Howls in the Void

[Laira Darkhold]

ArmaTech had a number of things going on these days, but its biggest project was the Strike Carrier Project, in which the company was striving to assist in creating a carrier strike group that was able to fulfill the ever increasing number of roles a carrier has become expected to fill. ArmaTech's board was meeting later this day to discuss the project and the former Chairman and Founder, Draco Vereen, was expected to be in attendance to push his newest project through. Given the success of the New Fleet Modernization, the Strike Carrier Modernization would likely find purchase with the board.

For now, Draco carried with him a trio of schematics, tucked safely in his pocket as he walked through the halls, followed by his bodyguard, Ner'gal, a wraith wrapped in beskar stealth armor. The Dark Jedi Defel's red eyes stared out of the shadows, watching everyone as his master walked through corridor after corridor in the main office. Boxes were still cluttering the Headquarters building as it was slowly packed up and preparing to move from Bothawui. That would be a long and arduous project moving the headquarters from Bothawui to Concordia. There had been plans to move to Aldera or Alderaan, but those were stalled and eventually ditched in favor of the Mandalorian moon.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The large Mandalorian warrior entered the room and nodded, finding his seat, or seats as it were. Technically under aliases, Draco controlled the vast Majority of the Board, leaving Senior Vice Presidents to oversee the departments he was left in charge of. It was a closely guarded secret, but not so much so that it was completely unknown. Most outsiders knew the Mandalorian Warlord still had a great deal of control over the company despite the public change of face.

Marcus still acted as CEO, and was currently seated at the head of the table, filling the position of chairman. Polite nods of greetings were exchanged between the five men and women sitting in the board room as the Mandalorian warrior made himself comfortable. After a moment, Draco gave the wave to proceed to the Chairman.

"Alright, now that we are all here, we can begin. I will open the subject for everyone, try and give everyone an idea of what we are going for." The blonde man from tanaab cleared his throat and moved to the front of the room, waiting for the holoprojector to activate as he collected his thoughts. Draco could tell he was a little nervous going into this presentation without all the data. Draco held more data about the project than the rest of the company combined in fact.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"The idea for the Strike Carrier Project is to create starfighters to fill roles traditionally filled by light escorts such as corvettes and light frigates. Mandal Hypernautics has dominated the Mandalorian market in terms of escorts, and at this point in time, it is too expensive for us to challenge them in that field. However, we have noticed, with the joint success of the Shaadlar-Type Two, that there is very little modern carriers do beyond ferry starfighters into battle, and with the recent market shift, carriers such as the Endurance and Kandosii are the top of the field." The blonde man motioned to the pair of images floating over the table depicting the two starships he had mentioned in the opening of his speech.

"The issue these two ships both suffer is simple. All they do is ferry starfighters into combat. The Kandosii rose during an era when snubfighters rarely had hyperdrives, and the Endurance was used as a battle refueling vessel, allowing starfighters to return and rearm during combats. However, the ships themselves offer very little beyond carrying capacity in today's style of fleet warfare." The images changed and showed a number of other vessels, such as the Ulur'uur, Warden, Jahaatir rather than the two very large carrier ships.

"These vessels are specialized escorts, offering very little in the way of direct combat capabilities, and they are vessels found in almost every fleet deployment. Clan Dem'adas and Clan Vereen rarely send any type of combat fleets into danger without all three having some kind of presence."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"So, we have decided to work on designs of starfighters that can fill escort roles, and still be viable starfighter support in dogfights. Through this tactic, we can assist an Endurance go from only a carrier to a carrier with detection and ewar capabilities. Now, these will pall in comparison to the escort frigates that specialize in these roles, but they add to the effectiveness of the carrier in question. We asked Clan Vereen to assist, having access to a great deal of versatility in combat." He motioned at Draco as he spoke and Draco stood with a smile, the red eyes of the Wraith following everyone in the room from its corner.

"And we went out of our way and found some ship designers and combined them with our own resources. We grabbed a little help from Mon Calamari, Yag'dhul, and Mandal Hypernautics to design a trio of space craft for this project." He clicked the first datacard into the projector and the images changed into that of a small, fairly well armed fighter.

"The Ra'gr, translates to Lancer, class Superiority Starfighter. Its designed to excel in dogfighting, built with several components to give it an edge in one on one combat. Its Mk-two model is fitted for anti-escort roles using railguns instead of missiles and fighter weapons. They can down light frigates fairly well, and they wreck smaller vessels in squadrons when properly outfitted. Due to their Phantom Short Range Sensor Jammers, they are able to blind, deafen, and mute enemy fighters in close range."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco pulled the datacard out of the slot, thinking about the Ra'gr for a moment. He up sold it, but it was a nasty toy for the space superiority role. The limited stealth and Ewar capabilities of the ship helped, helped quite a bit, but they were not the end all he sold them as. It would allow for long range missions to be run using a single chassis rather than needing to be modified and retrofitted every mission. The image changed to a different ship.

