Let's Get Down To Business [GA New Class Program]

[Ayden Cater]

It happened as it did before; the upstart band of do-gooders rose on an ever-increasing string of unlikely victories and persistent campaigns. World after world flocked to their banner, lured in by the promise of freedom, security, and prosperity. But as the happy glow of triumph faded, reality began to set in. Credits were needed to fund relief efforts, manpower was stretched thin as system after system called for equal amounts of protection and defense. The hierarchy of command and the tools of war that had been used in their almost meteoric rise were rapidly being stressed to their breaking points. Things would need to change.

That was why this meeting had been called.

In an office on Fondor, many of the Galactic Alliance's largest corporate suppliers had been invited to a meeting to discuss the future needs of the Alliance. It was an opportunity to secure lucrative future contracts, a possibility that few corporations could afford to dismiss. Beyond that, many corporations had a vested interest in the continued success of the Alliance while others simply had an overabundance of goodwill towards the stalwart movement. Regardless of motivation, they had all proven themselves capable of meeting the needs of the Alliance when it was still a fledgling power. They were now called upon to meet the needs of a galactic power.

In the assembly room, a woman walked in with two aides behind her. Upon her immediate arrival in the room, all of the Alliance personnel stood straight up and saluted. She turned and passed a piercing gaze at every individual present at the table. It wasn't an unfriendly look, merely the hard, professional look of a career

"I am Admiral Vel'Kira Reu. I am the head of the Galactic Alliance's New Class Modernization Program. Thank you all for coming, and please be seated." She sat at the table while her aid stood beside her. "To get to the point, the Alliance had found itself with a need to strength its core fleet designs. Now that we've retaken Coruscant and established ourselves as a superpower on the galactic front, we have to take new matters into consideration. It's no longer tenable to support a myriad of designs. Repair cycles vary wildly as no standardization for our engineer's training leaves us struggling to find someone who knows how to repair one fighter, while being unable to repair another. The same problem extends to our capital ships."

She pressed a button on the table in front of her, causing the windows to darken and a holoprojector to kick into life in the center of the room. "This is our collected sensor data from the recent conflict over Castameer involving the Rogue Sith and their superweapon. Of particular note are the other two sides involved in this engagement; the Mandalorians and the First Order." Several shots were taken displaying the awesome firepower of several ship designs engaged with the Rogue Sith. "While we are not at war with them presently, they represent both the standard we will need to meet as well as the force we might one day be called upon to overcome. I need not remind you all that you all signed non-disclosure agreements before being let in this room. As this is a matter that pertains to the security of the Alliance, nothing that is said in this room can be repeated to outside elements."

Her aides began to walk around the table, disseminating tablets of information to the assembled room. "While you all get familiar with the standards of the program, why don't we take this opportunity to introduce yourself and your represented corporation to those in attendance who might be unfamiliar with your work. It might also be worth noting any specialties your corporation might have developed in the course of operating. This meeting after all is a matter of design. Collaboration is encouraged." She folded her hands together and rested her chin on them as she turned and looked around the table to see who would speak first.

| [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Roth Tillian"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Audren Sykes"] | [member="Astarii Saren"] |​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Gir Quee"] [member="Roth Tillian"] [member="Audren Sykes"] [member="Astarii Saren"]

It made sense to Taeli that, as the threats evolved and changed, the Alliance needed to modernize its forces. She nodded at the admiral's aides as they passed her a datapad listing the details of the project that was going to be at the heart of the Alliance's upgrades. Leaning back in her chair, watching the images captured from the battle against the Rogue Sith, she could understand why it was needed. The First Order, in particular, was starting to show some very worrisome teeth and the Mandalorians were going to be looking for that next fight now that both the One Sith and Republic had collapsed. Not to mention the myriad problems every galactic power faced when they had member worlds clamoring for protection and resources.

When no one wanted to be the first to speak after the Admiral made the suggest they introduce one another, Taeli figured she might as well be the first. Dressed in an elegant red gown, and not Jedi robes, she certainly didn't look like a Master of the New Jedi Order.

"Guess I'll be the first," she said. "Some of you probably know me, others not so much. I'm Taeli Raaf, Jedi Master of the New Jedi Order and CEO of Aurora Industries. We at Aurora dabble and work in many of the technology fields, including ships and droids, but have also begun branching out into bioengineering and cybernetics along with energy production. I would also like to add, given recent events, that I agree with Admiral Reu that modernization is now key to the Alliance's continued presence as a galactic power. Those around us have begun this process themselves, and only together, can we hope to meet and possibly even exceed the resources others in the galaxy have."

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir listened intently to the two women speak. It seemed to him an insurmountable fact that the Alliance would have to adopt and utilize new technologies to retain parity with the other emerging galactic powers, particularly if deterrence was to have any place in the Alliance's grand strategy. But it was not only matter of finding the right technologies and concepts to adopt, but the matter in which they were adopted. The framework of a standardization process bode well to that part of the end, but Gir remained curious about the rest of the procurement process. Those thoughts weighed on the back of his mind as [member="Taeli Raaf"] finished her introduction. He slowly rose to feet and smoothed out a few wrinkles in his suit.

"I am Gir Quee, Directorate officer and CEO of Lucerne Labs. My company is predominantly interested in developing starship components and weapon systems, though we also manufacture some starships, mostly smaller craft, of our own," started Gir, "we have a vested interest in seeing the Galactic Alliance remain an effective power in the galaxy. Consequently, whatever we can do to support that end goal is our interest, to include this development program."

[member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Roth Tillian"] | [member="Audren Sykes"] | [member="Astarii Saren"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Gir Quee"], [member="Taeli Raaf"], [member="Ayden Cater"]


Once again, Siobhan found herself on Fondor. Truth be told, the ecumenopolis was not her favourite planet. There were too many bad memories and regrets associated with it. The former military dictator gazed out at the Fondor skyline, looking unusually introspective. Her eyes swept across the room, taking in the Alliance Admiral and the various businesspeople who'd been assembled in the conference room. Taeli Raaf took the initiative and spoke first. Siobhan liked her. The Jedi was practical, her company made shiny toys and she had excellent fashion sense.


"I'm Countess Siobhan Kerrigan, co-CEO of Firemane Industries and Exarch emeritus of the Omega Protectorate," she spoke smoothly. The Lady wore a very fancy and most likely expensive beige skirtsuit, along with a beautiful pearl necklace and earrings. Her crossed legs were clad in silk stockings.


The Protectorate was long gone, but the Alliance still used a lot of its equipment and many former officers and soldiers had joined its ranks. She'd brought her old buddy [member="HK-36"] along since he probably wanted to advertise ARGH.


"Firemane is active in many technology fields, including ground warfare tech such as armoured vehicles and firearms with an emphasis on anti-Force-user weapons, but we also provide planetary defence cannons, battleships and starship components. We manufactured power armour for the Alliance and the Barsen'thor battlecruiser for the then-Silver Coaliton. Our business ties to the Alliance go back to its foundation, so we have an interest in its continued success. If you want peace, prepare for war."


