A Little Less Conversation (Ayden)

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"So let's talk best practices."

A cup of stimcaf slid across the table. "Wasn't sure how you took it -- one blue milk, one sugar. Not Omega StarCaf, but hey, Korribean never steered me wrong. They're out of business," Ashin admitted, sipping her own, "but the stuff keeps forever."

Six holoprojectors flared to life between her and the man in the hat; each displayed something of strategic, tactical, or technological relevance.

"I don't have the option of giving it back; it's not in my custody, per se. But I'm permitted to use what I know from it to augment these."

The first holoprojector depicted a Dark Blade-class; the second was a map of the galaxy. The third holoprojector depicted a pair of raggedy, fat torii. Ashin leaned back with evident enjoyment.

"The solar ionization reactors from two Watts-class heavy cruisers."

 

[Ayden Cater]

He took the offered cup with a thankful nod. Rather than waste words and times with chit-chat, he turned his attention to the holoprojects and business.

"I'm not interested in getting it back. What's done is done. It'd be more trouble than its worth right now." He sighed and downed a large amount of the coffee with a shuddered gasp. Coffee was not a particularly fond drink of his; he was more of a whiskey man. However, caffeine was caffeine and he needed it in spades right now.

"You could use a modulator and a regulator to ensure even energy exchange between the two. No need to blow up half the ship whenever you tax the reactors." He gestured between the two reactors and began thinking of what would be sufficient. He wasn't privy to the Republic's full technology suite, let alone what they had put into the Watts-class, but he was a smart man. He could make intelligent guesses.

One thing that was never asked was what Ashin was planning. He didn't know exactly what she was planning, and he didn't really care to know. Some things were better left to the imagination. They had an understanding with one another and their relationship could be best described as 'Trusted, but need-to-know basis', and that suited him just fine.

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

He might not care to know, but she cared to show him. Not many people walked the line between governance, combat leadership, and actual starship design; she'd dabbled in the latter, but Cater had a real reputation. One of the six holoprojectors flared into renewed life, depicting the familiar shape of a XoXaan-class Star Destroyer. Its bridge tower had been removed, or lowered flush with the hull and then some. No bulbous, exposed shield generators; no prominent antennae; no visible bridge at all.

"I call it the Grave Wind -- from a remark attributed to Seydon of Arda, ah, Seroth Ur-Rahn. A Dark Blade and then some. A little lighter on the guns, but you know what set my Chimaera apart, and I've gone with an enhanced version of that philosophy. I'm very interested in what I think you're proposing, in part because I've spent a small fortune on maneuvering thrusters and various engine packs from Mandal Hypernautics."

The schematic came apart, depicting a variety of components and a double handful of genuinely massive guns.

"...and on obtaining this Pellaeon Mark Two overdrive bank. I suspect you see where I'm going with this, and why a durable interlink between the two generators would be of...paramount interest."

 

[Ayden Cater]

"Unless you're interested in making a very big firework, I can certainly see why." He chuckled and gave the design a studious glance before he leaned back. "I recently went on an expedition with the Kuat Drive Yards CEO to a planet in Protectorate space. We had been researching crystal formations native to the planet. What we found there was... not what I had expected." Flash backs of howling possessed crew came over him before he moved on.

"Despite some setbacks, I did acquire research on the crystals. In particular, the crystals resonate with any imparted energy while in their liquid state, they modulate it depending on the crystalline structure. I haven't pushed this into major field testing yet, but I would wager a fair bit that it could handle the energy stresses I imagine this thing would have." He resumed his study of the design while giving the woman time to think.

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

She found herself dwelling on the galaxy-map holoprojector, examining the interwoven relative positions of the Fringe Confederation, the Omega Protectorate, the One Sith, the Mandalorians, the Republic and the Empire of the Hand. A complex galactographic and political picture, to be sure, and one that had been no small source of frustration to her for years now.

"Generous. I regret that I'm not in a position to reciprocate in quite the same way -- not anymore." She smiled faintly and took another sip of her caf. "Not since before Eriadu. But apart from explicit technology sharing, if the Lwhekk facilities can be of use to you, I think I can swing it."

They sat in a meeting room, one of thousands within a spiked ring around a world -- the largest shipyards in the Unknown Regions, by far. Cater's very presence might be something of an intelligence coup, giving him some idea of what the Fringe war machine was actually capable of, if properly ordered.

 

[Ayden Cater]

"What you delivered to me at Eriadu was something beyond what I had thought possible when I told you my intent to take on the Confederacy," he said with simple honesty. He had expected a few cruisers, maybe the presence of the Fringe flagship. He had never expected that. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm still in your debt."

