The Founder: Part 1

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After pulling some strings, Daella was able to get a steady shipment of lommite to Copero from Elom. With that, she managed to secure enough of it for the production of both durasteel and transparasteel.

The next element to get a major amount of was carbon. Fortunately, there were many diamond deposits in several planets near Csilla. Plus, there were adequate amounts of coal on planets recently colonized that had not gone under an industrial revolution. With that, Daella was able to secure enough carbon for the smelting of durasteel.
At this point, things were looking good for the greation of the hull. The vast amount of durasteel allowed for a strong hull while maintaining an efficient weight. Daella understood that too heavy of a hull would simply be bad: the hypermatter reactor would be taking up a lot of the ship’s space and mass.

 

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Next on the list of ores to obtain was meleenium. Unfortunately, such an ore was found only on a single planet: Af’El. This planet had a very harsh environment. Most humanoids would have been unable to stand it for too long - even with an environmental suit.

Another unfortunate part of Af’El was that it resided near the border of the Confederacy and Republic. This made exporting its valuable material quite difficult.

There was a silver lining for Daella and the one Sith, though. Because of how highly valuable meleenium was in the process of smelting durasteel and how popular durasteel was, its exportation was still allowed. However, it was a very expensive ore. The reserves that the One Sith had were already committed to other ships. More meleenium was required.

To this end, Daella contacted another logistics and shipping company for another steady shipment of meleenium.

 

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During the talks, Daella found it very difficult to plot a secure route all the way to one of the holding companies that the One Sith had. The entire Tingel Arm was a breeding ground of pirates and scum ever since the fall of the Sith Empire.

While Daella did enjoy the heretic Sith being dead, she did understand that they were one of the few major powers to have established complete order within most of their star systems. With their absence, it was generally inadvisable to even approach the Tingel Arm. Daella had first hand experience with the chaos present within it.

Eventually, Daella was able to work a deal in order to secure the importation of more meleenium. Unfortunately, this just increased the cost of the project by a wide margin. While it was not enough to call for compromise in other parts of the project, it was beginning to concern Daella how the cost of the starship was slowly rising.

 

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The next metal on the list was neutronium. It was considered to be the foundation of durasteel and helped considerably in its strength. Fortunately, neutronium was also a very plentiful element. It was normally found in the newest of planets: those that had been birthed from several supernovas.

There were plenty of those around Chiss Space. Some of those were the same planets that were going to receive aid from a fully armed star destroyer. Daella made sure that the Chiss were able to acquire the correct material for mining the neutronium.

After that, it was time to move onto the final element that they required for a vast amount of durasteel: zersium. This ore was found in several places. Yet, it was not as vastly available as neutronium. It would require more smugglers and deceptive means of acquiring the ore.

 

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Daella decided that getting the ore from several locations was key to hiding the true identity of the buyer. These sources of zersium were found in Mandalorian and Protectorate territory. Because of the popularity of durasteel, such sources always had some ore to sell and it usually left those nations’ territory.

For unknown or suspicious buyers though, the price of the ore was considerably marked up. Daella had to search long and hard for cheaper suppliers of the ore. Even then, its cost was considerable in order to keep the shipment a secret to the Republic.

Still, Daella made the order. Within a few days, shipments of the many ores required for the creation of durasteel began to pour to Copero. From there, they were shipped to the many foundries planetside that were capable of created a high grade of durasteel - the type of grade one would expect in a high-tech starship.

 

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At this point, the construction of the hypermatter reactor was about to begin. This one part of the starship was actually going to be the most critical part of it. Without the hypermatter reactor working perfectly, the Reactive project would fall apart before it could even be completed.

It was also important to start construction on the hypermatter reactor now due to the fact that it will be a major deciding factor in the size of the hull and if any design changes were necessary for it. Daella claimed that she wanted a superlaser capable of destroying a planet at a full charge, so that alone would require the utmost attention to detail for a reactor meant to fit within a star destroyer.

For example, the typical reactor of a military-grade star destroyer above one thousand meters produces the power of a star. The energy necessary to shoot a laserbeam capable of destroying a planet required that of a galaxy.

 

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Daella understood exactly what this meant for the reactor: it would be highly unstable. If one was able to sneak aboard the ship and make their way all the way to the central chamber of the reactor, they would have been able to destroy the entire starship with little effort. Of course, it would have been a suicide attack, but the multi quadrillion credit project would have been vaporized in that instant.

