The Founder: Part 1

[Soeht]

Velkoz eagerly obliged Daella and got her in contact with the person from Titan Industries. A new being appeared before Daella in a hologram - someone in a hood. The man then took it off to reveal himself as a Yuuzhan Vong male.

“Greetings, Darth Junra,” hissed the Yuuzhan Vong, “Call me Ner Chako.”

Daella looked at the begin with a perked eyebrow. As any Force sensitive, she found it difficult to gauge the demeanor of Yuuzhan Vong. She used the Force as a crutch in order to discern the meaning behind people’s words. That strength turned out to be a weakness when dealing with beings on a different “wavelength” of the Force as other being.

“Well met,” said Daella as she greeted the Yuuzhan Vong, “What do you require of me today?”

“Ourrr boss has informed us of your project,” said Ner Chako, “I want to speak with you about it. Now.”

 

[Soeht]

“I don’t appreciate dramatic pauses,” said Daella as she waited for the Yuuzhan Vong to get to the point of his call.

Ner Charko narrowed his eyes at the response that Daella gave. In that single sentence, he assumed that Daella most likely had an unfavorable opinion of Yuuzhan Vong.

“I desire to know how our shapers may assist,” said Ner Chako, “We have already designed great warships for the One Sith. I think it is only proper that we may lend some assistance with this Reactive project.”

Daella eyes the Yuuzhan Vong’s hologram before her. She found his proposal to be interesting - even if she was instantly against it. It was easy to assume that she found the idea of Yuuzhan Vong to be disgusting - an easy assumption for the source of that feeling being that it is hard to place faith in a being one cannot trust in the manner that they are used to.

 

[Soeht]

“Explain what you mean by assist, Ner Chako?” asked Daella, “Construction has already begun on the ship. It is also brimming with technology - something that I know your culture despises.”

“This is true to an extent,” said Ner Chako, “Yet if it is the will of our Lord to build this, we must accept his wishes.”

Upon saying that, the Yuuzhan Vong sent some information over to Daella. It contained some information on how the Yuuzhan Vong would have been able to help - at least in what they believed would be help. As far as Daella could tell, most of their suggestions would simply make the ship more pleasing for a Yuuzhan Vong to use the ship. Organic fighters such as coralskippers would require a vast amount of Yuuzhan Vong resources, something that the starship could not afford when it came to space.

 

[Soeht]

After extensively looking through the suggestions that Ner Chako made for the starship to be built, Daella replied to him by saying, “I don’t believe that these can work.”

Instantly, Ner Chako was disappointed with the results of their discussion. The corner of his mouth twitched as he glared at Daella. He began to wonder if she was even worth listening to.

Daella paused for a moment though. Before Ner Chako could reply, she told him, “I appreciate your efforts to help, though. It is simply too late for the Yuuzhan Vong to be able to add some of their technology to the starship.”

After hearing that, Ner Chako remained silent for several more minutes. The tension in the conversation settled as he sighed and told Daella, “I hope you will reconsider using our assistance in the next project that you have.”

With that, the conversation ended.

 

[Soeht]

With her conversation with Ner Chako finished, Daella contacted Velkoz once more.

“My Lord,” began Velkoz, “How did the talks go?”

“It was a Yuuzhan Vong that called,” Daella informed of Velkoz, “He had suggestions for adding Yuuzhan Vong tech to the Reactive project.”

“That… that’s absurd,” exclaimed Velkoz, obviously shocked that the Yuuzhan Vong would even consider such a thing.

Even if it had been ages since the Yuuzhan Vong’s invasion of the galaxy and how most of the facts of their invasion simply became bedtime stories, Velkoz and many of the galaxy’s people had an inherent distrust of the beings.

“Though, it is good to see that this is behind us,” claimed Velkoz, “Do you have any further news from his discussion?”

“None so far,” replied Daella, “It is time for me to retire for the day, though. Thank you for your assistance, Velkoz.”

Their conversation ended after that.

 

[Soeht]

After her conversation with Velkoz and Ner Chako, Daella retired for the evening. In the next day though, she got several messages from Velkoz. She looked at the timestamps and noticed that they were not even within fifteen minutes apart from each other.

Once Daella listened to a message, she quickly understood the situation. There had been a fatality in the shipyard. The investigation was underway, but apparently someone that was doing work with his hands on the field had lost his footing with his magnetic boots. He then floated out into space. His tether line also broke - thus cutting off his feed of oxygen. Then to top things off, the worker floated into the engine of a small starship.

When the engine was turned on, the man was burnt to a crisp. Velkoz now described that the morale of the workers was at an all time low.

 

[Soeht]

Traveling out to the shipyard in a shuttle, Daella finally got another call from Velkoz.

“My Lord, have you received my message about the incident from last night?” asked Velkoz.

