Operation Noah's Ark, phase 1

[Dunames Lopez]

While the Alliance seemed to have the upper hand on Coruscant, Dunames was en route for Cademimu on business for the Beaches of the Dark Side line and she stopped by on Ringo Vinda to make a big purchase. The time was come for her to actually order the ship whose feasibility study was ordered several months ago: she just received the preliminary data from Ringovinda StarYards, which were given to her through Taking Off on a Star Tour and, backtracking from there, Jessica. The first client ordering the resulting ship(s) will have the honor of naming the whole class along with it. Even though Star Tours hasn't quite reached the size of a Maersk Star Freight or Bluth Company, it was well on its way to overtake Hedeek Shipping - assuming Star Tours was actually regarded as a First Order-based corporation. But such wasn't actually the case: JanFathal was the legal headquarters of the company but Dunames was almost never on JanFathal.

"Charzon, I assume that there are some good news to be gleaned from this: I won't spend the company's money without hearing about what makes the Maximum Battleship a viable choice"

"I hope we will make it quick, Dunames: the Mandalorian Empire has little time to waste with us scoundrels on Cademimu or Dubrillion"

"Victoria, I'm afraid that this is a business that we need to tend to. We finally have a chance to become one of the big names in bulk freight in the galaxy. Maersks are practical but let's hear how Ringovinda StarYards intends to put the Super Transport XI out of the market and, if Jessica's predictions are realized, force KDY to pull out of the heavy freighter segment of the market"

"I find Jessica to be a tad optimistic, boss"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I began to be wondering why it took so long for you to return here: we're almost planning to make a heist on KDY facilities so that we can enter a new segment of the market and finally close the circle of Jessica's vengeance. She might be a visionary, but man can her drive for vengeance be horrible"

"Behold: the Maximum Battleship. If Star Tours is the first to order it, it will then have the opportunity to give the name to the whole class of ships. Boasting 20 million of cubic meters of internal space, and the ability to evacuate 1 million passengers in one flight at the cost of exhausting the consumables in three days, it promises to haul hypermatter or alusteel for as little as 3 credits a ton from Ringo Vinda to Coruscant" Marcia told Dunames, returning from Morellia, back into her normal self, after assuming the identity of a Jawa captain called Vak Kaleen.

"And it will be the ship that will finally force KDY to pull out of the heavy freighter market!"

Heavy freighters are more of a niche market compared to the light ones. Especially in the cruiser+ category. The Maersk has practically killed the Super Transport X, now it's the turn to kill off the Super Transport XI. Or so Jessica thought. But Jessica didn't even talk about the price of these things, or at least not yet.

 

[Dunames Lopez]

With the Maersk-class, Star Tours could ferry a full load of hypermatter from Bothawui to Dulvoyinn for three credits a ton. But Ringo Vinda-Coruscant was about 50% longer than Bothawui-Dulvoyinn: this means that the operating costs are reduced by one third, if one assumes the load factor to be the same. Star Tours realizes that battlecruiser-sized or supercarrier-sized freighters may not be economical or practical. Maersk Star Freight and Bluth Company which, by now, have earned Ringovinda StarYards' loyalty, have yet to ponder whether to switch some of the Maersks on order for the heavier versions, like the 760m ship intended as an intermediate between the Maersk and the Maximum Battleship and maybe sell the Maersk slots to other companies in the process. And the Maximum Battleship itself.

"I heard about some intermediate ship between the Maximum Battleship and the Maersk that is also just as new in the catalogue. In the wake of the summit, Star Tours and the First Order has increased its economic activity, and we began to have access to larger ports such as Dosuun's shipyards, and our Hosnian Prime services have arrived to maturity"

"For some reason I don't like Jessica: she seems to be such a braggart"

"There's a reason why Charzon keeps Jessica around despite her reckless drive and her superhuman drive for vengeance"

"Braggarts of her kind would probably be better fits in the legal profession: law is the epitome of a profession where bragging is essential to success"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I know Jessica seems to be a little arrogant, but I have to say, she has some merit, and I cannot understate her contributions. Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps is one thing, something that can easily be satisfied without the need to resort to a raid on Naboo or Omwat. She can easily be appeased if that raid on Kuat is a success on some level and we can glean stuff that can appease that aspect"

"Sometimes I wonder whether that winning bid of hers, which I have to say, like all other bids for raids submitted by civil servants, were a little lacking in a respect or another would actually appease her once it has been carried out"

