I's The By That Builds The Boat And I's The By That Sails Her (The Underground)

[Jorus Merrill]

RED SHIFT CANTINA
REBELLION ACTUAL - SECRET STARBASE
KATHOL SECTOR

At a corner table, Jorus poked at a holographic projection of a big nasty triangular starship. The Darr Itah-class battlecruiser 'Ophidia', late of the One Sith, had carved a bloody furrow through the nearby Adeline Cluster before the Underground caught up. Since then, the ship had spent most of its time in refit...and waiting for crew.

The Underground boasted a respectable fleet of cruisers and frigates. It had gone toe to toe with the Qektoth Confederation and the Lords of the Fringe more than once. But crewing and supplying a full-scale battlecruiser was a vastly different prospect. Consensus was that those personnel and supplies could be put to far better use.

Which left the question of what to do with the ship. Hence today's meeting.

[member="Dax Fyre"] [member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Joza Perl"] [member="Eliza Steele"] [member="Julius Sedaire"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] @whomever else wants in

 

[Bryce Bantam]

The Ophidia was not the only ship that was in question for the underground, Bryce has brought the medical super carrier "Crimson Cross" back to the outback after its relief mission above castimeer was completed. Over taxed the ship has been torn apart by the affair, Bryce has some ideas of what to do with the medical super carrier. But what to do with a 3000m machine of death was a whole different matter. As Bryce walked into the red shift he saw Jorus the a corner table. Motioning for Felicity, his red skin assistant, to grab them some drinks before he walked over to Jorus and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder.

"How you been old man?"

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

A broad grin spread over Jorus' face. "Hey there, Bryce. Glad you could make it. Here, have a seat." He shifted the holoprojector and a couple of datapacks to give Bryce some room. That wasn't strictly necessary - he'd crammed a dozen Masters around this table to debate promotions - but the gesture was more a sign of welcome than a necessity.

"I've been good - modding ships for folks that need'em, spending some quality time with Alma, kicking around Wild Space. Nice to do good work without the Qektoth sneaking up behind me, that's for darn sure. How about you? You still with Gallofree?"

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Bryce gladly took a set and relaxed. The red shift was a second home for most of the Underground and though not the swankiest of places it just felt good, fit like and old shoe and all.

"Gallofree is moving along, still got issues with the ex in Kal-shebbal but i'll get to her in due time. As for me, honestly this is the best I have felt since Castimeer and the black time that was. The Zeltron therapy is helping immensely, [member="Joza Perl"] 's girls are taking good care of me and getting my head on straight."

Bryce motioned over to Felicity who was chatting up the bartender while she waited for the drinks.

"So you got any ideas on that to do with that One Sith monstrosity?"

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax walked into the cantina with a slightly confused but curious look on his face. The man had been invited to a meeting on Rebellion Actual, the Outb-er...rather the Undergrounds secret space base. The Master was confused for two reasons. One, why was he invited, and two, what did the meeting involve? He hoped he hadn't karked something up so bad that the usually lax Underground brass had decided to reprimand him.

At one of the tables in the back corner of the cantina, the kind Underground operatives had an affection for, the man spotted two of the Undergrounds very well known members. [member="Bryce Bantam"] and [member="Jorus Merrill"], neither of which Dax had met before. But, the Rogue was willing to bet one of them was the one who'd called the meeting. Dax walked to the table and nodded to the two, "Guess this is what I'm here for huh?" he said, glaring at the holographic image of the OSS Ophidia. Dax had hoped that blasted ghost ship would stay outside the fringes of the galaxy forever...guess that wasn't gonna happen after all..."My name's Dax. Dax Fyre." he said, offering a hand to whoever was nearest him.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

"Hey, I don't judge." A decade and a half of marriage, and a complicated past before that, had left Jorus about as firmly monogamous as possible, but what Bryce got up to was none of his business. Live and let live, don't judge folks for having different vices than you do - Warden principles. Sure hadn't picked them up from the Jedi. "And welcome aboard, Dax. Jorus Merrill, good to meet you. I hear you helped capture what we're talking about.

"As for what to do with the big boats, the Ophidia and the Crimson Cross, that's tough to say. The Cross, I don't remember her specs, but I could see some of the big corporations using her right. Silk Holdings maybe. Or even the Silver Jedi: say what you will about'em, but they've been the galaxy's best shot at stability for ages now. Then again, maybe we strip out the engines and use it for a medical station.

