The Founder: Part 1

[Sheff Zee]

They reverted to real space in good time.

They had arrived earlier than they had anticipated and the transports had been released from their tractor beams and were sent off on their own to continue their delivery.

Malphas’s gaze turned from the viewport to rest on Captain Norduin and he nodded his head to him.

“You understand that you must learn to serve before you can lead, correct?”

“I do, my Lord.”

“You have served me well. Soon, I will see you as an Admiral.”

 

[Sheff Zee]

Malphas watched as the transport ships jumped into hyperspace and left his Taskforce behind.

“I mean to incorporate Chiss technology into my new ship, Anthony, bring me to Copero.”

“As you wish, my Lord.”

And then King Adas, and the rest of Malphas’s taskforce dubbed the Charcoal Fist leapt into hyperspace and began heading towards the Unknown Regions.

 

[Sheff Zee]

They didn’t take any detous through One Sith Space to get to Copero. No, that would take too long. Instead they were heading straight through Galactic Republic Space.

He realized that while his fleet was moving through hyperspace that he had engaged in multiple space battles in his time as a Sith Apprentice. He had battled a Captain of the Omega Protectorate, and he had engaged in combat with a member of the Galactic Republic.

The Omega Protectorate Captain had been gracious enough to have a bit of a conversation with me before we fought.

Whether it was because he was sure he was going to win is beyond me, but I knew I had the advantage when I attacked first. Ruuku Hollis was his name, a man I shall hunt down and then kill.

I will give him a good death.

Then send his corpse to his family.

 

[Sheff Zee]

They dropped out of hyperspace in the Copero System with the Chiss Shipyards ahead of them. His fleet hadn’t experienced a lot of damage when they had engaged with the pirates earlier, but it would still be better to be at 100%.

Unfortunately, there was no time to halt and get repairs.

Instead he had a need to speak to someone who was able to aid him with planning modifications to his fleet to let him utilize megamasers.

“Do you know why megamasers are so powerful, Captain?”

“No I do not. I figure you will tell me despite that.”

“You figured correctly.” There was a moment of silence while he gathered his thoughts.

“Megamasers are powerful because they deliver damage with the same firepower of a regular turbolaser, but with that energy comes a kinetic follow-up hit. Chiss technology is extremely powerful, stronger than the technology on some of our ships now. I plan on designing a ship with solely Chiss weapons. Perhaps you’ll Captain it.”

They both chuckled.

 

[Sheff Zee]

In Malphas’s mind Captain Anthony Norduin certainly did deserve to be promoted. He had been with the Sith since his first engagement in space combat. He had guided him, taught him what to do, and here he was, still alive to praise the Corellian Human.

“Only speak when needed, Norduin.”

He received a nod in response.

Then the shuttle that they had boarded only a few moments ago had passed through the energy shield and landed within the hangar bay.

 

[Sheff Zee]

The Chiss that stood in the hangar bay waiting for them as they passed through the energy shield was named Varo. At least that’s how he had introduced himself to Malphas and Anthony.

“A pleasure to meet you, Varo.”

“And you, my Lord. I understand that you encountered trouble today, is everything okay?” Acarus hadn’t been aware that information travelled that fast, but the shipyards sensors probably told him that.

From what he could tell of the man’s emotions through the Force, he didn’t truly care. He had only been asking to seem as a much better host than he was.

Well, he said all the right words.

 

[Sheff Zee]

“Yes everything was fine. I weeded out traitors to the One Sith Empire and executed them. Their ships were destroyed, and we suffered minimal casualties. They were hardly more than pirates.” He chuckled softly when he re-lived the battle in his mind. “It would have gone much faster with the technology of the Chiss Ascendancy backing us.”

While Malphas had been speaking the Chiss had said nothing and simply listened. When Acarus recounted a part of the story, Varo had been smiling as if he could imagine it, or he was simply glad that traitors were killed, whichever it was it unnerved him.

But, his facial expression changed when he had mentioned Chiss technology.

“You mean… Megamasers?”

“What else would I be speaking about?” There was a challenge to his voice, as if daring Varo to deny him.

“Shock nets are quite useful.” It hadn’t come from Varo, but rather Anthony, and he turned his head to look at him with a frown behind his helmet, but he said nothing else on it.

You’re meant to be seen, not heard.

“What do those do?”

 

[Sheff Zee]

The Chiss chuckled as if he were speaking to a child, and if only the Chiss could see Malphas’s face he would know to stop laughing, but when his gaze had flickered over Acarus he seemed to realize that it was best to stop laughing.

