Ode to Ionite

[Jessica Med-Beq]

OOC: Per the rules of ionite, one either writes about a PC's fallout from one of their past actions, from a NPC perspective, or crashes a vehicle into another PC's vehicle during an invasion or a rebellion. Here's the thread that counts towards the ionite: Sins of the Genius (10 posts)

IC: Ringo Vinda system. One of the Rasta Sub-class bulk freighters is undergoing a conversion to a bulk cruiser, ordered by Therapy Command under the name ANS Lothal, giving rise to the Lothal-class. Jessica knew that Inysh was the home base of Therapy Command and Ringovinda Systems' Dagobah factory is now producing all the long-range energy weaponry. Its fitting out not being yet completed, it is nevertheless spaceworthy; engines, reactors, life support systems are in place, as well as its ship-wide neural net, whereas tactical systems, that is, weapons, targeting computers, and so on, so forth, are not yet installed, no more than other non-essential systems were. For now, crew quarters were only available for a crew in the original cargo ship configuration. Over the next few weeks or so, the future ANS Lothal will get the rest of the systems in place, including its heavy weapons batteries, and fly its shakedown cruise, sending it to Hakassi and then on a Core patrol from Hakassi to Atrisia. She sends a message to a prospective client wishing to buy ionite. There were very few suppliers left capable of selling ionite on the second-hand market, or more accurately the futures market.

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Dear [member="Janus"],

I have a business proposal for you regarding your project of refurbishing a ship. Since it involves purchase and delivery of physical items, coming in person is recommended. Please meet me at the designated coordinates.

Jessica Med-Beq
CEO, Ringovinda StarYards

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[Rhodes]

Ringovinda Staryards Headquarters, Ringo Vinda​

​

A Sigma-class dropship would enter the planet's atmosphere as heavy rain fell from the dark skies above. Lightning would occasionally strike nearby, briefly illuminating the dark hull of the starship as it sped towards the planet's surface. A faded crest could be seen on the ship's hull, barely visible after many years of commission. It was a symbol long-forgotten by the people of the galaxy. The crest of the Black Sun.​

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The captain of the carrier would radio in to the headquarters' air control tower. "Sigma Carrier, clearance code Lima Foxtrot Zulu requesting permission to land, over."​

​

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Jessica was busy using telekinesis to hold beams, pipes, with one hand, and later use pyrokinesis to weld them into place, wearing an orbital suit with a jetpack. Oh, sure, on a ship the size of the Lothal, it was impossible to build the entire kaboodle with just one Force-user at hand. Once her shift in orbit was over, she returned back to the surface. It was miraculous that there were enough drydock components stashed in Ringo Vinda's emergency reserves to get production of ships larger than 300m restarted, even at a reduced rate, just a month or two after a retaliation attack on Ringo Vinda in the wake of the Christophsis Campaign. What [member="Janus"] doesn't suspect was that the Black Tie Syndicate was defeated on Christophsis and Alexandria after that, and that Sith involvement in both BTS raids is clear as day. Yet, any order for the C-9980s, Hardcell-Xs and Munificent-Xs from the CIS were cancelled in the wake of its dissolution, with insurance covering some of the losses. And so, what is to become the ANS Lothal, while unfinished by any stretch, is being worked on in orbit, mostly as its fitting-out has begun. And she was also surprised that the air control tower would be prioritized in the headquarters' reconstruction: while, yes, temporary office space could be easily built into the lower levels, while the topmost levels would be similar to what's in use at surface spaceports where attack craft are built. In essence, the headquarters are in the middle of a small craft (attack craft/light freighter) factory.

"Sigma Carrier, clearance code Lima Foxtrot Zulu requesting permission to land, over."

"Cleared to land, docking bay 21" the droidic traffic controller told the captain of Sigma Carrier.

Meanwhile, Jessica would wonder whether Sigma Carrier belonged to a client, a supplier, an internal vehicle or a representative of the regulatory agencies: usually people who requested permission to land in the middle of a small craft factory belonged to either one of these groups, or a combination thereof. If the manifest of passengers indeed made any allusion to Janus, then so be it: that was the one ship to which to deliver the content of the ionite futures she bought from a Christophsian speculator.