"That said," he chuckled, having only left a beat between thoughts. "I do have one thing that could use your attention. Perhaps you could find a solution for it." He plugged his wrist device into the table and quickly brought up designs for the JAVELIN system. "This is something in use by the Protectorate's heaviest ships. The smallest one so far is little over eleven hundred meters in length. I'd like to cut that in half, if possible. Perhaps you have some thoughts. Given the miniaturization in these reactors, I imagine you might have some ideas that I don't. And if some of these should be lost in transit, well... write-offs happen all the time."

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

She banished the strategic map and moved the JAVELIN schematics front and center. "Oh, this is nice. Hypervelocity, eleven hundred metres -- I see why you like it. As for miniaturization..."

The Empress took a long moment to look through power specs and materials listings.

"Just off the top of my head, I'd imagine your problem is twofold, if you're trying to get this thing to five hundred fifty metres, to heavy cruiser scale. My guess is that you've got trouble finding a decent power rig that won't warp and/or melt the track from the magnetic fields you need to generate. Lorentz forces like this can take a toll. Your budget is going to hate me, but for that kind of conductivity, I don't see any way around it. You might need a superconductor, a tough one. Ultrachrome or something gadolinium-based. Just off the top of my head, mind -- I'm no engineer."

 

[Ayden Cater]

He grimaced. The engineers wouldn't like that at all. Gadolinium was pretty expensive stuff. Still, Vellas Pavos was the chief source of gadolinium and it was squarely in Protectorate space. He wouldn't have any trouble acquiring it; benefit of being the Lord Protector and the CINO of CEC. They wouldn't be ripped off, of course. They'd be offered a fair trade agreement. After all, why take by force what you could take with a fair deal. People tended to resent you less and want to kill you less often when you dealt with them in a fair manner. More efficient too.

"Alright... Gadolinium... If I processed it with the liquid Quarzite... That should give me the superconducting I need without losing barrel strength. Yes... Tricky to get the balance right but..." He realized he was talking out loud and chuckled. That was something he tried not to do but happened whenever confronted with a design challenge. "I must admit, you sell yourself short far too often. I worry about what happens on the day you turn your attention to true galactic domination."

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"There's never been a need for it," Ashin said frankly. "Not in me and not out there. When I was Sith Empress I liked order well enough, but we both know I had other reasons for driving the Empire Coreward on the Perlemian. The Fringe was for stopping conquerors in their tracks; Abominor, Ssi-Ruuk, Vong, Rhandites and the rest, not to mention O'reen. But now I'm starting to...well, up by Republic, Mandalorian, and One Sith space, I've accepted a job. A throne-based job. Seems I'm not the only one who looks around and sees an actual, genuine need for order, discipline..."

She gave a self-depricating laugh. "You're speaking to Empress Ashin Varanin, and this ship here may be small, but there's a reason it's got the defenses of a XoXaan, the guts of a Watts and the guns of a Dark Blade. This is a flagship, something a little less recognizable and a little more mine than the Chimaera. Can't take that with me everywhere; Fringe owns it now. This, here, is for bringing order to places that need it desperately."

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden nodded appreciatively. They had never had long, discusses except for the time she threw him on his ass and set him straight at Kayri. In many respects, she was a reflection of him. He saw a lot of his own ambitions and goals in her actions, which spoke volumes more than simple words. Perhaps that was why he had an easy relationship with her. Much like him, she operated on the premise of why take by force what you can have given to you.

"I can certainly see the necessity of that. The Republic's not fairing well in the war, the Confederacy seems to have reorganized and is going on the attack, the One Sith are gathering their strength of the next wave of their attacks and the Mandalorians remain as bloodthirsty as ever. It's remarkable the galaxy hasn't imploded already from the weight of the egos at play." He laughed at the touch of irony there at the end. It didn't escape him that he had a large ego. He had to in order to do the things he did. But that was getting off-topic.

"Some capacitors might be useful with the overdrive reactor. Pull off those first, keep the stress to a minimum. Even with the modulators and regulators, pull too hard on all these reactors and we're back to the expensive firework. But put these all in place and I think you'll have a ship every bit deserving of its name. And if it should ever need a port for repairs, I know a few places that would suffice."

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

She nodded in grateful acknowledgement and moved past the point. "I don't expect to operate too far in your direction, all told, not unless I take the fight to the 'Abrion Systems Authority.' This ship will likely see more action against the northwestern troubles, against other Empires, maybe even against the Mandalorians though I hope not. Possibly the One Sith, depending on what course wisdom dictates.