"Proposals for conducting raids in Sith faction-controlled space were subdivided in two categories: civil service and the civilian private sector. The civil service would see one proposal for a raid to be funded, with bonus points if the bidder pledged personal participation in the resulting raid. Marcia is correct, the raid proposals from the civilian private sector were miles ahead of mine. Cost-effective all right, for about three million we could set back the One Sith's main shipyard production 6-8 weeks, but low-percentage, they said"

It seems that the Kuat raid is on every lip among Ringovinda StarYards' staff. The One Sith would be made to suffer... but at the same time, with a government as fanatical as the government currently in power on Ringo Vinda, they will surely exalt the winners of the raid competition once the raids that emerge from it are carried out. Now Jessica is pumped up as ever, and she was willing to die for the cause. Charzon is just a figurehead in Jessica's plan. But the Ringovindian government would rather want Charzon, a well-loved figure on the planet, to take part in the raid, too, if only in a supporting role while Jessica and any other help then hired would be doing the heavy lifting. But Dunames reminded them of the business at hand, that is, the newest offerings from Ringovinda.

"The intermediate ship promises 1.5 million tons of cargo capacity, with an estimated 300,000 passengers from past usage patterns"

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"I'll promise you free passage to Kuat in exchange of which you have to give us a discount on the ships we're ordering. I've always had a grudge against the Sith factions: I'll provide help for a fee"

"Although we do fly to some destinations in Sith-controlled space, it's out of their economic ineptia that they are letting us do so. The First Order is not going to fail because of their economic shortcomings, or at least not now. Currently is it unknown whether the Mandalorian Clans or Crusaders will be failing because of the economy, there is so little information about their economy but I would have to bet on the Crusaders for the economy"

Dunames could talk about what caused past dark-sided factions to fail: the Primeval had deficient transportation infrastructure, the Techno Union failed because of their overreliance on droids in battle, the One Sith was completely inept and focused too much on the military aspect of power. But Dunames believed that Charzon would need to see numbers behind this before gauging the real value of the offer. The discount just wouldn't be the same depending on whether it was just one Maximum Battleship or twenty-five kilometers worth of ships.

"Two Maximum Battleships, six intermediate ships, let's work from there"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

At list prices, what Star Tours was going to order ran them 324 million: the Maximum Battleship costs 57 million alone, the intermediates 35 million apiece. Charzon estimated that bulk discounts were in order, plus Star Tours even ordered feasibility studies for the Maximum Battleship, for which a whole host of components have been developed to minimize maintenance (that is, to reduce the # of hardpoints to a minimum while still covering the critical arcs). But free passage to Kuat wasn't worth that much. Not with 77 million credits' worth of components to be delivered to Gyndine. To Gyndine it ran about 1.6 million credits to load the entire thing. That was an offer that Charzon had to unfortunately reject. She is prepared with a counter-offer however:

"For 300 million you have two Maximum Battleships and six intermediate ships. Have any name for these? If we sign the deal now, the classes will be named after them"

"Have any options to exert at a later date?" Marcia asked.

"That's going to be a lot of ship to enter the segment of the market Maersk Star Freight and Bluth Company... I hope the growth isn't too fast"

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"Star Tours will also provide the insertion mechanism in the KDY complex for free if the ships cost that price altogether. For that, only one class of ships makes sense: the Maersk-class ship. Use anything smaller we fly and you will detected: you'd just pretend to be coming in for maintenance or something, probably a C-check"

Even though both Charzon and Dunames know what a C-check is, Virginie does not. In the world of starship maintenance, a C-check is shorthand for a comprehensive mantenance check. A S-check, or summary maintenance check, is usually conducted every year and can be conducted overnight on a Neimoidian Yacht or take two or three days on larger ships like the Maersk. Major spacelines conduct C-checks every ten years or so, sometimes longer if it is underused or used primarily for longhaul flights: a smaller number of longhaul flights is usually less taxing on the more maintenance-heavy starship components, like the sublight drives or landing gears. Sometimes for a ship needing repairs a check schedule can be moved up depending on the level of repair required. If one needs major repairs, it makes sense for a C-check to be undertaken at the same time repairs are made.

"Why a Maersk specifically, boss?"