“I have,” she replied, “What are your findings?”

“So far,” began Velkoz, “In the case of the starship engine burning the man’s body - or killing him, whichever came first - it was apparent that the flight controller was not keeping a good eye on the surroundings of the starship. This has been fixed, already. We are revamping out training of both pilots and flight controllers. We have also terminated the flight controller and pilot that were involved in the incident.”

“I see,” replied Daella, “Hopefully we do not have any more incidents with such a thing, then. These lost man hours are a detriment to the project.”

“I understand, My Lord,” said Velkoz with a worried voice. He knew that Daella’s patience was being tested with this incident.

 

[Soeht]

“What about other factors?” questioned Daella, “Has there been any leads in the investigation of that?”

“No, My Lord,” replied Velkoz, “The body has been charred beyond the point of recognition. The equipment that the worker had on his person has also been destroyed by the inferno - it has essentially melted into his skin.”

After hearing that, Daella took a few moments to think about what she could do in order to find the source of the accident. Not only did she have to verify that the fatality was not due to sabotage, but she also had to make sure that the work practices that caused this accident could be corrected. Despite there being no need to financially compensate the family for the loss of life, the morale of the workers have been severely depleted by this one fatality. Any further accidents would result in a crippling halt in the construction of the Reactive project.

 

[Soeht]

After thinking about how to figure out the cause of the fatality, Daella found her answer in the Force. She contacted Coruscant - specifically those in charge of the Sith Academy.

“Darth Junra, how may I serve?” asked the Sith Instructor that answered he call.

“I require a Kiffar,” said Daella, “They are to go to Copero’s shipyards. They will receive their instructions upon arrival.”

“It will be done, Darth Junra,” said the Sith Instructor with a bow.

After that, Daella listened to several eye witness reports of the incident. It was apparent that no one had a clue about what really happened. They were also wondering about who the worker was or why he was even there. They had a hard time getting documentation related to his work - thus increasing suspicions about him.

 

[Soeht]

The next day arrived and so did the Kiffar acolyte. She was a young lady - red haired. When Daella met the woman, it took her several seconds before saying a word to her.

“Darth Junra,” said the Acolyte as she bowed to the ground before her, “I am Vayne. I heard you required me.”

Daella blankly stared at Vayne for several seconds before telling, “Come with me, Acolyte.”

Then, they journeyed to the morgue of the shipyard. Daella brought the woman to the charred remains of the worker that had died. She instantly knew of what Daella would ask next.

“I need you to tell me how he died,” Daella told the Vayne.

Vayne then stared at the body for a moment. After a couple seconds, she gave her answer, “It will be done.”

Then, the woman places her hands on the body of the dead worker.

 

[Soeht]

Vayne’s head jerked back. Using her powers of postcognition, she began to see the events that had unfolded on that day. At first, it was the worker waking up and getting dressed. Next, it was him having breakfast. There were a lot of menial tasks that played no part in explaining the worker’s fatality.

Yet, Vayne noticed something alarming. The worker had not properly signed in before he went out to begin construction. This explained why no one was able to verify his name and who he worked for.

Then, Vayne eventually got to see what was happening just before the man’s death. He was listening to loud music. Then by sheer accident, he lost his grip to one of his tools. He then reached out to try to grab them and accidentally pushed off with his magnetic boots.

This sent the man flying into space at a high speed. The tether cord still snapped.

 

[Soeht]

Yet, Vayne continued to dig deeper. She eventually found the reason behind the tether cord breaking. It had not been properly maintained in the previous check ups. Thus, no one had noticed its decreasing integrity.

Once Vayne had gotten the answered related to the fatality, she informed Daella of this.

“You have done well, Acolyte,” said Daella to Vayne, “Now, return to Coruscant.”

Daella then went to see Velkoz. She met up with the Chiss and informed him of what had happened. With that, they were able to devise new safety procedures in order to make sure that the fatality would not occur again. They also were able to restore the morale of workers by properly informing them of what happened and that the incident was completely the fault of the man that had died.

With that, work had begun again at full speed. Daella had to meet with [member="Darth Mierin"] for more business.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin stood upon one of the many observation decks within the Shipyards above Copero, her eyes were pointed towards the construction out in the yards before her and her crimson skinned seemed to glisten slightly with each and every spark of the the bright welding that was happening only meters away from her. There was a permanent frown on her face, there had been since Csilla.

“Where is she?” Mierin asked one of the Imperial Royal Guard that stood a couple of feet away from her.

“She is on her way my Lady.”

The Sith Pureblood let out a slight sigh. That was the trouble with [member="Darth Junra"], she was always late. Mierin continued to look out the window of the observation deck, waiting for the betrayer of Jedi to show her face.

The two had to talk.

