Dawn of Victory (Victory X Development)

[Lash]

The Judicator dropped out of orbit somewhere near the Javin system in the dark depth of open space. The cruiser and its escorting vessels sat motionless there silently waiting their guest. The ships of the Blue Steel Squadron had been chasing the rouge Admiral Deschart for three weeks before they had caught up with them near Javin. The following clash did not turn out like Lash would have ever imagined. For weeks he searched for what he thought was one crazed admiral hell bent on his own agenda. What he found was something much different. Lash and his Chiss had left The Empire looking to capture this rouge officer and return. They were prepared to make a life there waiting till the time was right to pounce and take over the former Imperial power. The Chiss could have never been lived like they were for long. It was against their nature.

Lash sat waiting for the other party invited to this meeting to arrive. The meeting had been set up, and negotiated over Javin between him, and one of the Empires former Moffs. The man seemed to have been plotting for some time behind the Empires leadership. So much so he had managed to gain support in the Sirat Wen system and arrange for the Procursator Prototypes to be re-purposed here. To this fictional Imperial fleet. Now the two men would talk about the future of the Chiss under Lash, and of this secret the Moff had to share with him. Time would tell if Lash and his chiss would like what the human had to say of if he would finish the job he had started at Javin.

"Ships exiting Hyperspace admiral" said captain Vonit from his chair next to Lash. The Chiss looked out onto the three Procursator destroyers for the second time. This time not as a commander inspecting a new tool but as a commander summing up a foe.

 

[Desente Blissex]

Procursator Mk X-class Fast Destroyer Pelagius...

"A bit different than normal," mused Admiral Blissex.

But hardly unusual in and of itself...at least historically speaking. Power...like this warship...or even well beyond it can cause men to do such inhuman things...plotting like this though, well...I guess we shall see what comes of it...The admiral tugged at the hem of his tunic's sleeve cuff. Not all of us are straight as we should be...and I'm never sure who deserves more observation: the crooked or the straight man. Perhaps today I will finally found out. A baritone voice rang out from below his station.

"New contacts reverting from hyperspace."

Desente raised an eyebrow. And sooner than I thought...

[member="Lash"]

 

[Joran Greth]

Greth Stood to the left and Behind Admiral Blissex watching as the Chiss battlegroup exited hyperspace. HE had faced the group in battle once before and did not relish the idea of doing do again. The six Chiss ships were not as powerful as the Procursators on their own, and with the three Persecutors present here Greth felt better about his odds. However He had seen how they fight. Each had a very effecting specialty and when used as a group these ships were very formidable. His destroyer had been damaged to the point of having to scuttle it over Javin. If nor for Admiral Deschart's ship and Greth deciding to negotiate with the Chiss personally, The Chiss would have decimated his force. He respected the blue skinned aliens, enough to offer them a place in the Imperium.

"Admiral Blissex, Inform Admiral Lash we are prepared to receive him."

Greth dismissed himself from the bridge and walked to the Turbolift. HE needed to finalize the preparations for the meeting and make his way down to the Hanger to great his new Chiss Ally.

[member="Desente Blissex"]

 

[Desente Blissex]

Desente nodded in acknowledgement and relayed the order to the communication's officer. While Admiral [member="Lash"]'s reputation was fearsome indeed, Blissex felt confident that the Imperium's latest creations could placate any potential chiss aggression that could occur. Still, he trusted that [member="Joran Greth"]'s judgement that Lash was not someone to underestimate. Even while the two met, he would have to be careful to ensure that there was no stratagem's in play that could undermine the Imperium's security. At least he's doing the meeting...

 

[Lash]

[member="Desente Blissex"]

Lash received the message from Greth and walked to the hanger where the small shuttle had been waiting. He left command of Blue Steel Squadron to Captain Knoit and chose two Chiss security specialists to be his only escort. Konit had orders in case Lash was taken against his will and knew if he was to die it would be reciprocated upon Greth and his ships. He doubted it would come to that. The man seemed genuine in his intentions.

