can think of a way to conjure up more production capacity, they're our best chance at quietly fixing this before it goes completely to shit."

"Every company is running flat out, or at least as close to it as their physical plant will allow." Hanse put down the binoculars and closed his eyes thinking hard. "Do we know what Trevlu would need to up their production?"

"Money, or if we can swing it machine tooling. From the reports I've been reading their biggest issues are the engine package and the electronics," Yvonne answered back promptly. "If you authorize the refit kits that's going to be a start. I've been playing with allowing them to have a go at the Wolverine…"

"No. Kallon would throw a fit and they're already too close to Michael for my comfort." Hanse took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "Pull every one sixty engine we have in the brigade of guards strategic reserve and get them on their way to Brockton with my compliments."

"There aren't going to be that many…" Yvonne warned softly.

"I know, it's the political message I'm after here. The numbers don't matter nearly as much as where they came from." Hanse thought that there should be at least a few engine kits waiting as spare parts, after all the Brigade of Guards had top priority for spare parts and one of the few unit assigned reserves. "Get a message to Andrew Brocton, directly not through Trevlu's corporate headquarters, that we'll pay five percent over list for the next decade on every Swordsman he can give us. Let him know I don't care how he does it, and then watch him carefully. Use the stealthy foxes, I don't trust Nicholas to keep a close enough eye on the situation. He has personal contacts across the periphery borders so let's use that to our advantage. Secondly, our non-interference policy on Blackwell is suspended, put pressure on them. Not enough to drive them out of business, but enough that Wolf thinks its worth it to throw us some tooling the next time he gets back from one of his sojourns in the periphery."

"You think the Wolf brothers were the ones who supplied Blackwell with their new tooling?"

"Who else could have?"

"It would be nice to have another assault around…" Yvonne's voice was shrewd.

"If they're willing," Hanse wasn't that concerned with the Marauder II, as far as he was concerned the Wolfs dragoons could keep it exclusive if they liked. He was concerned about getting them to pony up any extra tooling they could find lying around. "While we're waiting to see if that avenue bears fruit I'm going to need to sit down with Nicholas sometime in the next week or so and see if we can convince anyone involved in the Irian rebuild to let some things fall off the dropship. I'm also going to have to reach out to our ambassador in the Commonwealth to see if they would be willing to sell us any tooling."

"You think they have some to spare?"

"I think the Archon is interested in pulling us away from the free worlds, so they might." Hanse tried to think of what he was missing. "The Sandovals will need to be appeased if it looks like we're building up Crucis at the expense of their march so we need to invest in Robinson as well."

"There isn't much there," Yvonne pointed out.

"I still need to keep them onside," Hanse contemplated sending Aaron a message about the state of the crucis march, but wasn't enthused by the idea. He already had one march on the verge of rebellion, and the entire Brockton mess made him less comfortable with the lack of support he had in the outback. When those systems were little more then a drain on the purse it was one thing, but given they had unexpected depths he was going to have to put some effort into building up his political capital in the region. Especially if Michael was smart enough to start returning some of the equipment he had appropriated.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Funny thing....Kallon doesn't own the rights to the Wolverine that would be Norse-Storm on Marduck.
And given Kallon has had the blueprints of the crusader for literally centuries and makes it in the FWL but still makes the Jagermech instead of it on talon on top of the rifleman and the jagermech also being made on quentin by Independence Weaponry on top of that they really don't have bitching rights.

On another note Hanse really basically needs to walk up to the Brocktons and ask what exactly you lot need in terms of transforming the bulk of your milita mech production into proper mechs and go ask achernar what they need to start shadow Hawk production

 

[Blade4]

At least they are trying now that they know of the problems. Interesting the state wants more shadowhawks but brockton has idle lines about to convert because they dont think there is call. But at same time I really want Hanse and Yvonne to find out the only reason they dont have a third assualt producer right now is brockton absolutely knows corean will throw a merc army at them and the Davions would turn another blind eye.

 

[Bofors40mm]

At least they are trying now that they know of the problems. Interesting the state wants more shadowhawks but brockton has idle lines about to convert because they dont think there is call. But at same time I really want Hanse and Yvonne to find out the only reason they dont have a third assualt producer right now is brockton absolutely knows corean will throw a merc army at them and the Davions would turn another blind eye.