The Alliance had evolved from a rag-tag coalition united by a desire to topple the One Sith into a galactic power. However, success could easily become the breeding ground for complacency. This was true for any organisation, no matter whether it was a nation or a corporation. The First Order, previously just another sect of imperial fanatics, had shown its teeth at Castamere.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Gir Quee"], [member="Taeli Raaf"], [member="Ayden Cater"],

While all this talking was going on, the droid was more or less just busying himself spinning around on his chair, his black cloak flattering slightly until it was his turn to talk and he stopped,

"I am Hunter Killer series 36 unit 1, a free droid since the times of Ancient Republic and Mandalorian Wars, I am the current First Baron of Abregado system, and for a time I used to be the Iron Lord Protector of Omega Protectorate, whom I served in what organics perceive as current era."

The machine was clad in Alliance's Vanguard armor, a phrik suit he got from Siobhan after his recent re-activation, his helmet was removed, showing off his silver-pale head, resembling a Kaleesh war mask in its design more than anything, those who would be able to recognize Phrik would know what the droid's body was forged out of,

"I represent Abregado's Guild of Hammers, our planetary industrial and research complex, we specialize in magnetic propulsion, for example shatterguns, we were the first in the Galactic history to create a fully automatic version of the weapon, and mass drivers, manufacturing with the rare material Echani Graphite, and its variants, last time I checked we have monopoly on it and we are the last planet who preserved the knowledge of its production, melee weaponry, and-"

He motioned over his own form,

"-Droid design, after all nobody understands a droid's inner workings like another droid. Due to my age I have also access to a lot of knowledge now forgotten by most Galactic civilizations, which I am able to use to influence the Guild's designs."

 

[Republic Engineering]

Drumming his fingers against the polished surface of the metallic table, Otto Shule, the Current Chief Executive Officer of the Republic Engineering Corporation sat within the padded embrace of his chair, listening silently to the voices of those that had gathered around him. He was impressed that so many influential people had gathered into a single place, and having glanced at the list when he had arrived several hours prior - knew that there were much more that had yet to introduce themselves, let alone arrive. Nevertheless, when it came time for him to stand and proclaim himself to those gathered, the man did so with an almost mechanical precision.

Smoothing out the edges of his ebony tunic and straightening his posture as he stood, Otto’s gaze fell upon those that populated the room. Bequeathing a measured smile as their eyes had locked with his, the Replica Droid began his introduction. “I am Otto Shule,” He said, allowing his imperious accent to coat every word that slipped past his artificial flesh generously. “Presently acting as the Chief Executive Officer of the Republic Engineering Corporation, based off Coruscant.” As his words settled in, Otto slipped a well-manicured hand into the folds of his tunic and withdrew a small holoprojector.

Activating it with a flick of his thumb and holding the flickering Azure images before him, the Replica Droid continued. “While much of our facilities, both Orbital and surface based, are being rebuilt by various benefactors within the Federation, the Republic Engineering Corporation specializes in the production of Starships, ranging from single-pilot Starfighters to sprawling city like Battleships.” The blank sapphire projector, altered into a slew of images detailing the ancient designs that had once had populated the former program enacted by the New Republic after the Empire’s defeat in storied past. “In addition to void-capable vessels, our company can produce a veritable selection of artificial constructs and vehicles.”

Extinguishing the light of the device and slipping it back into his ebony tunic, Otto turned his gaze towards Admiral Reu, allowing his focus to narrow into a point. “The Alliance liberated our world; I believe it’s fitting that we give back.” Taking his seat once more, the Replica Droid silently returned to the autonomous rap of his fingers against the table, turning to whoever was next in this circle of aligned parties.

| [member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="HK-36"] |​

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Astarii Saren"] @HK-36 @Siobhan Kerrigan [member="Gir Quee"] [member="Taeli Raaf"]

"I am Otto Shule," said the Republic Engineering Corporation rep, and Ajira blinked. She suppressed her surprise and curiosity, masking them behind a veil of normalcy as she masked everything else. A bare handful of people in the galaxy, and only one other in the room, had any reason to think she might be more than Lady Cardei, untrained Forcer and ODF veteran. Let alone someone with a connection to Darth Shule, Grandmaster Je'gan Olra'en, Shule Windspeaker: grandfather to Ashin Varanin.

Varanin, who Ajira most certainly was not. At all. Clearly.

Her gaze flicked to Ayden Cater for a brief contact, then away to scan the room. "Lady Ajira Cardei, Director General of Strategic Security Branch, Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps." Functionally, that position gave her broad responsibilities in all sorts of fields, from diplomacy to secret R&D to assertive product testing. This meeting fell squarely within her wheelhouse. "Theed Hangar specializes in small production runs of elite subcapital ships, as well as strategic surveillance technologies. We've pioneered a variety of medium- and long-range probes for Naboo and Galactic Alliance projects. You might have seen our Bomis Koori telemetry at Kriselist during the latest incident in the Vanguard situation."

What an interesting room this was. Cater, who knew her real identity; HK-36, who'd once claimed to be Varanin's ancestor; Kerrigan, who'd spent years interacting with Varanin as what young Ibby would have called a 'frienemy.' So far, the only one who'd interacted with Lady Cardei publicly was Raaf. They'd discussed mutual interests at a contentious Nubian trade summit. Long before, they'd sparred over Naboo's future with the Alliance at a royal ball, shortly before the Queen's death. Ajira didn't consider her an ally or an enemy, but she was certainly a quantity worth knowing. Then there was Quee: she'd seen some of Lucerne's work, but knew nothing of the man.

Oh, and she and HK had been bridesmaids together, at a royal wedding-slash-coronation in the Unknown Regions. Perhaps the less said of that, the better.

She met Cater's eyes solidly and smiled. "We also make the Handmaiden escort for the Alliance, as part of the New Class Modernization Program's early stages."

 

[Audren Sykes]

In all honesty, Audren didn't know much about ships. He could operate them, some better than others, but as far as building or maintaining them? He was out of his league with that one. Yet he was here anyways. As Admiral Reu had stated, he'd signed the non-disclosure agreement and gone in anyways though. However he could help...he just hadn't realized how out of his league - or rather, out of Ceredir's league - that he was going to be.

The premise of the New Class program was clear-cut and rather logical. Moving from a hodge-podge of assorted ships, many of which were ageing and breaking more frequently, to an up-to-date set was only logical. Having them be uniform in nature was simply an extension of that. That way they could address the issue of mechanics being able to fix one but not the other. If they did their parts right, crew members would be the same way. A navigator on one ship would be able to move to the navigator position on another ship, not just another ship of the same model. There would be restrictions of course, but within reason.