"This is the To Vhin, the Electronic warfare fighter. It will be laid down in a limited capacity given its nature. In our strike carrier groups we won't have more than a squadron present under our current setting. These are designed to hit individual weapon systems or go after escorts, versus the Jahaatir, which is designed to light up a star destroyer. They can also act as fighter support, hiding groups of other fighters, like the Hornet-class we have been discussing deploying with the Strike Carrier units for added numbers." The picture slowly turned, collapsing and offering cut out views at certain points, giving us close ups.

"Its not as effective as the Jahaatir, but it does have some significant advantages. First off, it is able to hide whole squadrons of fighters. Each. Second, using pairs, they can be used to disrupt long range artillery far earlier and can single out weapon systems. This allows them to effect a large number of point defense, allowing bomber and gunship squadrons to engage with less defensive weaponry able to be accurately turned against them." He slid the datacard out, shuffling through the others to find the next one as he got ready to move to the next ship.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The datacard made an audible click as it entered the holoprojector and the third image appeared, a slightly larger fighter with a bird like design vs the front heavy box of the To Vhin. "This is the Hecr-class. Another limited production run for a fighter dedicated to a set of roles. The Hecr, is the reverse of the To Vhin. Where as the To Vhin is designed to hide and blind enemy ships allowing for ease of movement during combats, the Hecr is designed to counter that." The image rolled around, expanding on the sensor hubs on the back of the ship.

"The first hub is dedicated to a long range full spectrum sensor suite, advanced and finely tuned. It is very difficult to overcome with sensor masks and electronic warfare, having been shown to be able to work somewhat under two four X Phantoms." The system was designed to overcome those for that exact reason. "Additionally, they have been shown to overcome Dedicated Energy Receptor Projectors, including those utilized by the To Vhin."

The picture changed, moving to the other hub on the back of the little fighter. "The second hub is dedicated to an Angel Eye sensor, courtesy of Silk Holdings. This system uses a Crystal Grav-Trap, Gravitic Amplitude Modulator, and a precision programmed droid brain as a close range detector. Within its radius, there is basically no amount of stealth that works efficiently."

The image moved again, focusing on the nose cone. "Finally, the system you are looking at is an anti-capital ship Missile Deactivator. This provides added anti-missile weaponry for a fleet, and given its abilities as a starfighter, these can be incredibly long ranged in nature."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco pulled the datacard out of the projector and returned to his seat, getting comfortable again in front of Ner'gal's watchful eyes. The wraith was incredibly loyal given the three different people he had worked for that all shared Draco's face. Draco had been a lot of things in life. Dark Jedi tettering on the edge, Sith Lord, and now, he was calm and collected, but willing to do what was necessary. It was an interesting situation, but most of his inner circle had stuck by him thus far. Some of them had even worked against Vulkan in the shadows to limit the Sith Lord persona during Draco's darkest hour.

Marcus stood up at the head of the table again, moving to finish the sales pitch and go into departmentalizing and funding. "Well, we know that there is a buyer for these craft, and we know these craft will preform when they are required to. They have been designed, we just need to allocate the resources to go into production."

One of the board members spoke up, "With the move to Concordia's capital still underway we may need to hold off. Hypori and Ragoon haven't been closed down yet, and we are relying on Concord Dawn and the Manufacturing fleets to maintain demand until Taris is able to begin production. Can the Argent's handle this size craft?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Marcus eyed the board member. Finance, it was always finance. But before he could speak, Draco piped up. "I had the Argent's built and designed by One Sith to save money. ArmaTech produces sixty percent of our ships from the facilities on Concord Dawn as it is. The Argents were built to bear the weight from the facilities. That's why there are more of them. They can handle the production run of the To Vhin and Hecr without serious issue or notice of strain. Besides, you can leave Ragoon for last and let it help until Taris is completed."

The board member nodded, made a few notes and looked to the Dragon of Mandalore, "Very well. The Argents will see to the To Vhin and Hecr for the time being. Opening Taris will be priority one, moving to Concordia priority two, and closing Hypori will be priority three. Are we agreed."

