A Dark Blade

[J3C0]

It didn't take long for them to make their way back to the Crimson Wraith after that. As it turned out Kolyat was almost as eager to leave the planet as Mierin had been to leave the bunker. While the insane shipwright had enjoyed his time among the local women, the men seemed not to take too kindly to his presence, and when the Sith Pureblood had suggested he gathered his things, the man grabbed only a datapad and a small bundle of clothes.

As for the people of this world. They were left alive. Mierin held her word to the Elder and the man within the settlement, neither having gotten in her way meant the survival of their people.

She left the filth ridden bunker with her head held high and her purpose still ringing true. She had found the Shipwright, now it was just a matter of putting him to good use. Aboard the transport Kolyat seemed to wonder and stare at the troopers that surrounded him. Their red armor and their grizzled faces told of battles that had been endured, yet their signature emblem told him they were Sith.

The insane man was confused, and by the time they reached the ship his confusion was turning into agitation.

 

[J3C0]

“No no no no no no...”

He had been repeating the word for the last ten minutes, and when the ramp of the transport ship finally opened to reveal the inside of a Star Destroyer hangar bay the little man scrambled and screamed, rushing out of the transport bay and immediately into the Hangar.

“YOU'RE SITH. YOU LIED. YOU'RE GOING TO KILL ME!”

Mierin only sighed. She did not have much experience dealing with crazy people. Well in fact she had none at all. Usually when people proved to be crazy Mierin silenced them immediately, she had no time for inane babbling or meaningless philosophy. She was a woman of stalwart objective, she had a tasks, she did it, and there was nothing that could sidetrack her.

Unfortunately, she was required to deal with this crazy man to complete her task.

Slowly she rose from inside the transport, signaling for Orin to follow her into the Hangar bay. Jason was rushing about the Hangar, darting from ship to ship in order to try and find a place to escape...or hide. The Pureblood simply observed him, watching with cool yellow eyes as he rushed about the room.

“Jason.” She said sternly.

 

[J3C0]

The man didn't listen to her of course, he instead chose to keep his pursuit of a hiding place going and thus rushed around the Hangar for quite some time. Sweat began to bead on his forehead, and he dropped several articles of clothing as he ran rampantly about the room.

Mierin pursed her lips, content to let the man tire himself out before she went over to speak to him. There was no where he could go, no where to run or turn to. The Hangar had only one exit, well technically two if you counted the opening into space, and that was sealed. As for the ships, each one was guarded and locked by a contingent of Stormtroopers.

There were prisoners aboard this ship, and any chance of escape was completely null.

“WHY WOULD YOU LIE TO ME!”

He screamed the words as he ran past her, attempting to look her in the eyes as he did so. Unfortunately for Jason, the lack of concentration on where he was going brought him into direct confrontation with the wing of an old Tie Fighter, and as he rushed headlong into it a loud resound thud ran through the hangar.

The Pureblood winced slightly, but said nothing as she wandered over towards where Kolyat lay.

 

[J3C0]

“Jason.” Mierin once again said sternly as she looked down at the reeling man. “Please use that genius mind of yours.”

He looked at her as though he were insulted, his eyes crossing slightly as if he was trying to think of something. The Pureblood merely watched him for a moment, and then squatted down next to him to pat his now bruised forehead softly, apparently ensuring that no injury or harm had come to him. When she found no blood she continued convincing the man.

“Why would I want to harm you? I have gone through much work to find you and bring you aboard this ship. I least of anyone, want to see you hurt.” This was true. If Jason Kolyat was harmed, Mierin could not complete her mission.

For obvious reasons, that couldn't happen.

It took a moment for Kolyat to process what she was trying to say, as if the concept of someone else not wanting to harm him was a completely foreign thing. His eyes uncrossed and slowly he nodded, as if coming to an understanding. Mierin simply stood up, waving to her commander.

 

[J3C0]

The Commander reached down and grasped Jason by the scruff of his jacket, dragging him to his feet as his limbs flailed slightly. It was a comical sight, though the humor was lost on those present. Mierin simply looked on as Jason scrambled to his feet, and Orin let go of the panicky little mouse with a slight look of disgust on his face.

The Sith and the Commander regarded one another for a second, and then Orin turned to leave.

“Now Jason.” Mierin said calmly as she caught his attention with a wave of her hand. “First, I will show you to your rooms.”

She doubted that he knew his way around a Star Destroyer. Sure he had spent his life designing ships, but he had probably never spent much time, if any at all, upon them. Normally Mierin would have pushed the task on someone else but unfortunately, she doubted very much that Jason Kolyat would remain stable long enough for anyone else to show him the way. So it would be she who did the babysitting.