He was clearly out of his depth with this group. Siobhan and Taeli he recognized of course, though he was more familiary with Siobhan. Yet they also had the representative of Albregado's Guild of Hammers, the CEO of Lucerne Labs, the CEO of the Republic Engineering Corporation, and the Director-General of a division of Theed Hangar. The Sephi - and his company - were small potatoes when compared against them. Even their introductions were impressive...much less so than his.

"Audren Sykes present for Ceredir Industries. Armor, textiles, and niche tools."

Several here had claim to the title of Force Sensitive, at least two of them were Master rank in their respective Orders and more experienced than he. Siobhan could be a force of pure destruction when the mood struck, luckily she'd been on their side when he'd witnessed that. He had no room to brag, not that he wanted to. The most concession he made was the robes he normally wore, which could pass as Jedi robes or sometimes even normal clothing unless he walked through a metal detector. Well, those and the lightsaber at his waist. Likewise, he kept the specialties short. No need to over-hype what he brought to the table.

[member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member=HK-36] | [member="Astarii Saren"] | [member="Ajira Cardei"]

 

[Roth Tillian]

Roth leaned back in the chair, in his GADF dress uniform. With modifications, of course, most relating to the cast and sling that held his entire right arm and shoulder from moving, and some significant bandages across his torso. He had been off active duty ever since he had managed to return from Castameer with his once-believed lost cousin, with the aid of Veino Garn and the Jensaarai. The family took care of its own. It was one of the unwritten laws.

But now he was here as a different role, since not a single doctor in the entire Federation would let him within twenty meters of a hangar. As a shareholder in Tillian Family Enterprises, he had enough sway with the CEO to get them involved. Not that there was a whole they could manage to do at this point. They weren't ship builders, per se, but they could refit just about any ship and understood how to make a ship work most effectively at a given purpose. Or in most of their cases, a purpose that the engineer did not intend for the ship to accomplish.

"Captain Roth Tillian of Tillian Family Enterprises. We tend to do more freight hauling and ship refits than actual construction, but we could update smaller ships to New Class specs." He studied the others in the room, giving them all a cocky half grin. "My own specialty is snubfighters and how they can be used most effectively."

That came from years of reckless flying that he still managed to survive without being shot down more than... a handful of times and never dying. Different ships for different roles, one ship for multiple roles. That was the standard of good guys throughout history- the Incom X-Wing model. It had given the Rebel Alliance and its descendants small-craft superiority for decades.

 

[Ayden Cater]

| [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="HK-36"] | [member="Astarii Saren"] |[member="Ajira Cardei"] | [member="Audren Sykes"] | [member="Roth Tillian"] | @Others |​

Several other beings introduced themselves before it got around to a man that few didn't know who he was. The man had a tendency to be loud, self-righteous, and ego-centric almost to a fault. Yet he was generous with his time and his money, pouring credits into philanthropic endevours and helping various planets rebuild from travesties, both natural and war-related. He had developed a wide variety of designs that had seen use over the last decade and longer. Ayden sat at the table with a comfortable smile. "Well as many of you know and for those of you who don't, my name is Ayden Cater. I'm the Chief Innovation Office and Designated Speaker of the Board of Directors of the Corellian Engineering Corporation." He briefly paused, considering whether to add further embellishments to his title before deciding to avoid being gauche. After all, most knew of his history as well as his personal achievements and grave failings. Besides, he wasn't here as the overseer of the project; he was just here as a cog-in-the-wheels.

Admiral Reu gave a satisfied nod before standing up. "You all have been called here today because the Alliance recognizes that your companies, no matter how small they may seem, have a means to contribute to the success of the New Class Modernization Program. Some might be charged with the designing of components or creation of materials that will be used by others to manufacture the new starships." She looked from one representative to the next, never leaving her gaze to linger on one person for too long. "Others might be charged with hauling the necessary materials to our development yards. The success of the Alliance comes not from the giants that walk among us, but from the labors of the many. This meeting is strictly to discuss the varying stages and contracts associated with the Navy and Starfighter corps. Someone else from the Alliance is heading a separate meeting to discuss the Army's needs. In short; if it's got legs, I don't need it."

She shifted her tone and began to march around the room, her arms folded behind her back. One of her aids followed her while the other stayed put at the head of the table. "As Lady Cardei helpfully intoned, the beginning stages of the program are already underway. One of the primary goals of the New Class program is to field a flexible fleet, one that is adept at engaging a multitude of threats while maintaining a cohesiveness that our current fleet lacks. Laying aside for a moment necessities like fleet maintenance and training, at the moment our current fleet cannot be tuned to specific threats. For example, to criticize the former Protectorate's fleet design." Admiral Reu briefly looked over at Ayden, who gave a good-natured chuckle and gestured away any thoughts of offense. "The Horn-class Escort cruiser is a fine anti-starfighter cruiser. However, it lacks a critical capital ship punch that might otherwise be necessary. If it were a part of a fleet with many starfighters, its presence would be invaluable. However, if the aforementioned starfighter threat never materialized, then the ship would have little to contribute. And there exists no other vessel of similar size that could be brought in its place to instead deal with capital ships."

"Thus the aim of the New Class program is two-fold; standardize the components and materials used in construction of our fleet, creative a modular pool of ships to allow fleets greater flexibility while not sacrificing capabilities. To give an example using Theed Hanger's aforementioned Handmaiden Escort Corvette; It is a ship designed to move with a fleet and uses a wide array of defense guns to counter enemy starfighter and missile attacks. However, it lacks any means of engaging capital ships. Rather than bring it along in a fleet whether we know that we will be engaging capital ships with little to no starfighter support, we might instead deploy a second corvette design. For example, if Corellian Engineering were to make a corvette which focused on the opposite of the Handmaiden, that is on anti-capital ship warfare, then any fleet which utilized one could be quickly altered to use the other. In this way, we avoid predictability and complacency in our fleets."

Her aid pulled out a tablet and began to punch in some commands. The center holographic projector shut down and consoles appeared from beneath the tabletop at each chair. "Each of you were told that you would have an opportunity to showcase your company's past and present works as a demonstration of their capabilities. As well, you will each be given the opportunity to pitch design ideas of what you might bring to the table, either as a component of a starship like a weapon system or wholesale as a design." The Admiral gave a smile that seemed perhaps a touch more predatory than friendly. "At the end of the presentations, I will confer with my aids and other top members of the program to review the data. Those whom have something to offer the program will be asked to submit a bid. In the case where more companies bid than we have slots for a given class of ship, the ones with the lowest satisfactory bid will be awarded the contract. No designs which are not accepted as part of the New Class program will be stored, rest assured." On each screen, it was apparent that Stage One of the Program had several slots for wholesale designs for capital ships; four corvettes, four frigates, six cruisers, and eight Star Defenders. Each company could submit weapon or subsystems for inclusion in any or all applicable capital ship designs, or they could submit space station or orbital defense installation designs as well as starfighters and other sub-capital ships. Of course, just because a design was submitted did not guarantee a contract. The Alliance would have to determine if the design was in-line with their needs. At the bottom, fields for material harvesting or hauling were included. There truly was something for everyone present; the question was a matter of who could submit the most satisfactory designs for the Alliance?