The Shuttle ride was quick from the Judicator to the Procursator destroyer Greth had summoned him to. The ramp opened and Lash walked down the ramp to the hanger deck where he was greeted. He looked at one of the officer sent to great him and spoke.

"Inform Moff Greth I have arrived."

 

[Joran Greth]

Joren Greth had chosen to send an envoy to great the CHiss rather than go himself. He respected the Man but still wanted to keep him off balance as much as possible, and remind him he was not in charge. He and his retinue including Admiral Blissex had moved to the command conference room awaiting the Chiss to arrive, it did not take long. The door slide open and three Chiss officers walked in. Lash was the last to enter and the three formed up with him in the center and two flanking him on each side.

"Greatings Admiral Lash. Thank you for coming today."

 

[Lash]

Lash walked into the conference room he and his men had been lead to, and walked in to see a group of humans sitting at a table. Lash Knew Greth and recognized the Admiral next to him as the man he had spoken with when he arrived in the system. The others Lash had no idea who they were or their intentions. He lined up with his men and listened as the Moff Greated them. The fact that Greth had not met him in the hanger did not go unnoticed but Lash expected as much for a human. He was not put off by it but did file it into his mind for future reference.

"Thank you Moff Greth. It is an honor to be received by you and your retinue."

[member="Desente Blissex"]

 

[Desente Blissex]

Blissex watched the chiss retinue intently as they entered, especially noting that [member="Lash"] was the last one to enter the room. Curious. Did his two accompaniments enter first to make sure the room is safe? That's pretty common for ground officers and politicians worried about being assassinated...but in space? But perhaps I'm mistaking pure caution for tradition, or any number of things. More data is needed...and one data point isn't a data set...Admiral Blissex met [member="Lash"]'s eyes as [member="Joran Greth"] introduced the blue-skinned alien to the kuati exile.

"It is an honor to meet you, Admiral. Your reputation proceeds you."

 

[Lash]

Lash nodded at the human Admiral and replied.

"Thank you Admiral, It is an honor that you speak so highly of me. I am but a single Chiss, it is the men I command that deserve any notoriety or reputation I may have."

Lash greeted the remaining members of the group and excused his escorts and sat at the table with Greth and the other Imperials.

"Moff Greth Why is it you have summoned me to this meeting today? I was under the assumption I was to remain a secret among your people."

 

[Joran Greth]

Greth waited for the Chiss to sit before he started the meeting. Lash had his escorts take up positions at the back of the room close to the door and he began by asking his purpose here.

"Ah yes Admiral, At first I was going to keep your force as a secret in case it was needed. but other issues have come to light that I know you and some of your people would be well suited for. We need your expertise admiral. We need you to help with a special project we have going. As we have seen your engineers did excellent work in the design of the Procursator program. And your cruiser designs are very impressive also. We would like for you and your design team to assist in a project."

Greth slide a data pad over to lash and let him look it over.

"It is the second ship in the project X program. We believe it may interest you."

Joren watched as the chiss admiral looked over the plans. He knew the chiss would recognize many of the features and systems from his former designs as well as other Imperial designs he had been apart of testing. The Victory Mk X-class was indeed a marvel of technology and starship enovation. Greth was sure Lash would be interested.

 

[Lash]

Lash looked over the design Greth had given him. It was a Victory star destroyer variant and from the initial glace Lash had given it was very formidable. While it did not have the raw hitting power of the Procursator it was a well balance of heavy weapons ranging from long range weapon systems to a formidable missile compliment. It was truly a impressive design.

"This is impressive sir, but what can my people do to assist in the project. It seems your engineers have already done the work. What will you have me do other than look at the plans and compliment your ingenuity."

Lash sat the pad on the table and slid it back to Greth. He had no idea what the man really wanted but if he had brought him here just to see some new ship idea, his idea of the man would be drastically lessened. Lash looked at the admiral sitting beside Greth and spoke

"Have you seen these plans Admiral? are you here to gaze at them as well?"

Lash turned his attentions back to Greth. He did not know what the man was playing at, but Lash was starting to lose his patience with the Imperials.

