Fortress In Space!

[Laira Darkhold]

Mandalore

Aten and Draco stood side by side waiting on the current CEO of ArmaTech, Marcus Roch. The man from Tanaab was late, held up by traffic in Keldabe. Draco knew because he began receiving updates on Marcus’s location every five minutes as soon as the man had realized he was going to be late to the meeting. Surprisingly enough, Draco wasn’t angry that the man was late, just annoyed he had arranged the meeting and woke up in time to make the morning rendezvous with the CEO.

As the Founder and Majority Stockholder, Draco held much of the power over the company still, most, but he had allowed the day to day operations to move out from under him, and it was time to make some further changes to the company while they began working on something else.

A few moments later, and the man from Tanaad entered the tower in Keldabe that Clan Vereen called their own, the small garrison that represented them on Manda’yaim.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“Good morning sire. I apologize for my tardiness.” The man’s voice was soft and low, average. He hadn’t been chosen because of his strength and power, he had been chosen because of his willingness to be used and posed like a front and not complain. In fact, he was grateful for the opportunity.

“Don’t worry about it. There are a few things we need to discuss. First and foremost, the requisition of the Tra’kranak Stations we have designed. I need them moved into production immediately.” Draco’s tone was somber, the ever lasting war having made a weary man out of him as of late. These days, all the Warlord wanted to do was find his way to the Lake Country of Alderaan and disappear for a few weeks. “Are there any concerns?”, The Mandalorian asked, noting Aten shifting on his feet. They already knew their would be, but they had to ask anyway.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Marcus stopped and looked through a briefcase he carried, “Well, yes sir there are a few concerns. First and foremost is the issues with the Argent-class already in development. With your efforts and the assistance of the One Sith, we’ve managed to put them into production. The Tra’Kranak will compete with the Argent for a time for materials and manpower, especially since you have closed the offices on Hypori and began moving them to Taris.” The move had been planned for sometime, ever since the new owners had moved in and became a very uninformative lot.

“Don’t worry about the move. Amar and Roxuli are handling the production of the Argent. The Tra’kranak will be built here with the assistance of Mandal Hypernautics. We had desired to build on Alderaan, but Mandal Hypernautics offered their assistance. With their help, and MandalMotors we can handle both projects fairly easily. I just need the schematics shoved through and the work crews to begin working.” Draco glanced at Aten, a signal to chime in with anything important he had to say.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The blonde Mandalorian beside Draco looked up from the ground where he was absentmindedly kicking around a dust mite and cleared his throat. “Ah, yeah I have some other things to bring up. As of tonight at midnight, I’ll be taking ownership of Clan Vereen Mercenary Corps, and I will be moving them to independent ownership. They don’t need to be directly associated with ArmaTech anymore and with ArmaTech selling to numerous parties, as is its right, it doesn’t need to be directly associated with Mandalore.”

The news wasn’t news, it wasn’t like the Mercenary Corps were anything but a drain on ArmaTech’s resources as it was already, so losing them wouldn’t effect the Arms manufacturing titan negatively, and it would vastly benefit the Mercenary corps.

Marcus nodded at the blonde man and turned his attention back to Draco, “Is there anything I need to sign off for that change? And in regards to the Tra’kranak, I will issue the schematics to Mandal Hypernautics and MandalMotors tonight. It is my understanding this is a joint build, as in each company will fully build a few of these and supply parts to the design?”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“That’s correct, there only needs to be five or six of these stations, and so we won’t mind MandalMotors putting one together. We have plans to refit one into a command station for Mandalore itself later on, but that will come after the initial product line is completed. Don’t worry, you will have assistance from Clan Vereen and access to our Beskarsmiths in order to fabricate Mandalorian Steel for use on the station.” Draco turned to Aten to handle his part of the conversation regarding the Mercenary Corps.

The Mandalorian from House Vizla glanced up again, bored with the conversation. “Yeah, I need a signature and maybe a statement about parting ways. For the most part the change has already been made in every way but officially.”

Marcus pondered for a moment, “Alright, I will make the arrangements as you need. If I’m being honest, I’m glad for it to be independent. When I was representing ArmaTech on the Executive Council, I received numerous calls that you had stolen the Union’s flagship.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Concordia
In orbit, the drydocks buzzed with activity, people moving around, ships bringing in raw materials, products being sent to and from the hubs that hung around the dry docks that sat above the Moon of Mandalore. Work had begun two days after the meeting between the three men who operated the companies’ and clan’s finances and operations. Marcus Roch was back on Bothawui, seeing to finishing closing Hypori’s city and moving its operations and citizens to Taris where they would pick back up as soon as possible. For a while production would be slow, but it would pick up as soon as the Argent was released.

