Project Emeritus: Stage I [Emeritus Industries]

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Enigma"] |

The world was Chandrila, the scene was a developmental area inside the Chandrila DataTech head quarters and the COO of DataTech, Alicia Drey, was stood at the glass pannel overlooking Hanna City. Light shone on Alicia, as she watched the sea in the horizon. It was dusk and evening was approaching with a setting sun.

Her business that day was not on behalf of her corporation, but of another that she had recently became a partner of only a day previously. Emeritus Industries, otherwise known as Subach-Innes Corporation, was a company that Alicia had experience with for several years. She had even designed the Annihilator-class boarding shuttles and Neutralizer II-class bomber, with the latter pulling Subach into a trade dispute with Santhe Corporation over the use of TIE technology.

Alicia grimaced as she reflected over that dispute, but nodded over the schemes that she and Circe Savan had in the works. If all went to plan, then Sasha Santhe and her unseen backers, as well as the dozens of governments, worlds and individuals that had seen to Subach's demise would pay in full with the rise of Emeritus, specifically the Emeritus Project that the two had coined together with Alicia becoming Circe's partner.

Stage one of the project was simple in thought, but difficult to execute in theory. Shields could be used in a number of ways. The common use was to erect a dome around a structure, such as a Star Destroyer, and protect that structure from a projectile. Other uses included the protection from sensors, from detecting life signs, energy out puts and so on.

On Chandrila, Alicia and Circe would design and develop a generator that would shield the out puts of energy from a device that they would construct at a later time. Stage one of the Emeritus Project was more of a preparation leading up towards the latter stages of the project itself. Turning away from the viewing pannel, Alicia rested her eyes on the entrance to the room where they would work.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

And now it was time. A smile crossed Circe's face as she landed here at Chandrila, her first arrival on this planet in a very long time. She smiled, giving a soft grin as she thought over the work that she was going to begin with Ayra, her darling... They were going to develop a craft that would be capable of quiet operation within Otherspace, though hopefully it would be finished sooner rather than later. She could only imagine what ideas Ayra would have - though Circe would take charge. Now she walked up to the room where the two of them were going to meet, eager to see what sort of concepts existed on Alicia's side - Circe had some ideas of her own, but it was now time to put that into practice.

A lot of practice indeed.

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

"Welcome, my master." Alicia inclined her head slightly, a formality between master and apprentice. Lain in between the two Sith Lords was a holo table, with various gadgets to be used for their construction. Alicia made her way around the table to the side of Circe. "How was your trip? I trust Malachor was as fun for you as it was me."

"I thought we would begin simple. We are developing a very rare piece of technology. I thought we could eliminate the ability for someone to detect the other space drive with a shield, something that disrupts the ability for it to be detected whatsoever."

"As for the ship itself, it should be reasonably small, crewed by droids as we wouldn't want anyone to know about the existence of the ship except for us and it should be light and nimble, in both it's impulse and hyperdrive engines. That means it will require minimal weaponry and a small complement of support craft."

"Do you think it's possible to install a cloak as well? Nothing like the one's installed on the Attrition Destroyers we developed for the New Order, but rather the same type of tech seen on the Annihilator boarding shuttles. Of course, it would need to be much larger than the one's seen on the Annihilators as this will be slightly bigger."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

"Why Ayra... You're getting all formal on me, aren't you?" She smiled. "The trip here was excellent, to say the least. I missed you every minute that you were not there - for obvious such reasons, of course." She paused, recollecting in a combination of memories the things she had done between Ayra's leaving and her arrival here. This was where it all began - where the story of Darth Ayra began.

"So essentially, what you're suggesting we develop is a sort of dampening field, where no sensors will be able to pick up transmissions or energy emissions made by the ship in question?" An intriguing concept - almost like a cloaking device, but solely for electrical equipment and whatnot.

"Droids on the ship should work - we could simply fit the craft with an advanced droid brain and leave it at that. I would have no issues doing so after all. We can make it light and nimble by using a similar concept to the Scrapmetal-class drone - flimsiplast hull on a titanium frame to allow for extraordinarily high speeds. I'd say leave it with a laser cannon or two to defend itself. Support craft wise, what would you suggest we do? Lay out some remote outposts it can be preprogrammed to resupply at?"

At the mention of a cloak, she paused. "Not sure about the cloak... I have some stygium left over that I was considering utilizing for other purposes. Unless you'd like us to do a preprogrammed flight path sort of thing. That would let us utilize hibridium instead."

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

Alicia smiled at Circe's joke before saying.