 

[Rhodes]

The carrier would fly into dock 21 as instructed by the control tower. Fat drops of water would roll off of its hull as the dropship prepared to land, causing large puddles to form all over the sleek hangar floor. The carrier would hover in place for several moments, then proceeded to slowly descend as the landing gears initiated. A hydraulic hiss could be heard as the ship's supports strained under its considerable weight.​

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After several moments of silence the landing ramp would slide down as the rear door opened. Two well-armed guards would stride into the hangar, large assault rifles slung across their chests. Behind them would follow a man wearing an ornate ivory mask. He was clad in an expensive suit, obviously tailored to fit his lean body. A silver watch gleamed proudly on his right wrist as he straightened his designer tie. He would join his guards at the base of the ship, obviously waiting for a reception from his hosts.​

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[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Even though the talk of the town among Ringovinda StarYards employees was the ANS Lothal, understandably because of the novelty of that class; never did the company produce warships dedicated to long-range fire. Therapy Command wanted to replace the Nonnah which was a little too large, but as a specialty ship it's more understandable if it was weak at short range. And so another shift began in orbit to continue assembling the cruiser in an orbital drydock, with hundreds of technicians and droids hard at work assembling screws, nuts, bolts, beams and whatnot. Meanwhile, Jessica has had confirmation that [member="Janus"] was among the passengers of the carrier that landed on docking bay 21. Which meant that, she needed to make sure the ionite was there for the transaction involving that client. At this time she needed construction droids more than she needed credits, especially as freighter production has increased in the wake of the GA-FO conflict.

"Remember that futures contract for ionite we bought from a speculator on Christophsis?"

"What is it now? Has it been delivered?" Marcia asked.

"Well, yes. I will meet with the visitor at docking bay 21" She turned to the baggage handler intercom system. "Two tons of ionite needed at docking bay 21"

 

[Rhodes]

The masked man would eye the door as a large shipment of something would be slowly transported into the hangar. No doubt the ionite, the substance he had come here to purchase for a new project of his. Still, there was more of a purpose to his visit than just a little exchange. If that were the case he would have just sent one of his underlings to oversee the deal in his stead. No, he was there to do a little corporate bartering on the side.​

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As he waited for the host to arrive, he opened a specialized program of his holopad. It was a ship design he had been tossing around, but he didn't have the resources to construct it. He would rely on the shipyards to do that for him, hence his presence during this deal. Hopefully he could reach an agreement with [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] to have the ship built in exchange for the construction droids she so desperately needed.​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Hmmm... so [member="Rhodes"] wanted something other than the ionite? That was understandable. Again, due to the distance between her office in the control tower and docking bay 21, she feels the need to use Force-speed again; an attack craft factory on the surface is still an expanse of machinery. Surely the construction droids would help the building of the ANS Lothal or other orbital drydocks being rebuilt next to it. Speaking of the Lothal, interior work on the crew quarters began while Jessica was busy dealing with the client that bought the ionite. She knew that interior work still had to be done, but these had to be done by droids smaller than the clearance of a deck: the droids in the cargo manifest were seemingly too large to fit inside the clearance of a deck, usually taken to be 3 meters according to standard Alliance Navy protocol, which she knew about since the Mateus-class was built according to such specifications, and likewise with the Procurator-X. Clients wanting custom pieces of equipment are often picky, she thought, while at the same time understanding the pickiness of those clients. Of course, she had to stop using Force-speed after a while, and when she had docking bay 21 in sight, she reverts back to a walk, with a masked man within her visual range, seemingly expecting her to come.

"I am Jessica Med-Beq. What can I do for you?"

