Raccoons in the Pit

[Laira Darkhold]

Amar

When the One Sith took over Amar, they did so in an unbelievably cruel and brutal fashion. Butchering the Amarans by the thousands, enslaving hundreds more to shuffle them into work camps, and burning swaths of their cities. The few that were left were put to work in fenced in camps, barely fed and overworked.

Vulkan stared out the viewscreen of the Ori'edee-class command fortress at them, red photoreceptive visor, yellow secondaries on his armor. Black armored Mandalorians stood in the background behind the tall warrior. He wasn't the same man they had sworn to, but they were rich men in their own right because of him, they always had work and fights to get in, and most were happy with their situation.

They were sitting there, just waiting to be put to work, and lo and behold, Vulkan had things that needed doing. But if the Sith Lord wanted to make use of the One Sith's work force, he needed their permission. And so Darth Vulkan stood waiting on his walker with a small army of construction droids waiting in bulk freighters to begin.

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

Konrad disembarked from the Stardestroyer to meet [member="Darth Vulkan"], to speak about the man's request to make use of the sorry planet's workforce for his own project. So long as the Sith Lord’s plans did not conflict with the goals or potentially cause problems to the One Sith, Konrad did not see a problem with putting slaves with work. That was their punishment for their weakness after all. However, wanted to personally oversee the project and ensured that the slaves were working hard. Any defiance from the slaves was an insult to the One Sith - something Konrad could not let happen.

Darth Vulkan was not hard to spot. The Sith Lord was waiting for a representative from the One Sith in a walker and a small army of construction droids - such a sight was hard to miss. Followed by a small army of his own soldiers, Konrad walked towards the Sith Lord and announced himself to the man.

"I am Konrad von Grimmelshausen, Brigadier General of the One Sith Army. I represent the One Sith in regards to your request of making use of our workforce on Amar. Your request has been approved, on the condition that I oversee the project."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

From behind the red visor grey eyes looked over the man that stood in front of him. "Very well." His voice cool and calm as he spoke to the One Sith General. The large walker was built for command and control, and so it had plenty of communication stations and sensor equipment. Mandalorian warriors prepared to stand guard the work force could begin whenever the Sith Lord, Drahr'buir, gave the Order. He was not sympathetic to slaves, despite his history and personal relationship with a slave, but he wasn't himself overly cruel or sympathetic in his treatment to other beings. Sometimes on an individual basis he made exceptions, one way or the other.

The Sith Lord looked over the man's shoulder and shouted an order to a Mandalorian, a slithery Barabel warrior carrying several beskads. "Narir etid at borarir." The reptilian warrior, hissed back a response and moved outside the walker quickly barking orders as he went at the waiting warriors.

"I need the workforce to expedite building a number of ships. I need a number of factory ships to complement ArmaTech's factories and bolster production, and I lacked the workforce on hand in Techno Union space." The short simple explanation from the Sith Lord was enough for him, but perhaps the One Sith would desire more, or perhaps the General had other plans for the Amarans.

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

"That sounds acceptable." [member="Darth Vulkan"]'s request did not cause any inconvenience to the One Sith and there was no such thing as working slaves too hard. Moreover, if the One Sith helped the Sith Lord, they would have a favour they could call upon later, should the need arise. "We are willing to allow 2 500 to assist you in your ship building. Should that be insufficient, tell me how many you think you will need and a reason why and I may consider your request."

Konrad tapped on the screen of his wrist mounted DataPad to open up a commlink channel with the head of the slave camp. “I need 2 500 slaves sent to my location immediately. One of my men will contact you with the coordinates. I expect them to be here in half an hour at the latest if you intend to keep your position.” Without allowing the man a chance to reply, Konrad closed the commlink channel. He did not need to hear what the man had to say in response. The man only needed to obey.

