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Chapter 5  
Time: CY 9816 September
Location: Director's Office Free Trade Association Headquarters Dephida V

"I've seen your report on Lundmark Doctor. Our hirelings seem to be unusually resourceful. They were far more successful than your department had anticipated."

"Yes, Director. Their use of tugs to transport non slipstream capable ships to the battle area was unexpected. It appears that someone in their organization has studied the history of the expansion of the Vedran empire."

"Explain."

"During the early years of the empire's expansion, slipstream drives were notoriously difficult to build and correspondingly expensive. As a result the Vedrans developed slipstream capable vessels that were specifically designed to latch onto a non slipstream capable vessel and carry the vessel through the stream after which it would be released and the transport vessel would return to Vedran space. The vessels were called tugs and battle riders respectively. The advantage of the system was that they could produce battle riders in large numbers. The disadvantage of course was that should the battle rider find itself outclassed it could not escape into the stream. Later when slipstream technology became more affordable the tug and battle rider concept was abandoned and tugs were only used as recovery vessels.

Our employees seem to have decided to turn a liability into an asset. The Home Guard ships that the Commonwealth gave the Tizonans had, as was the Vedrans usual procedure, their slipstream generators removed. They used the extra space created by the removal of the slipstream drives for additional weapons and hanger space. They then used the tugs they had acquired when they took over the shipyard to transport the upgraded ships into the battle area. It was really quite ingenious."

"I see. Fortunately while the equipment losses suffered by our employees were less than expected the losses sustained by Lundmark more than made up for that. Their intersystem transport capability was completely destroyed. They will be needing to replace the vessels they lost and that means they will have to come to us.

The Vedran's philosophy of attempting to prevent wide scale rebellion by restricting the number of slipstream capable ships a planet could posses has given us an extraordinary opportunity for expansion. What about their armed freighters? Should we be concerned about their use as a possible alternative to the combat vessels we are manufacturing for sale? The Nietzscheans used them extensively during the rebellion."

"Actually, Director, the Nietzscheans most potent weapon wasn't their space forces but their sleeper cells. They destroyed as much if not more of the High Guard's military capacity then did their regular forces. The Nietzschean auxiliary cruisers were only marginally effective. When pitted against a true warship of equal tonnage they fared quite poorly Their only significant victory was at Archeron Delta and that was as much a result of the incompetence of the High Guard leadership as it was their military capability. At the Battle of Witchhead the Nietzscheans had a three to one advantage in tonnage and were still fought to a standstill. The Tizonians recognized the vulnerability of their converted merchant vessels and used them strictly as support vessels and kept them well to the rear of the main battle area.

However, the use of auxiliary cruisers could actually be beneficial to our endeavors. If planets convert their slipstream capable merchant vessels to warships they will then need to either replace their merchant vessels with ones we supply them or else they will depend on our transport companies to transport their goods for them, at prices we set. Additionally as their converted ships will be more easily damaged than conventional warships they will undoubtedly have to be replaced and we will be the ones replacing them."

"So either way we win. An excellent observation, Doctor. Perhaps we should consider creating conversion kits to encourage our customers to convert their merchant vessels to warships, with weaponry inferior to that on our enforcer ships of course. It could prove quite lucrative in both the short and long runs. Once again you and your team performed admirably."

"Thank you , Director. Will there be anything else."

"No, Doctor. That will be all... For now."

Chapter 5