Another issue of the hypermatter reactor would have been how much gas it produced. Daella was concerned about how the ventilation system should work. If they created a ventilation shaft too large, the Republic would have been able to fire a missile down the entire length of it. It would have gone straight to the very volatile reactor and caused a chain reaction that would destroy the starship.

 

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The journey to the hypermatter reactor’s construction site did not take long. In fact, because of its massive size, it was decided that it would be built in space. As Daella’s shuttle flew by the hypermatter reactor, she was awed by the size of it. She could see the main reactor itself - a sphere in the middle of a mass of pipes. She could see the main busses for the power to be fed off of. She also noticed massive capacitor banks that would have been saving up a charge for a shot.

The reason for the massive capacitors was simple: the reactor itself could not produce enough wattage to give instantaneous power to the superlaser for its shot. It would take a considerable amount of time in order to charge the superlaser to a full-powered blast. Because of that, something was necessary to store the power.

 

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This also meant that the hypermatter reactor and conjoining power systems were essentially a gigantic bomb. In the event of a catastrophic failure in the hypermatter reactor, it was likely that many ships nearby would be destroyed as well. Daella had to keep this in mind for the upcoming battles that they would have with this device. While she hoped that the starship would last forever, she understood that it was very possible for it to be destroyed. After all, the gatekeeper of Darth Krayt’s holocron did say that another Sith had used a superweapon like this in the past - and Daella has seen no sign of its continued existence into the contemporary age.

After a flyby of the massive reactor, Daella was brought to a spacestation overlooking the technical monstrosity. She was hospitality and refreshments, yet Daella refused them all. She simply went to the conference room and waited for the meeting to begin.

 

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Eventually, a group of managers and a few engineers entered the conference room and took their seats. They informed Daella of the progress in the hypermatter reactor. They did tell her, though, that it was likely that the reactor would be too large for a one thousand six hundred meter ship and that the size must be appropriately increased.

Daella informed them that this was fine so long as those in charge of designing the hull got the volume necessary as soon as possible.

The engineers also told Daella that it was likely that the generator would be unable to power three shield generators. They would have to settle for the standard of two for a ship of that size. Daella told them that this was acceptable as well due to the fact that this was still early enough in construction to manage changes.

 

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They also informed Daella that there would be little room for the starship to power massive amounts of turbolasers. In fact, they suggested that point-defense quadlasers would be the best approach to arming the rest of the ship as this would defend it from starfighters and only drew a relatively minimal amount of power compared to turbolasers.

With this, Daella took some thought on how this would affect this ship. It meant that it would require the full support of a fleet in order to be operational. Unlike what Darth Krayt’s schematic said, where the superweapon was a force to reckon with by itself, the starship that Daella would help create would be useless by itself.

This required a change in how Daella imagine the starship would be used. This meant for sure that any engagements with it would be an all or nothing approach requiring the full support of the One Sith military with each use.

 

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Thinking about it some more, Daella also realized that this meant the chances of seeing the superlaser in action was fairly low. The number of shields had been lowered. The firing rate of the superlaser was too low to defend against an entire fleet without precharging - and even after one shot it would meant the end for the ship itself.

Most likely, the ship would remain over Coruscant for most of the time - already fully charged in the event that the Republic attempts to make an all or nothing attack on Coruscant in order to retake it. At the least, this meant that Coruscant would turn into an impregnable fortress.

Then again, it would also be the equivalent of a loaded firearm sitting next to one’s bed. Just one person messing up would result in the destruction of the most important planet in the galaxy.

 

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All things considered thought, Daella imagined that after the first use of the superweapon, it would deter other powers from ever attempting to resist the One Sith. The deterrent alone was enough for Daella. In fact, she began to devise a plan in order to bring the Republic to its knees.

Foreseeing a high likelihood of a successful military campaign that was soon to come, Daella imagined that the Republic would soon be brought to its knees. It would be that moment that the One Sith bring out its superweapon.

Then, they would launch an attack on the impregnable Anaxes - the new capital of the Republic. While Daella wished to refrain from using the weapon to destroy planets needless, she understood the message that destroying Anaxes would send.

Nothing can stop us.

Just the thought of Anaxes possibly being conquered was mind blowing. Yet, if the Sith could show that they had the power to just decimate it, many other nations would capitulate at the first sign of One Sith hostilities.