Within 20 minutes, the slaves which Konrad had ordered sent over arrived. It arrived within the time he had given the head of the camp but he was generous with the time he quoted to the man. Konrad gestured at his men and the slaves were let out of the transport accompanied by One Sith slavedrivers. Men, women, children they were all treated as equals in slavery.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Vulkan turned his attention away from the workers and the droids preparing to begin work in the massive canyon, having been the only place that could operate as a natural drydock for a ship the size of the design being produced by ArmaTech. They would need to build supports and scaffolding to accommodate the ship's frame. "Two thousand five hundred may not be enough. We may require more as these begin to expire." He had no intention of caring if these Amarans died on the work line, fewer would die with more workers though.

Mandalorian warriors stood around the canyon carrying large automatic weapons, forming a secure perimeter as the Ori'edee sat looking over the canyon, its area shield not near large enough to cover the expanse where the slaves would be working. The small army of droids began to descend into the pit, the sound of whips already erupting from the slave drivers that were directing the Amarans. For now they would be the manual labor force while Droids acted as technicians and handled technical support.

The big Mandalorian Sith turned his attention to the general, "So tell me, how are you fairing commanding the armies of the One Sith."

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

"I will have another group sent here when these begin to expire." Konrad had intended to work the Amarans to extinction but perhaps having too many corpses litter the work site would not be the best idea.

Konrad watched as the slaves were set to work. Overseeing the work would be quite boring for the general as ship building was not his area of expertise but he was just there to ensure that things got done.

Turning to the Sith Lord, Konrad relplied to his question. "I am fairing well. I have always faired well. If the men even steps a hair out of like, I make sure that it does not happen again. I have no use or tolerance for insubordinate men."

Konrad watched quietly for a few minutes before breaking the silence. "How do the Mandalorians train their troops?" Konrad asked watched somewhat curiously was he watch the Mandalorians that [member="Darth Vulkan"] had brought with him. There was always place for imporvement for training soldiers especially the new recruits who had somewhat unrealistic expectations of the One Sith Army.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The Sith chuckled, gesturing to a pair of chairs sitting empty on what could be called the bridge of the walker, offering the man one of the swivel chairs for tech officers behind the pilot seats. "We train them from birth. Every child on Mandalore is raised a warrior. They use a gun by the time they are six or seven, they are trained in combat from their youth, and they are forged in the fires of experience as teens. Every village teaches the next generation all that they know as they are raised, and when they reach adult hood, they are superior to any clone or trooper." That hadn't been true for the Eriadu born Sith Lord, but he had trained from a young age, just not that young.

He inhaled as he took off the helm, his vision having to adjust to the light for a second. His short black hair was matted down and his beard trimmed. "Even my own daughter was raised in this way, and as a teen she is superior to a number of grown Sith." It wasn't a lie, but the statement hadn't been tested, and the girl had set off to become a Jedi with her father's reluctant blessing.

Work would be slow, weeks even to build such a massive structure, but the first task of getting the Amarans and the droids to work needed to be watched over with a keen eye. Mandalorians didn't partake in the whipping or driving of slaves, only the perimeter of the canyon they would work in, assault weapons primed as their visor's glinted in the sun light, tilted down watching them all shriek and whimper under the whips of the Sith, metal scaffolding being dropped and unloaded from large transports. Pieces of the drydocks and the ships to be built would be shipped here over the coming weeks from Roxuli and Hypori, the massive city sized factories owned by the company.

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

[member="Darth Vulkan"] gestured for the two to take a seat at the swivel chairs behind what Konrad assumed were the pilot's seat.

"Interesting." Konrad almost smiled having thought of another way to torment his slaves. He made a note to have babies torn out of the arms of their mothers in all Sith owned slave camps and all future slaves the Sith would capture. If the children were trained from a young age, not only could he ensure their skill but their obediance too. He could even have some of the children be brought up as slave drivers unknowingly driving their parents to their death.

