Carry Me To Victory

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"What else do we need?"

The Twi'lek asked, looking over the manifest of ships the Red Ravens could either make or had access to via their contracts. Eventually she wanted them to be entirely self sufficient, but it was also good to have the variety. That way your enemies couldn't look too closely at your design, find a weakness and make a ship for the express purpose of blowing your fleet out of the sky. And that meant she needed to have other peoples designs, other peoples ships in the air alongside her own.

"We have our starfighter and Corvette.."

"And the tug."

"Ha! Yes, and the tug, though we are unlikely to take that to war."

"A destroyer? Or a comm scrambler/decrypter? Cyber warfare sort of thing?"

"Mmm, we do have access to the Stygium Crystals, we could do a proper stealthed one. Seems a bit technical though, I'm not sure I particularly want to work on that today.."

She drummed her fingers on her desk in a distracted fashion, as she and Declan, the heavy browed humanoid who ran most of her security stared at the manifest as though waiting for it to give up it's secrets.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"I suppose.."

She started.

"I suppose the answer could actually be in the ships we already have."

"How so Ma'am?"

"Well you're not going to fly squadrons of starfighters all the way to an engagement are you?"

"No I don't suppose so. The fight would be over by the time you got there, and you're squadrons would be far too exposed on the journey."

"Exactly. So what we need is a Dedicated Carrier."

"Yes Ma'am, that makes sense."

"All right, we'll start by looking at Carriers available on the market. See what they're doing that we like, and what we don't and go from there."

This was the signal to start a five hour marathon of ship research, in which any company with carriers on the market who had their layouts available on the holonet, and a few who didn't, had their ships critically reviewed. Lunch was brought in at one point, some of it was even eaten though most lay forgotten until it was eventually cleared away. Brows were furrowed, and in Declans case one heavy finger ran slowly and painstakingly down whatever he was reading at the time. It wasn't that he was slow, that would be a dangerous mistake to make, it was that he was very, very thorough. One of the reasons he was so good at his job. The other was absolute loyalty, a rare commodity.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"Here's what I see."

The Twi'lek said finally, tossing a holopad on the desk, sounding slightly cross though mostly she was just bored and annoyed with the task at hand. She really ought to have a shipbuilder. She had at one point. Now it was just another hat that she wore as was needed to make sure the Ravens continued to prosper.

"A lot of these things that people are marketing as Dedicated Carriers, aren't."

"What do you mean?"

"They're destroyers that happen to have a bunch of starfighters."

"I have noticed a tendency for them to be fairly heavily armed now that you mention it Ma'am."

"Well to hell with that. If I want a Destroyer I'll design a Destroyer. I don't, I want a Carrier. So we drop almost all the weapons which will free up more room for say two more squadrons than it would have otherwise."

"How big were you thinking anyway Ma'am?"

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"Oh not huge, but certainly enough to carry a sizable payload. Fifteen-hundred meters or so."

"I'd likely call that huge."

"Not compared to some of the monsters in the sky but yes."

"So we'd be looking at.. Three or Four Squadrons? That's a respectable amount to turn loose in a fight."

Declan allowed as he thought about it.

"Five."

"Ah? We're really dropping most of the weapons systems then.."

"Yes. I do still want decent shielding however. It's not going to be sitting there in the thick of combat, but if we lose the Carrier we theoretically lose the Starfighters as well if they've nowhere to retreat to and no one to bring them home. Thats a substantial lost, both in terms of units and credits. So, the shielding I'm not going to skimp on."

"Makes sense Ma'am."

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"We're also not going to focus too much on speed."

"No? I thought we would, if you don't want it in the thick of combat, it will probably be targeted when people realize it's not very heavily armed."

"But they will likely switch their attention when they realize it is heavily armoured and are forced to deal with the swarms of starfighters that will be engaging them."

"That may be true.."

He still seemed reluctant, and the Twi'lek flashed him a sharp toothed grin.

"Besides, it is going to be very fast, and very good at getting away, just not in realspace."

"The Hyperdrive then?"

"Yes, just so. We'll invest in an above average hyperdrive. We can get to and away from locations faster than most. And on that note the whole back-up hyperdrive bit.."

"Yes Ma'am?"

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"Why bother putting in a backup hyperdrive and losing the space if you're going to put in a terrible hyperdrive? It saves credits I suppose, but if that's your prerogative why bother in the first place?"

"I.. have never really thought about it."

"I don't think anyone has. It's damned stupid. We'll wire it so it's not draining power until it's switched on, and that way anything that blows the first Hyperdrive might not hit the second, but if I'm spending the credits ad losing the hangar space, I'm having a good hyperdrive as backup."

"So two of the best hyperdrives money can buy on one ship?"

"No, the backup won't be quite as good as the main, I'm not feeling quite that extravagant, but it'll still outfly some ships. If we have to run we're sprinting, not limping."