Hardly something to look forward to.

 

[J3C0]

Kolyat began to lazily nod, weary still of his surroundings.

Mierin directed him towards the Hangar door, something he had apparently missed earlier. Two of the troopers from the surface of the planet stepped in line behind them as the pair began to walk. Whether they served as guards for her, or prison officers for Kolyat was impossible to tell. Though the latter was far more likely given that this was her ship.

“You will be given privacy. A new set of clothes, and a chance to freshen yourself.” Her words hinted at the fact that the latter two things were not at all an option.

Jason looked down at the soiled rags on his body that passed for clothes and simply gave a mousey nod. He knew that he stunk, and he would likely be happy for a change of clothes that would render him more...normal. As for the privacy, at the very mention of the word his eyes seemed to light up. Apparently Jason had not been left alone for some time.

 

[J3C0]

They made their way through the ship in no time. The people that usually clustered the halls seemed to run away when their noses touched the rank smell of Jason Kolyat. Teeming crowds turned into fleeing individuals and isolated pockets of soldiers turned into quickly retreating armies as soon as the duo and their escort rounded corners. It was actually a quite handy thing, and if Mierin hadn't needed the use of her nose at times she would be obliged to keep a person with serious body odor around her at all times.

Unfortunately, such a thing was not to occur, and instead the motley crew reached the end of their passage within only a few minutes of leaving the hangar.

Turbo-lift rides were the worst.

As they arrived Mierin was the first to enter the estate room, the doors sliding open to present a large and comfortable suite meant for an officer or perhaps a visiting ambassador. The massive central room contained a holo-display, a workstation, a couch, and several large comfortable chairs. Off shooting from this room was a fresher, and a bedroom, each designed for comfort instead of the usual Imperial Blandess that came on Star Destroyers.

Whoever had lived her had it well.

Jason Kolyat stepped into the room with a certain wonder on his phase, completely missing the two guards taking up position on either side of the door, each brandishing their weapon still.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin looked about the room for a moment to ensure that everything was in its correct place, then regarded Kolyat with those cool yellow eyes of her.

“I will give you a few hours to freshen up and relax. I would think you need time to yourself.” She sounded understanding, but the coercion in her voice was still in place. The little hint that told that she would eventually want something in return for her kindness. The tone of her voice that told Jason there was a price for all of this.

His eyes gave away that he knew.

Mierin could see it, as plainly as though he were an open book. Perhaps it was not as obvious to others, but to her it seemed almost as though he were screaming the question, demanding of her what it was she wanted. He stood clutching his bag, until finally he spoke.

“What. What is it you want from me?”

 

[J3C0]

For a genius, Kolyat never used much common sense.

She wondered if that was a trait of all genius. The fact that they were so intelligent that simple things often slid past their mind simply because it could not occur to them. Strangely enough she wondered if the same thing happened with the Dark Lord.

Did he miss things simply because the thoughts of Mortals did not occur to him?

“I want you to do what you do best Jason.” Mierin said as she walked towards him, stride ever confident. “Design me a ship.”

He eyed her, a part of him did not understand.

“You don't need me for that. There are hundre-”

“Yes. There are hundreds who could design a ship. There are hundreds who could give me the equivalent of a Star Destroyer or a Battleship, but it is not what I want.” Her tone was stern again, and she could see a growing excitement within his eyes.

“What do you want?”

 

[J3C0]

“A Masterpiece.” She whispered to him.

They stood not even a foot apart, her eyes boring into his own and her unwavering face never showing anything except for the hint of a smile. His own however betrayed him.

Excitement. Fear. Anxiety. Joy.

They were all there. All present within him. It was an interesting mix, one that seemed to mix with his already over powering scent. Yet it was all good. The range of emotions the man was feeling was downright unstable, but it could be controlled and channeled into her little project. It could be directed into what she wanted.

“I want you to design me a ship like no other in this galaxy. One that exudes power over all others. Both in function and design.” Her voice was stronger now. “Do you think you can do that Jason?”

His only response was a nod.

“Good.”

She left him.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin found herself within the comfort of her meditation chamber once more, the calming rolling tides of the force flowing through her like an ocean of power. Her eyes flickered beneath their lids, her skin twitched, and the bone protrusions on her face seemed to shift slightly as her expression became more and more stern. The Darkside rose like a tide within her, consuming and eating away at her.

Images began to flash before her eyes.

She saw a ship, massive and foreboding looming within a shipyard, she saw herself, kneeling before the Dark Lord of the Sith. She saw fleets of ships moving against a lush vibrant world. Fire raged upon the world, great hives burning and shattering into thousands of pieces as a nearby city was consumed in a great black fist. She shook, the visions rolling across her one by one until finally.

Her eyes snapped open.

There was no mistake to what had just happened. The Dark Lord had shown her the next path, had urged her to move forward with their plan and was pushing her to take new action.

“It will be done Great Lord.” The words were an unheard whisper.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin rose from her place on the meditation platform, her long black silken robes stretching slightly as she got to her feet. Directly ahead of her the viewport was bright with the blue streaks of hyperspace. Her gaze lingered there for a moment, entranced by the dancing swirling shades of light.

Before she lost herself within them, Mierin turned.

Quickly she exited the Meditation Chamber and into the halls of the Star Destroyer. It was late at night, or at least thats the only thing it could be called. Most of the crew was asleep, or getting some much needed down time. Only the bare necessity stood ready at attention. Such was often the case when a ship entered hyperspace under relaxed conditions, and the Crimson Wraith was no different.

She made her way quickly through the ship. With no crowds barring her it was an easy task.

It had only been a few hours since she had left Jason Kolyat in his room with her intent for him. Since then she had heard almost nothing from either him, or her guards. The Pureblood hoped that in this case no news was good news.

 

[J3C0]

Thankfully for her, such was a case.

Mierin found her way to Jason's quarters in no time at all, and greeted the guards standing by his door with a slight incline of her head. Both of them immediately saluted, stiffening at the approach of their Mistress. She smiled at them, and then bade them report on the situation.

“He's been quiet Ma'am. None of the sensors have gone off and he seems to be...calm. Johnny checked on him an hour ago.”

The Pureblood let out a relieved sigh. At least Kolyat had yet to attack anyone, that was something. The man was supposedly erratic, and had actually already proven to be so. None of the information however had detailed whether or not he was actually violent. Mierin hoped not, or else he would be in quite a bit of pain eventually. “Thank you, Major.”

The Soldier nodded, and the door slid open.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin stepped inside with all the liquid grace she could muster. She prepped herself for an untold mess of books, clothes, and perhaps water.

Yet what she found was wholly pleasant.

The room had mostly gone unchanged from how she left it. There were no clothes or towels on the floor and everything had remained relatively cleaned. The only things that looked to be disturbed were the bedroom, whose door hang wide open, and the freshers. It seemed that Jason had taken some rest, and a much needed shower, and that was it. She sighed relieved once again, at least the cleaning droids would not be needed this soon.

Her eyes scanned the room, only to find yet another surprise.

Peacefully in the corner at the workstation sat Jason Kolyat. One hand scribbled away onto a piece of flimsy, while the other typed something into a nearby datapad. His head often swiveled from the drawing to the datapad, and then sometimes up at the blank wall above the workstation.

It did not appear as though he even noticed her arrival.

Good.

 

[J3C0]

For a time she watched him.

There was no need to approach a man at work, and right now Jason seemed wholly engrossed in whatever it was that he was doing. So instead Mierin moved to the center of the room, quite a ways away from Jason and directly behind him, and simply watched him. Cold yellow eyes stared at him, looking over his shoulder from a distance and watching him work. She made no noise, no rustling of clothing, no shuffling of her feet, even her breathing seemed to be momentously quiet.

She could not have said for how long she watched him work. To her it seemed like mere minutes, though it was probably more than a few hours.

It fascinated her to watch him scribble a design upon the flimsy while furiously calculating things on the datapad. His mind worked and warped its way around a problem that Mierin likely could not know existed. Her eyes flickered from place to place, observing and taking in everything that she could learn about his process, and what he was doing.

It was utterly unique to her, the process that he used to design these ships. She knew something about technology from the Zugurk back on Athiss. Her father had ensured that she could fare for herself should she be stranded, but the design and building of a interstellar ship? Such a thing was entirely beyond her.

Kolyat flipped over a piece of flimsy and began to draw something new.

This time it was not an entire ship, but instead seemed to become something of a skeletal structure. It was a design of slim fit, appearing to be a strange nimble blade. Her eyes shifted slightly, watching as the skeleton came together in a coherent form. At its halfway point Kolyat seemed to stop, lifting his head and letting out a loud sigh as though he had finally figured out a problem. He ignored the drawing for a moment, and returned his attention to the datapad in full.

Furiously he typed numbers, drew lines, and began to solve a problem anew.

Mierin simply watched.

 

[J3C0]

What seemed like another age passed, and finally Jason Kolyat placed the datapad down onto the desk in front of him, obscuring the skeletal ship drawing and the work that he had done earlier. A loud sigh escaped passed his lips, and his entire body slumped as though a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulder.