(OOC: You can submit a design to the GA's Prefactory or you can spoiler one in your post; whichever you prefer)

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Astarii Saren"]

"Thank you, Admiral Reu."

Ajira connected her company datapad with the popup console. The holodisplay, around half a metre to a side, flickered to life. It presented three small images in a row: two sleek Naboo ships and what looked like a retractable, ship-mounted missile launcher.

"In keeping with your request, I'll be covering three subjects: previous relevant experience, suitable components, and proposed ship designs."

The first ship expanded, rotating, to fill the display.

"This is the Theed Hangar Handmaiden-class Escort Corvette. At the moment, it is the Galactic Alliance's only dedicated escort vessel. For the non-shipwrights in the room, a dedicated escort protects fleets against subcapital ships. Fighters, bombers, and gunships can't attack full-size Star Destroyers if they and their warheads run into a properly designed escort. Previously, the closest ship the Alliance had to this role was the Horn-class cruiser. The Horn is two and a half times longer and eight to ten times bulkier, depending on whether you're measuring by volume or mass. Equivalent fleet lengths of Horn-class and Handmaiden-class vessels favor the Handmaiden for defensive weapons loadout. The Handmaiden mounts defensive weapons in a higher proportion than the Horn does, and it's more dedicated to the role. Although the Horn has the edge in durability, the Handmaiden is much, much harder to hit, and easier to maneuver within the context of a tightly spaced fleet.

"The Handmaiden’s heavy, variegated, layered armament can shred everything from warheads to gunships. Targets are handed off seamlessly from far to near ranges as they pass through the optimal range of each weapon type respectively. The ship's redundant, multispectrum targeting systems have a strong ECCM suite for respectable resistance to jamming. It's also worth noting that the Handmaiden carries a small number of intrasystem probes, the Theed Hangar SIARC model. The Horn is a functional ship, but for the role of dedicated escort, the Handmaiden offers a decisive advantage."

Ajira minimized the Handmaiden's sleek, dagger-shaped image and selected the launcher. It filled the screen: a recessed module which extended perpendicular to the hull, then turned and rotated to point four broad muzzles in any given direction.

"So much for relevant experience, though I assure you, I could brag about Theed starship models all day. Admiral Reu, you'd mentioned components which the New Class vessels could find useful. This is a RASP launcher. It holds four recon or survey probes in any combination, and reloads from internal magazines. The RASP has the structural and power requirements of a standard concussion missile launcher -- that's standard, not assault. It's compatible with virtually any probe that's three metres or less and reasonably narrow: it can launch smaller probes using discarding casings or boosters.

"The standard probes, however, generally do the job. The Strategic Intrasystem Active Reconnaissance probe, or SIARC, obtains comprehensive scans of enemy forces and areas of heavy cover, such as dense nebular regions. Its secondary mission profile is advance warning through hyperspace traffic detection. The Interdiction and Customs Inspection probe, or INCIS, obtains in-depth short-range scans of unknown vessels. Its secondary mission profile is tactical interdiction via a miniaturized pulse-mass generator. The Extended Prospecting and Atmospheric Reconnaissance probe -- the acronym is EXPARC - scans astronomical bodies and phenomena for in-demand raw materials and lifesigns. The multirole Superluminal Reconnaissance probe, SUREC, is suitable for prospecting, exploration, strategic or tactical missions. It's also hyperspace-capable. I should also mention that the RASP is compatible with Mandalorian Kal'ika hypercapable stealth probes. All of these probes, incidentally, can be transported and deployed by our new S-3 scout fighters."

Ajira tapped a control and the RASP launcher minimized, to be replaced by a fluid, sword-shaped cruiser, almost as long as a Vicstar and a good deal slimmer.

"What you've seen so far are designs already in production. The RASP was made available to the Alliance for its flagship initiative; the Handmaiden is in service as, I believe, the first vessel in the New Class Modernization program. This design, however, is in the late stages of development. The prototype, RNS Jamillia, has functioned effectively in shakedown cruises and active duty. My reference to our shared probe telemetry over Kriselist, during the latest Vanguard incident, was in regards to the Jamillia-class Star Cruiser.

"Nine hundred eighty metres long, comprehensive defensive loadout modeled on the Handmaiden. Twenty-four combat starfighters, thirty-two scout fighters for probe deployment, and twelve larger scout ships -- the Lucerne Labs LL-fourteen-hundred model. Twenty RASP launchers, with as much probe storage capacity as any campaign could need." For the first time, she interacted with the display, touching the thin, forward-raked sensor pylons. "Comprehensive subspace monitoring and decryption for one hundred light-years. The most sensitive fixed multispectrum sensors in this weight class, plus a CGT-enabled towed array with a multi-DER range out to four light-hours -- just under twenty-nine astronomical units. For the non-shipwrights, that means this can snoop out virtually anything within a star system, or at least the part of it that matters. It can detect any stealth vessel that doesn't have a gravitic modulator. Its probe deployment options allow it to monitor, in real-time, all movements along any given hyperroute, as well as provide battlefield and precision interdiction options.

"This isn't a front-line combat vessel. Frankly, it doesn't belong in a wall of battle. It's not without its weaknesses: those sensor pylons and the towed array are vulnerable to enemy fire or even wind shear. None of its loadout can scratch a ship of the line. It moves slowly and carefully to maintain sensor precision and component integrity. But without question, it can provide an Alliance fleet with comprehensive, in-depth, processed awareness at system and sector levels, in a way that no other ship can. If you have a Jamillia-class Star Cruiser in your roster, and assuming you use it properly, enemy repositioning on a sector level can never take you by surprise.

"In short, this isn't the ship you bring to a fight. This is the ship you bring to a war.

"Admiral Reu, thank you for your time."

 

[Aerion Ivelisse]

Aerion stood alongside Captain Jax Hastings, not a company owner, merely a member of the Fourteenth Fleet, one Captain of many that had fought under the banner of the Galactic Alliance. Unbeknownst to him was that his Jedi Liaison in the form of Aerion Ivelisse had joined the Galactic Alliance Guard, so still, he had been invited along with him. In silence the both of them stood as they watched the meeting go under way. This was more of a learning opportunity rather than a 'go out and give ideas' opportunity, at least in the mind of Jax.

Sure the Captain and Aerion had a hand in designing a couple ships for the Galactic Alliance, early commissions of the New Class Modernization Program, but they tended to not be versatile when it came to the armament. Both Jax Hastings and Aerion had that in common. Single minded for the first part when a target came to mind. The Axe-Class Frigate was an anti-starfighter frigate, it's armament specifically geared for wiping out entire squadrons easily, never to allow projectiles or bombers to get close to the main fleet. While attending this meeting, Aerion had realized that it'd be better to downsize that design. A smaller ship with more powerful weapons for medium or longer ranges.

