Recon Run: Carida (Republic Territory - complete)

[Ashin Varanin]

An unmanned Kal'ika recon probe exited hyperspace at the edge of the Carida system, about fifty astronomical units from the nearest inhabited world, too far for reversion sensors to pick up the decant. The current composition of Republic territory was largely an unknown, and this particular stealth probe had been dispatched to assess Carida's big picture. General level of defense, presence of fleets or major orbital installations, prevalence of traffic, that sort of thing. Using passive sensors from 50 AU wouldn't yield much in the way of detail, but the probe had been designed for this, and at this point every little bit helped.

Ten light-years away, in deep space, Alec waited in a Tegaanalir patrol craft. The probe would transmit its report once it had a good picture of what was going on, or a partial report if attacked.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The Kal'ika recon probe continued its insystem amble. Ships of the line had trouble detecting things this size at point-blank range; at fifty astronomical units, this didn't even register as space junk or a micro-asteroid. Just in case something happened to be nearby, though, it kept to a low speed and a ballistic course.

The active sensors, thus far, did not engage. The plan was to get this probe in and out without anyone having reason to believe a probe had arrived at all. Hence the specialized hyperdrive setup and far-outsystem decanting, both designed to foil reversion sensors. Active sensors, as anyone who'd ever flown a stealth ship could tell you, made you a target. Thus, the Kal'ika had been designed to use high-capacity passive sensors across a broad spectrum. EM, including visible light; subspace; hyperspace. The Kal'ika took note of the general volume of system comms traffic -- quite high, for a major system in the Republic's current heart. The traffic, however, was a side issue. What the Kal'ika was after was confirmation that the Republic's last shipyards might be, in whole or in part, located in the Carida system. The Republic made most of its own starships, especially the large ones. The Mandalorians, however, had never bothered to determine where exactly the last remaining yard or two were located. Carida was a major contender. Not many other worlds could really support a decent-sized yard, not of the systems remaining in the Republic.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

After due consideration, the probe sent a tightbeam transmission containing its preliminary report on the system. The report contained a general evaluation of the directionality and volume of hyper- and subspace communications, EM efflux, major space structures visible from this angle, major starship deployments, etc. Passive sensors couldn't pick up anything subcapital at this range, and a lot of the smaller capships would be mere suggestions, just stray photons with probability ratings. By default, half of anything in a low orbit would be obscured behind any given planet or moon, and the other half would be just a blur of motion against the world. Low orbit was a wash. High orbit, though, like most planetary defense stations, shipyards and so forth -- anything north of geosynch, plus Lagrange points for both planet/moon and sun/planet pairs -- all that couldn't help but throw off stray photons. There was, after all, no such thing as a stealth shipyard. Or fleet, for that matter, unless you happened to buy Iron Crown.

Back in the Tegaanalir, three parsecs away, Alec kept an eye on the long-range sensors. So did her pilot, one of the Rekali Clan's Roil-trained instinctive astrogators with a Calypho Compass symbiont. It wouldn't do to get a good sensor readout only to have a Republic flotilla blunder across you. The Tegaanalir was, naturally, prepped to jump.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Moment of truth. The Kal'ika had gotten as much passive sensor data as it could reasonably collect from this extreme range and this particular angle. Alec had four major options here. Number one was to play it safe and pull out. Number two was to jump the probe insystem, risk detection, and get a better view. Number three was like number two, plus an active sensor burst. Number four was what Alec picked. The Kal'ika made a low-profile jump at an angle to the system centre, bringing it no closer to the system's primary activity. Again, using passive sensors, the probe got a good solid idea of what the system looked like from fifty astronomical units out -- just from a totally different direction. Say it with me: tri-ang-you-lation.

The tiny probe coasted in the outer system, sending its readouts by tightbeam burst transmission to Alec's position.

***​

​

"Getting fidgety, Captain," said the astrogator.

"In a serious way?"

"Might be we're about to get a patrol."

"All right. Call the probe back to the secondary rendezvous point. Let's jump."

The Tegaanalir flitted away. Back in the Carida system, ten light-years away, the probe vanished also.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

About seven light-years from the Carida system, in deep space, the Tegaanalir dropped out of lightspeed. The probe appeared at the rendezvous point shortly thereafter, and maneuvered up against the patrol craft's belly for magclamping. Its full sensor data -- high-resolution multispectrum passive scans of the Carida system from two angles -- was uploaded to the Tegaanalir. It wouldn't do to head straight back to Mandalorian space, not as of yet, in case of detection. That might not matter tomorrow, but today that was the mission parameter. As the astrogator took a course up and away, aiming for neutral territory, Alec began examining the data in earnest. She compiled and compared it, using proprietary software to compare relative brightnesses and estimated distances, then bringing triangulation to bear for double verification. Triangulation was the more precise method for most of these contacts.