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Honestly the whole situation is made even worse by the whole Brockton almost certainly provided the tooling to the former challenge systems yard over Panpour to start making Libery class Jumpships and stablize monolith production and jumpship repair and hell for all we know they might now make and repair dropships/are working on that. When you combine that with the Vulcan production and the dropship production over Brockton as is....Honestly Hanse might have to start seriously thinking that Corean FS or at least it's current form will have to die for the realm to live/remain healthy.

 

[Vikteren]

At least they are trying now that they know of the problems. Interesting the state wants more shadowhawks but brockton has idle lines about to convert because they dont think there is call. But at same time I really want Hanse and Yvonne to find out the only reason they dont have a third assualt producer right now is brockton absolutely knows corean will throw a merc army at them and the Davions would turn another blind eye.

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It would be a race on new avalon to see who would beat Corean's board to death.

 

[Blade4]

It would be a race on new avalon to see who would beat Corean's board to death.

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Probably wont happen but I see the potential for one day Corean new avalon everything is seized by the heavy guard and the board dragged before Hanses who drops photos and reports before them stating that corean has been sabotaging the Suns infrastructure for generations for apparent profit and loyalty to the FWL. That they can prove in at least one case they outright looted a system, Brockton, and sent some other tooling to new avalon while they ran off with the real stuff to who knows where.

And Hanse would like some very good explanations before he starts hanging traitors from the highest poles he can find.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Probably wont happen but I see the potential for one day Corean new avalon everything is seized by the heavy guard and the board dragged before Hanses who drops photos and reports before them stating that corean has been sabotaging the Suns infrastructure for generations for apparent profit and loyalty to the FWL. That they can prove in at least one case they outright looted a system, Brockton, and sent some other tooling to new avalon while they ran off with the real stuff to who knows where.

And Hanse would like some very good explanations before he starts hanging traitors from the highest poles he can find.

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Made even more awkward given that in this era in canon Corean moved their HQ to new avalon because the suns government was willing to help bankroll them making the centurion again and set up a trebuchet line(that or tjey already made it there the details for that aren't exactly clear). Of course the history in story is different but I could still see them being on new avalon

 

[GSpectre]

One correction, Brockton bought the Shadow Hawks from MMM unarmed and converted them, they don't actually make the design themselves. And yes, Challange systems got extensive help from Brockton repairing what they could. Corean didn't move their corporate HQ in this AU, because they already had the tooling for the Centurion so no governmental help was needed, beyond what they got stealing it from Brockton.

 

[Bofors40mm]

One correction, Brockton bought the Shadow Hawks from MMM unarmed and converted them, they don't actually make the design themselves. And yes, Challange systems got extensive help from Brockton repairing what they could. Corean didn't move their corporate HQ in this AU, because they already had the tooling for the Centurion so no governmental help was needed, beyond what they got stealing it from Brockton.

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Well in that case looks like Corean is going to probably undergo a forcible split ala what happened to standard oil. Also I suspect that Hanse's big question to Brockton on aerospace front is what else can they help fix. Because honestly that alone is about ten times more valuable than any production disruptions from Corean. Also I'm guessing Corean is based on Stewart then?

 

[Blade4]

MMM? Really but the shipping costs alone should make that untenable. Using the sarna interactive map thats like 40 jumps at a straight line.

 

[Bofors40mm]

MMM? Really but the shipping costs alone should make that untenable. Using the sarna interactive map thats like 40 jumps at a straight line.

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Mechs are usually worth any distance within a year to transport as is their tooling this era

On another note I wonder just how many strikers are in storage/mothball sites in suns space due to a lack of parts be they owned by nobles, PDFs, the AFFS, or mercs.