 

[Rhodes]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​

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Rhodes eyed the approaching woman. She had an aura of the light side, though it was tainted by the convoluted ways of greed and self-interest. Not that Rhodes was to judge, secretly being a Sith Lord and all. One certainly didn't encounter a woman like this on a regular basis. He would make note of this while dealing with her.​

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"Ah, Mrs. Med-Beq. I am thrilled to finally meet you. I am Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer of Kalor-Tech Industries, Roguework Drives, and of course the Paladin Consortium. I assume that is the ionite?" His voice was chilling, carrying a conniving and menacing undertone that could be felt by all within hearing range. He was the type that always had an ulterior motive, the type that always had something up his sleeve.​

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The type to be careful with.​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Yes, that is the ionite. Now I suppose that I could discuss the delivery of those construction droids"

The Lothal (and all Rasta Subs, really) was being built in an Egroeg-class adjustable drydock, albeit fully extended: the ship needs only have the smallest two dimensions below 300m for it to be built in one. But juggling the development of multiple ships at once wasn't going to be easy. Although she could always delegate some projects to other people, like Julie or Marcia (despite the fact that she couldn't trust Julie in any shape or form before flight testing began, except maybe for navigational avionics, speaking of which they were being fitted in orbit), she still wanted some level of oversight. For some reason [member="Rhodes"] still had a flashing holographic picture of some customized design he might be interested in, which bore some resemblance to a dagger design. True, Ringovinda StarYards did work with dagger designs in the last six years (Maersk, Mateus and Procurator-X, in chronological order), it wasn't the be-all, end-all of the company. But what could he possibly ask for?

 

[Rhodes]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​

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Rhodes would nod at her statement. The ionite was plenty enough for what he had in mind, munitions for a personal corvette he was repairing. The ionite would serve as an energy weapon that rapidly drained an enemy's shield. This would make way for onboard armaments that could slice through a ship's hull like a hot knife through butter. If everything went according to plan, it would be quite the ship indeed.​

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"Ah yes, the droids. Forty, if I'm correct? I passed your ship being constructed as I flew in, by the way. Marvelous vessel if I've ever seen one. However, I can't help but notice that it still has some work to be done. Not to mention I'm sure you'll be building more like it. My forty droids will certainly help speed things along, but not at a rate that will allow you to quickly finish this ship and more. Tell me, could you perhaps use some more of my supply?"​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"From my experience, ionite would interfere with the barrel's electronics, which means no magnetically-accelerated projectiles; what's practical to use ionite for is to use it in chemically-powered, high explosive armor-piercing shells. Like a large, conventional slugthrower"

She found that high muzzle velocity is useful when engaging fast-moving targets, while high rates of fire are garbage if the traverse/elevation speeds are horrible, and that normal turbolasers' muzzle velocity is roughly the same as what one would get out of a large, conventional slugthrower: roughly about 1 km/s. That said, the combustion of slugthrower propellant, or detonite, doesn't seem to be adversely affected by ionite because a redox reaction doesn't involve electromagnetic fields, even though both involve redox reactions. Thus far the Kaeshanas slated to be equipped onboard the ANS Lothal, which aren't installed yet but will soon be, have triple that speed, while having comparable traverse and elevation speeds compared to quad lasers. Still intrigued by the dagger design, she realizes that some of the legwork has already been made on the tentative design shown by [member="Rhodes"] with his holopad.

"Back to the construction droids. Yes, I would be interested in getting more. After a pirate attack we need to return to the old level of capability: much of the equipment has been destroyed in the attack. I see that some preliminary design work has been made. Speaking of which, what is it that is open to modification and what is it that is already decided upon?"

 

[Rhodes]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​

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Right to the chase, this one. It wasn't really Rhodes's style, but he could appreciate the 'let's get to the point' attitude in a business partner. It meant less chatting, more action. It would allow them to hopefully get a lot done in one short meaning, which was sure to profit both of their companies greatly.​

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He would also take note on what she said about the ionite. He liked to develop tech, but his scientists knew far more than he did on the subject. He had never dealt with ionite before. In fact, he had only heard of it when one of the Kalor-Tech engineers brought it to his attention a few weeks ago. Ever since he had been dying to get his hands on some.​

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"For the Star Destroyer, most of the design can be altered. This is something I had a few of my men draw up, though it could certainly use an expert such as yourself to improve the design. It's for an ally of mine, meant as a sort of mobile base. I want to include living quarters, training facilities, a large armory, a hangar, a council chamber, living quarters with meditation chambers, and other such things. I would be willing to pay you in construction droids and transports for the droids in exchange for this ship being built, if you're interested."​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Historically, regulatory authorities are concerned about the balance between five items. Weapon suites, defenses, maneuverability, speed and hangar (in terms of squadron count). A council chamber isn't space-hungry, and can be placed right underneath the bridge, no problem. However, the amount of space available/needed for the remainder depends on the crew and passenger count required, especially the armory and the living quarters. Kilometer-long ships usually require crews in the 2,000-5,000 range, and passenger counts usually have also 2,000-5,000 range if the mobile base is configured and armed as a heavy cruiser"