The Tegaanalir patrol craft ambled out of Republic space and across the border. Thus far, apart from the astrogator's 'bad feeling about this', which had faded after their early departure, nothing had interfered. As they crossed the border (insofar as the concept had any utility in interstellar space), Alec transmitted the full take to a relay satellite for encrypted subspace bounce to the Gordian Reach.

 

[Arage Bao]

And to war they went.

Part of Samael couldn't help but wonder if all of this was really worth it. So a few companies were losing their facilities at Roche, so that was the last source of Phrik for the Mandalorians, so what? Since when were the Mando'ade so depended on meaningless stuff like phrik mines? But then he realized where his indignation was really coming from. Fear. Fear that if this war started, that his darker sides would come out again.

And that this time he wouldn't be able to push it all back in a box.

"Good haul." Sam replied. The first time he said anything since they entered Republic Space. This had been Alec's mission, and he didn't want to interfere in any way.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Samael Rekali"]

"That's the hope. The Republic makes its own ships; it must have yards somewhere that aren't Lucerne or Aurora." Alec tapped the side console's display. "With luck, this sensor data will help us narrow down the field of candidate systems. It may turn out that Aurora's Roche yards and that bit of Rendili construction space in Coalition territory are all they have left, that and Lucerne at Gyndine. Roche...that's going to be a clustercuss. There's a Mando population on Nickel One, always has been. The Verpine are longtime allies. Then there's the phrik issue, and there's at least a couple of clans with serious holdings in the system. Roche is going to be a mess. If there's to be a single pitched battle out of this nonsense, my guess is it'll be there."

She put aside the data, mouth compressing to a thin line. "I can't make head or tail of this, but I'm no analyst. How're we doing on a return course, Unc?"

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Alec Rekali"]

"Clans shouldn't be fighting that one on their own. Not with half a dozen galactic corporations putting their own stake on Roche, probably should see and tether their efforts to Arceneau's coalition. Enemy of my neutral entity, and all that." Sam wasn't experienced enough in the Clans' foreign policy to know what they thought about the Trade Queen and the relationships they had with the other various corporations out there.

But if they didn't work together it would turn into a... clustercuss. He was already picturing it. Mandalorians versus MegaCorps versus the Prime Ministers; then the Verpine in the middle of it all, the other Republic remnants in between. No, that wasn't something he was very keen on seeing.

"S'all good, I took over from Dano." the calypso-integrated pilot. Those things were a touch to extreme for Sam, and he told Dano to get some rest. For Dano it had been akin to forcing a hole through space to get them to move. For Sam... it was more like guiding them through the waves.

Subtle, clean, peaceful.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Samael Rekali"]

"Thanks for that. Dano needs the rest. He's one of the new ones -- didn't have any real finesse for instinctive astrogation before he got his Calypho Compass implanted, so brute force is the only way he knows." Alec shrugged. "So it's said, anyway."

Was she in denial about being Force-sensitive? Probably. Thus far, though, it had only really manifested as trick shots and a weird relationship with time, and that was as much her father's fault as anything. Her father, and that pool in the Maw, and the Chiloon Rift, and ships with bad temporal shielding...

She'd tried mind-tricking people and moving pebbles. Nothing.

"Now that Grandpa's offered the Clan's services in rescuing political prisoners, we may be doing a good bit more of this."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Alec Rekali"]

"I'd rather do this then lose my head in another war again." more metaphorically than anything else. Wasn't anything about being a pacifist, if his family got threatened or if he was on a job that demanded action? He'd be the first to start throwing out punches, but other than that Sam would rather stick to building their territory in the Reel. Fortifying the Gordian Reach more, things like that. Might be considered isolationism, but when every side in a conflict were a bunch of fethers?

He'd rather stay outta it.

"We haven't had much time to just... talk, Alec."

Always another job. Always another shiny thing to chase. Almost no time to just settle down and wind down.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

NEUTRAL TERRITORY - BEARING TOWARD MANDALORIAN TERRITORY

[member="Samael Rekali"]

"Guess we haven't, at that." Alec shrugged. "What do you say to a great-uncle who's not all that much older than you are, for one reason or another? I don't have a clue what we have in common. I mine asteroids and steal things. Really big things. I dropped out of the Levantine Astronautical Academy, I've been running with the Exchange and the Underground for a long time, I've spent years in the Chiloon Rift, I've got sort of a weird connection with time...that's about all there is to me. I'm not a Forcer, just a bit of a scumbag. Grandpa's trying to polish me up by getting me to run this little shipbuilder firm on Naboo for a while. It's probably working."

She leaned back in the sensor operator seat, lacing her hands behind her head. "That's me in a nutshell. Not a lot to it."