Fitting out

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Even though Ringovinda StarYards went about reconditioning old Clone Wars-era starship designs, frigates and cruisers, Jessica hasn't forgotten about Ringovinda StarYards being first a shipyard that built cargoships at its core. With Kuat Drive Yards' old administration gone, Jessica was perhaps satisfied. Would she get along with the new administration of KDY, she knew not. But despite her old boss being under SJ custody over the Korriban massacre, there still was one unfinished business from that era, that she desires finished. The prototype was nearing completion and the fitting-out stage was underway, and at a rather advanced stage, over Ringo Vinda. Being so close to Silver Jedi space makes her uneasy despite the fact that Ringo Vinda just held a referendum for its exit from the Silver Jedi. That was to be a huge cargoship 2500m-long, suitable for the truly massive cargo haulers of the galaxy. And yet she sensed that this newcomer was a little unknown to her. While she was technically still a Padawan, in practice she is a Knight in all but name.

"Boss, there is someone that has arrived for the test flight of the Madeen"

"Send that person in"

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Sergeant Valkren Calderon was loyal to the Republic, yes, he always was and always will be. But with his team requiring more and more resources to operate on extreme missions in insane parts of the galaxy, it was becoming increasingly difficult to make it back from said missions and operations safely. So, Valkren decided to do what he did when him and about a dozen other special forces soldiers went into hiding after the fall of the Republic..He worked.

So he took up a job, so what? He wasn't sporting any of his Republic colors or markers, and after recently changing to his dirty-blonde hair, it had to be difficult for anyone to recognize the commando at first glance. Yet, for this job he let his name slip, only because he was familiar with the name of his recruiter. Besides, there already were a good percentage of companies out there that had heard about Saber team, the Republic special forces group that Valkren spearheaded.

The Sergeant stepped through the door, in what looked to be a rather neutral outfit. It seemed to be a grey combat jacket, with a tactical rig thrown on underneath for slight protection and utility pouches for extra charges and detonators. He sported black combat boots and black BDU's, with a blaster strapped to his right leg. The finish to the outfit was the simple black balaclava that had been pulled down around his neck so he could easily be identified and breath easy. Over his shoulder was a black duffle bag with an off-brand logo smack dab in the middle of it.

"You call, Ma'am?"

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Saber Team? She used to be a Republican all right, but it collapsed before she undertook Jedi training. She was a NFU who fought on Kashyyyk, and, especially on Bimmisaari, Gyndine and Hosnian Prime, and to a lesser extent on Yutan and Kiribi, she was hailed as one of the heroines of Kashyyyk. But Kashyyyk seems to be so long ago by now. Hyperdrive is best tested as a microjump; even though she designed the Zak engine with Dune Rhur's collaboration, Jessica never had a chance to test the Zak in an operational setting. As the Madeen began its pre-flight preparations, As is common practice, Julie was to be in the cockpit for every single maiden flight of a product prototype that was a capital ship. As such she was there when the Mateus was first flown, and then the Munificent-X, Hardcell-X and C-9980 classes came. She took up her station and Jessica was in the captain's seat, overseeing the entire operation.

"Remember, you stand guard over the bridge; Julie will be in the cockpit, casting battle meditation in the meantime"

"All status go, boss" Julie told Jessica.

"Let's take off!"

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren simply nodded, moving to a comfortable position where he'd have eyes on' over everything on the bridge. After finding a suitable perch inside the ship, he'd drop his duffle bag at his feet, crouching to sift through it and reveal an Assault blaster that seemed short enough for close quarters combat, which only seemed appropriate due to being on the inside of a ship.

As the Sergeant stepped around a railing, he'd lift his assault blaster up and attach the stock of the weapon to his chest rig by a short, three point sling, leaving the bag behind where he had deployed it. After finishing the kit, he'd turn back to the center of the room, resting one hand on the grip of his blaster. He was now prepared for any unexpected visits.

Although, he wasn't exactly sure who would be stupid enough to pay them a visit. This was a test flight for gods' sake, not a military operation. Unless someone just had such a burning desire to see this company fall, then he'd probably have to deal with simple protestors, but an attack? Highly unlikely, still..Always expect the worst.

He checked into the comms system before take off, connected with some of the security personal on-board. "Bridge here, Clear."