Mierin cocked her head, watching him with curiosity.

“Many people believe that in starships, bigger is better.”

If Mierin had not been a Sith Lord and a woman who had lived for thousands of years, his sudden spoken words would have made her jump. Instead however Mierin was just slightly startled, her eyes opening wide and her face growing impassive as the man began to speak. She had not enjoyed the suddenness of it.

“That was what the Empire believed. Build me a bigger this! Build me a bigger that!”

Mierin cocked her head.

“Is it not so?” Perhaps she truly was ignorant on the subject, though she loathed to admit it to anyone. Especially her peers.

 

[J3C0]

Jason let out a long sputtering breath that made his lips flap, as if Mierin had said the stupidest thing in the world.

The Purebloods expression darkened.

“Hardly. I mean in the...Old Old Empire they would tell you so. What with their Death Stars and Super Star Destroyers and the big guns and....”

Kolyat continued for quite some time listing all of the big weapons that the Old Empire of Palpatine had designed. Mierin knew of most of them, having read the records within the library and having listened to the Dark Lords words about why previous Empires in the galaxy had failed so badly. Some of them however were new to her, and she listened with keen interest when Kolyat mentioned a device called the “Sun Crusher”.

As it turned out that had not actually been a big weapon, but rather a small one designed to do big things. Mierin was fascinated.

“Anyway. That whole philosophy is wrong.”

Mierin eyed the man. She wasn't quite sure what he meant. Those superweapons and large hips worked fairly well. Difficult to destroy and usually only detonated in the last minute by some inane means.

“Oh?” She egged him on, curiosity driving her as much as purpose.

 

[J3C0]

“Well yes. Big ships are great. They hold a lot of firepower and are generally far more intimidating than anything smaller.”

Now he was just stating the obvious.

“But, they also come with a multitude of problems. Bigger ships, like the Executor class for instance take longer to build, longer to outfit, longer to repair, and are mostly impossible to produce on a massive scale. The Shipyards alone for those vessels? Massive. The crews? Massive. Its almost unthinkable how much goes into just ONE of those ships, never mind a dozen.”

Mierin understood the logic behind what he was saying, but there was also a certain counterbalance to it. More often than not those ships weren't used as central fleet elements, but flagships that were designed to intimidate and destroy. The Super Star Destroyer he spoke of for instance had the dual purpose of not only being a destroyer, but also a floating superweapon that put fear into the hearts of entire worlds.

“Yes.” Mierin said. “But they create fear.”

Leave it to a Sith to bring up fear.

“No. Reputation creates fear. Sure the Lusankya and the Executor were feared across the galaxy, but guess what. The Entire Empire was. They could have used ships a tenth of that size, which they did for years, and still held the same fear to control the populace.”

 

[J3C0]

“I see.” Mierin said quietly coming to more understanding about his point. “Then what is it you will do for my ship?”

The ship wasn't hers of course but that didn't really matter in terms of this conversation. In truth Mierin had expected him to create a fleet of powerful ships that were simply larger than those of the Republic and others. After all in her mind, bigger had in fact been better up until a few minutes ago. Now however curiosity reigned within her mind, and despite herself she was eager to see what the Shipwright had come up with.

“Miniaturization.”

Was the response she received.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, and finally Mierin moved from her place in the center of the room. She carried herself swiftly over to his workspace where he handily cleared the datapad away from his work and showed her the designs of the ship he was creating.

It seemed he had come far in just a few hours.

 

[J3C0]

“The concept is a simple one really. Though it hasn't really been necessary up until this point.”

She looked from the drawing towards him for a moment, clearly not understanding what he meant.

“A capital ship can only carry a certain amount of guns due to space, power constraints, targeting algorithms, and a few other factors.”

Mierin nodded in response to him, and was surprised to find herself...learning. It was an odd thing to do at her age, especially from someone like Jason who had proven to be...erratic. Then again however this was his area of expertise, and who was she to question the gaining of knowledge in an area that few in the One Sith actually knew anything about.

Her eyes shifted back to the papers and she continued to listen.

“If instead of sizing up the hull of the ship you focusing on making gun circuits smaller, power output more efficient, and targeting algorithms more effective then you can effectively increase the number of guns you can put on a smaller ship.”

So that was the math. He was by himself fixing these problems.

Of course the actual task of that would take weeks, perhaps even months, but Jason Kolyat would not be alone in this endeavor. He would soon have a team of people working for him to figure these things out.

Mierin pursed her lips as she traced her finger over the design of the ship.