Second Star to the Right and Straight on til Morning [Jorus]

[Ayden Cater]

This was not a region of space he was intimately familiar with. He had been here a few times before, but it had never been a place he thought of much. It was hard to think of the far-off edge of the galaxy when you had dozens of sectors to worry about. It was amazing what having the weight of several hundred trillion souls lifted from one's shoulders could for for one's itinerary. It had been years since he had not had such a burden, and centuries since he had not worked one on.

Ayden found himself and his ship drifting towards Laekia with a need to find a new drive. His people were safe, unknown to galaxy. To many people, he was to be blamed for the cataclysm that had befallen Corellia. He never failed to chuckle at that thought, though he secret hated the sting he still felt when hearing it. The One Sith had come, and the Protectorate had utterly failed to send any help at all. But that was not what stung the most. That he was somehow believed to be the monster responsible for the destruction of his own homeworld...

That didn't matter. They were safe, and he needed to find something else to do. Take enough time and someone would eventually track him back to the system, and he couldn't have that. So he needed to make some changes to the ship. It was a good start, though that was to be expected since he helped design it. However, it was initially designed as a tactical strike ship. It wasn't made to travel for long distances way from a hanger. And since he had technically stolen the vessel, he couldn't very well just roll into any Protectorate world to seek out refit and repairs.

But he remembered people and places. Jorus was a good man, far better than Ayden held himself to be. Jorus had dutifully served the Protectorate and moved on to other things with his life. They had been on a few missions together and Ayden recalled the fondness Jorus had for speaking of the Levantine Sanctum. He himself was familiar with their hospitality and reputation after working to securing a contract with them for CEC, so Ayden was well aware of their generally neutral stance with the galaxy at large. Live and let live was their apparent motto, unless one was stupid enough to try and drag a fleet in to fight the Sanctum.

So it was that Ayden stood within the ship's CIC and sent out a transmission request to speak with [member="Jorus Merrill"]. He did not attach any titles or baggage with the name. It was simple a request from one 'Ayden Cater'.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"...so it comes back to centerpoints again. If you center is locked onto this station or the Sanctum or the Core, everyone you meet will be an other, and every place you go will be peripheral, marginal. Watch out for the phrase 'the middle of nowhere', especially-"

Command Studies 1492: Introduction to First Contact was a seminar class, small enough that the cadets sat around a circle of narrow tables. Faces all around the ring turned toward the door; Jorus turned to find an upperclassman bearing a message chit from Oswaft Station's comm center. And something...something felt off. The cadet was looking at him warily. Jorus held out his hand; after a long moment, the cadet deposited the chit in his palm.

"Sir," said the upperclassman, quietly and redundantly, with an implied question in his tone, "Ayden Cater wants to speak with you."

To tell the truth, Jorus didn't have the full picture of Corellia's fall. Nor was such a picture available. Like any Corellian, he experienced thoughts and conflicted feelings when that name was mentioned. More conflicted than most, in his case, because he and Ayden Cater went back many, many years. Whether Cater had been partially responsible for the disasters or not, Jorus couldn't help but recall that the former Lord Protector was capable of ruthlessness on a grand scale, even when it came to his own people. His jaw knotted, and he stood. "Class dismissed. We're ending half an hour early."

***​

​

He stood on a holopad in a secure comm suite, wearing the brown-and-bronze uniform of a Levantine Frontier Corps captain.

"Ayden."

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden wore a rather tired smile when he saw Jorus' image appear and took a moment to look the other man over. You didn't need to wield the powers of the Force to see that the man was a bit on edge, and Ayden really couldn't say that he could find fault in that. "I'm sorry to drop in like this, Jorus, but I don't think I have to say that my life has not exactly been uninteresting these last few months. I understand if you cannot, but I wanted to ask for you assistance." He took a moment and considered what he wanted to say next. "I'm also willing to answer anything you have to ask of me, should you want to."

The ship continued to drift towards the planet, slowly and with no power to its weapons or stealth systems. Even its engines were burning a normal fuel to give it a detectable engine wash. It was obvious, if Jorus was at all aware of the ship's capabilities, that Ayden was coming in with every possible sign that he was non-hostile. This had every possible chance of going poorly, and Ayden really could not have that happen. He had some back up ideas if it should have come to it, but he held hope that Jorus would allow him to leave freely in the event that he decided to turn him away. It was interesting, once again living a life of uncertainties and unknowns. In many ways, it was a refreshing change of pace.

"I ask then for permission to dock or land wherever you see fit so that we may discuss these matters further."

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"I don't run things around here, Ayden, and th'Oversight Committee would have my head if I let you dock at Oswaft Station. Tell you what. I'll be taking a boatload of cadets out for a spin in the D'Lessio in a couple of hours for astrogation class. Hold station, send out a shuttle to dock with us, and come take a look at what I've been building out here. I can't promise you the cadets'll be thrilled, but it's the best I can do." He smiled without much humor. "I'm not a free man anymore.

"That said, we should get question period out of the way first. I think I know what you're capable of and what you would and wouldn't do, so why don't you tell me what happened to Corellia." He paused. "And give me some idea of what kind of assistance you're needing, for preparation's sake."