Usually when on a job, he wouldn't resort to any of his Republic habits, but this one was more of a necessity that had come with the job.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Even when that corporation's relationship to the Silver Jedi has soured, Jessica knew better than everyone else that it was all due to Charzon's actions. By now Charzon was on remand on Voss, awaiting trial. But since she was excommunicated the same as Charzon, despite not being involved at all with Korriban, Jessica had to suffer from the fallout. Namely that the two Zak engines, as well as the six auxiliary sublight engines, fitted as main engines on the C-9980s, are now at full, non-emergency power. That ought to power all the main non-combat systems; as I told Dune, what's power-hungry on a ship are the following: propulsion, weapons and shields. She knew that some organic commanders in the TE navy called the piloting of capital ships, shiphandling. Julie would be the one to train the Techno Empire's capital ship pilots, if organic: she didn't trust B1 droids to pilot a Munificent-X even if it meant that the pilot was to be its commanding officer also.

"Now, Julie, turn this ship around. I expect this ship to be sluggish but this is where you shine"

"Finally, someone who acknowledges the importance of capital ship piloting skill! I was sick and tired of Silver Jedi naval commanders ignoring how piloting matters even with Star Destroyer-sized or battlecruiser-sized ships"

By now Julie, and Jessica as well, realized that the Madeen was only, at most, a little less maneuverable than the Mateus. And that was not counting on the emergency mode of what Catria called an oversized linear accelerator; testing said mode would, yes, yield 50% extra thrust provided it worked, but at what maneuverability cost?

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren watched them as the two conversed among other workers mulling about on the bridge of the ship. In all honesty, Valkren hated being aboard a ship, let alone fighting onboard a ship. He might have been accustomed to space after being deployed so much, yet walking on the bridge of a ship suspended in air or in the depths of space..It just wasn't natural. Valkren always supposed it was from living on a farmstead all his younger life.

The young sergeant would take being pinned down by hostile small arms file any day aslong as his boots were dug into mud somewhere. He made his way around the bridge, blinking as he watched everything go by out one of the viewports. Wasn't a bad looking ship at all, that's for sure. It was a nice change being on a ship that wasn't used purely for combat also.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Now, Julie, come out and activate the emergency thrust!"

"It is common for ships engaging emergency thrust to lose maneuverability: let's see how much we will lose"

"It should last all of 30 seconds: I know that much about the Zak engines"

A simple question of centrifugal force. Knowing that a ship going faster will need a greater radius to turn, Julie finds it much harder to maneuver at the increased speed, but even then it was a speed she expected medium Star Destroyers were going to fly at. For the next 30 seconds, the Madeen was making attempts at maneuvering the ship, while flying it. Ouch: this thing was going to maneuver like a Hutt on an oil slick when the emergency thrust mode was activated. Jessica was going to fly. But clearly that new speed was slow, very slow; when the 30 seconds have elapsed, the acceleration is a lot lower. Poor Jess! After these PR disasters, hopefully something new will arise from the [Third] Confederacy. But, for the time being, so long as she is designing ships, she is safe from the lure of war, which made her someone different from her normal self. Was she slowly becoming her normal self again?

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren almost felt uneasy, watching the two converse further. Seeing that they were atleast experienced in the trade of spacing by their words, but their actions had yet to tell the full story. This was another reason he preferred the ground. There weren't as many variables to consider, not as many ways to suffer or lose your life. While out there though, in the emptiness of space, it's up to whatever God(s) you believe in and the pilots skill and pure luck in the situation.

Way too many variables.

As he finished a second lap around the majority of the bridge, glancing at the entrances and exits to the area and stopping to grab a hold of something when needed, he'd sigh. Running security certainly wasn't running as a Republic Commando on some smash-and-grab operation. This was more like his early years as a simple marine rifleman, waiting...so much waiting. The Republic officers even told them, even in times of war, that they'd be simply standing around for seventy percent of their time while deployed, and this seemed like those exact moments.

Valkren wanted to join in the conversation, but he knew it probably wasn't his place to in the current situation. They didn't pay him to speak, they paid him to watch.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Check for stowaways nefore we jump to lightspeed"

"Roger, roger"

"We have to stay vigilant. We do not wish to have stowaways onboard: that would net us some big trouble"

Ships that big were usually fitted with fuel tanks enabling roughly a quarter of a million light-years of range, or perhaps a little extra, and getting to Bimmisaari from Ringo Vinda should take just a few hours. They should not have to worry about the Madeen exhausting its supply of fuel until they arrive. Jessica was confident Julie would bring them to Bimmisaari, the closest other shipyard of the corporation. Hopefully this ship will return to Ringo Vinda in one piece: I know that, without tensor field generators or inertial compensators, this ship will be destroyed the moment the ship attempts to jump to hyperspace. So I know these two items will work if the ship makes it through to Bimmisaari in one piece. What's behind them (the bridge is just above the nose cone) is the cavernous cargo hold. But as a pure cargo ship, there is not a whole lot of nooks and crannies in which a stowaway could hide. Main engineering aft or crew quarters would be logical places to start.