Then there was the Valiant Star Defender. It was a ship for war, and purely for that. No Hangar. No extra personnel onboard, just the necessary amount of crew, and even then that was downsized for there were hundreds of droids on board, hooked up to equipment or filling a job that any crewmen would. Long-range combat for attack, and plenty of defenses considering its size. Little to any medium ranged weapon emplacements. A poor choice at the end of the day, but as of right now there was only one prototype off of the line.

Alliance High Command were waiting until an actual engagement to truly determine its strengths and weaknesses.

There was much to learn on this day.

Aerion and Jax shared a look.

Both of them knew this.

So they would, and they would learn.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Ajira Cardei"], [member="HK-36"], [member="Audren Sykes"], [member="Taeli Raaf"], [member="Astarii Saren"], [member="Gir Quee"]


Siobhan spoke next after the Lady Cardei. Pressing the button on a datapad, she brought a variety of holographic projections to life. "Thank you, admiral. I will cover past ship designs and components, as well as a proposed vessel. The present Firemane battleships that I believe could be beneficial to the Alliance are the Paladin-class Star Destroyer, the Fulminatus Missile Corvette, the Frontier-class Corvette and the Argente-class Carrier," she began smoothly.


"The Paladin is a heavily armed and armoured Star Destroyer, equipped with two devastating Vortex Cannons that inflict terrible damage that at long range and powerful batteries. Graphite mesh underlay gives it powerful armour," at that she nodded towards HK, "and it has a Colossus Reactor. While it has no hangar, it is a powerful slugger for battle at close range."


The projection shifted a bit. The small corvette was built like a WWII submarine, to use an analogy from a planet far, far away. A holographic image would show it making mincemeat out of a capital ship by unleashing a barrage of missiles, fading away before it could be hit. "The Fulminatus is a swift and aggressive corvette. It uses powerful Baradium missiles to strike larger capital ships and then fade away. The Argent cruiser is a dedicated carrier that can deploy six squadrons in a smaller than usual package. Its substantial defence guns enable it to perform flak duties and, if you remove the attack craft, it can be converted into a landing ship able to carry an entire division. Finally, the Frontier corvette is a dedicated scout which can carry a squadron and has good flak for skirmishing. A good exploration, scout and monitoring ship."


She paused for a few moments to let this sink in, drinking a glass of water. "As for our components, the Vortex Cannon is a massive railgun which fires a 5 tonne lump of durasteel at long range distances. It has special ammunition for dealing with attack craft and dealing tremendous damage to large targets, the cluster round and the apocalypse round, a giant thermal detonator. The Aegis is a molecular shield that absorbs incoming damage and allows it to be rerouted to other uses. Only large ships can use this and it requires a Colossus Reactor. This is a special secondary reactor for storing power and using it, especially to power large weapons. More than one can be used by a capital ship."


Images would be shown, depicting the Vortex Cannon in action at battles such as Ruusan and against genocidal aliens at Kaas. Hideous firepower was unleashed. One would see the flagship of Independence Day style xenos be totally shredded.


"If I can beg your indulgence for a moment more, I shall get to a new vessel we intend to make available to the Alliance: The Gladius-class Assault Cruiser." She tapped a button, and the other projections vanished, showing the new battleship and its technical specifications.


"As the name implies, it is meant to be a sword to be driven right into the enemy's heart. A powerful heavy cruiser armed primarily with heavy, close range weapons to close in on the enemy and attack them directly, delivering a good punch. While it lacks a hangar and has weaker defences, this is offset by heavy armaments and fast speed. It has a redundant shield generator and reinforced bow armour plating. Thank you for time, Admiral. I apologise if I got too wordy!"

Spoiler

http://orig11.devian...ko1-d7qqyi4.jpg

Image Source:Here. User Ambrosko1 on Deviant Art.
Affiliation:Open Market, Galactic Alliance, Firemane, Tygara
Manufacturer: Firemane Industries and Technology
Model: FM-HC1a
Modularity:None
Production: Mass
Material: Standard ship components.
Classification: Assault Cruiser

Length: 950m
Width: 350m
Height: 180m

Armament: 18
448CG/20HWD/30DG

• 10 x flak cannons (10DG)
• 20 x quad lasers (20DG)
• 20 x Heavy Energy Torpedo launchers (20HWD)
• 4 x spinal mount heavy hypervelocity cannons. (80CG)
• 6 x heavy quad turbolasers batteries (192CG)
• 4 x heavy quad ion cannon batteries (128CG)
• 4 x heavy turbolaser batteries (32CG)
• 2 x heavy ion cannon batteries (16CG)

Flak: 8
Defences: 14

Hangar: 0 Squadrons

Special Features:

• Heavy forward weapons.
• Redundant shield generator.
• Reinforced bow armour plating.

Maneuverability Rating: 16
Speed Rating: 13
Hyperdrive Class:

Strengths:

• Heavy firepower, especially at close range.
• Quicker than average ships of its class

Weaknesses:

• Reduced defences, especially of sides and rear.
• Sluggish handling.
• Lack of attack craft and flak.

Description:
Development Thread: If required.
Intent: To create a powerful heavy cruiser. This ship will be armed primarily with heavy, close range weapons with the intent of closing with an enemy and engaging them directly. Its heavy armaments are offset by weaker defence and lack of hanger.
Who Can Use This: Open Market purchasers, Firemane, Tygara, Galactic Alliance
Primary Source: N/A

 

[HK-36]

[member="Ayden Cater"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Aerion Ivelisse"], [member="Ajira Cardei"],

It looked like it was the droid's turn up next and HK calculated to himself,

It is time to set my charming protocols to maximum efficiency,

"Organic bodies are in constant state of entropy,"

So that was the opening line he chose as he stood up,

"With every second they slowly rot, creeping closer and closer to the inevitable doom,"

He scanned over the room, perhaps he would recognize Otto as an HRD, after all Abregado made those droids as well and HK had a few copies of his mind running around the Galaxy in HRD vessels, or perhaps his scanners would be fooled by Otto's composition,

"I realize then time to you is precious, so unlike eating a clock-"

The droid paused, taking out a datapad and tapping on it,

"-I will not be time consuming."

He ended the introduction section with a pun.


The droid set the datapad on the table, activating a holo-recording of a ground combat from someone's first perspective,

"We are hardly shipwreights at Abregado, the only thing that we so far produced with ability to move in the Void are our construction droids, designed to build space-stations and shipyards, but what we do know well are weapons. We have a saying on Abregado, 'Give us enough time to build big enough rail and we will shoot anything through anything' this is the footage from the Sith invasion of Coruscant where I served along with Firemane as reinforcement."

For those who recognized the steps of Jedi Temple, that was the setting of the recording, the droid from his perspective in a line of heavy armored troops with a pistol, aiming at One Sith troops shot after shot, lightsaber erupting in a white blade with his other hand to deflect blaster bolts and metal slugs,

"It was then that I encountered that I was able to test our weaponry against Phrik plating, in this encounter I was using our SP-1 model, standard shattergun pistol, weakest rail gun we field in terms of firepower."