Being straight to the point is more beneficial for design and development work than it is for business or diplomacy. Force-diplomats were few, but she knew not everyone would appreciate someone who was straight to the point. Yet what she was talking about was relevant to the Lothal-class, too, even though it is over 200 meters shorter than the prospective design. 2,000 crew, 4,000 passengers, about 75,000 tons of cargo, which is a small fraction of the base hull's cargo capacity. Also it will feature the waste heat recovery devices to power the life support systems. Same would go for the custom ship [member="Rhodes"] is ordering for his ally. This means that, so long as the reactors are active, and either one of the sublight drives or hyperdrives, there should be enough power to power the sensors, the sensors/communications arrays and other non-combat systems. The trick is that it will be hard to convince the regulatory authorities when it comes to the Lothal... it will be mostly a glass cannon of a cruiser.

 

[Rhodes]

Janus almost laughed. He was the Magnate of one of the most powerful crime Syndicates the galaxy had ever seen. He was a Sith Lord, and this ship was being commissioned for a group of Sith Assassins. Still, he restrained himself. Laughing was unprofessional.​

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"Ah, don't worry about regulatory authorities. They hold little sway in matters that involve me or my clients. Now, one of the main features of this ship would be stealth. It will obviously be much more difficult to conceal a Cruiser like this, but can you do it? I would assume through the use of stygium and other such materials you could make this ship very hard to locate."​

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[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Stygium? Now that you mention it, we did make cloaking devices for smaller-scale applications, and then we can array cloaking devices for increased reliability. That way, if one or two of the cloaking devices fail, the ship can still cloak. While it makes maintenance a pain, it allows to save space because the cloaking devices can be hidden inside deck walls or underneath floors. Also, we used a similar solution for the computer mainframe: that way there should be room for training facilities and meditation chambers"

The ship-wide neural net. Usually on ships that are critical assets, and whose owners that actually treat it as such, maintenance is something that is important. Bluth Company, for example, is one of those companies that set the gold standard for maintenance, with their own fleet of Rasta Subs setting the maintenance SOPs for the Rasta Subs and also the much of the Lothal-class maintenance SOPs are based on its original hull, as tentatively laid down in the lower levels and basements of the control tower, especially among those who were part of the original Rasta Sub design team: the main changes pertain to the waste heat recovery devices, the avionics suites (like the Watchtower TCAS, Castameer tactical display, ship-wide neural net, which are the main avionics items that changed), the hangar and the weapons suite. Pretty substantial but not from scratch. While it is an issue on attack craft or light freighters, it is usually less of a problem when one enters the cruiser range, especially since a party capable of maintaining even one kilometer-long cruiser has significant sources of funding or of spare parts. If regulatory authorities are of little concern to [member="Rhodes"] or his allies, perhaps their resources are obtained by less reputable means.

 

[Rhodes]

Rhodes nodded at the woman. He certainly had enough stygium to stealth the cruiser. He wanted the ship to go virtually undetected through space, able to be found only by those meant to find it. It would provide a suitable base for the Sith assassins, allowing them to execute missions across the galaxy and escape unseen before authorities got a chance to apprehend them. However, the ship would also need a few more features if it were to serve its purpose well.​

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"I would assume that you would install stealth systems such as undetectable engines as well? I don't want this to be detected by enemy heat trackers or anything else. Also what kind of weapon systems could you install onboard? I would prefer it to be able to fill a variety of roles, especially anti-fighter and planetary assault."​

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[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Thrust trace dampers you mean. Although I never installed those things on a ship, I suppose there are ways to buy - or design - thrust trace dampers that can fit the engines of such a ship"

Planetary assault. Two words that made her cringe, especially because of how Christophsis was her doing and also her predecessor Charzon, who became known during her final days as the Butcher of Korriban for this. Given the corporation's disrepute, she would have to tread lightly around [member="Rhodes"]' request for mounting weapons for planetary assaults. Sure the Lothal has the ability to deal tons of long-range damage, but has comparatively little short-range firepower. And outfits one emplacement apiece of the four main long-range direct-fire weapons, with the number of barrels being maxed out on each. But between a long-range Volksgrenadier and a vast array of light missile launchers, it was ultimately decided that, on the Lothal-class the array of missile launchers won out over the Volksgrenadier. Now, for point-defense: the Kaeshana 20mm hypervelocity cannons might count for 2 normal emplacements even though they take up as much space as just one quad laser.