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren gripped his assault blaster with one hand, letting the sling do the rest of the work as his index finger tapped against the trigger-guard. The commando turned his back to the others, speaking up as he moved toward the crew quarters to check himself for stowaways,

"I'll be walking toward the 'bunks just to keep an eye out, contact me if there's an emergency. I should be back soon." He stated, taking the corner if noone saw him. He'd hate to run into any run-a-ways. He was unsure of what corporations did with spies or other hitchhikers, as for the Republic, if they weren't enemies they'd simply shuttle them to the nearest planet and gave them a distress beacon.

That was atleast what the commando's did..

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Hopefully there would be no stowaways onboard; even if they were, she would have to pray the Force that these aren't people out for her because of the stadium debacle on Geonosis, or otherwise anti-Confederate elements. The Sith Triumvirate has lost a few acolytes, and the one survivor that is Force-sensitive and that was scheduled for execution, is now in Confederate service. Rather reluctantly, but nonetheless serves the Confederacy. To be fair, once the search for stowaways is completed, then they can depart for Bimmisaari for the next phase of the test flights: hyperdrive. Oh, sure, with the 11 waste heat recovery devices, they should not fear running out of power to make run the life support, the ship-wide neural net or the sensor systems. Or the lighting. Well, the non-combat systems. But Jessica searched for stowaways in the Force. No trace of stowaways in main engineering, aft of the main cargo hold.

"Any sign of any stowaways? No trace of them in main engineering"

"If you find any, just drop them off on Ringo Vinda with a distress beacon"

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren passed by a pair of security officers moving the other direction, turning another corner to enter the crew quarters. Flipping on his maglite, he'd keep one hand on the grip of his blaster, the other on the light as he scanned the dark corners of the unlit room. Spotting the wall console, he'd make his way to it and hover the hand that held the light in it directly over that console, letting the room around him flood with white light.

The sergeant squinted for a moment to let his eyes adjust, flipping off the maglite and letting it fall into one of his utility pouches. "Crew quarters all clear, Ma'am. Moving back to the bridge." He cut off the coms' as he took a glance around the quarters. Rather 'cushy' for crew quarters..As he began to make his way out, he began to ponder why a stowaway would even be on the ship..Unless his employeers had something else up their sleeves.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Lay in a course for Bimmisaari"

"Course laid in, ma'am"

"Jump to lightspeed"

Although an inertial compensator would be useful for the four hours the flight to Bimmisaari is supposed to take, Jessica was going to be of no use here; monitoring the tensor field generator and the inertial compensator would be left to the engineering stations in the bridge and not to Jessica herself. She would simply be going back to her quarters and train in a variety of Force-powers until her power fades, either her computational power or her Force-battery, and then she would have to go to sleep. She might be a person with too much brainpower for her own good, but to what extent would she feel limited by her rather low Force-reserve? Perhaps a little less so than back on the asteroid, where she used Electric Judgment; yet she made attempts to use the Force to heat up her skin because, despite the use of the waste heat recovery devices, her crew quarters were still cold. Using nearly the same techniques as pyrokinesis, but on my skin, I can keep myself warm... they always called this tapas, she thought, as she used tapas for the very first time.

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren had his own 'method' of warming his body. For jobs out of the Republic's jurisdiction, Valkren always tended to bring a small black flask filled to the brim with lovely whiskey. This didn't mean he planned on getting obliterated while on the job, it just meant that when he saw an opportunity to unwind and relax the muscles abit, he'd take that opportunity. After taking a quick swig while noone was in the direct area, he'd drop the flask into one of his utility pouches and continued on. Before long the trip would be over, as would the job..And Valkren would have to return to the Republic and stay in hiding once more. For now, he could enjoy this temporary freedom, watching the different employees of the woman that hired him mull about during the jump. So many variables still..So much trust in so many people to keep this ship running smoothly and to it's best ability, amazing really..

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Bimmisaari having been a Republican world when it collapsed, it felt natural for Jessica to drop him off there. While Jessica was busy experimenting with tapas, she was hearing someone call her from the bridge over comms: the chief engineer. Hopefully that would not mean Jessica using mechu-deru in flight: she knew that it was dangerous to do so, especially in hyperspace. The failure code was all too familiar to her: a failure of the waste heat recovery device attached to the hyperdrive. But she is not a first-line mechanic so she will only have to intervene if the repairs carried out by the R9 astromech droids failed. By the time they arrive over Bimmisaari though, Jessica sure hoped that she wouldn't have to wait that long until the ship's waste heat recovery device was back online. She had a hand in designing the contraptions, much as she had the Zak sublight drive, hence why she stood ready to use Force-speed to rush to main engineering if such was the case.