"You have a child?" Konrad was surprised. The Sith Lord did not look like the fatherly type and from what Konrad had heard Darth Vulkan was a very busy man but it seemed he was able to find time to raise a child - something Konrad almost respected him for even though 'father' was a title he knew he would never hold. Maybe he would have been one had things been different but unfortunately, changing the past was impossible no matter how powerful one was.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Vulkan smiled, sitting back and watching the Amarans do the leg work of the building process. Ships this size took time and effort, and time was not something the Sith Lord had in abundance. Effort he could always pay for, but time was a commodity everyone had only limited amounts of. Some longer than others. But that was what the galaxy was like. These amarans were unlucky and they had been chosen to suffer out their final days beneath the awnings of a great and terrible machine. Vulkan didn't care for slaving, in fact he disliked it, but he was also a practical man. He needed workers, the One Sith offered these ones. If it were not his project, it would be someone else's.

"I do." He stated the fact as simply as he would state the weather. Her name he wouldn't bother to bring up for her safety. Since she was a Jedi, it wouldn't do for the One Sith knowing her father was among them on occasion, nor would it do well for her if the Galactic Alliance discovered her heritage. They would no doubt flay her alive for every having met a Sith Lord, much less for being one's child. "But, if I were you, I would not pry about her." There was a trace of menace in his voice, but his face retained a smile, and his body language was still nonthreatening.

"Tell me General Konrad, What do you aspire to be?"

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

Konrad could sense the slight menace in his voice as [member="Darth Vulkan"] spoke about his daughter. The tone the Sith Lord had used had piqued his interest, he made a not to himself to look into the man's daughter in his free time. If the man was hiding something, Konrad had to know what it was. It was not in the General's nature to be nosey but he liked being able to convince people should there ever be a need.

The General too maintained his smile. "What I aspire to be? I need to amass power as I have something I wish to see done." For a spilt second, a look of anger appeared on his face as the last words left his mouth. Konrad tried to mask it as well as he could but the hate he felt in his heart overwhelmed him at times. She was dead for almost two decades but the wound from losing her had not healed. It was one that was perpetually kept open by his hatred like a festering wound.

Konrad turned his head slightly to watch the amarans at work. They were hard at work and whipped whenever they started to tire and slow down even by a little. The weak did not deserve to be treated with dignity or respect. Anything they had - family, property, personal effects, dignity, self-worth was ripped from them the second they were captures. The General may not have understood what was happening in regards to the ship building but he could tell that the amarans were still working diligently either out of fear or being broken, he did not care. He was ready to send a bolt of Force Lightning at one should they be caught slacking off. Konrad turned back to the man, maintaining his smile.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"What do you know of ships, General?" Vulkan was curious as to why his project had yet to be questioned or mentioned really. There had been no questions or interrogations about the vessel that was being worked on in the canyon by the amarans and thousands of worker droids. As of yet there had only been small talk as the pair watched over the fairly large project. Once this one was done it was a simple matter to send it to Mandalore or Hypori and have the shipyards there assist in putting them together.

"I mean the ship building process. As far as I know you haven't been prolific with the war effort until recently. Do you remember the struggle the One Sith endured in the earlier stages, the ancient ships, the outdated technology, the scraps they received from the Sith Empire?" It was a fair question. Not everyone was aware of how war time ship building worked. It was a process, and exponential process, but a process nonetheless.

Deep in the pit, the raccoon furry people continued to work, ragged, tear stained faces toiled, exhausted though they may be, they worked hard. The steel frames being put in place slowly, the scaffolding rising into place around the sides of the canyon. Cries could be heard ringing out from the pit where the amarans worked slowly.

[member="Isamu Baelor"]
[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

"I am in the army not the navy so I know not much of ships. I am more knowledgeable in the creation of weapons and ammunition than I am with ships." Konrad reluctantly admitted to the man. He had spent much of his career in the army and had yet to participate in naval activities. Konrad made a note to himself to gain a better understanding of the navy and their resources before he continued. "Since you mentioned it, what do you intend to use this ship for? As transport, for battle or for some other purpose?" While Konrad did not understand the specifics of ships, he had some basic knowledge of it.