“Shock nets are able to disable the electronics on a ship once coming in contact. It’s distance is only a kilometer wide however.”

“Huh.” It was clear Varo didn't expect Anthony to know.

“What other weapons does the Ascendancy have but are unwilling to speak of?”

“Several my, Lord, shall we head to my office?” The ship designer asked.

“Certainly.”

 

[Sheff Zee]

They entered and they sat down.

“Tell me everything.”

“As you wish.” He paused as if to recollect his thoughts and then he jumped into the explanation. “A parasite bomb that we had a long time ago used against the Killik in our Swarm War, however the Jedi had sabotaged us and we failed in utilizing i-”

“I can’t use parasite bombs against the Galactic Republic.”

“Yes, yes, of course but we also have a radiation bomb.”

To that, Malphas’s head turned away from Norduin and set upon Varo again.

Varo taking that as confirmation enough to continue speaking did so. “It is a missile that when it comes into contact with an unshielded target the radiation seeps through the walls and floors of the ship, killing everyone. Although it comes with the risk of damaging sensitive equipment.”

“A necessary loss.”

 

[Soeht]

As Ezreal chased after the escaping ship, Hecarim went to the lounge to continue treat his wounds. Daella assumed that it was unlikely he would ever be able to see again. Meanwhile, Trist attempted to get in contact with other One Sith ships in the area to hopefully cut off the escaping vessel. Graves got on another turret and prepared himself to attempt to take down the escaping vessel.

Daella warned everyone to use ion shots or aim their quadlasers to just the engine. If the escaping shuttle was destroyed, the lens would be destroyed along with it. Millions of credits would be lost in an instant because of that.

Fortunately, the Sith’s own starship was faster that the Republic’s starship. Slowly, they began to catch up with the Republic’s starship.

Once they got within firing range, Daella opened fire with her ion lasers on the ship’s rear in an attempt to bring down its engines.

 

[Soeht]

The shuttle that they were chasing was extremely nimble. It managed to dodge a high amount of Daella’s and Graves’ shots. Ezreal died to keep up with its maneuvers. While the Sith had the technological advantage in this dogfight, the Republic ship moved erratically and in a manner that Ez could not easily predict.

Daella continued to attempt to disable the Republic ship. Eventually, she was able to lead her shots enough to where they began striking just effectively. The Force guided her in predicting how the ship would turn.

Yet after being struck once, the Republic ship tried to fly in a manner that would prevent Daella from even attempting to shoot at all. Now, they were solely within Graves’ line of fire.

For Graves, he was stuck with a quadlaser. His attempts to shoot at the ship were being blocked by its shield.

 

[Soeht]

Beyond just a few hits, there was no much that Graves could do. Any more successful hits were likely to destroy the ship. Yet, he slowly whittled down its shields to the point that the ship’s hull was jeopardized.

Not wanting to be destroyed, the ship moved in a way that exposed it to the ion cannon that Daella had. Instantly, Daella took the opportunity to shoot at the ship. While the ship was not going to be destroyed by Daella’s shots, its ability to fly was slowly drained as the ion shots disabled more and more electronics.

At this point, the Republic ship decided to jettison a lot of its cargo. They opened the cargo bay momentarily for a ton of junk and debris to fly out toward the Sith ship. Ezreal frantically attempted to dodge as much of it that he could. The Sith ship managed to get out without much more than a scratch.

 

[Soeht]

However, Ezreal was concerned that the focusing lens might had been jettisoned as well. Daella assured him that she still believed, through the Force, that the focusing lens was aboard the Republic ship.

Listening to the words of his master, Ezreal continued to fly at the Republic ship. Daella continued to strike it with the ion cannon. Several minutes went by. The Republic ship found escape to be impossible. Eventually, it finally shut down due to the amount of ion particles hitting it and simply stayed adrift in space.

The Elite Four, minus Hecarim, cheered at their success. Daella kept her eyes on the ship. She wondered if there were any tricks that they had left.

Not much time passed before a star destroyer dropped into realspace before Daella’s ship. Fortunately, it was affiliated with the One Sith. It hailed Daella’s ship and began to tow the Republic ship with its tractor beams.

 

[Soeht]

Ezreal brought their ship to dock in the star destroyer’s hangar bay. Daella and the Elite Four minus Hecarim quickly traveled to the hangar bay that had taken the Republic ship. Several squads of stormtroopers had already lined up and were ready to take shots of the inhabitants of the rather large freighter.