In the recording the a red rectangle would appear around one of the troops, in much shinier armor than others as the droid targeted the being, he aligned his pistol and pulled the trigger. The recording slowed down, showing the being bent over from the impact, the Phrik plating hit clearly bent but the soldier was still standing, promptly taking cover,

"This next recording takes place during the attempt to re-take Coruscant, I was using Abregado's MD-1, a handheld mass-driver we use for anti-armor purposes. It is based on previous Bolt-Gun designs used by Omega, with magnetic rails replacing the barrel and firing mechanism."

The droid's perspective would have been from some ruined building, a roof covered in ash and dirt among the ruines lower levels of Coruscant, in the distance there was a figure in red cloak with a crimson lightsaber, clad in shiny Phrik armor, a red square appeared around her as the machine targeted her and calculated the trajectory, raising the large gun,

"There is a Sith-"

He pulled the trigger, in almost instant his perspective shook from the recoil and the Sith, or those who recognized her armor, Darth Banshee in her younger days, the Sith was thrown back, flying through the air like a ragdoll,

"-And she is gone. I was not able to track the Sith down afterwards as couple Sith intercepted my position and stalled me, I assume they survived, but I did calculate that incident as rather funny."

He ended the recording,

"We do have designs for ship-mounted weaponry on Abregado, but they are in hypothetical stages, we have not put them into prototypes yet as we do not have any ships to mount them on. Our prize and joy is the RC-1 model, a heavy rail gun rotary cannon, one of the first weapons we made, a devastating weapon on the ground, it could easily be mounted on starfighters as well. Our MD-1 model, we have plans to make it bigger, big enough to utilize it as a mass-driver artillery on ships. But that has been done before, that is why we are also experimenting on combining our mass drivers with the rotary cannon loading system in order to create a rotary driver, anti-capital ship weapon capable of rapid sustained fire."

The droid would scan over the room again, recognizing Ajira as one of the witnesses of droid's cross-dressing stint, little did he knew he also claimed to be her ancestor, although to be honest he claimed to be a lot of things to a lot of people,

"Moreover, we recently begun working with Wookiees on creating our own bowcaster, combining it with our current magnetic technology. This process was successful and as result we were able to study plasma enveloping process. Those of you who do not have that data in your memory banks, it is a process utilized in bowcasters in which a physical projectile is surrounded in a plasma field, think of it as blowing a bubble around something, turning it into an explosive projectile. We are experimenting with modifying it slightly into partial plasma enveloping, the idea behind this is that all but the tip of the projectile is surrounded by plasma, on impact the explosion created by the energy instead of vaporizing the solid core pushes it forward at even greater speed, driving it through armor like a stake."

He pulled up another video, this time in some dark cave,

"According to our calculations very few armor plates would be able to withstand both a plasma explosion and a solid hyper-velocity projectile. If we would greenlight our line of ship-mounted weaponry we would also use this process in our Rotary Cannons and Volley Guns, although plenty of people said I was insane when I attached a bunch of shatteguns barrels together and fired them at the same time, our experiments showed that such weapon is very efficient at point-blank defense, easily ripping through missiles and starfighters. We also have plans for a droid capable of space-flight,"

Then Sio would recognize the video as their expedition to fight off the Machine Cult, one the screen a pair of glowing eyes would be seen before a large metal being started to spew fire, a draconic shape of black metal would appear,

"This is what came to be known as the Mechanical Dragon, it is a design based off of ancient Mandalorian Basilisk War droids, we encountered these metal beasts in service of Bando Gora cultists, this one claimed to be a Machine God."

In the holo-video the droid would be seen quickly climbing on the Dragon's leg and further up until HK was sitting on its back, his hand would be seen waving to Sio as the beast was attempting to throw him off, meanwhile Sio was in the background shaking her head and rubbing her temples,

"Since then I was able to replicate their design, Abregado will be fielding them soon as a combination of land and air vehicle."

Turning off his datapad he would move to take his seat again, concluding his presentation.

 

[Audren Sykes]

The options presented by others were impressive. Theed Hangar's vessels and probes seemed to be quite useful, especially if put together as a package deal. The sales pitch was impressive too, if he was going to be attending bidding meetings such as this on a more frequent basis he would do well to study such pitches and learn from them. Plain, honest speech had its uses, but it was the sales pitches that typically sold products.

If he were to be completely honest, Audren hadn't paid much attention to the fleeting capacity of the Sanctum Coalition. Now that it was the Order of the Silver Jedi, he still didn't know much about it. Though he couldn't be sure without looking at the records, many of the vessels that Siobhan was naming sounded familiar. She had said that Firemane had produced the Barsen'thor for the Coalition, but much of what she offered also sounded familiar. He was disappointed that the vessels were being offered to others, but accepted that the Alliance was the best option for that to happen with.

The droid's presentation was opened by a pun, which was slightly unusual. And not just for the bad pun; droids didn't usually crack jokes. Then again, droids weren't usually representatives of major companies either. Most of the demonstrations the droid provided were of personal-grade weapons. Those weapons packed impressive punches though, and the thought of having them scaled up to fit mounts on capital ships was slightly disconcerting. Add to that the combination land and air vehicle/droid thing that he presented, and Ceredir's offerings were looking even more bland than he'd originally thought.

Then it was his turn. The Sephi plugged a datachip into the console before him, then stood.

"Ceredir Industries is not a shipwright, nor has the company yet expanded to weapons. We do believe we have some offerings however.

The first is the Meldolen chip. This wouldn't be massively used, but would provide another layer of security when production begins. In addition to standard verification of the transponder ID of the vessel, the chip would provide a second verification level at an automated level that ensured a trustworthy crew member - typically the captain or a liaison - was on board and in command of incoming vessels, that they hadn't been commandeered en route to be used as spy or saboteur vessels.

Ceredir's engineers have put together some options for the standardization and reset of the fleet, namely options relating to safety. The first is what we call the Bandrem. Essentially, this uses the internal sensors to detect sudden loss of pressure near viewports and prevent crew and items from being sucked into space until emergency blast shields can move into place. Incidents of the sort tend to happen with bridges or hangars, places where crew members tend to be more skilled than not. The next would be an update to the standard uniforms, the Hwesthand option. Similarly to the Bandrem, sudden drops in pressure trigger a response. In this case though, a personal magnetic containment field activates, maintaining pressure and retaining breathable atmosphere for several minutes. Long enough for the wearer to get to a more long-term solution. This can be worn as a bodyglove, which is what you see, or manufactured right into the various uniforms used on vessels. Armorweave is typically added on the torso and can be placed elsewhere as well to help survive the possibility of boarders.

Both the Hwesthand and Bendrem are designed to preserve life, and in so doing increase crew effectiveness as well as decrease costs by removing the need to train replacement crew."