 

[Soeht]

After having a lot to do for the day, Daella finally had the opportunity to respond to [member="Darth Mierin"]’s summons for her.

The journey to the observation deck of the shipyards above Copero involved a brief shuttle trip. This was followed by Daella following the winding halls of the space station that had helped coordinate the construction phase of the Reactive project. It took several minutes since her arrival at the shipyard’s main space station before she was even able to reach the observation deck.

It was apparent on Daella’s face: she was tired. She had put in a lot of work during the construction of the superweapon that the One Sith would have.

Standing before Darth Mierin, Daella greeted the frowning Pureblood Sith by simply saying, “Darth Mierin.”

 

[J3C0]

Mierin looked the woman up and down, she was a wreck. Part of her wanted to judge her harshly, but the Sith Pureblood knew full well what a project like this could take out of someone. During the construction of the Dark Blade she had become weary and warn, and this...this was twice the effort.

“Junra.” Mierin said impassively. “I'm told that the project is now nearly completed.”

She said the words just as she turned to face the much younger woman, bright yellow eyes shifting towards Daella with a smooth ease.

Though Mierin hadn't had a massive hand in the Superweapon, she had ensured its survival. The Chiss had plotted to destroy it, gathering a mountain of explosives. When she had wiped away their forward base form the face of the earth she had prevented this from happening. Not as grand as overseeing the entire project, but it would do.

 

[Soeht]

Once she heard [member="Darth Mierin"], Daella looked out to see the form of what would be the most powerful weapon the galaxy has ever seen.

“The testing phase will soon follow,” replied Daella, “Adjustments will have to be made to make it work perfectly.”

Then, Daella turned her head toward Darth Mierin. Rather than the yellow eyes that Mierin sported, Daella had cold blue orbs that stared blankly at the pureblood Sith.

“Your assistance against the renegade Chiss,” added Daella, “It has been invaluable to the project. I appreciate your efforts in the security of the project’s survival. I am sure that the Dark Lord shares such sentiments.”

Once again, Daella looked out to the massive starship that would become the jewel of the One Sith. Looking out to the behemoth, Daella asked Mierin, “Do you have any questions about it?”

 

[J3C0]

[member="Darth Junra"]

Mierin did indeed have questions.

She hadn't been informed of...well anything about the ship. Of course she could have taken the blueprints or simply asked for them, there was nothing within the One Sith that was closed to her. Yet she had never truly made the effort, Jealousy had seen to that. Her lips pursed for a moment in thought. She wondered if Tsavong had had a hand in this, or his corporation.

“The Weapon. How will it work?” The idea of a superlaser was entirely foreign to her, she was born thousands of years before the first true superweapon of course.

In her age the only true power had been the force. Naga Sadow had been capable of destroying entire Star Systems with a whim, would this ship be able to do the same?

 

[Soeht]

When [member="Darth Mierin"] asked her question, Daella eyed the front of the starship. There was a concaved dish where the superlaser would have fired from.

“The weapon is a superlaser,” began Daella as she continued to stare at the ship, “Imagine a turbolaser - only far stronger than it ever could be.”

Then, Daella turned her head back to Mierin and continued to explain, “You have heard of fleets being able to devastate the surface of an entire planet, correct? However, that takes a tremendous amount of time and requires the fleet to be undisturbed. It also does nothing to the planet’s core itself.”

After saying that, Daella pointed at the ship itself - specifically the end from which the superlaser came from.

“Yet a single, fully charge blast of this will shatter and destroy a terrestrial planet,” she claimed.

 

[Sheff Zee]

Malphas was soon out of the office and heading towards his own starship.

It was time for him to be returning home and finishing the business that he had been working on. Whatever that had been, he couldn't even remember anymore. His day had been quite fulfilling with quite a bit of combat and ending the lives of traitors to his company, and to the One Sith.

It was time to rest, he realized while he approached the turbolift to head to his ship. It would be a short journey from Copero to Tantorus.

 

[J3C0]

[member="Darth Junra"]

Marvelous. An entire world gone within the blink of an eye. It was a beautiful thought, one born of technology melded with ingenuity. She wondered what it would have been like had the Ancient Empire had a weapon like this in the Great Hyperspace war. Would the Republic have lost? Would they have been destroyed and fallen to the Sith Empire? Would she have risen to prominence as Queen of the Sith, as the Dark Lady?

She mused to herself, knowing that such things were impossible.

Turning away from [member="Darth Junra"] she regarded the massive ship that lay in front of them. It was not larger than her own Crimson Wraith, yet she knew that the thing was marvelously more powerful than her own vessel. It would be enough to destroy worlds, but what of fleets?

“And ships?” She said quietly “Against the fleets of the Republic?”

The answer was obvious, but she wanted to hear it.