"I should mention, about Druckenwell -- that was all Merrill. I didn't have a clue where my grandfather stored the Shield -- I came along for the ride, and for the shock value." Another faint smile. "Whatever it was worth for them to hear me show up raging for justice. I hadn't done that since I came to help Black Sun at Barab. Fething Denko. We're cousins, you know, he and I. Between the two of us, and my grandparents, and my wife, sometimes I can't help but think the galaxy might have been better off if someone had invested in rubber a few years back.

"But I'm off-topic. I've been working this project for a good while, Ayden. I'm hoping to take it out for a spin, and soon, once the superstructure's a little more comfortable with the weapons mounts. Original design specs had six Hellbores, back when I started tis project. Now that I've got my feet under me, I'm going for eight, plus a hundred energy torpedo projectors and a couple of those Vulcan cannons that Larraq makes. Very bad at close range. Very nasty at long range, and no real recoil issues either. It's a sniper rifle, all things considered. Not the best brawler around, but with all those feeds from the power core, you can imagine what sort of drain gets kicked up by a broadside."

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

"I can certainly see that being the case." He nodded while considering the schematics again. It was a dangerous gambit putting all the cards in long-range weaponry. "I assume this ship will keep an escort. If anyone gets the drop on you and gets in close, you're going to have a very bad day." He considered what alternatives that he might could give and was coming up short. Research into adapting the Corell OmniPods to capital ship-grade weaponry was painfully slow. Miniaturizing the necessary capacitors and reactor feeds... Well, if the research into this gadolinium-quarzite alloy came through, then perhaps they would be able to open that chapter in their research division once again.

"I hear word on the market that someone has a hyperdrive that has an edge on jump calculations. Couldn't go wrong with one of those. Those shaved off seconds might be the difference between an escape and death."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"I've heard that too -- not the Silk thing, the other thing. I'll have someone track it down. For some reason I'm thinking Rendili, or maybe it was Koensayr; one of the old names. If I wasn't already cramming so much into this ship, I'd toss in a hyperwave inertial momentum sustainer." She snorted in amusement. "Or take another shot at hiring Merrill away from you. Not that he ever would.

"Regardless, the computer's worth looking into; thank you for that. And yes, there'll be escorts in most situations. I've had some success with...non-standard interdictor craft coupled with long-range ships like this. Shredded Darth Vazela's command ship like that, over Morellia. The idiot tried a Marg Sabl closure maneuver without the closure, with his back to a planetary gravity well. That's the kind of situation I've designed this ship to counter: Enemy idiocy. And sniping interdictors, of course.

"Your JAVELIN, Ayden...heavy cruiser size for a support ship, a sniper ship, even a command ship's broadside mounts...there's a good chance I'll take you up on the offer at some point, if this project of yours goes through."

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

He nodded quietly while musing on his own. If the alloy went over well, he'd be able to create a smaller version of the JAVELIN, deploy it on cruisers and heavy cruisers. That would give him a better degree of coverage. Right now the JAVELIN was useless against anything smaller than a Light Star Destroyer, unless it was as slow as one. If it was faster, then its size only gave them a slightly larger target to hit. But this would give them the ability to strike at the enemy's cruisers. Frigates and corvettes were too small. More efficient to just hit them with a mass of turbolasers. But a punch like this...

Ayden shook himself out of his design thought and chuckled once more. "I seem to have a habit of developing new ideas and technologies every time we talk." He checked his chronometer and sighed. "I'm afraid I'll need to be heading out shortly. I've got a meeting with several technicians about pouring over the Baktoid tech in use within the Protectorate. No sense in waiting for another incident like Druckenwell." He rose from his chair and threw back the rest of the coffee with a shudder.

"If you need anything else, you have my personal com channel."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Thanks for this. Your liquid crystal coupling, fingers crossed, should solve the bulk of the power issue. It's a tricky business, drawing weapons strength directly from reactors -- even reactors like these. Energy torpedos." She shook her head. "A core tap's a small price to pay to reach out and touch someone, but a hundred and eight core taps can get stupid fast. Good way to turn oneself into a miniature nova. At least these yards are quality, and I've known some that weren't. Annaj wishes it could match Lwhekk for professionalism, and you won't find a single humanoid anywhere in this complex, as far as I know. Odd place, this star cluster. It cost us oceans of blood to take down the last Shreeftut, and..." She shrugged eloquently. "The locals are grateful, but it's...well, it's odd. Then again, we're in the business of saving people, not understanding them, I suppose."

She drained the dregs of her Korribean as he left. "Good luck out there, Lord Protector. I'm finding myself saddled with too many responsibilities to make promises, but I can guarantee that in pretty much any conflict where you might find yourself, my competitive interests will be fixed on the opposite side."