[member="Desente Blissex"]

 

[Desente Blissex]

Blissex found the revelation to be interesting. Truthfully, he did not fully comfortable revealing the Victory X project to [member="Lash"], yet it seemed to Desente that [member="Joran Greth"] felt that improvement was worth the risk. It seems that near everything is a calculated risk in the endeavors of war...He spared a quick glance at the red-eyed officer. But politics is not my arena...and I will not be dragged into it...Desente considered his words carefully.

"I have seen over versions of these plans," admitted Desente, "but it the designs have been under revision. Once the revisions are complete, I think that it will truly be a formidable time."

 

[Lash]

Lash considered the human admirals words. Perhaps Lash was inserting more implications into the situation than were truthfully present. Lash sat quietly for a moment working out in his mind what the Human Moff may truly be up to. He did not think the man would try to force Lash into anything but again the man was devious. That much lash knew for certain.

"Moff Greth, how can I and my people assist?"

Lash decided to just play along for now and see where this all lead. soon he would have more information and would get to the bottom of what the true motives of the Human Greth was playing at.

 

[Joran Greth]

Greth input a second command into a data pad and handed it to Lash. The chiss looked over it as Greth spoke.

"Admiral, I would like for your engineers to to assist the Imperium in moving forward with Project X. We have a series of items being developmed for the program, and I think my engineers could use assistance. Your people have proven themselves very capable on the Procursator project. I feel they will be equally as productive in assisting in the other projects. They see things my people do not."

Greth paused and waited for the Chiss to finish reading over the project list. Lash took his time and placed the pad on the table. Greth smiled at the blue skinned man and then spoke again.

"I want you to test our weapons admiral. I want to make sure they meet your standard of operational quality."

 

[Lash]

Lash waited for a moment before answering. He saw enough to know the project was impressive and needed extreme oversight and testing on a project by project basis. The scope of the project summery was broad and ranged from ship and weapons to computers and standardized systems. The Procursator was just the first in a line of advanced warships the Imperium would be utilizing. The second vessel was just as impressive and Lash was interested. He would need to see more, see the ship itself.

"Sir, From what I am reading here this second project is at the testing stage. I would need to see it first hand to gauge the vessel and its potential. I feel My engineers can assist with this project. If after we have finished this I feel it necessary to continue then at that time we can revisit this offer of yours. For now Let us see what this Victory X can do."

[member="Desente Blissex"]

 

[Joran Greth]

Joren Greth smiled as he stood and motioned for an assistance to open the doors.

"Very well Admrial Lash, We will move onto the next step in our little meeting."

Greth gestured for them all to stand and dismissed the assistance and aids. The next part was far to important for anyone other than the Admirals and he to be a part of. The three stood waiting for everyone else to leave the room. As the last of the Attendants left the doors shut and Greth spoke again.

"Admirals, What you are about to see is top secret. Once you and any of your people have seen this information they will be sequestered until the project is finalized."

A hologram lit up the center of the room displaying what looked to be a Victory star destroyer. To the left information began to scroll listing technical information, and more in depth specifications than the information Greth had offered either of them to this point. The three men looked at the hologram as the data layed out what the ship truly was and what it was capable of.

"This gentilmen is the Victory Mark ten, or Victory X if you will."

 

[Desente Blissex]

Admiral Blissex closely watched the spinning holograph of the Victory Mark X. Hundreds of years ago, a member of the Blissex family had designed the original Victory Mk I-class Star Destroyer. It was somewhat satisfying for the blonde man to see such a storied ship design brought into the modern era as a pinnacle of high technology and brutal efficiency that characterized Imperial warships. As he pondered its exterior, he began to become more more curious about its actual capabilities and its general builds. There was a fairly significant difference in the capabilities between the Mark I and Mark II versions. The Mark I was more suited for ground to orbit roles whereas the Mark II was far more suited to traditional deep space combat. He couldn't help but wonder which role the Mark X would fit into, assuming [member="Joran Greth"] was ready to reveal that to them. Yet he guessed that they would soon find out, otherwise there would be little need to sequester them from the rest of Imperium's military.

[member="Lash"] | [member="Joran Greth"]