The Frames of the first three Tra’kranak Stations hung in orbit, slowly being built from the inside out, the intricate armor and hull being assembled on the ground by Clan Vereen’s beskarsmiths while the frame and systems were installed by work crews from all across Mandalore.

Aten Vizla, second in command to Clan Vereen stood waiting for instructions from the bridge of a Bes’drahr-class Battleship, waiting for his master’s arrival.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

As Draco walked onto the bridge, from which he could see the thick frames of the Tra’kranak being built upon, thousands of droids and workers, moving equipment into place in the cold void of space. Because they were being put together via compartments, after the initial stations systems were moved in, they could be brought in, each section totally complete.

“How goes the progress old friend.” Draco’s voice rang across the bridge, but none of the other crew looked up, well aware that this conversation wasn’t private and didn’t have any sensitive information.

“Everything is going well for now. The Clan’s company has pulled away and severed all official ties, me as Chief Operating Officer, you holding all stock through the Clan. Technically the Clan’s Alor holds one hundred percent ownership, so if you retire you lose it. Call it, incentive to stay active through your thirties.” The blonde man wore a smile as he spoke, knowing that everything had been done according to his master’s wishes.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The Mandalorian Warlord nodded. “So long as its not directly tied to me I think it will be alright. Lots of money, lots of resources to move around. How about this? Is it moving along alright?” Draco stepped up to the screens that simulated viewports and looked at the metal frames with generators and shield systems being moved into place.

Aten nodded at the dark haired man before him. “Its going fine, on schedule, but it will be sometime before the first is completed and ready to be moved. I was thinking the first we leave here, second tow to Alderaan, third to Yavin if the Rekali’s want it, forth to Junction, fifth to Wayland, Sixth to Myrkr.”

“I’m not sure about the others deployment, and I don’t think its solely up to me. I believe that is up to the sovereigns of the planets we consider Bastion worlds. Alderaan and Mandalore for certain. The rest depends.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Aten shrugged, knowing that the worlds that were considered Bastion worlds weren’t going to deny a major space station built for command and control. They would accept, stick it in orbit, and let it act as a customs station until battle and combat broke out around it, then it would coordinate their troops and fleets. “Well, we got the first three underway, so you have one spare if you wanted to shove one into Yavin or Junction. I don’t think Wayland will need one for some time. It does have Fort Monroe at the moment.”

“Yeah, I forgot about Olivia’s playpen she built on that planet. Well, once its back under Mandalorian Control she might set up there, and she may take the third while we worry about Alderaan.” Draco’s personal interests were wrapped up in Alderaan, probably to the point he no longer made wise decisions. He had instigated an invasion of the planet that would cripple the Republic for personal reasons, and now he was securing it completely unplanned, for personal reasons. His clan stuck its neck out a lot for him, and he was grateful, but it didn’t change the fact that some things, like this, needed to be done in case anything rose up to bite him later. That there would still be a defense of the planet, still be something for his clan, and still be a company left without him.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Three Weeks Later
The first station sat looming over Mandalore, its systems running and green lighted across the board while a number of smaller craft prepared to tow the second off to Alderaan. Draco was standing aboard the first of the class waiting to hear the results of the full systems check.

“Shields on. Power at maximum.”

“Aegis Systems are live.”

“Frequency Jammer is active, hitting dead space.”

“BAC is running. TACCOM reports all systems functional on their end.”

“Excellent. Hit that Bes’drahr with the Aegis Array and Dry fire all weapons in ten.” His voice carried across the busy overbridge, the main control bridge for the station. The Dorsal half had a bridge control as did the Ventral half, that were back to back, sharing the same corridors. Communication crosstalk was essential given the numerous command systems. “Mark.”

The battleship in the void reported back with a number of flashing light pulses. “Battleship reports all systems green. Its shields at four hundred eighty percent. Power is holding steady.”

“Sire, dry fires complete, weapons recycling.”

“Excellent boys and girls, hand the keys over to Mandal Hypernautics make sure we and Mandal Motors gets the spares.”