"An dampening field encompassing the entire ship defeats the purpose of the cloak. After all, you cannot scan for something that you don't know is there. Plus, in the unlikely situation that the ship was intercepted by another vessel and that vessel could not perform a scan, then that would only tell them that there was something on board that we didn't want to be found. We want the ship to be fast, agile and sly to protect the other space drive and anything else we decide to use it for."

"No. We should have something that has a dampening field around the other space drive. It should be inside the ship, rather than outside so that it cannot be targeted to be destroyed by another ship. What we will need to figure out is a way in which the ship can open a window into otherspace, like a hyperdrive does into hyperspace. We might even need to create a new science to achieve this."

"I've only designed schematics for support crafts, like the Annihilator and Neutralizer, so I'd leave you to decide the best materials for the ship itself. Going back to the cloak, and speaking of the Annihilators, I wouldn't want to use hibridium. It's too unstable in comparison to stygium. I really do think if we are to really keep this a secret, we will need a cloak. What did you want to use the stygium you already have for?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

"A fair enough point... but if the ship's electrical systems can't be scanned, it'll likely be viewed a just a chunk of space debris. Not like every starship has big windows to stare out of, after all." At least not so far as she knew, anyways. A sigh crossed her face as she thought over the circumstances that this ship would find itself in. "It's unfortunate that we can't use this ship in order to act as a sort of mobile gravity well or other hostile platform. That would be nice."

"The drive opening a window into otherspace shouldn't be too hard, truthfully." She smiled, pausing and pondering precisely what was the best option for this entire scenario. "Just needs to power the drive up in order to escape, then disappear."

"I was going to use the stygium for a specialized frigate, truthfully." She smiled. "One that would be able to detect cloaked starships using a Crystal Grav-Field Trap, similar to that found on board the old Monitor-class Corvettes."

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

"You're the ship designer. Can a gravity well be used other than pulling a ship out of hyperspace? I'm not sure that it can." On the subject of gravity wells, Alicia pondered over the possibility of creating another piece of technology that could yank another ship from otherspace, on the same principle that an interdiction field could pull a ship out of hyperspace. There was also the possibility of an otherspace version of a HIMs device to negate such technology.

If they were going to pioneer the creation of a drive that could allow a ship to enter otherspace, then they would pioneering a new form of exploration that could only make infamous explorators such as Jorus Merrill mouth's water. In the unlikely possibility that the otherspace drive was stolen, then shouldn't they have something in place to combat it?

What then if the otherspace 'interdiction field' technology was stolen too? In all these eventualities, Alicia deduced that she could consider every factor and come up with a plan to cover them, so that everything was sorted to her own devices. She was meticulous like that.

"I know I keep talking about it, but the incident at Barab I with Rave Merrill and the trouble that it caused us all them years ago..." It had happened in 837. Today was 844. "...has allowed us to learn a lesson from it. The entire Merrill affair could have been avoided if we had safeguards in place, in case my identity as Alicia Drey and Darth Ayra were revealed. It was because we weren't careful or thought ahead that there might be some individuals out there who know who I am."

She thought of Darth Ferus and the recent tour of the factories on Balmorra. The way that the Blademaster had looked at her during the entire affair had made her uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if her old teacher knew who she was and made a connection between the Sith Lord he had taught the seven Lightsaber forms and the business woman who had spoke with him.

"If we are to design an otherspace drive, then we should have safeguards in place incase we lose it. However unlikely that sounds, it was also unlikely as to how the entire Merrill affair blew up. Let us not forget about your late wife either."

"I know this is all theory, but is it possible that we could design an interdiction type field that could yank a ship out of otherspace, much like an interdiction field does to one flying through hyperspace? What of a HIMs device that could raise a protective bubble to negate such a field as well? We're effectively pioneering a new form of exploration. We would have such things at our disposal, just in case. Better to be safe than sorry, right?"

"As for this Frigate..." She paused to think before saying. "If it's purpose is to locate a cloaked ship, then why would it need to be cloaked itself? Surely a dampening field, such as the one we're thinking of here for this ship, would be better suited for it?"

"In regards to the crew, we can use the recent aqusition of Hudrel Robotics to construct them. Strictly off the books, of course."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

"Gravity wells are only useful at stopping ships from entering hyperspace, not otherspace or subspace. I had a conversation with Selka Ventus from Silk Holdings a while back regarding such a thing - we may be getting subspace drive replacements for our backup hyperdrives. Those are impossible for mass shadows - that is, gravity wells - to interdict, which will give our ships the edge in escaping the battlefield with serious damage."

"The Rave Merrill incident was unfortunate and something we will not let be repeated again. All evidence I have is that Rave Merrill is gone. No one else has such an issue with you and I that he or she will go to the lengths Rave went through in order to cause us harm - but I agree with you in that extra security measures will be taken. Safeguards should include a self-destruct device, chiefly."