As Audren spoke on each item, he would cycle through the images. The Meldolen was an established product, it was a basic chip that could be plugged into computers. Difficult to explain the concept of that one graphically, though he had a prepared presentation on that same datachip that he could use if needed. The Hwesthand and Bendrem were still in testing phases, no reason to produce them if they didn't have buyers, but showed generated images indicating how they would respond to stimuli and a contrast against what would happen without their presence. Namely, crew members surviving and crew members dying.

[member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member=HK-36] | [member="Astarii Saren"] | [member="Ajira Cardei"] | [member=Roth Tillian"] | [member="Aerion Ivelisse"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden took note of the various presentations and designs that were shown, giving neutral nods and seemingly approving nods with a few. In particular, he was rather interested in Theed Hanger's Jamillia-class. There had been efforts to give better insight into a system for intelligence gathering, but this... this was a ship in its own class. If the Alliance didn't jump on this design, he'd have to pull strings to get it approved. It alone would be worth the price of initializing the New Class program.

As well, he considered the Ceredir designs worth pursuing. Even if the primary focus on the program was one of starship and weapons designs, it was important to remember other considerations such as crew safety and security. Several of the concepts and designs pitched could be used, even if tweaks might have been necessary. The Alliance would have more specific needs, and they'd have to make sure that anything that came in from the outside market wouldn't leave an easy opening for security breaches.

When his turn came about, Ayden adjusted his hat and stood up. "Well, to begin with, Corellian Engineering has developed, over the past few decades, a durasteel-titanium alloy that is used in the construction of all of our starships. It's durable, more so than standard durasteel plating, and easy enough to manufacture over any world with virtually no change in production cycles. It's did a fine job for the Protectorate; I see no reason to not offer it to the Alliance as well." Sure there might have been more dense materials that could have made for great hull plating, but they were expensive or extremely difficult to acquire in sufficient qualities. As well, one had to consider the ease of manufacture when choosing a material that would be so widely used; the easier it was to make it, the more worlds that could do so and thus drive down the total cost of production.

"Beyond that Corellian Engineering, through its subsidy Corellian Arms, is the manufacturer of one of the deadliest weapon systems available to the Alliance; the Javelin Hypervelocity Cannon system. For the unaware, the Javelin fire three slugs, each weighing several hundred metric tons, at roughly one percent the speed of light." The holoprojector displayed still images of several ship designs that used the system, such as the Indomitable and the Leviathan, and the devastating effects that could be produced such as punching clean through a Mandalorian cruiser. "While we take great pride in the system, we do not believe we have reached the pinnacle of what is possible."

"To that end, we've begun research into developing two new weapon systems, each highlighting a different strength. The first system, code-named Kopis, is designed to be an upgraded, more destructive version of the Javelin. Currently, the energy used to fire the Javelin is largely wasted in the firing process as the plasma spark drains a great of the energy away at the conclusion of the firing sequence. So we developed a gas injector to be used alongside the main cannon, taking advantage of the already-present extreme electromagnetic forces to generate plasma. Though this version only fires a single shell, the plasma envelop that surrounds it gives it the same devastating power as a full salvo from a heavy Javelin." Simulations depicted such a firing against an old Sith Star Destroyer. The impact of the outer edge of the plasma caused a brilliant flare as the Sith shields were briefly overwhelmed, allowing the electromagnetically slung mass to punch clean through the vessel at a critical angle. A short moment later and the ship was obliterated by secondary damage.

"On the other side of things, we took a look at more complicated electromagnetic manipulations. With a little more work we believe was can generate a stable beam of plasma bound by an electromagnetic shell not unlike what is seen with energy torpedoes." Various charts and simulations began running in the background. "Though the weapon, code-named Xiphos, would be limited to shorter ranges, typically so-called 'knife fighting' ranges for starship combat, we believe that this weapon could offer smaller capital ships a meaningful way to inflict serious damage onto capital ships. As corvettes and frigates typically have considerable speed and maneuverability over larger capital ships such as Star Destroyers, they could utilize this weapon by moving into the enemy's weak or blind spot and hammering away."

He paused for a few moments, taking the time to upturn a bottle of water before continuing. "And the last system Corellian Engineering is looking to offer the Alliance is another familiar technology. For millennia, the only option a ship had to rely on for protection was its own shield array. Occasionally they could be protected by the shields of another, larger vessel or station, but these set-ups were typically bound to planetary orbits, or were too cost-effective for mass deployment. More than a decade ago, I was part of a think tank for the then-private military corporation know as OmegaPyre. As part of this think tank, I helped design a system that would allow for the deployment of a massive umbrella shield." Now the holoprojector shifted to display the familiar shape of the Shield-class Cruiser, which was currently part of the Alliance's fleet.

"While the effectiveness of the shield is unparalleled, the ship itself was made incredibly fragile. This sort of first-generation work meant that the ship had no room for armaments or defenses, and its hull was almost too thin to even be space worthy. As a result, even a single fighter could disable if not outright destroy the cruiser if it got in close." Several simulations illustrated this fact, as even in a fleet formation no one ship was immune to damage. "As Corellian Engineering, and I myself, has gained a greater understanding of power generation and control, as well as new designs in miniaturization and automation, we now believe we can field a ship that carries the same awesome defensive capabilities as the Shield-class Cruiser, but is better able to defend itself in battles and is not so woefully fragile." For a brief second, Ayden turned and looked at Lady Cardei. There was something unspoken in that very brief glance, but Ayden simply returned to his presentation with such rapidity that it was unlikely anyone had even noticed. He continued on, moving into actual designs now, but he had presented the more interesting, meaningful systems. There were still others to speak before the Admiral would have anything else to say.

| [member="Audren Sykes"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="HK-36"] | [member="Astarii Saren"] | [member="Ajira Cardei"] | [member="Roth Tillian"] | [member="Aerion Ivelisse"] |​

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

Between presentations, Ajira leaned forward.

"Admiral Reu, might I interject? Regarding the shieldship proposal put forward by CEC, Theed Hangar recently came into possession of highly advanced deflector shield technology, codename Typho, which would be suitable for a shieldship. Getting ahold of it was no mean feat, and it's since been reverse engineered to our hearts' content. In short, all the work's been done. I didn't mention it earlier because it's unsuitable for a standard warship, but a dedicated shieldship would be an ideal platform for this technology."

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir listened to the presentations, biding his time as he soaked up the information presented. As was to be expected, many of the companies were pushing forward by developing new technologies. Some presented ideas that Gir found to be very innovative,while others trotted out tried and true technologies. but all of them made the blonde man think. Lucerne Labs had some equivalent technologies to those presented, but there were some that Gir knew the Labs had no equivalent to, such as Cerdir Industries's Meldolen chip. Perhaps just as importantly, there were some technologies that the Labs did have an equivalent to, such as CEC's durasteel-titanium alloy plating, but if other Galactic Alliance designs were using that same plating, it made sense from a strategic logistical standpoint to standardize on a single type of plating. As the speakers talked, Gir scribbled down notes about their technologies and who to make further inquiries too for obtaining their use. If he could swing it, he hoped to include many of them in the Lab's latest design, the Peltast-class Corvette, a heavy corvette in the vein of the older Warrior-class gunship.