"There seems to be a malfunction of the waste heat recovery device attached to the hyperdrive"

"That's why the quarters are a little... cold. Can we safely repair that WHRD while in flight?"

"Let's try using some astromechs first. If that fails, you will have to do, captain"

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

"There's another way to keep warm during this so-called 'test flight." The hired-security stated, walking down the corridors, the chill that loomed in the air was pinching at his revealed skin as he moved, causing his hairs to raise below his suit of light-weight contractor armor.

Ofcourse, he only spoke in the communications system this one time, and he spoke to the end that was his flask that sat safely in a utility pouch on his chest rig. That was the only way that Valkren could remain warm, having not been showed a crew quarters and not being informed on how long this test flight would take, he was at the mercy of the cold and his whiskey.

He wouldn't offer any more retorts unless requested to do so as he took his chilly stroll down the corridors of the freighter.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Waste heat recovery device repaired, captain"

"Good. But I wonder however, how many Force-users have you seen actually use the Force?"

Now that the onboard heat was back to normal, Jessica could cease trying to increase her metabolism to keep herself warm. Knowing that there are those Force-powers where steady application of Force-power over prolonged periods are of the essence (like tapas, Art of Movement, Force-healing) and others where power-in-bursts is what matters (like the mind trick, Electric Judgment), she can feel that she can actually get to use a very large spellbook, with Force-powers from each type. As far as her style of using the Force is concerned, she prefers to have a large spellbook and use it the way Cathul does. To her Cathul has been an unsung hero of the Force, the one she wanted to model herself after, and the one best positioned to emulate her style. Catria learned it the hard way when she learned Electric Judgment from Jessica: using such methods allows unparalleled precision but at the cost of very intense intellectual demands on the practitioners.

"Almost there: we'll be orbiting Bimmisaari shortly"

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren readjusted his grip on the assault blaster, making his way back to the bridge. The liquor that entered his body had not done much to warm him, he'd require much more to even start to give him a decent buzz. No matter, it was probably for the better that he was not inebriated on the job site. If someone was to perhaps take the chance during the test flight to attack the ship, then he'd still have to be on his toes, however as the mission closed to an end, it seemed to be that the risk of an attack was no longer valuable. If someone was sending an attack party, they'd have to be quick, deadly, efficient. That was something he understood, being a member of a special forces team meant he could appreciate the best in every soldier, even in the hostile ones.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"We have arrived at our destination, Valkren"

As Valkren got ready to pick up his personal belongings, the Madeen reverted into realspace over Bimmisaari, where Charzon built a shipyard there based on her initially wanting to purchase furniture for Ringovinda Systems on Hosnian Prime, at the other end of Republican space as it stood when it collapsed. All that Jessica could think about, when it came to Bimmisaari, were the hideousness or the tastelessness of the McMansions the senior engineering and management (middle on up) staff (mostly Bimms) owned on the planet, whose only redeeming qualities are the eco-sensitive furniture and materials, all of which are locally-sourced. She was happy that the castle the couple owned on Dulvoyinn wasn't a McMansion. Perhaps what was a McMansion from her standpoint wasn't one from a Bimm standpoint, but she was also reminded of Gyndine, and the now laid-off KDY workers, only a small fraction of whom found work, namely at Golan Arms. Kuat Drive Yards' layoffs were unprecedented in its history.

"Remind me to use Instinctive Astrogation Control on the way back to Ringo Vinda"

"No need to do that: I trust you will remember it. If anything, it's me that need reminders, not you"

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Valkren held an expression of surprise as this transmission was received. That was one of the more easy jobs he had received, not even a stowaway in their short journey. He didn't mind, the job was finished quickly and cleanly, nothing of major concern coming up in the process as well. In all truth, the sergeant was impressed in the efficiency of the company that had hired him, they finished the test-flight without a flaw from what the young commando saw.

Although this was possibly not the case at all, Valkren wouldn't ever know. He's never really been worried about the situation when it came to space travel, that was mainly for the navy flyboys that gave him and his team a 'first class trip' wherever need be. This situation was the same, he was hired to do a job and he completed it, thanks to the help of his 'boss.'

He simply offered a grunt in reply to the transmission, making his way to secure his personal belongings.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]