"I doubt an interdiction drive will be able to be developed to yank ships out of otherspace. For that, you'd need to create a distortion in otherspace itself that could tear a ship into the real world - a dimensional rift generator. Such is far, far too complicated for any normal man or woman to develop. Even me. We'd have a better chance at recreating the second launch gate in the Kathol Rift that creating such a thing."

She paused. "Frigate-wise, how will the enemy know they've been seen if they can't see what's spying on them? A cloaked frigate with a crystal grav-field trap will be perfect hidden in a fleet, though it likely will lack armament to defend itself with." She paused, thinking things over. "I'm sorry... I just am worrying for you. That's all."

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

"The subspace drives sound good. The ability to slip into hyperspace without being stopped would be a great advantage to have. But wouldn't a HIMs device do the same thing?"

"At least this stage I'm still learning about star ship creation and technologies like this. I only managed to develop the Annihilator shuttles and Neutralizer bombers because of what I learned from you. Saying that, I never did apologise for what happened with Santhe Corporation."

"I wouldn't call it worrying. It's more about going over the factors, trying to have something in place for every eventuality. We can create this prototype ship, invent the otherspace drive and install measures to keep them hidden, with a cloak device and or dampening field, but such things become targets when people learn about them and what I've learned since joining you is that secrets don't last forever."

"I'm sure that when Rave Merrill had the Corvette that held the abattar I found on board that she didn't plan for it to be found derelict in the middle of Omega Protectorate space, but it did. I was on that ship for longer than I wanted and I nearly died exploring it. The amount of droids she had at her disposal, the artificial intelligence that controlled them and the other defenses on board, as well as the cloak it had told me the measures she took to keep it and what it was carrying a secret."

"She didn't plan for Romeo Sin to take it, call it the Hazard Beauty and begin an Empire out in the Outer Rim with it or for me to end up with the abatarr or the other dozen relics that were on that ship, now in the possession of who knows what, but the point is that we have to make sure that this ship that we are going to create doesn't end up in the hands or knowledge of anyone but us."

"It's taken us a while, but I've begun to realise that the only people in this galaxy that we can trust is each other. Might I suggest you do the same?"

Alicia gave Circe a wink before moving on. "So, we know that hyperspace and the technology created to move ships and other things into that realm of space differentiates from otherspace. That we couldn't erect an interdiction type field to yank a ship out of otherspace like an interdiction field does to those in hyperspace or an HIMs device to negate such a field in otherspace as well."

"With that said, the only measures we can take to ensure that the otherspace drive doesn't get stolen from us is what we have available to us at the moment. A device that erects a dampening field around our ship to stop any hostiles from detecting the otherspace drive. A cloak to hide the ship from detection. You know, I once read a paper by a scientist that suggested the notion that a Crystal Grav field could be used to negate another Crystal Grav field, effectively stopping a ship from detecting a cloaked vessel? That's something we could look into later down the line into this project."

"We'll probably develop the schematics to the ship on Sluis Van and look into installing a cloak there as well. For now, whilst we're here, we can look into developing the device for our dampening field. Something that negates the ability to be scanned. It should be designed to be installed alongside the otherspace drive when we invent it, alongside the designs for our future ship. This is where you come in, lover."

"Who is Selka Ventus anyway? I haven't heard of Silk Holdings before. Does she know that you're a Sith Lord? Is she a friend?" A worried expression came over Alicia's face as they discussed Selka.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

"A HIMS device would only prevent us from being stopped by a gravity well generator. If the interdiction field is switched on before we go to lightspeed, then we're fethed. With a subspace drive, we'd still be able to get out of there, albeit rather slowly, regardless of whether an interdiction field was up or not."

To Alicia's comments on secrecy, she could only nod. "Indeed. We will not let this leak out."

"I agree the dampening field is what we should focus on now... Do you have any knowledge of how to develop it, or would you prefer that I do all the work for you?" She smirked, looking over at her apprentice.

"Selka Ventus is on the board of Silk, a company once run by Jorus Merrill. She also has some connection to Velok, the man who initially brought me back from the dead. He sent me a message telling me to get in contact with her if I wanted to regain contact with him."

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

"I would certainly appreciate if you took over. I could learn a thing or two." She gave Circe a wink. "Who is Velok? I've heard rumors about him, but never knew him personally. How does Silk Holdings fit into our plans? Can Selka be used?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

She smiled, then paused - it was time to bring some explanations around. "Velok is everywhere. He is a Whipid Sith Lord, skilled in alchemy and sorcery to a much higher degree than myself. He was the one who supervised Rave Merrill's creation of my Vinithi body. My drones sent back footage of him dying to Aleidis Ijet and being trapped - but if he's escaped..." She let that peter off.

