Building A Fleet

[Darth Ferus]

A King without an army or fleet was only a King in name. He had no authority but with those loyal to him, and that would only last as long as there wasn't a threat that needed to be stopped. Krest could stop a great number of things, but an army was not one of them. Not without proper arms and armor for his people. [member="Ignus"] , a fellow Sith Lord, had a company that would be perfect to help begin the process of at least gaining ships.

The aging Zabrak stood within the palace of Iridonia, dressed in the ceremonial leathers and cloth of his people. He had to look the part of King for these sort of dealings. Ignus, upon his arrival, would be greeted by palace guards and lead to the chamber. "Welcome Ignus! I'm glad to see you made it." Would be what Krest would say upon his arrival.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

Leos, as was his custom of late, did not arrive alone. A four man team of his Vermilion Guard accompanied him as far as the throne room. They would wait outside, as was appropriate when approaching the King, even when the King was Krest. He was not above such formalities when they became important, after all. Not being entirely sure what it was that Krest had wanted to speak with him about, he'd been wise enough to bring his datapad along, though he was more concerned that this had something to do with the recent bounty he announced than anything. Was Krest secretly a member of the Primeval?

"Krest," he said as he drew closer. "Good to see you. What is it that you wanted to speak about?"

No, he didn't bow. That would be taking things too far. King or not, Leos was not going to defer himself to another Sith unless he was forced to do so.

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"I have learned of your skill with building ships, and I have a request to ask of you. I am no pilot, and even the most basic of ships elude my understanding. I've learned much in these recent years, but ships?" The elder man chuckled. "Well, there's only so many new tricks an old dog can learn." Krest smiled wide, attempting to simply lighten any mood and keep this encounter a bit more bright than a normal meeting between Sith. This was of course not a meeting between Lords, but a meeting between a builder and a customer.

"The Kingdom of Iridonia is slowly rebuilding itself. The local tribes known as the True Sons and Daughters have named me their King. Some of the ironworking clans still have the plans of our ancestors ships. They are old, but they were effective back in the time of the Zabrak Empire. Do you think you can remake these ancient ships to one that can stand up with the best of what is around now?"

A wave of his hand signaled one of the guards. In turn, the armored woman opened one of the nearby doors and another Zabrak, this one dressed in tribal wear, stepped out. In his arms were schematics, but drawn on paper, not digitized. "These are the plans. I understand they're not the usuall schematics of this day and age, but these were all we had left." The elder woman walked with a hobble and cane, and simply nodded her head to Krest before turning her attention to [member="Ignus"] . "I hope this isn't too much of an inconvenience."

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

Leos groaned.

"That sayings as old as the Force."

He shook his head. Sometimes humor was a tad too much for him. Considering this was clearly a business meeting, he preferred to be more on the formal side of things. A wave of his hand signaled for Krest to roll onward and thankfully he did, explaining that the Iridonians had named them their King and they needed ships. How quaint. One King to another among the Sith. Inwardly he was rolling his eyes at this new bit of information, but outwardly he only nodded his head in understanding of what the Zabrak wanted. Ships he could do. The fact that they had old specs to work off would make it easier.

When the other entered and approached with the specifications, he took them and gave them a cursory glance.

"This level of mechanic is beyond my personal knowledge. I'm mostly just the CEO. I leave the design work to the people that specialize in it. However, this does look like something I could work from. How many do you need?"

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

Krest noted the groan from [member="Ignus"] , taking it as a sign it might be best to stick to the business at hand rather than try to be friendly. Of course, being polite is a must in such situations. As the elder spoke, Krest remained silent and looked over the schematics himself. He didn't understand any of it. Though, it seemed his fellow Lord didn't either. This was a comforting thought.

"Four or five light cruisers would be good. Sizable enough to carry fighters. As for the fighters, a dozen squadrons." The Zabrak wanted a proper fleet.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"I would suggest two cruisers with three frigates and a couple of picket corvettes, personally."

He was still looking at the schematics, though, not looking up at Krest. Business was business. More ships meant more money, but chiefly, this was also his naval strategist showing through. The cruisers would be the workhorses, but the frigates would provide covering support, filling roles in anti-starfighter and artillery capacity. These were a necessity in naval combat. While the big guns took time to get to each other, an artillery frigate could be lacing the enemy big guns with fire, weakening their shields so the cruisers could come in and polish it off with support from the anti-starfighter ships, corvettes, and starfighters.

"It's all doable, of course. It'll take some time. We've already got a backlog of orders coming out of our yards. It'll take some time to get the designs solidified anyway. But it's doable."

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Doable is enough for me. Though, if shipyards are a problem you're welcome to build one here on Iridonia. My people need work, and we would provide the labor to build it. In exchange, you make our ships first out of it. For the full price of course." A ship yard here on Iridonia would be very helpful to the King. Whether [member="Ignus"] did it or not, he would be able to replace any ships he lost. Of course, having a business that specialized in ship building would be the only way he could begin this process.

"What do you say?"

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

"We can build the smaller vessels here. A cruiser will require a shipyard unless you want to get really costly in using lift technology to get it from the surface into space. I'd advise against it, personally."

Again, it was doable, but what would be the reason for doing it. They could get started immediately on building the corvettes and the like via surface construction sites. Instead of paying him for construction services outside of management, Krest could spend the money to pay his own people to do to the work. Considering how busy his people were already, he didn't really see a downside to doing things that way. It was outside of normal project parameters, but when you're the boss you kind of get to do what you want. He shrugged and went back to looking over the plans before he downloaded them to his datapad and sent them off to his people with instructions to modify accordingly for a new client.

"It'll take my people some time to get the plans drawn up, but in the meantime I'll have the main materials packaged up and sent this way."

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Sounds good to me my friend. Your payment will be prepared, and I'll have my people contact yours to iron out the fine print. As for now, I suppose our business here is concluded." The Elder who had been standing silent bowed his head before leaving [member="Ignus"] and Krest. Once the Elder was gone, the Zabrak spoke. "And now for Ascendancy business. The shipyards here will have their uses building ships for the Ascendancy as well as the ships for my people, but it would be best to build a shipyard within Ascendancy space. There has already been talk of rebuilding the Bastion shipyards, and I feel your experience would make you the prime candidate to take the lead."