"We're going to dominate Hyperspace then."

"To start with at least."

Came the reply with a mischievous grin that won a smile from the humanoid even if he didn't get the joke.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"Which Shipyard are we going to use Ma'am?"

"Antecedent I imagine. It's more modern, we can turn them out quicker there. Not that we need too many to start, but I would like to see the first few in the air soon."

"Are you anticipating a fight?"

"Mmm, yes and no. Not that we are going to fight too soon, but our starfighters are already in production, what use having so many starfighters without a carrier?"

"True. You did say yes and no though Ma'am, what's the yes?"

As had been pointed out, Declan was thorough. Some beings would have taken the bit about the starfighters as they yes. He did not. He was in charge of Casino security, if there was a threat looming he wanted to know about it, yesterday. The Twi'lek was pleased with his diligence, but not certain she was ready to discuss it yet.

"We do still have the Sith and the Primeval to worry about."

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"You're talking the Techno Union though right? If half the Sith are members anyway, maybe.."

"Maybe and maybe. It could be so."

"That wasn't the yes. You've had the Sith and Primeval hanging over your head for a long time now and it's never made you start work on a fleet, nor all these.. scientific goobledy-gook reports you get from that geek out on Syvris."

Decaln was likely one of the few beings she would tolerate that tone and that amount of pressure from.

"Fine, you are correct. Lysle."

"Rigger? His plan was an utter failure. The karkhead thought he could get his idiots to sneak a bomb into a broom closet and we wouldn't notice. You're worried about him?"

"He's a talker Declan. He hypes himself up and people believe it, though he himself has accomplished very little. He started a war and ran away, but takes credit for defeating the Black Suns. His Boss started the Ravens and he pulled a few operations with his head honchos, ignored most of the new members, but he takes credit for everything we are today. He calls himself of the Hydian Way and has done nothing more to earn it than the next small time smuggler. But he talks well, and people believe him. He's delusional and he convinces other people to believe his delusion. So yes, I keep him in mind and yes I intend to be prepared. Next time he doesn't get to walk away."

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Declan's eyes had hardened as she spoke and he nodded occasionally. He'd written the man off personally, but then he wasn't the sort to be impressed with fancy words and titles.

"Whoever he sends against us I will crush utterly. I will kill them and their family. I will raze their homes. And then I will find him, and when I am through with him there will be no coming back from the dead."

"So we get our fleet ready now, while we're being left to ourselves."

"Exactly."

"And if anything does happen."

"If anything does happen we are well and truly prepared, because we saw this coming a mile away, as anyone paying attention to us can plainly see. And if they have sense they will leave us be."

"And if not."

"If not I will have a carrier full of starfighters, among other things."

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

"Very good Ma'am, I'll contact the Antecedent Shipyards and make sure they're ready for when we send the blueprints over. Do we have enough durasteel on hand?"

"Mm, likely for the first two, we got a shipment in for the Exarchs not long ago, but we'll go through it pretty quickly.."

The Twi'lek drummed her fingers again as she thought about this. There would be durasteel to be had on Nar Shaddaa of course, you could buy damned near anything on Nar Shaddaa, but not necessarily in the amounts she needed.

"Check with the lads on Enigma Prime. They're holding onto the Stygium the mine until Ice is back, as they should, but it's been awhile now. He may've been lost in the Rapture. Either way, they ought to have quite a backlog of other metals to sell, including durasteel, and they'll give us a decent price."

"I have to say, I don't understand why you don't just seize those mining operations Ma'am."

"Because Ice was a Raven. And wherever he is, he still is. Perhaps in another few years if he doesn't show up we'll hold it for him, but we don't act against our own."

"As you say Ma'am."

Taking one of the holopads the man typed out a quick request to the Miners on Enigma Prime and then another to the Shipyards as the Twi'lek worked on solidifying their ideas into usable blueprints.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

It took another few hours to get the blueprints to a point where they could actually go into production. The Twi'lek knew far more about spaceships now than she'd ever wanted to. During this time Declan had gone back to his regular duties, leaving her in her office. In one of those rare moments when everything came together, the Twi'lek sat up with a sigh, rubbing aching eyes. She might not sleep anymore, but she still got tired of things, and she was tired of this. Just as she thought that, Declan entered after a curt knock.

"I've just heard back from Enigma Prime Ma'am."

"Oh?"

"You were right, they have more than enough durasteel and they're happy for us to take it off their hands. I get the feeling they would have almost given it to us, but given what you said, I offered fair market price."

"Good man. And the Shipyard?"

"They replied almost immediately, they're standing by. As soon as we get them the plans they'll start the first ship, and if there's more material coming their way they'll carry on after that."

"Good."

She hit the send button on the blueprints.

"There. We're a little bit more secure, and a little bit more deadly."

"One and the same isn't it?"

"Largely."

She agreed with a smile.

"I do believe I've earned a drink.."

Rising, she left her office.