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

At sixty-six metres, the D'Lessio was about three times the size of the Gypsymoth, which meant a lot of excellent hiding places. Not even Miktik could find her some days, let alone Beyyr. Or Dad. Dad couldn't find her at all when she didn't want to be found, unless she fell asleep in a vent or something. That bugged Dad, she knew, because he was good at finding things, mostly stars but people too. Her current perch was between a slanted ceiling and a flat cluster of horizontal pipes. Sitting on the pipes and hunching down, she could just barely see the shiny ship out there. It looked about three hundred and ninety metres, probably. Big big guns, too, the heavy-long-range kind. The D'Lessio could totally take it, though, and not just because it was named after Mom and Mara.

With a grin, Mara headed into the vents. There was this one grid right over the airlock exit, a perfect vantage point. It would take her a while to get there, but she had some time, and it'd definitely be worth it.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden nodded in understanding. "Well, I'm sure you remember that time. Half the galaxy up and disappears. Across the board, Protectorate data networks went down. Communications were hopeless. I couldn't even communicate with my own personal means. The Lord Protector was one of the ones who went missing, but I knew what standing orders were." He had his own mirthless smile there. He should very well have remembered those protocols considering he made about three-quarters of them himself. "By the time the One Sith had showed up, preparations had been made as well as they could have. Every military computer was fried, every military shipyard or station destroyed. Anything that had value was burned."

He paused as he remembered back to those times. It was not at all a pleasant memory. "The Selonians and Drall took care of their own." They had always been largely left to their own devices within the Protectorate, so while an offer had been made to them for evacuation, they had stated that they would take care of matters themselves. "Corellia was one of the Protectorate's biggest shipyards. Every ship that had a working hyperdrive and engine was handed out. I can't say it was clean or bloodless. Some folks don't take well to panic or thoughts of death. We didn't force anyone to leave who did not want to. When the One Sith arrived, every ship that could jumped out of the system."

Of course he had heard the propaganda. How he had dropped the shipyards onto the planet not at all unlike what had occurred over Druckenwell. How there had been mountains of corpses when he left. "I saved a lot of people, Jorus. There are a lot more that I couldn't save. We've talked before. I'd like to think you're a good judge of character. Do you truly believe that I would ravage my own home, butcher my own people? Why? In what galaxy would I do that, and to what ends? If you know nothing else of me, you know that I always have a reason behind anything that I do. What possible reason then could I have behind such an act? You were there at Druckenwell. How could a man who gave his enemies hours to evacuate, and prepare for what would have otherwise been a surprise attack... A man who ordered his ships to target the falling shipyards rather than continue firing on a still hostile threat... How could I do all of that, condemn the Confederacy for the atrocity and bring Alli Wren to justice.... How could I do all of that and then turn around and shamelessly subject that same fate to my own people?"

By now, it was evident that cracks were appearing in the Corellian's composed image. Leaving Corellia had been hard, yes. But he remembered all too well the agony he felt went the planet exploded. And that was just another thing that was laid at his feet, in a blind rage and without reason. It hurt him, not only that there were those out there who now questioned his character, but that the Protectorate that he had led for years in loyal service had held him responsible. In spite of the many battles he had won for them, the homes he had kept safe, they hung him out as the monster responsible and spit on his name.

"What I need Jorus is help; I need you to help me help make this right."

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

It wasn't a complete answer, not remotely, but it was as close as Jorus would get. And he had the distinct feeling that the more he dug, the more unreliable memory or selected facts might be. Ayden's...confession?...fit with the rest of the picture he'd pieced together, which didn't say much. Ayden definitely believed what he was saying; that much was clear.

Time to see if you're still the kind of man that can live with ambiguity. Live with not knowing everything.

Jorus nodded. "All right," he said, "let's call Corellia tabled. If you're talking about making things right for Corellia, for Corellians, I'll give what help I can. I'd find or make a new home for our people if I could keep it from becoming a target, and Force knows I've mulled over the whole mess, wondering if my Bloodstripe was the last one ever, or what's left of our culture going forward. I'd like to pass something down to Mara apart from a tramp freighter and a list of enemies. Tell me what you've got in mind, in a nutshell, and I'll see what I can facilitate."

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden nodded quietly. Somethings he wouldn't say over a com channel, secure or not. "Well, in the short term I need help with refitting this ship. I'd like to take some of the guns out and make it a bit more suitable for living on the go. Wasn't exactly made for travel and accommodations. Since I've seen the Gypsymoth, and I've seen a lot of the Silk freighters you helped design, I know that you're the best there is for this kind of work." He wasn't sure how much help Jorus would be if he wasn't himself in charge, but figured that it was still the best place to start. If Jorus would vouch for him, then that'd be just about as good as a green light to get started.

"Long term... I want to make sure that what happened to Corellia never happens to another world again. I don't want another soul to die because there wasn't a better way to get people off of a planet faster. I want your help in designing a planetary evacuation installation. I'm not talking about a starport to get people off world a few thousand at a time. I mean to get people off in the millions."