Daella readied her ligthsaber for any resistance that might be brought against the One Sith. Finally, the Republic ship’s doors opened. Immediately, there was a barrage of fire from within the Republic spaceship. The One Sith’s stormtroopers retaliated in kind in an attempt to kill anyone within the ship that may have been firing. Daella stood back and waited for the skirmish to end. After over a minute, there was no more fire coming from within the Republic spaceship. The stormtroopers rushed into the ship in order to secure it.

 

[Soeht]

Daella simply stood outside the freighter for several minutes while the stormtroopers and Elite Four searched every nook and cranny for any other Republic agents. They eventually discovered that they had all been killed in the shootout.

After that, the Elite Four went into the cargo bay and quickly searched it for any sign of the focusing lens. Fortunately for Daella and their efforts in making the Reactive project a reality, the focusing lens was discovered with ease. It had been bolted down tightly to the freighter’s floor to prevent it from breaking. This also explained why the focusing lens was not one of the items to fly out of the ship while it was dumping cargo in an attempt to escape.

The focusing lens was unloaded from the Republic freighter. The freighter was then jettisoned into space and destroyed. Daella knew that there was a chance it had a homing beacon that would lead the Republic to Copero if the star destroyer kept the freighter.

 

[Soeht]

Daella and the Elite Four eventually made their way back to Copero with the star destroyer. Hecarim eventually stopped the pain in his eyes. He would have to make due with Force sight as well as getting used to utilizing the rest of his senses in order to get by.

During the trip to Copero, Daella examined the focusing lens in order to confirm that it was still in working condition. To her knowledge, it appeared to be. This proved to be extremely fortuitous for the One Sith.

After several hours, the star destroyer reached Copero orbit. Then, it unloaded the focusing lens to the shipyard stores. Daella went to Velkoz to check on any other issues that the project might have during the procurement phase.

 

[Soeht]

When Daella met up with Velkoz, the Chiss gave a respectful bow to her.

“Thank you very much, My Lord,” he said as his head was still lowered to the ground, “You have no idea how much it means for you to be able to do this. I will accept full responsibility for the loss of the focusing lens. Any punishment you must require from me, I will take it.”

Daella raised her hand and said, “After the project is finished. For now, that is the priority rather than extracting any justice for your failures. Just, don’t fail me a again, Velkoz.”

Raising his head, Velkoz then said, “Thank you, My Lord. I will be sure not to disappoint you anymore.”

Velkoz then straightened himself. He was glad to see that Daella would not attempt to punish or kill him on that day. Still, he knew that she would not be so merciful if there was a second time.

 

[Soeht]

Moving on, Daella asked Velkoz, “What is next on the agenda?”

“We are having some difficulty in getting the materials necessary to create durasteel,” said Velkoz, “While we could just buy durasteel itself, it is much cheaper as well as covert for us to buy the individual raw materials and just smelt it on a Chiss world.”

“We need to secure shipments of carvanium, lommite, carbon, meleenium, neutronium, and zersium,” said Velkoz.

“I’ll handle it from here, then,” replied Daella as she quickly typed down the ingredients for durasteel.

Daella then left Velkoz as she began to search for avenues on how to obtain the incredients of durasteel - at least in a fairly covert manner. She understood that the experts of the Republic would likely be able to figure out what was happening if several of the ingredients went to a specific spot.

 

[Soeht]

First, Daella decided to focus on carvanium. The amount that durasteel required was fairly low. In fact, just five precent extra carvanium would result in the durasteel alloy being extremely brittle. This was something that would be incredibly inefficient for the starship.

Daella contacted Ascendant Logistics for quotes on a large supply of carvanium in Chiss Space. She was lucky to find that there were quite a few deposits, yet they were on worlds that had a savage population. The Chiss Ascendency - at least the government that had aligned with the One Sith - did not have the manpower available to go to those worlds and quell the indigenous population.

In order to get access to those deposits of carvanium, Daella contacted Coruscant. She was able to get a star destroyer - fully equipped with troops and weapons - to go to the planets and annihilate the savages.

 

[Soeht]

The next ore that was required for durasteel was lommite. Fortunately, the ore was also useful for transparisteel - which the ship would be using to a moderate amount. Because of this, the amount of ore that was required was slightly larger.

In order to get those ore, Daella researched the location of planets with heavy deposits of lommite. One planet that she found was Elom. It was fortunate to not be in the territory of any of the major nations - totally independent of the competing forces against the One Sith. The problem that Daella had was the route necessary to get the extreme amounts of lommite to Copero.

During the rest of the day, Daella negotiated with logistics companies on how to discreetly get large quantities of lommite to Copero. Fortunately, there were still several holding companies available for use in order to get the lommite to Copero without alerting the Republic.