"Silk may be useful, it may not be. Seems that with Rave gone, they need someone to do some alchemical work as part of their spring lineup. Selka herself is already being used by Velok, whether she knows it or not - and I highly doubt that he will let us borrow one of his pieces."

From what she knew, that is. "Anyways... Dampening field..."

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

"I'll be right back." Alicia left the room in which they were developing the dampening field for the other space drive. Closing the door behind her, she made her way along the hall to her office. "Get me two coffees," she said to the receptionist. Entering the office, Alicia checked her emails as she waited for the receptionist to return with the coffee.

Fifteen minutes, Alicia entered the room once more, coffee in either hand. "Here, I got you this. Have you made any progress?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

"Wouldn't call that 'right back,' my apprentice. Don't make me punish you again." She smirked quietly before turning back to a holographic image. "I know how it works, but not how to make it work. The best thing I've been able to think of is creating a Static Barrier, not letting anything in or out. Could disrupt conversations, but who knows? Only way to generate such a thing is through the knowledge of Sith sorcery - and even then, it lasts for only a few seconds before dissipating."

Duplication would be rather difficult to achieve, all things considered.

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

"Sorry." Alicia grimaced before giving Circe a cheeky grin. She took a sip of her coffee before asking. "A static barrier? I've never heard of this. Do you know how to create one?" She frowned. "If it only lasts for a few seconds, how will it help to protect the other space drive more long term?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

Slipping over, she gave Alicia a soft kiss on the cheek before responding to her comment about the usage of the Static Barrier. "I do... But it's a bit difficult to replicate with technology. Static Barrier combines the traditional arts of Sith Magic with the Force Power known as Force Bubble. The resulting shield is almost impervious, but lasts for a mere couple of seconds. Obviously, that isn't going to cut it to prevent the vessel from being sensed. Maybe we'll have to go for straight-up baffles."

A cruder option, but it would at least have some sort of results.

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

Alicia smiled at the kiss and moved to the side to watch Circe work. Cup in coffee in hand, she watched her companion go about the process of developing the dampening field that would be used on the ship that would eventually carry the otherspace drive they would invent, later down the line on the Emeritus Project.

A soft, "Mhm," came from Alicia, to show that she was following what Circe was saying. But she didn't understand the science about it and thus couldn't contribute much other than a question or two to help her understand why this or that wouldn't work. Circe was years ahead of her apprentice in technological study and invention, show casing to Alicia that she wasn't there when it came to knowledge. Lightsaber not withstanding, Alicia was still very much the apprentice.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Alicia Drey"]

"We could utilize a gravity well generator to warp and distort any... Wait, no." She paused. "A dovin basal would be a preferred choice. The exact same capabilities, albeit in a smaller frame. The ship would need to provide nutrients to sustain it, but..." It was admittedly the more efficient option - particularly considering that dovin basals came in many shapes and sizes, compared to the gravity well generators that would require specialized construction and a hull designed to fit them specifically. Not to mention the only ones she had any sort of access to were designed for cruiser hulls - not the transport-sized ship she was envisioning.

"You're a member of the One Sith. You probably have seen plenty of current Vong tech in action. You think it could be doable?"

 

[Darth Ayra]

[member="Enigma"]

"I do." With the planning phase complete, Alicia and Circe went to work. For two weeks, they experimented in creating a dampening field capable of blocking the scans and traces that would come from detecting a device, such as the one they planned in the otherspace drive. A static barrier was explored, but beyond their reach. It would be technology, not Sith Magic, that would be the source to the creation of this dampening field. Whilst technology and the Force became blurred- the science of Sith Alchemy often crossed the line between magic and technology- it would be the ingenuity of Alicia and Circe that would solve the problem.

Their tests involved power distribution between the device that would create the dampening field itself. That required a power source. Using diatium, they created a housing that both held the power source within the device. The device itself could be hooked up to a star ship- which was where it would ultimately end up- thus allowing it to have temporary portable power if unhooked from a continuous supply of energy, which the star ship would give it.

With the device constructed, their tests moved onto scans itself. Through a process of trial and error, they utilized a Niathal-class transport and it's ability to scan object, until the dampening field was configured to block it. Invented by Jorus Merrill, the Niathal operated in the same capacity as other transports or war ships did. Whilst a Star Destroyer would have a bigger set of memory banks to store the data it received from a scan, it didn't necessarily equate that a Star Destroyer was more powerful in it's scanning ability than a craft smaller than it.

With the device invented, built and configured to the desire of it's dark masters, Alicia and Circe stood back at the end of their two week venture with three resting between them both on the table. You never knew when you might need a dampening field for other projects- the first would be used to protect the otherspace drive they would invent- and so they parted ways, their project complete.