Bugs & Ships

[J3C0]

Mierin stood on the observation decks of the Copero Shipyards. Her listless yellow eyes landed on a form before her within the gravity-less drydock. Thousands of brown insectoid spots floating about a huge metal frame, welding sparks and bright flashes sundering out against the contrasting gray inside of the drydock. Her eyes fluttered slightly towards the prow of the great ship that was under construction, nearly a dozen strange bug like creatures floated there with a large bulkhead plate of durasteel.

They slowly moved towards the skeletal frame of the ship, aiming to place the durasteel plate on its forward prow. Moving such things was quite easy for them within the void of Gravity, the plate itself likely weighed several tons, but with their expert precision and a few thruster packs the insects were able to move the plate with no real issue.

That of course had been the entire theme of this little project.

The Killiks were coordinated beyond any workforce Mierin had ever seen. They moved in sync, they acted as one. Everything they did seemed to flow together perfectly, a single massive mind working towards a common goal, the goal of building a ship. Everything they did seemed to be accomplished faster. Every action needed no consultation, for every worker already knew what they had to do. It was a beautiful sight, and also an annoying one.

They all thought together, they all thought as one.

That was dangerous.

The Sith couldn't control the Killiks, at least not fully. As long as one harbored ill thoughts, they all did. Of course for now it was a non-issue. Hive Oorooroo served the One Sith willingly, they wanted the favor of the Dark Lord and his Hands. They wanted what they had to offer, but eventually? Eventually they would tire of being little less than slaves.

For now however it didn't matter. The Killiks were working on this project, and they would do so until the One Sith were satisfied.

 

[J3C0]

She watched for a time, perhaps an hour, perhaps just a few minutes, it was difficult to tell how much time actually passed, the Killiks worked too quickly to accurately gauge just how much time they took to do anything, at least without a Chrono. So Mierin simply stared at them.

The Sith Pureblood watched them weld the prow of the ship onto its skeletal structure, she watched them place bulkhead after bulkhead and weld it into place. For an hour, or perhaps a minute she watched the insects work. Each action was perceived by force enhanced eyes. Every twitch, every action they took Mierin watched. It was not that she didn't trust them. In fact she probably trust them far more than any Chiss or Human workers the One Sith employed, Killiks were not very good at lying...at least most of them weren't.

It was more that she found them so very fascinating.

Their strange hive mind was completely foreign to her, the idea of a single great thought controlling the direction of an entire species. The concept of such a thing was absolutely fascinating to her. They were a cohesive unit, for better or for worse. No one could betray the Hive, no one could go against it without the others knowing. They were exactly what the One Sith were supposed to be.

She supposed that was the reason why they made such fantastic workers. They could move together, they could work together like no one else. No one Killik ever got in the way of another, no one Killik was ever worthless or slacking at work.

At all times, all Killiks worked for the hive.

 

[J3C0]

She envied their Hive mind, she envied their cohesion and ability to work together.

It was something that she could never achieve, it was something that was completely out of her ability. As the Hive mind worked for a common goal in unison, she was painfully aware that the Killiks had an ability that the One Sith would never have, maintaining loyalty. The Killiks would not betray one another, none of these workers would try to sabotage or stop work on this tremendous vessel. They would not try to betray or destroy the work that was being done here. They couldn't even begin to comprehend such a thing.

Members of the One Sith however, the younger ones who had not yet seen the light. They would jump at a chance for more power. They would kill, maim, betray, and do anything they could in order to gain even an ounce more strength.

It was the nature of the Sith. Mierin could hardly blame them for such tactics, she herself had utilized them within her youth. Of course that had been before the Dark Lord, before the One Sith. Ages had passed since then and now she knew better. The young ones did not however, the acolytes and apprentices of the One Sith, and even some of the Knights, were still selfish at heart, still wanting power for themselves, and only themselves.

The Hand of the Dark Lord let out a sigh as a Killik floated by her, it held a large plate of durasteel and its eyes shifted over towards her for but a moment.

She simply stared.

 

[J3C0]

The Killik floated on by without giving Mierin another look. She supposed that it had more important things to do. The Ships creation had come along quite quickly, almost impossibly so in fact. It had not even been a month and the skeletal structure of the ship had already been completed with the outside now beginning to come together. The Killiks worked at a pace that was nearly impossible to follow, as if they were trying to compete with themselves. One could have blinked, an entire Star Ship would've been built in that time.

She smiled slightly.

Perhaps that was an exaggeration. Yet there was no denying how much the Killiks had already accomplished in so little time. The cohesion their workers showed was unparalleled, even droids lacked their unique perspective and communication skills, not to mention the knowledge they all shared with one another.

As long as one Killik or Joiner knew something, they all did.

That was another thing that Mierin was endlessly envious of. One man had been sacrificed to hive Oorooroo, a Chiss ship designer with nearly fourteen designs of warships underneath his belt. He had been forced by the One Sith into Compliance with the Killiks, and as soon as he had melded with their collective consciousness, the Hive had formed a plan.

 

[J3C0]

At a staggering pace the Killiks had formed a plan. They had not told the One Sith what they were building, they had not given designs or blue-prints, they had simply asked for materials, and a drydock in which to work in.

Both had been given to them. Mierin had ensured that the Killiks received whatever they needed. Raw Materials and space, as well as equipment and even a few more joiners were provided to the Killiks in order for them to speed up the building of this new vessel. This of course had been part of the original deal between Mierin and the Killiks. They would be given a trial run so to speak, a single chance at building the One Sith something that they could utilize.

Hive Oorooroo was well known for its starship building, usually only starfighters and small transports, but well known them nonetheless. It seemed that larger vessels were not an issue either, they simply needed direction on where to begin, something that the One Sith had provided with their Chiss victim.