"Jessica would understand why I mean that: she was partially responsible for the Maersk looking like some Rand Ecliptic clone because she worked at KDY before going over to Ringovinda, with a lot of systems commonality but it has seven landing gears and a piece of avionics that the Imperial-II frigate won't have"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"There is only one thing requiring a Maersk that could be doable from Ringo Vinda: have it make an impromptu stop at Kuat before it arrives on Gyndine for delivering some components"

Planning simultaneously a raid and the first contract for two classes of ships at once strained Charzon more than she thought it possible. But she couldn't argue with Jessica about doing the raid any more than she could argue with the Ringo Vinda government about the direction business was to take, that is, it would end poorly. The Ringovindian government wanted Ringovinda StarYards to specialize in noncombat ships with limited forays into combat ships being permitted. But it had to remain mostly a noncombat ship manufacturer, and whatever Ringovinda StarYards would be doing with it, it would have to be a noncombat ship. The more they could document the raid and its aftermath, the better, the more room the Factory Judges would allow Ringovinda StarYards to build the brainchild in the aftermath of the raid. That would become the largest ship in the galaxy that can land on planets, combat or noncombat. Not even the Imperial prison barges were able to unless they were retired Venators.

"Before I forget, financing. On what schedule do you intend to pay for these things: upon delivery of each individual ship, upon delivery of the entire batch? Or do you want to spread the payment over 3, 5 or 10 years?"

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"Upon delivery of each ship. The Rasta Sub will be the name of what you call the lead ship of the intermediate class. On the other hand, the Maximum Battleship will be called the Exodus; the second Maximum Battleship will be, due to an internal contest, called the Terminus. The other five units of the Rasta Sub-class are not named as of yet"

Dunames could see Charzon relieved. Which means that Star Tours needed 135 million to get the ships ready to fly soon. The prospect of paying it back flying massive loads of alusteel, transparisteel, duracrete at 3-4 credits/ton directly on Coruscant's surface was just too attractive to pass up. She was as starry-eyed as ever; she was just frothing in anticipation of the signature of the contract. Ringovinda StarYards, in its drive to build the largest ships in the galaxy with the ability to land on planets, has arrived to a position where building Star Destroyers was possible. Building the Exodus was a lot cheaper than initially expected but building Star Destroyers may require more money. At this point she didn't even think of the costs involved in designing these implements.

"The other five Rasta Subs could wait, but the Exoduses will have priority in the production schedule over the Rasta Subs. We are about to land a deal to help rebuilding Coruscant and, while the ability to land five million tons of alusteel, duracrete and glasteel, as well as other equipment, directly on Coruscant's surface is of capital importance, we can't do it alone"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

That major order was to mark a new chapter in Star Tours' history - and in Ringovinda StarYards'. The next headline in Taking Off on a Star Tour would feature the Exodus front and center. The Exodus was the very latest in Star Tours' long lineage of using Ringovinda StarYards' products. The press release submitted to Taking Off on a Star Tour reads:

-----------------------------------

STAR TOURS BECOMES THE LAUNCH CUSTOMER OF TWO HEAVY BULK FREIGHTER CLASSES​

​

RINGO VINDA, Silver Sanctum space

Today, Star Tours, a JanFathal-based spaceline company, announced that it became the launch customer of two heavy bulk freighter classes: the 762m-long Rasta Sub-class, as well as the kilometer-long Exodus-class, by respectively ordering six Rasta Subs and two Exodus-class ships. Since its inception, Star Tours ordered multiple classes of ships from Ringo Vinda-based Ringovinda StarYards, being the launch customer of the earlier Pullman-class and Bowser-class ships, as well as one of the first three customers for the Maersk-class and the Tofolk-class.

Of the recent order, worth 324 million credits at list prices, Charzon Loulan said, "Being able to land a ship that massive that could land on a planet would enable a whole new world of planetary evacuations as well as of mass interplanetary merchandise transportation where the freight operators would not even need to load or unload bulk freighters in orbit would reduce the bottlenecks. Our plans for the future include Star Destroyer-sized ships"

About Star Tours: Star Tours is a spaceline based out of Spaceport THX1138 in orbit over JanFathal. Founded in 842 ABY, Star Tours has recently been voted Most Improved Spaceline by Hyperspace Traveler, with a network now encompassing over 300 destinations.
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For now Star Tours and Ringovinda StarYards both keep quiet about the rumors of a forthcoming raid on Kuat...