Also going to work on a new striker variant that A. is slower as stated and B. is using a RAC maybe a RAC-5 since the bugs are likely to be worked out by the time they start producing the mech.
Also if they want to put production on a world that won't be raided Panpour would be a good option since any attack on a world which makes jumpships not to mention AFS and now assault mechs is going to meet all the AFS and assault dropships on the way in and out and have the entire federal government going after your ass. Sure not as ideal as putting it on Brockton from the Brocktons POV but also not likely to get blown up

 

[Blade4]

Wonder how hard it would be to just license the design from mmm?

 

[GSpectre]

Stewart managed to keep Corean, which had some knock on effects on FWL politics. Especially since they started making Icarus II's right around the same time as the New Avalon plant did. As for the ShadowHawk, in this time period you have two choices for where to get it Earthwerks FWL or MMM, and MMM is closer to Brockton. Licensing the design could be done with a fair bit of finigling, but setting up the production line would be difficult. The Brocktons would need to design and build a brand new engine line, which they could manage eventually but it would take a lot of time and money to do. The Basantapur plant, where they plan to eventually produce Strikers and Crossbows (Both modified to fit 240 engines) is also Trevlus primary aerospace fighter site, meaning a whole lot of hurt coming for anyone who's trying to land without permission. The Vulcan might be a bit long in the tooth, and not quite up to the Stukas reputation, but its still an effective attack fighter. Especially after you switch out the paired AC10's for a pair of RAC5's, then its downright mean.

 

[Bofors40mm]

Stewart managed to keep Corean, which had some knock on effects on FWL politics. Especially since they started making Icarus II's right around the same time as the New Avalon plant did. As for the ShadowHawk, in this time period you have two choices for where to get it Earthwerks FWL or MMM, and MMM is closer to Brockton. Licensing the design could be done with a fair bit of finigling, but setting up the production line would be difficult. The Brocktons would need to design and build a brand new engine line, which they could manage eventually but it would take a lot of time and money to do. The Basantapur plant, where they plan to eventually produce Strikers and Crossbows (Both modified to fit 240 engines) is also Trevlus primary aerospace fighter site, meaning a whole lot of hurt coming for anyone who's trying to land without permission. The Vulcan might be a bit long in the tooth, and not quite up to the Stukas reputation, but its still an effective attack fighter. Especially after you switch out the paired AC10's for a pair of RAC5's, then its downright mean.

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or you can put in PPCs in place of the AC/10s and axe the large laser and then basically go with my thug variant in space but with twin MLs aft and add 9 tons of armor with the rest of the saved mass for all the armor. Well 22.5 tons of it anyways

Spoiler: VLC-5A

Vulcan VLC-5A
Base Tech Level: Standard (IS)

Level	Era
Experimental	-
Advanced	-
Standard	3015+

Tech Rating: D/X-E-D-D

Weight: 80 tons
BV: 1,902
Cost: 4,530,120 C-bills
Source: TRO 3075 - Star League

Movement: 5/8
Engine: 240 Fusion
Heat Sinks: 20
Fuel Points: 400 (5.0 tons)

Structural Integrity: 8
Armor: 360

	Armor
Nose	108
Left Wing	90
Right Wing	90
Aft	72

Weapons	Loc	Heat
PPC	RWG	10
PPC	LWG	10
SRM 6	NOS	4
SRM 6	NOS	4
Medium Laser	NOS	3
Medium Laser	NOS	3
Medium Laser	RWG	3
Medium Laser	LWG	3
Medium Laser	AFT	3
Medium Laser	AFT	3

Ammo	Loc	Shots
SRM 6 Ammo	FSLG	15
SRM 6 Ammo	FSLG	15

basically this.
but yeah dual RACs are also scary if super ammo hungry.

 

[Vikteren]

The shipping cost for tooling would be worth the price. Especially if it means they can duplicate it.

 

[Blade4]

May not even need to keep it in Brockton. They could set up a facility on new avalon or somewhere else that does produce the engine or near by. The Brocktonites could just be middlemen for the deal. Which could get them some serious points or favors elsewhere. That or Davion would dang well scrounge up the tooling themselves for a engine plant because the outback and the Suns needs a steady supply of hawks.

Though at the moment they might be far more interested in expanding Trevlus and Hanse might be very interested in helping them get a bigger engine plant running for those bigger mechs. As much as they would want more hawks a new line of assualts is even more needed.