Mandal Hypernautics: We Can Rebuild Her

[Captain Larraq]

Upon one of the many Goten-class Shipyards owned and operated by Mandal Hypernautics, Rygel Larraq sat within the primary briefing room and studied the content that had been arranged before him. Thousands of sheets of paper littered the desk. Performance reports, after-action debriefings, maintenance reports, blueprints, schematics, component lists, manufacturing costs... every aspect and detail Rygel Larraq could have asked for had been arranged before him. And in triplicate. Not that he had wanted three copies of anything. Rygel Larraq had called for all relevant data on three separate starfighter designs. Each of which, for one reason or another, was not performing as desired upon the battlefield and was not selling as desired on the market.

And for Larraq, it was the latter which concerned him the most.

To resolve the issue, the man now sat among a group of Mandal Hypernautics designers and engineers to review each design, identify each design's best features, and incorporate those features into a new design comprised of the best features of each craft.

 

[Captain Larraq]

"Since the Cabur-class Starfighter sees the most use within the Clans, and since we have the most data on it, we'll be starting with her." Larraq said as he flipped though a stapled folder of papers. "Initial assessment?" He asked to the crowd of engineers arranged around the table.

"She was designed to out-sell the Neta'norac." Said an older engineer with tracks of grey at his temples. "In that regard, she's been a success."

"And in what regard," Larraq asked, already anticipating the hidden meaning behind the man's choice of words. "Has she not been a success?"

"The sensor mask provides inferior cloaking to the stealth packages of... either other ship." The greying man said as he flipped through a two different stacks of papers. "They typically only hold up when the enemy does not know that an attack is coming or is otherwise only operating on passive sensors." He flipped through a different set of papers now. Finding what he was apparently looking for, the man continued his assessment. "While the bomb bay allows her to have some decent stopping power against capital ships, her lack of air-to-air missiles has consistently crippled her in a dogfight." He said as he switched to yet another stack of papers and flipped to through until he found the page he was looking for. "Likewise, her light weapons have typically proven inferior to the armaments of nearly... all opposition and have proven time and again to have difficulty piercing the armor of enemy."

 

[Captain Larraq]

"Frell." Larraq said as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, subconsciously defensive of the product his company made and sold. "What's she got going in her favor?" He asked as he looked passed the man to the hologram projected over the table. In it, each of the three starfighters rotated slowly in three-dimensional glory.

"Role specifics." Said the man with the greying temples. "Neither of the other two starfighters have anything near the same punch against capital ships. Likewise, her bomb bay allows her to be used to lay minefields, deploy sensor beacons, and fill a number of other utility roles that either other craft would find themselves incapable of."

"And how's she compare to other ships capable of filling those same roles?" Rygel Larraq asked as he stared at the holographic display of the ship in question.

Momentarily lost, the older man glanced around the table for a suitable stack of papers. Apparently not finding what he needed, he held up his hands in a stance of defenselessness. "We don't have that data here." He said at last.

"She's lighter, quicker, and quieter." Said a woman Larraq couldn't see. Whichever seat she filled, it was obstructed and on the other side of the hologram. "She can get where she needs to be, do it faster, and can typically get out easier. Her stealth package is low-grade, but the clans don't currently have an alternative design that can hit a capital ship without getting spotted and intercepted. And once she's dropped her payload, she's far more likely to get home again without a hole in her."

 

[Captain Larraq]

"Qualifications?" Larraq asked of the woman he couldn't see.

"Naomi Ryduur." She responded. "Deckmaster of the Ruugla'ruusaan."

<That explains it.> Larraq thought to himself. <She runs a flight deck.>

"Thank you Ms. Ryduur." Larraq said as he leaned forward and plucked a folder from a stack of several. "Do you agree with the assessment of the Cabur Starfighter's air-to-air combat capabilities?" He asked as he opened the folder and began glancing through the pages.

"More or less." She said after a moment's pause. "She doesn't pack the same punch as some of the other birds, but she's more than fast enough to make up for that."

Larraq was quiet for a moment while he processed the information, still flipping through the folder. Finding the page he was looking for, Larraq glanced over it briefly. "If she had to pack a bigger punch, could she?" He asked the woman as he continued reviewing the page. Upon it was the technical specks on the Cabur's main weaponry.

"Spring for some fancy ammo," She said without much delay, "She she could probably hold her own... But... She'd still be having a rough time."

"Thank you Ms. Ryduur." Larraq said as he closed the folder and began writing a note on his datapad. "We'll come back to that later."

 

[Captain Larraq]

"On to the next design." Larraq said as he shuffled through stacks of papers. "The Neta'norac. MandalMotors design incorporating Mandal Hypernautics parts. What's the assessment?"