There were nods around the room and the meeting adjourned without anything else of note. Draco and his guard left for the closest Argent-class Manufacturing Dreadnought to Bothawui, still within the Bothan Sector. At one point Draco had used control over Bothawui to gain access to their networks and resources, but that time had long past. Now he was trying to pack up and leave them for greener pastures. His fleets had defended the system during his time as Foreman of the Techno Union.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Aboard the Argent in the command suite, Draco sat, watching the production lines lazily as Marcus, the current CEO of ArmaTech stood behind him, flipping through reports. "How much of this ship has been reassigned to the To Vhin?" He wasn't finding the answer in the files he held because they hadn't been updated in the past hour and a half.

"Half. The other half is still diverse, but we needed this vessel to produce a large number for the Carrier Strike Group project I've been working on. We are still looking for cost effective ways to update the Ra'gr into something that is worth putting through minor production. There have been talks of Ultrachrome armor or Phrik to keep it light weight and maneuverable over its XJThree predecessor while having it compete with the current market." Draco sighed deeply. He had hoped to push the Ra'gr to mass production, but that was seeming less and less likely, and there were not many ways to outfit it to make it comparable to the Beskad, Cabur MK2, and Bes'uliik without the use of Ultrachrome or Phrik.

"Besides the To Vhin is one of my favorites. Electronic warfare is a necessary weapon in modern combat, and the To Vhin does it pretty well. Four close range sensor jammers, wide angle dedicated energy receptor projector, a jamming beam projector, and a sensor scrambling dish. Sure it can only use one at a time, but the fact that is has all four is nice to have around."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Marcus nodded, not really paying attention. Warfare wasn't why he existed. He was just a man from Tanaab here to do business in Draco's stead, leaving the Mandalorian to run a Clan and its own Company. ArmaTech was still the leading producer of small arms so expansions into Snubfighters made sense for the moment. The Fleet Modernization had gone well, with the Tra'Kranak being the final component in that list of ships, albeit not many ships. "I suppose the number of Argents we have in the Unknown regions and Mandalorian Space can keep up with the demand for this To Vhin. What is the name anyway?"

"To Vhin are monstrous deer-like creatures on Mandalore. They are known for their howls and the noises they make, in addition to being very dangerous to hunt. Much as the Hra'nadettr was named for a Mandalorian creature it took after, and the Hecr is named after a Myrkr owl-like creature. I named the To Vhin what it is because it shares similar traits. The To Vhin in nature uses its howls to disorient, and thus the To Vhin we are making howls to disrupt the enemy. The other functions drive it because they are necessary for competent action. There are ways around it, but its not an end all, its an equalizer, a road block, and it does that very well." Draco looked down, seeing one of the fighters on the conveyor belt. The sleek dark grey of metal, still unpainted. It would be good for what he was making, as would the Hecr and Ra'gr when they were completed.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Taris Orbital Station

A pair of starfighters screamed across the view port Draco was standing in front of, watching them practice in tandem pairs as he glanced through paperwork and files about the move from Hypori to Taris. Marcus walked through the room looking at the pair of starfighters that could be seen through the view port with wide eyes. He hadn't seen very many dogfights, so watching them using training lasers and roll through maneuvers was more than he was used to. "They look impressive. That isn't the To Vhin you were talking about on Bothawui."

"No, these are the Ra'gr, designed for Space Superiority combat." Draco looked up from the papers to see them as the rolled through a series of rolls, turns, and weaves. The starfighters were based off of the old T-65XJ3 X-Wing, the much more powerful model produced during the Yuuzhan Vong War.

"Ah, so Space Superiority. I guess its supposed to be an all purpose ship?" Marcus wasn't really paying attention, or really interested, but he suspected he would hear enough about it from the Warlord. This was his pet project after all.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco glanced over his shoulder at the blonde businessman standing behind him. The Force told him the man wasn't terribly interested in Draco's little pet project. Obviously he felt that larger vessels were more profitable, but there were other projects that were geared towards larger ships. The Strike Carrier Group Project was geared towards turning single carriers into moderate all purpose cruisers. And to do that, they had built the Shaadlar-type three with Mandal Hypernautics, the To Vhin for its electronic warfare capabilities, and the Hecr for its detection components.

And that was why the Ra'gr existed in the first place. The Ra'gr was the ultimate in space superiority and dogfighting. Limited stealth and electronic warfare capabilities, enhanced range capacitors, blaster overchargers, booster thrusters, and maneuvering vanes. "The Ra'gr is based off the Tee sixty five Ex Jay three. It was the war model that benefited from twenty five years of experience, combat, and war. Even a few years against the Yuuzhan Vong. We've left in some of the anti-vong systems as well. You never know when you may need them, so stutter fire, expandable inertial field compensators, some other systems. Everything in it is top of the line."

Marcus found a seat in the room and looked up. "Top of the line? Sounds expensive if you ask me."