But the latest topic of discussion gave him room to pause from his note-taking. While the discussion of the shield ship didn't have any immediate application to the Peltast, he had found the concept interesting after witnessing their use during the battle which saw the Omega weapon destroyed. Such a ship could ultimately lessen the casualties taken by the Galactic Alliance fleet, which would ultimately lead to conserving experienced men needed to run their fleet. He leaned forward as Lady [member="Ajira Cardei"] started an exchange with [member="Ayden Cater"] about some new experimental shield technology.

[member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Audren Sykes"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="HK-36"] | [member="Astarii Saren"] | [member="Roth Tillian"] | [member="Aerion Ivelisse"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Ajira Cardei"] [member="Audren Sykes"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Astarii Saren"] [member="Roth Tillian"] [member="Aerion Ivelisse"]

Taeli would listen to each pitch and presentation, jotting down notes on some of the more interesting or intriguing designs. She hadn't been able to decide what files to show off herself, all things considered, but she had brought along files on everything that might be pertinent to this meeting. She hadn't brought along her droid design files, except her Trickster droids, because this meeting hadn't seemed to be about droids, more about ships and the tech involved in ship design. The shield ship system was something she found very interesting, and could see merit in developing a more specialized version of that ship that could help bolster ships in trouble. Still, looked like it might be her turn to present.

"How to follow-up after that, I'm not entirely sure," Taeli said, smiling slightly at Ayden as a compliment to his impressive technology ideas and designs. There was a reason CEC remained as a highly recognized name in starships to this day and age. She turned back to address the assembled gathering. "But I'll certainly try my best. Aurora Industries, while not nearly as old or prestigious as some of the companies represented here today, has tried its best to develop technology and ships that we can be proud of... and are marketable to interested parties."

She would connect her datapad to the central holoprojector to display images as she talked about the technology she was going to present.

"Our two latest ship designs are heavily rooted in history," she continued saying. "Previously Aurora Industries had been able to obtain many of the patents and design schematics of Nubia Star Drives, or an iteration of such that existed under the handling of Seraphina Shel'tah. One of those designs were the schematics for the old Scurrg H-6 Bomber, which while powerful, needed an upgrade we felt to the modern era." An image of the H-7 Heavy Bomber appeared now. "This is the Scurrg H-7 Bomber, and much like its ancestor, it can pack quite the punishment for a target. Heavy weaponry, plenty of ordnance in both bombs and torpedoes, an automated twin laser cannon, heavy armor and a twin layer of shielding means the H-7 is going to reach its target and ruin its day."

The image would switch to that of another ship now.

"As a sort of cousin to the H-7, and going off inspiration from the old B-Wing, we developed our AI-009 Blitzar Assault Starfighter. The AI-009 has plenty of weaponry, including an ion cannon and heavy laser cannons to go with torpedo launchers and twin cockpit mounted light laser cannons. One design feature we carried over was that Blitzar can close its wings to increase its speed and maneuverability, but its wing mounted weaponry is unable to be fired when this happening."

The image would switch again, showing something that looked distinctly Umbaran in design.

"While Aurora has developed several ship based weapon system for our capital ship lines, this one of more unique designs in that regard. This is the AV-X02 Nebula Electromagnetic Plasma Cannon, based off designs we worked on with help from some of our Umbaran designers. Some of you might be aware of what these weapons are capable of, but as a reminder..." The projector would switch to showing the effect of such a weapon against a blast door, disintegrating the metal in a wide field. "However, against ray shields not as useful so they would only be useful against a target that has lost their shields."

The video would fade away to be replaced by the image of a blaster system and a glowing green energy capsule.

"Our pride and joy though is the creation of Sianium, a powerful energy source that has been observed to have three time the power output of traditional power generators and cores... bar hypermatter annihilation cores. We have used this substance in both some of our weapons, such as our AI-321 BurstStreak Weapon System, and some of our droid designs. We are currently working on designs to utliize the material in a ship's power core in a hybrid of a hypermatter annihilation and Sianium technology, but the technology is still in development."

She wasn't going to mention the other project under way in the Pluthan Asteroid Field... not yet anyways. One guest present would know about Project Ascension.

"The other technology we are currently working on, when it comes to ships, is something only spoken of in stories as far as I am aware. Aurora scientists are currently testing and developing a new cloaking system that would no longer rely on stygium crystals or suffer from the ill effects from hibidrium... by making use of the much more common Adegan crystals. The technology is quickly approaching a field test stage, and I hope to present ti before the Alliance for consideration in due time. I do have one last thing to showcase however, just something small."

The image would change one more time, showing a missile and droid that looked like a small crab.

"These are our Mayhem Missiles and Trickster Sabotage Droids," she said. 'The Mayhem Missiles work much like the old Discord Missiles used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, delivering our little friends here onto an enemy vessel. Our little sabotage droids are equipped with a powerful cutting laser and buzz saw to cause havoc on an enemy vessel and its systems, but it also has an open network transmitter that the droid can use as a hardpoint to allow EWAR assets to infiltrate an enemy system if the droid has sliced itself into the system with its splicing arm."

The images would wink out at that and Taeli would disconnect her datapad from the projector.

"Thank you for your time and consideration if any of our current technology or future projects interested you," she added, giving a small bow before taking her seat again to continue watching the meeting.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Sianium. More than once, Ajira had looked into that file and its predecessors. As secret leader of Ke'dem, she had many Togorian employees and contacts within the diaspora. Farther back, the ancient Project Siantide had crossed her desk even before her accession to the Sith Empire's throne. Who'd been looking into it, again? Had it been one of Sivter's alchemists? Someone who had no scruples using the massacred dead as a power source, certainly. Or was Ajira mixing it up with some other ethically questionable weapons project from that era? Force knew there had been enough aggressively-justified armament initiatives back then as is, without adding one more to the pot. The more she thought about it, though, the more certain she was that her memory hadn't led her astray. Siantide, Sianium, had some implications that Lady Cardei found objectionable and Ashin Varanin found intensely fascinating. It was all she could do not to ask a barrage of technical questions, and to conceal that desire.

Because the meek, even mousy Jedi Master across the table had found a way to turn genocide into power. And was using it.

Togoria? Just a start. Think what other annihilated or heavily damaged worlds' graveyards could be converted to power. Erida. Donanyd. Castameer. Dac.

Corellia.

Her eyes flicked to Ayden, wondering if he'd learned the implications of Sianium too. Wondering if he even knew the word 'Siantide,' for that matter. No point in stirring the pot, entertaining and enlightening though it might be. If he didn't know, she wouldn't tell him just now.

Besides, if Sianium entered widespread distribution within the Alliance, there might be Force implications. Useful ones.

She held her peace.