A silence filled the room as heads turned to one another. As the moment dragged on, Larraq cleared his throat and an engineer reluctantly took it upon himself to be the one to speak. "In the hands of a Force User, you couldn't ask for a better ship." He said with a glance around the room. "Field Marshal Ember used to swear by them."

"Care to elaborate?" Larraq asked, trying to keep the hint of annoyance from his voice.

The young engineer paled a bit and straitened in his seat. "She's got long range sensors, advanced shields, sensor jammer technology, thrust-hiding baffles, and a double-blind cloak." He said from memory. "But... She's nearly useless to anyone that can't swing a lightsaber though." He added as he tried to avoid accusing MandalMotors of making a superior starfighter in front of his boss.

"So... the Neta'norac's got better stealth than the Cabur, but nobody can use it." Larraq said with a mild glare before shifting his gaze to the holoprojection of the starfighter that slowly rotated over the table. "How's she hold up in combat?"

"She holds up well enough." Said another man after the first took a moment too long to respond. "Fast and agile as they come. She had a heavy armament for a starfighter when she was designed. Now... she's fairly standard. Still holds up in combat. In air-to-air, she's top notch. Can't do much more than scratch a capital ship though. And that cloak's not going to help anyone that ain't a Force User."

 

[Captain Larraq]

"How's she hold up against the Purudii?" Larraq asked as he returned his attention to the desk and began flipping through a stack of papers.

"She wipes the floor with it." Said Ms. Ryduur from behind the hologram once again. "She's faster, more agile, has better shield, the same guns, and tops it off with twice the ordnance."

"That's an impressive claim." Rygel Larraq said as he arched an eyebrow in her general direction, then glanced again through the papers in front of him. "I take it she's expensive?" He said as he reviewed the data they had on the starfighter.

"Aye." She said. "And a kark and a half to repair."

"And against the Vhe'viin?" He asked as he looked again in the woman's general direction.

"Wipes the floor with it too." She said with what Larraq could only assume was a smirk. "The Vhe'viin's got more missiles, but the Proton Torpedoes of the Neta'noroc pack a bigger punch. Not to mention twice the guns and better shields."

 

[Captain Larraq]

"Alright." Larraq said as he closed the stapled stack of papers in front of him and looked once more at the hologram. "Hits harder than the main-line starfighter of the clans and moves just as fast as the clans' interceptor. But... she's expensive as sheb and has stealth tech that... less than one percent of pilots can actually use. That about cover it?"

"Long distances over open space, any pilot can use the cloak." Said one of the engineers. "But that usually just makes your target overreact when you decloak to get a reading."

"Noted." Larraq said as he indeed jotted down notes in his datapad. "Now, on to the Maw-class. What can you tell me?" He asked as he raised his head and swept the room, looking each engineer in the eye in turn.

"Speed and firepower roughly matches the Vhe'viin." Said the same engineer as before. "She's got more Ultrachrome than the Vhe'viin has Beskar though."

"How's it compare?" Larraq asked immediately.

"We still aren't sure." He said as he looked through the documents he had in front of himself. "It should match up about the same, but we haven't put the prototypes through enough tests to be sure."

"Ms. Ryduur," Larraq said as he looked again towards her general direction, still unable to actually see the woman. "You think she could take a Vhe'viin?"

"Without a doubt." She said after what sounded like a moment's pause. "The Vhe'viin is tough and fast, but the Maw's got sensors, jammers, and all sorts of other tech that the Vhe'viin simply can't compete against. One vs one? The fight'd be pretty darn close without the tech." She said with what sounded like admiration for the design. "But this baby'd get the drop on a Vhe'viin in a heartbeat. And with the jammers turned on, there isn't a thing a Vhe'viin could do about it."

Spoiler

[member="Enigma"] (figured you'd get a smile out of the engineer's assessment of your creation.)

 

[Captain Larraq]

"Tell me more about the Maw's secondary systems." Larraq said as he flipped a few pages into one of the many folders in front of him and began skimming the Maw's components again.

"She uses much of the same passive stealth technology as the Mandal Hypernautics ACS." The older man with greying temples said. "Though there appears to be no active cloaking mechanism worked into the design."

"The sensor and guidance jammers are a nice touch, but they run the risk of giving away the ship if deployed too soon." Added a woman in her mid-forties as she reviewed what Larraq could only assume were the technical specs on the ship's jammers.

"How effective are the anti-missile jammers?" Larraq asked as he tried to find whatever page the older woman was reading.

"It's smaller, more compact, and has a shorter range than the Mandal Hypernautics Sensor Scrambler Turret..." Said the same woman as she pressed her finger against the paper in front of her and slowly drew her finger along one line of text or another. "But it appears to be about as effective."

"How's the power draw?" Larraq asked the woman. "Processing requirements?"

"Both a little on the high end, but less taxing than a redundant sensor system would be." She said as she turned a page and continued to scan the document for details.