Konrad looked down at the amarans who were slowly but steadily constructing the ships. Frames have been assembled and in between the sound of the sad creatures hard at work building [member="Darth Vulkan"]'s ship, was the sound of whips and misery. Although he knew not much about starships nor their creation, Konrad could tell the construction was getting along quite smoothly. This pleased him. Incompetent slaves reflected poorly on those who were in charge of them - something he could not allow to happen. The One Sith had a reputation that Konrad could not allow to be tarnished by a bunch of filthy racoons.

[member="Isamu Baelor"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Well, when the One Sith first arose they began producing vessels. They way it works is first you buy some droids, those droids build a factory. That factory in turn produces another army of droids. Then the first group goes off to build another droid factory, and the new group goes to build a drydock. That continues until the war is won or the resources dry up in the area. It starts slow, but after a while ships are easy to come by." Vulkan leaned back in the chair smiling devilishly. "And that is what this ship will be. Not a weapon of war directly, but a manufacturer of war. When this is done the Argent will be able to settle into any system with a rock and a gas cloud with its support craft, and from it will churn the weapons of war."

A factory ship to produce weapon after weapon, tank after tank, droid after droid. Sure he would need a few dozen of them floating around to keep up with production, but it wouldn't take excessively long for them to produce their own defenses and move from resource bank to resource bank, system to system. It would also keep them somewhat safer than the stationary factory cities.

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]
[member="Isamu Baelor"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

"Interesting," Konrad muttered mostly to himself. "This is the first time I have heard of a ship of this kind." If Konrad understood correctly the ship that [member="Darth Vulkan"] had described to him was to be a mobile factory, quite an interesting concept. "What does this moving factory have as defences?" he asked interested in this peculiar ship.

The Brigadier General watched the amarans who were hard at work building the ship for the Sith Lord. Although his understanding of ships and the navy was little more than basic knowledge, he was still a little excited to watch each stage of the ship progress. It was a new experience for him.

It had been a while since work on the ship had begun and a few of the amarans had already expired, it would be quite a pain having trash potentially obstruct the ship building. Calling one of his men over, Konrad the bodies cleared away and a fresh batched brought in to replace them. This time 5 000 amaran slaves were brought over to work on the ship as the previous pace was a bit too slow for the Brigadier General’s liking. After a little less than half an hour the slaves were hard at work once again building the portable factory for Darth Vulkan.

[member="Isamu Baelor"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Vulkan shook his head, "No, not in the conventional sense. It will not be heavily armed, though it will have a few turbolasers and Ion cannons here and there. What it lacks in weaponry, it makes up for in potential." He motioned at the Amaran slaves working in the makeshift dry dock, born from the natural rock. "Imagine a ship that produces its own escort, its own protection. A trio of these vessels will be able to supply a fleet, build its own ships and starfighters, and supply arms and armors for a small army." The Sith Lord's eyes turned to watch the workers. They were about half way done with the first of the ships, and the General had called for a few more slaves to expedite the process. Once they completed it, Vulkan would take it back to Mandalore and Bothawui and allow their yards to take over production of the line.

"These ships can be taken on a campaign and used to resupply an army from any system with the basic natural resources. Separate supply lines that are more difficult to cut, as they can be moved. Its a time consuming process, sure. But it is feasible with this vessel."

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]
[member="Isamu Baelor"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

Konrad nodded, obviously very interested in the topic of conversation. The ship that the Sith Lord was building was a most interesting one. "Can the ship function fully automated or will it require a crew of flesh and blood to assist in its operation?" the Sith Knight asked, eager to find out more about the curious ship that was starting to take form. He did not know much about starships or fleeting but that did not mean he was not eager to learn more. Knowledge is power and power was what he desired in his quest for revenge against the Jedis that have failed him and his passed love.

The extra amaran slaves that Konrad had called in to assist the shipbuilding sped up the process to a pace that was pleasing to him. He had never seen the process of a ship being built from nothing but something about the process interested him greatly. Konrad was a man of the army but it would not hurt for him to learn a bit more about ships and perhaps dabble in the navy one day.