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"I wouldn't call myself the best. That'd be my wife." Jorus scratched his chin. [member="Alna Merrill"] would have something to say about the project, but even after years of marriage -- feth when's the anniversary again oh good still got a month -- he wasn't sure what that opinion might be. She'd approach it practically, but the practicality of Alndys D'Lessio-Merrill could take many forms. Vividly, he thought of his wife ripping the guts out of a Cira-class and mashing it together with one of her beloved Pathfinders. Which really might not be the worst way to go about it, come to think of it.

Calling Alna for help with ship mods guaranteed a high-performance, high-quality outcome. It just might not be the outcome you expected.

Suppressing a grin -- the first positive thing he'd felt in a little while now -- he nodded. "I can help with the first part. For the second, who knows. Send a shuttle over to the D'Lessio in a couple of hours after we undock."

 

[Ayden Cater]

"I'll be over one-fifty after you clear the dock. My ship won't move on its own unless given directions to the contrary by the authorities here. Thank you again, Jorus." Ayden gave a slight smile before cutting the comm. He sighed and brought a hand to his brow. It wasn't quite the meeting he had hoped for, but it had gone far better than he had feared. He felt somewhat guilty over not giving the ultimate fate of the Corellians he had saved to Jorus, but that felt more like a surprise that should be shown rather than told. If he tried to just make that claim without the physical evidence, Jorus would be exceptionally unlikely to believe him.

In the hours he had left to himself, Ayden sat in a makeshift lab he had fashioned from one of the ship's former crew quarters. There were a lot of details still to be worked out for the myriad of projects left open. The ship needed work done on it to suit his needs, the planetary evacuation system needed further refining and designing, and that was ignoring the half-dozen minor designs he was working on. It was frustrating, to say the least, at having grand works to do without having the resources to properly devout to them. He did not miss the stress-filled scheduled, but he did find himself missing the power that the office of Lord Protector afforded him. He was certainly a fair and dutiful leader for the Protectorate. He had done a lot for it, perhaps more than even Cira herself. Perhaps there were still a few strings to pull...

Once the time passed, Ayden loaded a handful of designs and schematics onto a flash device and boarded a shuttle. The M32 dropship floated out of the rear hanger of the frigate and made a course for the aforementioned D'Lessio. It was a small ship, barely a fifth the size of his own frigate. Fortunately the dropship had a ventral hatch that allowed it to dock with Jorus' ship. After coordinating, he jostled slightly as the connection was made. Ayden had no idea what to really expect on the other side of that hatch. Jorus indicated that he'd be taking a bunch of recruits out on a little trip. How many that meant exactly, he had no idea. Nor did he have any idea how they would react to the sight of him.

When the hatches both cleared, Ayden stood at the bottom of the ladder and dutifully called out. "Permission to come aboard, Captain Merrill?"

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"Permission-"

Umph.

"-granted." Mara straightened from her crouch. Above her, the ventilation grid swayed crazily. So far as she could recall, she'd never met this guy, but between the hat, the coat, the Force and the pretty ship outside, this could only be one man. Dad had kept pretty quiet about Corellia, and around that time he'd stopped talking about Ayden Cater, but if Dad had cleared him to dock with the D'Lessio, that meant something right there. Besides, she'd been raised on stories of the old days in the Pyre -- and on Aunt Rave's stories too. To wit:

"Are you the guy that ziplined Cthulhu?"

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden climbed the ladder with a small amount of trepidation, but refused to let it show. Jorus was a many of many traits and walks of life, but he was not a backstabber. If he did not want to have Ayden come aboard, if Jorus wanted him dead, then Ayden knew he'd have never been invited over. Jorus was pragmatic, if nothing else. He knew that if he were to try and kill Ayden personally that there'd be a lot of collateral. Unnecessary risks were just stupid. So if Jorus invited him to board, then all was well. At least, as well as it could be considering the status of Corellia.

Dropping down the last bit without a sound, Ayden turned around and immediately spotted Jorus in a rather sharp-looking uniform. It was enough that Ayden took a quick check of his own coat to compare the two before he straightened his hat and cleared his throat. As he looked around, a rather mousy looking girl suddenly blurted out a question that he was rather sure had never been uttered in that exact phrasing in the history of the universe.

For a moment, Ayden did not know what to say; a rare thing, considering he was a man who prided himself in always having a witty comment or a retort to just about anything. Finally, he allowed himself a small grin and nodded in the affirmative. He looked around and did his best to avoid looking too threatening or menacing, but wasn't sure how well that worked. He kept the crystal blade tucked away on his back, largely obstructed by his coat. In the time he had made it, he had found himself with a bit of an attachment to it. It felt odd to move about without it, like he was walking around without an arm. Hopefully it would not cause any problems.

Rather than wait for a chance for it to make a problem, Ayden turned to Jorus and gave the other man a respectful bowing of his head. He didn't think Jorus would have been too keen on a handshake, so instead showed respect how he could. "Thank you for having me aboard, Captain."

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"Welcome aboard the D'Lessio, