Do We Need This Part?

[J3C0]

Ceran stood in the center of his ships cargo hold, around him lay boxes upon boxes of Starship parts and small pieces of hull plating that he had peeled away. He frowned slightly as he peered around, realizing that he may have been mistaken in his ability to actually do this. Slowly he wandered over to one of the boxes picking up a circular device with wires on both ends. Ceran inspected the thing for a few moments, then shrugged, throwing it over the side.

“Couldn't be that important.” Ceran said to himself as he stepped over the box and began to inspect the components within.

This part of the ship contained the hyperdrive. In the AT-360 the Hyperdrive was contained deep in the ship within the cargo hold hidden behind a small durasteel panel, this was partly to keep it safe, and partly to give the ship a more sleek look. Ceran had liked this, as looks were about ninety percent of why he did everything.

Lately he had been trying to tinker with the Hyperdrive to make it go faster, so far it had been pretty hit and miss. With his new paycheck from the One Sith he was hoping to be able to actually make the upgrades stick, plus all the fancy new parts from Titan Industries would really help all that...or so he hoped.

Maybe he should've bought one of those mechanic droids.

Reaching slowly forward Ceran grasped one of the panels of the Hyperdrive, he drew back the small piece of technology and inspected the wires within. “Aha.” He said to himself in realization as he suddenly jerked two of the wires free of their housing. “Now if we put you two together.”

Ceran stripped the wires in one smooth motion, then very slowly moved to touch them together...

 

[J3C0]

Nothing happened.

Ceran stared at the hyperdrive for a few seconds. He had expected sparks or a bright flash or perhaps even an explosion, instead he had received nothing. The Bounty Hunter frowned slightly, looking at his hands and then staring up at the two wires again. He shrugged, and then began to dig around the inside of the hyperdrive. He tinkered with the thing for sometime, adjusting systems, pulling out gears, adding a few more wires.

It was rather difficult to tell exactly what he was doing, even an engineer would have been hard pressed to say what exactly Ceran was doing. Perhaps insanity had finally gripped him in its throws of passion, or perhaps the man was simply doing what he thought he should be doing.

“Annnnd blue goes to red.” When he finally finished Ceran leaned back and nodded to himself. The Hyperdrive, or rather the wires within the Hyperdrive were now neatly coded from blue, to red. The colors lined up perfectly and appeared to be somewhat of a rainbow. Ceran looked at the wires with a big smile, and nodded to himself. Yes thats exactly the way it should have been from the start, not that jumbled mess.

Closing the panel backup Ceran began to regard the ship parts behind him.

 

[J3C0]

The Bantha's Bite had already been upgraded quite a bit, though not by him. The ship had been fitted with specific modifications that he had dictated and planned out with engineers. Additional thrusters had been fitted onto the wings of the ship, the laser cannons had been replaced with fast repeating blaster cannons. Two concussion missile launchers had been added to the base of the ships wings, a single Disruptor Torpedo launcher had been thrown into the very nose of the ship, half the cargo bay had been removed and refitted into a large cell and the rest of the ships innards had been completely torn apart.

In order to maintain and increase the speed of the ship three of the five crew compartment bays had been removed, the cockpit which had once sat three men had been whittled down to only a single control console and everything that had been removed was either thrown away, or dismembered and refitted elsewhere on the ship.

To sum it all up, The Bantha's Bite was now a very different ship.

The Inside was now fit for only three people to actually live in, with one cabin having a bed, a desk, and an attached bathroom along with some walking around space while the remaining one had a bunk bed and a bathroom. The cargo bay which had once held 15 metric tons of Cargo had been reduced to a measly 5 tons of carrying space and had instead been replaced with a set of force cages for which to hold prisoners.

These changes to the inside of the ship surprisingly reduced quite a bit of weight, given that three whole bedroom had been removed in the favor of what was now practically empty space.

The reduction of weight and the added thrusters as well as the larger power core now meant that The Bantha's Bite was quite a bit faster than its standard AT-360 cousins, or it should have been. Since the modifications had been made Ceran had yet to fly his ship, and truth be told he was stalling to do so. The parts that now sat in the admittedly tiny Cargo bay were naught but enhancers and boosters, things that needed to be wired into the system after they were installed in order to boost capacity just slightly.

 

[J3C0]

And he didn't want to install them.

The thing was, if he finished installing these components, then he would have to take the Bite out of drydock and back into space. He wasn't sure if he was ready to do that. Oh sure, he was all confidence and pushing when it came to hunting, but piloting his brand new ship with all of these upgrade? Oh no, that was nerve wracking. Hell it was Nerve destroying. For a second Ceran stopped himself, his eyes glancing down at the components.

What the heck was he thinking?

He was a Bounty Hunter, he was a pilot! He was the greatest man alive! He could do anything, he could pilot this ship into a Star and survive. Oh yes. He could.

His eyes shifted down towards the ship parts, a broad grin spreading over his face. Slowly he reached down and gripped one of the circular pieces, he read the label on the side “Circular Thrust Displacer.” For a second Ceran contemplated exactly where this part went, then a lightbulb appeared within his mind. Thrust meant engine, engines meant power core, this part went between the power core and the Engines, simple.

As he made his way towards the engine bay the instruction manual he stepped on confirmed his line of thinking.

 

[J3C0]

It took him nearly four more hours, but every single part that had been in the Cargo bay was installed. Some pieces of metal still lay around, old patches of metal and screws that seemed to have just appeared after Ceran had finished his customizations. He disregarded these pieces, deciding that they weren't really all that important in the end, after all, if he didn't remember where they went, then how could they be important?

That was his reasoning anyway.

With a happy almost swagger, Ceran made his way to the cockpit. He ran his fingers along the edges of the corridors, touching his ship almost sensually and feeling every inch of her. A broad smile covered his face, and as his boots rang out within the ship he felt at home. The Bantha's Bite was hardly an old ship, heck the AT-360 had only been on the market for a few months, but this was the first ship that was actually Ceran's.

He had bought this ship on his own, he had not stolen it, he had not bought it used, but new. With the money he had received from the One Sith he had been in the market for a new type of ship, and the sleek lines and aerodynamic design of the AT-360 had caught his eyes faster than anything else.

Of course in the end he could have bought a ship thrice as expensive.

But it was worth it.

 

[J3C0]

Ceran stepped into his cockpit with almost reverence.

The AT-360 had once held three control chairs. One for the pilot, one for the sensor operator, and one for the weapons control. If needed all of the systems could be controlled by one person, though the original panel was only meant to do one task at a time meaning that anything the pilot did was sluggish and slow. The modifications that Ceran had demanded on the Banthas Bite had removed two of the panels, and created one large one.

This made it so that the Bantha could be piloted and controlled effectively by one person multi-tasking. There was a difficulty in it of course, operating weapons, sensors, and the ship itself was quite difficult, but with practice and a very good perception, it could be done.

For a few moments Ceran did not even sit down, he simply let his hands hover over the edge of his control panel. He looked over every system, every button, and every lever. He placed his hand on the thrust, grasping the lever for a few moments and almost pushing it forward. The Bounty Hunter grinned slightly, and dropped himself into the comfortable half reclining chair. As soon as it did the built in sensors checked his weight, displays began to pop up around him.

Blue and green holo-screen popped up to his right and left, the center remaining clear. His eyes flickered over to one side. The left had readings about the engines and sensors, the right had weapon stats. When he looked forward he could see both in his peripheral vision.

Ceran grinned.

 

[J3C0]

His hands very slowly closed around the controls, one on the thrust lever, the other on the joystick. He smiled slightly as the weight of them immediately pushed back, his hands gripping tightly onto molded leather.

“This is AT-360 Banthas Bite requesting permission for take off.” His voice spoke into the radio, static garbling for a few moments as he waited for the Coruscanti control tower to take off. Were he not working for the people who owned this shipyard Ceran would have already been off like a rocket, disregarding every traffic law and blowing past security systems just to see if he could escape whatever Security forces came after him. Unfortunately Coruscant was a place he would be returning to, and thus restraint was needed.

“Permission granted.”

The message game after what seemed like an hour, and before the speaker finished Ceran was already pressing the thrust lever forward.

Banthas Bite shot off in the blink of an eye. Its landing gear raised only an inch before the massive thrust of the engines kicked off, a huge blue wall filling the entirety of the small hangar until every last inch was tinged in a bright blue light. The Modified AT-360 shot into Coruscant Atmosphere in the blink of an eye, surging forward At speeds only matched by Interceptors.

 

[J3C0]

The ship didn't feel sluggish, it didn't feel slow or hard to control, it was the opposite. The Bantha moved through the air like a hot knife through butter. Its six engines flared to life, pushing and prodding forward, its four adjusting wing thrusters pushed and prodded the wings up and down depending on the movements of the controls. Every single aspect of the ship moved perfectly, almost fluidly.

Ceran dashed the ship between buildings, ships, and even tiny speeders. He moved the vessel like it was an extension of himself, every turn of the wrist, ever push of the throttle seemed to react almost instantly. The Banthas Bite seemed to almost want to dance through the air.

The ship did not run, it bounded forward. In great leaps and strides the ships moved, pushing, until finally Ceran point the vessel towards the skies. With an almost listless ease the ship shot towards the skies, passing through the atmospheres of Coruscant in nearly an instant.

There it lay for a few seconds, entering orbit for uncounted seconds.

Until Ceran pushed the throttle.

 

[J3C0]

Again the Banthas Bite shot forward.

It was more smooth this time, more tame, more controlled. Instead of great leaps the ship took quick controlled jumps, its six engines pressed forward at an almost impossible rate, pressing the ship further and further forward until it began to fly through Coruscant's significant space traffic. It shot through transports, freighters, and even Star Destroyers.

Great Dark Blades and Massive Wyyrlok class Star Destroyers watched as the Bantha shot beneath them, gliding inches away and rolling its fluid wings almost too perfectly along their side.

Every inch, every centimeter that the ship moved, Ceran could feel. The Displays on either side of him fed constant data, the controls in his palm seemed to push and press back onto him as if the Ship itself was trying to fight for control. The Banthas Bite had come alive, and it was soaring. The ship moved out and passed the Military cordon that sat around Coruscant, breaking through a squad of fast interceptors that struggled to keep up with the upgraded AT-360's sheer unmatchable speed.

Ceran smirked as he saw the interceptors on sensors, pressing the Throttle all the way forward.

Six engines flared to life, two additional thrusters pointed back, and the afterburners kicked in. The controlled jump turned into a massive reckless jump. The Bantha shot forward in an instant, doubling its speed in the blink of an eye and the flare of an engine. The interceptors behind him blurred slightly, and Ceran's ship disappeared into the blackness of space.

 

[J3C0]

The blackness surrounded him almost instantly. The lights of Coruscant, its Shipyards, and its Golans became almost nothing as the Bantha shot away from all civilized life. Ceran let out a loud noise of pleasure as his ship dashed through the blackness of space, though it was quickly silenced when he saw his fuel gauge quite literally drop every second that went by.

With a startling blink, Ceran pulled back on the throttle.

The straps against his chest went tight, the air from his lungs seemed to be coughed out, and a slight blackness covered his vision for a moment as the modified AT-360 came almost a complete stop. The strain of the engines could be heard as they turned around and thrust forward, halting the ship in only a matter of seconds.

“woo.” Ceran said quietly to himself with a big grin.

It seemed at the very least that the ships speed modifications had worked. The two additional engines did their work, and the four wing thrusters as well seemed to guide the ships wings almost perfectly.

The Wing thrusters were an ingenious idea by one of the ship techs. They were tiny, almost negligible thrust ports conducted from the two outermost engines. When activated the Thrusters engaged and gave a tiny bit of force in whatever direction they were pointing. This gave the ship a massively improved turning radius and maneuverability, with the wings of the ship serving as a sort of fulcrum for movements. It was brilliant really, and worked equally so.

There was only one thing left to test, or rather, three.

 

[J3C0]

The weapons of the AT-360 had been meager at best, four measly x-wing laser cannons that could do some damage to ships, but not really put a hurt on it.

For a vessel meant for Bounty Hunting and chasing down targets, it simply wouldn't do. The Weapons systems that Ceran had had installed on the Bantha were part of the reason why so much space on the ship had to be removed. The missiles and components he had added weighed quite a bit, and to compensate for the added weight much of the interior of the ship had to be removed. Ceran considered this a fair trade off, especially since he didn't have many friends.

The four Laser Cannons that had been situated within the AT-360's wings had been replaced with Two GN-40 Twin Blaster Cannons, both very fast repeating blaster cannons whose volume of fire nearly tripled what they had replaced.

At the base of the ship, where the wings met the body two Concussion Missiles Launchers had been installed, one for each side. These Missiles launchers contained eight missiles each. This addition was considered essential by Ceran as it provided him with a great deal of ship to ship capability. Additionally each of these launchers contained two dummy proton torpedo launchers, each one containing a tracking device capable of “sticking” to a target.

The final addition to the Bantha's new suite of armaments was the creation of a new weapons bay in the front of the ship. This system essentially opens up the very front spine of the ship, two pieces of metal folding back to reveal three Disruptor Torpedos.

These were the most prized weapons that Ceran had managed to acquire. Each Torpedo upon detonation erupted in a flash of ion energy, creating a field of ion energy similar to an ion bomb. The Field was so large it was capable of disabling freighters in a single hit, and a large zone on impact to capital ships. When it came to acquiring bounties in space, these three missiles would prove to be invaluable.

As Ceran reviewed his weapons systems, he couldn't help but grin.

They would get tested soon enough.