Now the enormous vessel lay out before her.

The size of a Star Destroyer, yet more lean and life like. Not even half of it was covered in durasteel plating yet, but she could already make out its form. The Ship was unique, life-like, almost alive. Its design was wildly different than anything else in the One Sith navy, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The Sith Pureblood frowned slightly, her eyes shifting as a nearby door opened.

 

[J3C0]

The Turbo-lift at the edge of the room slipped open, the normal wooshing noise that came with it sundered the quiet of the room, much to the annoyance of Mierin. She frowned slightly, not turning away from the viewport to see who it was that had come to speak to her. It was not difficult to guess who, likely one of the Chiss who ran the shipyards, or one of the Killiks who was bringing her an update on the creation of the ship. Either was not really necessary to her right now, but neither could be ignored.

When the figure who had exited the turbo-lift moved over towards her she managed to catch its reflection in the viewport, unsurprisingly it was a large bug like Killik.

Of the two options she did not mind the Killik as much. While the Chiss were cold and logical, the Killiks were on the other spectrum. They had emotion, plenty of it in fact, they simply acted as one individual with that emotion, even though there were many thousands of them. She suspected that this made the Killik hive rather stressed at all times, given that individual Killiks received inputs from literally thousands of sources at all times, meaning the Hive must have filtered quite a bit of this out.

Her musings were interrupted when the creature spoke.

“Great Lady.”

That was a title they used for Mierin, apparently they thought her somewhat close the Dark Lord of the Sith, a correct assumption, though the title was still unwarranted.

“Construction of the ship continues as expected.”

 

[J3C0]

Mierin's gaze flickered to the mirrored reflection of the Killik in the viewport. She frowned slightly, though why that particular emotion played across her face was unknown. The Sith Pureblood should have been more than pleased by the news.

The Killiks had estimated that construction of the ship should only last two months. Tow months to build a ship as size able and without the same firepower as a Star Destroyer. That estimate was ludicrous, and if it had been anyone except for the Killiks that had given it Mierin likely would've had them shot and thrown into space for telling blatant and obvious lies to a Sith Lord. As it stood however, it appeared that the Killiks would be keeping their promises, at least for this ship.

So then why was she frowning?

“That is excellent news.” Mierin said in her cold impassive tone.

The Killik didn't respond. Perhaps it picked up on her displeasure, or perhaps it did not understand her range of emotion. To the creatures credit however, it remained in place. The Killik decided that it didn't need to leave yet, either because it still had something to say, or because it expected Mierin to say something to it. The Hive mind was funny like that, they always expected more, nothing could ever be a short conversation.

 

[J3C0]

The Killik seemed to wait on Mierins flank for an eternity.

Perhaps it expected praise, or perhaps it expected more commentary on the situation, or perhaps the hive simply enjoyed watching itself work. It was difficult to tell with the creatures, but Mierin didn't find it too annoying, at least the creature remained silent. For a time the two aliens simply stood in peace, both of them watching as thousands of Killiks kept working on the massive starship. Plate after plate of durasteel was welded onto the skeleton, bright flashes of white and blue sparking all across the inside of the drydock.

Finally, The Sith Pureblood once again spoke.

“The Vessel.” She paused to allow the Killik to properly pay attention to her. “You will be able to replicate it?”

That was question that was most curious to her. The Killiks had created no blue-prints, no schematics, no designs or diagrams for this ship. They had simply taken a moment, and then begun construction. It was as if the design of the ship was ingrained in their very genetic code. They did not need to look at the plans to see what they needed to do, they simply knew. It was a frightening thing, but once again awe-inspiring.

Much like everything else about the Killiks.

 

[J3C0]

“Of course.”

The Killiks voice was almost grating to Mierin, but she managed to keep a straight face.

“The design and mechanics of the ships are engrained within us. We will be able to produce exact copies of the vessel with no trouble, provided that the same resources are given and the same staging area is supplied.”

She could tell that the Killik was not used to speaking so...eloquently. Apparently the Hive mind was genuinely trying to sound more human in order to please the One Sith. She suspected that this was due to them trying to blend in more, or rather assimilate more into the environment of the One Sith Empire. After all, if they fit in more, then they would be more likely be accepted into the ranks of the Empire. It was not a bad plan in truth, though of course Mierin saw right through it.

“Could the plans be written down? For those of us not within the Hive?” The Killik stopped for a second, not wanting to insult Mierin but clearly suspicious of her motives.

It thought that she was already plotting to get rid of them, how silly.

“Of course Great Lady. It will be transcribed immediately.”

 

[J3C0]

“No.” She stopped the creature. “You will not.”

They could of course transcribe it. They could put it on a data pad, put it on flimsy, and make physical copies of the ships designs, but why? Such a thing would make them vulnerable. Someone could steal them, gain access and copy them, or do any number of things. The Killiks would not betray the One Sith, they would not go against them unless the entire Hive decided to do so.

If only they knew the design of the ship, if only they knew the ins and outs of this new Star Destroyer, then it would be far safer.

This way the schematics of the Star Destroyer could remain out of prying eyes for much longer. There was no doubt in her mind that eventually someone would map the ship, one of the crew or a Republic spy would gain access and find its inner weakpoints. Yet that would take time, and the longer they could keep such things hidden, the better.

That was a simple fact of war.

“As you say Great Lady.”

Mierin's eyes flickered away from the Killik and back towards the ship within the drydock. The vessel really was coming together quite quickly, and she was impressed by the speeds at which the Killiks were working. The frown disappeared from her face, perhaps they would have to breed more of these insects.

They were useful.