[member="Draco Vereen"] | [member="Isamu Baelor"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Vulkan inhaled deeply and shrugged, adjusting his shoulders in the chair, letting the metal of his armor shift. "No, this ship will require some sentient, biological oversight in order to operate at peak capacity. The idea isn't to fully automate the ship, its to create a mobile facility. Every factory is automated to a degree. Baktoid before the Gulag managed to fully automate their facilities, but those were repetitive assembly lines cranking out sub par product. These Argent-class vessels will not be sub par. They will set the bar for this, and they will be immense. Five times the size of the ssiruvi manufacturing vessels. Where as those are made for small arms, meant to be used in groups, the Argent is able to go from unharvested raw materials to finished products." True the differences were in the harvesting capabilities.

"The Argent will use seismic drivers, tractor beam projectors, and mining lasers to harvest raw materials in mass, using forges and a molecular furnace to maximize their efficiency and reduce waste. Gas harvesters can be deployed from within its hold to a local gas giant with tibanna gas for produce ammunition. Only rarer materials will need to be sought out and shipped in, and even then, those are fairly unimportant for mass production."

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"] [member="Isamu Baelor"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

"Your ship appears well thought out. Not only is it a moving factory able to be deployed when and where necessary, but it is also self-sufficient and capable of extracting the resources it needs from a planet. I must admit, I cannot help but admire the design of the ship.” Konrad glanced at the slaves who were hard at work building the ship for a few seconds before turning back to [member="Draco Vereen"]. “I assume that this ship will be put to use in upcoming wars to assist the Mandalorians? Furthermore, do you intend to produce more of these ships once you complete this one which I assume is the prototype?” With his curiosity regarding the ship satisfied, Konrad now concerned himself with what would happen to the ship on completion.

Whilst the Sith Lord appeared to be an ally, this was the first time he had met the man and did not know whether to trust him or not. He wanted assurance of some kind that the ship would not be used against the One Sith which could result in the potential embarrassment of not only himself but also the faction he represented.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Vulkan gazed out at the Amarans working, the first ship was all that was needed. "Well, General. I do have a favor of you to ask. Did you know I used to be the foreman of the Techno Union? Well, I used to be, and I don't quite agree with the current regime. While I'm not asking you to do anything egregious, as I have cleared away my people from their work places on Hypori and have begun relocating them, I do dislike the city remaining there. You've seen my corporate cities, yes? Well, I don't want the one on Hypori to exist anymore. Perhaps that is something you could help me with? Once all of my people are out and safely away of course." He spoke about turning a very large city into dust casually, as though it didn't phase him at all that it had taken months to build, that people had built lives there. Just as the cries and groggy moans of the amarans in the pit beneath him didn't bother him at all.

"And this ship, and the others like it, will be one of the many replacements to the factories on Hypori. I just, I just dislike doing business with people that don't keep me in the loop. I was the Foreman, I rule three of their worlds as a merchant monarch, and I still command large swaths of their military, and yet they do business behind my back. Its unsettling, and I'd very much like to, not being doing business with them anymore." Deep in the pit the first rumblings of a reactor being turned on began, distracting the Mandalorian Sith for a moment.

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The ship rumbled and cracked in the hours that followed, and then the days, more and more amarans began to realize that whether they completed their task or not, this ship would be their tomb. As its systems began to come on line and it began churning the canyon for the raw materials of the world, the bodies of the fallen tossed into a molecular furnace like simple trash, construction droids being built from the conveyors. It was almost as though the ship began to complete itself, processing the ores from the planet and shaping them into the heavy gauge plates to be welded and riveted into place by the droids, the bracings and steel beams used for the back end of the frame coming from its own forges and from the cargo vessels still delivering pieces of the ship to the workers. As they finally finished, after long hours of work, those that remained were marched into the mouth of the molecular furnace, emerging from the other end nothing more that pallets of carbon and silicon to be used in production of the ship's products.

"It has been a pleasure, General, but, as the task here is done for now, I must bid you adieu. Contact me when you are available to help me with my problem in the Techno Union. Perhaps we can take what we need from my holdings there and move them somewhere more savory."