"Point-defense can be accommodated, no problem. Keep in mind, however, that anything that can be used for planetary assault will eat up the power of a large amount of turbolasers, or missile batteries"

She shows the main items in the component catalog, as shown in the datapad, that can be used to fill the role of planetary assault: the Scarif heavy long-range ion cannon, the Toprawa heavy long range turbolaser, each tube of which drain the power of 18 standard turbolasers, the Ziost super-heavy long-range turbolaser, draining a whopping 50 turbolasers on each tube, and all of these implements can have up to three tubes in a single turret. And they are more compact than weapons in that power category. If Rhodes is more interested in projectiles for that role, a 380mm hypervelocity cannon can be fitted. But perhaps a Volksgrenadier missile launcher could be of use provided that Rhodes' allies are ready to soak up a whopping 14 heavy missile launchers in one emplacement for the ability to fire stealth MIRVs. For the more mundane, shorter-range weapons, there are the Gatling rapid-fire turbolasers, also capable of having up to three tubes in a single turret. And the Morcus assault concussion missile (or heavy proton torpedo to some), which can be fired from a normal assault concussion missile launcher. No point in showing the technical specifications of the Nekogal, Bulkhunter or Lusankya to him, if new ship classes produced will no longer fit those, she thought.

 

[Rhodes]

To be quite frank, Rhodes wasn't the most ship-saavy person in the galaxy. He knew enough to get by, but he often consulted others when it came to matters like this. Everything she showed him seemed to be quite ideal for the ship he had in mind, but he also understood this would drain a lot of power from the ship. Perhaps he should alter his vision a bit.​

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"That all seems nice, but I think it's a bit too power-consuming for my clients' wants and needs. Perhaps we should strike out the ship's function as a planetary assault craft. I have a new idea that will likely fit the bill better. I still want it to be stealthy, but besides that it should focus almost entirely on defensive and counter-strike measures to ensure it lives to fight another day and protect its passengers. Although, if there's still room, I very much would like to keep the Stealth MIRV on as a special weapon. What are your thoughts on this?"​

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[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

The Volksgrenadier was by far the bulkiest item among what Ringovinda Systems sold for outfitting capital ships: even the 380mm HVC didn't take up that much space. Most of that lies in the ammunition magazine: a kilometer-long ship could fit 20 missiles, because then a single hardpoint can be mounted. But one missile takes up as much space inside the ship as 160 HVC rounds. Unlike the 88mm HVCs, the 380mm ones do not fire in bursts. That is why we made the decision not to outfit the Lothal-class with even a single Volksgrenadier hardpoint, she thought. But what [member="Rhodes"] really means by counter-strike measure was some measure to engage enemy capital ships, more than simply shields or other stuff of that nature. Usually a turbolaser turret took up less place than a hypervelocity cannon: even the 88mm HVCs are classified as extreme emplacements despite the turret being only about as big as a dual XX-9 turbolaser hardpoint.

"Very well, you may keep the Volksgrenadier but that is going to mean that a limited number of other hardpoints shall be mounted, some of it on the flanks"

 

[Rhodes]

Janus nodded. The stealth missiles would be a fitting weapon for the Sith Assassins, albeit a bulky one. He hoped the weapons system didn't take up too much room, as he wanted to still have room for the other features he had specified earlier. The ship would likely make up for what it lacked in weapons with heavy armor and shielding. If everything went as planned, this thing was going to be a juggernaut.​

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"Very well, that is fine by me. To make my intentions perfectly clear, I would like for the ship to have advanced defensive capabilities. Thicker armor, heavy shielding, reinforced hull. I want to ensure this ship is not destroyed easily. Do you have any other questions for me?"​

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[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]​