"As for the battlecruiser, my first thought is to give it to the Alliance. They face ships like that now that they're tangling with the First Order; they could learn a lot from picking the meat off the bones of a Darr Itah. The Alliance is way too law and order for my taste, but it's a thought. Looking for alternatives there."

 

[Bryce Bantam]

"Hey Dax, hear a bit about you, Welcome. Grab a drink cause themail reason we invited you was to talk about that big One Sith boat you helped us win. Seems now that we areally breaking up we need to choose what to do with the beast."

Bryce had heard all of Jorus's suggestions and was taking them in before he replied.

"Well we sure as feth are not going to give the beastie away are we? The alliance has assets to spare we can use. I they want it I'm sure the can put in a few wampam for it, maybe a ship or 50. Same with the silvers, we are do gooders not suckers right?"

[member="Jorus Merrill"] / [member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax shook [member="Jorus Merrill"]'s hand, thanked [member="Bryce Bantam"] then took a seat, looking at the holograph. "Well capture might be stretching it a bit." he replied a little bitter on his tongue. The name Crimson Cross rung a few bells for the man. That was the ship he'd been flown to after getting stabbed on Kaeshana. That was a ship he didn't mind having around now. "Why don't we retrofit the Cross for relief efforts?" Dax asked, "Force knows how many planets need disaster relief and medical assistance. Most everyone else is too concerned with war now to pay attention to them." As for the Ophidia...Dax didn't know what to think of that. The ship was in almost pristine condition after all. But if there were any more Starweirds hanging around on board, getting to just drive the thing to the nearest star. But he did agree with Bryce. They shouldn't give the thing away. The GA, the SJO, they had a well established fleet. One more ship wasn't going to change that.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Dax Fyre"]

"Even if we keep retrofitting the Cross for that mission profile, it's just too big of a ship for us to operate. At three klicks long, that's something only a real serious interstellar government or the very biggest corporations could support. We could cut the crew and supply requirements if we turned it into a station, but far as I can tell there's just no way for us to keep the darn things, not by ourselves anyway. Could get backing from one of them, maybe.

"That said, I think Bryce is on to something. We could trade these suckers for, oh, dozens of freighters, fighters, Corvettes, dedicated search and rescue ships. All depends who we approach. Thoughts?"

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

Kerrigan was not here. Elpsis, veteran of Omega, Atrisia and Kaeshana, worked well enough as a proxy at an Underground meeting. "If we give the Ophidia to the Silvers, she'll just sit in a 'yard till she's old and rusty. They don't have much of a fleet anyway. Or Sith get their paws on her." The redhead was probably more than a little biased. She took a swig of whiskey, straight from the bottle.


"I'm no fan of dogmatic Jedi zealots or magma cells, but the Alliance's actually taking on Sith and jackbooted imperialists, instead of just waiting for the bad guys to come knockin'. They faced one of these suckers at Kaeshana. So I say offer it to them. They could learn a lot from picking it apart. What would we want from them in return?"

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Dax Fyre"] [member="Elpsis Elaris"]

"Now here's a thought," said Jorus slowly. "If what we're hoping to gain is small craft, things we can task to any number of different priorities at once, the ship is still worth way more than all that. But we could still get a real respectable amount of ships if we just traded data. We've got good scans, maintenance logs, deck plans, systems data: more than enough for the Alliance to get an edge. What if we trade that data to them for ships, and keep the big boats closer to home? What if, say, Kal'Shebbol or the Kathol Republic could field them? Could get ships, moons, access in trade for them, things the Alliance isn't always close enough to give us. And if the local powers, alone or together, could support the big boats, they'd be on hand if someone came poking around the area. Thoughts?"

 

[Dax Perl]

"I like that plan a whole lot better." the Rogue said as he poured out a couple fingers of whatever it was that they'd been drinking. "Plus, we can always get more data, more scans. We're good at that stuff. Getting a vessel like the Ophidia? The only reason we got that little bosh'tet was cause she was already abandoned...well mostly." Dax put the bottle down with a soft thid before speaking, "I would like to have an Undergrounder at the helm of some of the larger craft though. Call me a cynic, but I'm not gonna give someone the knife they need to potentially stab me in the back."

The Rogue had joined the Outback towards the end of its tenure, most of the Kathol territories retaken. He hadn't known the government that had proceeded the de facto leadership. He trusted the Underground. Not the Kathol's new authorities.

[member="Bryce Bantam"], [member="Jorus Merrill"], [member="Elpsis Elaris"]