 

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Of course, Daella also knew that it was likely the other nations would have the opposite approach:
Realizing that they would be vastly outnumbered and outgunned, they would unite with the other nations in a coalition in order to take down the One Sith. They would launch a concentrated effort in conquering Coruscant as well as destroying the superweapon.

Daella shuddered at the thought of such a scenario. She understood that it would mean the end of the One Sith as well as any plans of uniting the galaxy. She was certain that as soon as Coruscant was captured by a party other than the Republic, then the rest of the nations would scramble in an attempt to stake their claim in the most economically vibrant planet in the galaxy.

 

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All these assumptions came from the fact that the hypermatter reactor could not generate enough power with such a small frame. Its defenselessness was seriously alarming to Daella. Still, it was something that could be managed even if the superweapon could not perform as optimal as she wished.

Beyond that, the engineers claimed that there were little other difficulties that they would have with the hyperreactor. Chances were, a full charge would take a full day. Therefore, the ship would have to charge before jumping into hyperspace. It would then have to get into range quickly in order to make the shot before enemy forces could attempt to block it with large capital ships.

Though, Daella imagined that if such a thing even happened, it was likely that the planet’s surface would be scorched by the sheer heat of the superlaser at such a close range.

 

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However at the moment, it did seem as if the hypermatter reactor was on the right track for the Reactive project. Daella took her leave and went back to her quarters at the Copero shipyard.

Daella decided to contact the Elite Four to see the progress on Hercarim’s wounds. She found out that he had quickly adjusted to using Force Sight and seemed to have gotten considerably stronger in his sword skills despite everything. Daella believed she had made the right choice in her bodyguard’s lieutenant’s with this news.

After the call, Daella got a couple hours of sleep. Each moment that she had to lay down her head felt like bliss. She had been dreadfully behind and erratic with her sleeping pattern -especially with the heavy amount of traveling to other planets as well as different parts of planets. Keeping track of time in the galaxy was woefully dreadful.

 

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When the morning came, Daella decided to go to the meeting to decide on how the hull would be shaped - at least how exactly.

The journey took her to the same conference room as the previous day. Once there, Daella took her seat and watched as a flood of engineers and managers entered. After introductions were made, they got straight to business with explaining the design of the hull to Daella.

Essentially, they want to maintain a dagger-like shape - or something like a wedge. This went back to the idea of having as lowering the profile of the ship. They understood that the least amount of fire that the starship could take, the better off it would be. This also meant that flanking maneuvers with a ship of considerable firepower would be especially dangerous. To this reason, Daella took a mental note to always have a star destroyer at above and below the starship.

 

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After that, the hull specialists thanked Daella for her efforts in obtaining enough minerals for the durasteel frame. They claimed that it definitely made the job a lot easier for them in the long run as it allowed for a quicker construction.

They also said that there would likely be little space for much in the hangar. They said it would be best just to have possibly a squadron of fighters at the most - possibly more of a small fleet of shuttles if anything to move personnel on and off the starship.

Daella was also informed that living quarters, minus those for the captain and VIPs, would be very cramped. Because of that, Daella knew that morale on the starship would be hard to maintain if things were not handled properly. Of course, most crew were already used to cramp environments - but if the hull engineers are making a mention of it, then it must be something extraordinary.

 

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After saying that, the hull engineers were now at a loss. They were not sure how the exact shape of the hull should be. Granted, most of them were looking for the practicality that the hull could provide. Yet, a couple were concerned about the aesthetics.

Despite being a utilitarian at heart, Daella understood that the aesthetic of the ship would be something of importance. This went back to the fact that the starship would not be used as frequently as it could. Therefore, it had to give as much of a visual impression as it could before disappearing back to Coruscant to guard the capital in safety.

Daella began to think long and hard about what type of design the starship should have. While the hull experts continued to argue, Daella pulled out some paper and began to draw.

 

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The drawing took some time. Daella was diligent in making sure the details were exactly what she wished. Meanwhile, several minor arguments went back and forth among the group. Daella had to tune them out before she finished the drawing.

Then, she handed it over to a draftsman. He was impressed by the look of the starship at this point. He quickly added some color to it. As the meeting went on, he also modeled it on his little holopad. One by one, the attendants of the conference began to notice what was going on. They slowly grew silent and began to watch the draftsman make Daella’s creation come to three-dimensional life.

The draftsman was quick - it helped for him to have four arms cybernetically attached to him. It did not take very long before Daella’s work was visualized in a manner that others would understand.