Abraham Kepler breaks orbit that evening, headed for a Penal Colony in a nearby system's asteroid belt. The Central Authority has decided that their numbers are simply too low for what comes next, so they are picking up reinforcement infantry.
Everyone in that sort of Orbital Prison is serving a life sentence of hard labor, there are no innocents and almost as many decent human beings. But with the proper application of advanced technology, they can still serve the Empire.
The prison numbers almost a million inmates, and Command has ordered a tenth of their numbers be reviewed for rehabilitation. No traitors or child abusers will be considered, but The Abraham Kepler is most likely about to get a hundred thousand murderers and cowards added to their ranks.
Cowardice in battle that leads to the death of allies is one of the things the Empire will sentence a soldier to life in prison for, on the rare occasions that it is obvious and severe enough to be punished. But they are prime candidates for rehabilitation after a few years of 18 hour days in a pressure suit, mining asteroids with a pickaxe.
The new arrivals are kept mostly segregated, but Max can see a number of them being led to the Line Mecha hangers. Those few were pilots before they were convicts, and now they will be sent out alongside the convict infantry on what is usually a suicide mission behind enemy lines.
If they prove themselves and survive, they will be fully pardoned, and reinstated into the military. If they flee, or if they turn against the Empire, the implanted prisoner identification will inject their heart with a lethal toxin.
Max disapproved of the policy, but grudgingly accepted that a quick death in battle might be better than a slow wasting one in prison.
Once the new recruits are loaded and situated, the Abraham Kepler's next destination is announced. Planet KSF129, an agricultural world with little of note about it, had been invaded by Rebels. Unlike Belmont, the locals are loyalists, and the battle is already ongoing.
[Prepare for Transition. Destination KSF129, ETA is 37 hours, 16 minutes. Stand by for deployment orders.]
This is expected by Command to be an extended campaign. Unlike the mining Colony Belmont, this is a fully populated world, with a population of over a billion, an invading force of millions, and as many ships of the Fleet coming to assist the resistance as the Military can spare.
For Max and the other mecha pilots, that means even more preparation than usual. They will be stocking the Mecha for 60 days of sustainability, including water and food.
But that extended duration concerns Max. The Battle Cannon can easily be upgraded with a much larger munitions storage, but the Gatling Battery burns through ammunition much too quickly for such a scenario.
He assumes they will be sent to a remote location again, so Max goes looking for Nico to discuss replacement weapon options before he turns to General Tennant to ask a favor and try to get one of his main weapons swapped.
Nico is predictably already in the Repair bays, checking and stocking Tarith's Rage, but surprisingly she is joined by two men from the infantry. Captain Catan isn't much of a shock, after fighting together so recently, but there is also a man in a Penal Regiment jumpsuit.
"Captain Max, welcome. You already know Captain Catan, and this is Colmar of the Penal Regiment. He heard that Tarith's Rage and Stalwart were on board and has to come visit. His unit is from Kepler 142." Nico explains.
"Welcome to The Abraham Kepler, Colmar. Are the Mecha everything you hoped for?"
"That and more Captain. We never thought we would see them out of stasis, but look at them now, all shined up and happy after a battle. What brings you by this early? Stocking Stalwart for battle?"
"Something like that. We are expecting an extended deployment, so I wanted to ask Pilot Nico a thing or two about weapon options. We earned a good bit of merit and claimed some high tech trophies last battle, so I am hoping to upgrade Stalwart's Gatling Battery." Max answers, smiling fondly at his mecha.
"I have just the thing. Recovered from the warehouses on Belmont. I know the Stalwart has a standard Rad Engine, but the Pulse Laser Battery is fairly easy on power usage.
Like the Gatling Battery, it is a high volume, low damage weapon, but it is an energy weapon, not a solid projectile." Nico suggests.
That would be amazing, and keep the basic functionality and layout of his Mecha, so he would just need to get authorization to use the new weapon, and not to change the role of Stalwart from fully ranged to mixed.
Max checks the Armory inventory, which should allow him to see what he is cleared to load his mecha with, and finds that not only the Pulse Laser Battery, but the new Battle Cannon ammunition and a few other random upgrades he doesn't really need have already been processed by the war spoils team.
Getting their spoils of war processed and cleared that rapidly must have been General Tennant's doing. Normally the process takes weeks or months but it hasn't even been two days since they arrived back in the Abraham Kepler.
Max selected the change of main weapons, and requested the back mounted expanded dual feed munitions belts for his Battle Cannon, which will allow him to switch between armor piercing and high Explosive shells with every shot, as well as expanding his total capacity by more than double.
Then it is rations and essentials, which means it is time for Max to clean and double check his Mecha's storage tanks and cabinets.
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Colmar, perhaps we will meet again." Max says with a polite smile and turns to leave.
"Did they not send the official deployment notice yet? You'll be seeing far too much of me, my men have been assigned to reinforce Bravo Company of the second Battalion under Captain Catan here, and we are all going to be going to battle with you and Tarith's Rage in just a few days."
General Tennant smiles as he watches Max's reaction to that news over the security feed. Colmar and his unit were all sentenced to life in prison for going awol and off mission, but they did it to save civilians from an unaligned planet they were deployed to. Before the planet declares allegiance, they are not friendlies under military law, so the punishment was harsh.
They managed to get out of charges of turning traitor with help from some politically connected friends, who then asked General Tennant to give them special consideration after seeing that they could be pardoned during this recruitment.
Of all the reinforcement options available these men were no doubt the best, and it brings Bravo Company back up to full strength.
The General's last task of the morning is to requisition some more light mecha to go with them. Lieutenant Becki and his single teen mecha wing aren't going to be enough for the battles that are coming. They are going to need more light mecha numbers, assuming General Tennant can find them among the mob that came from the Prison.
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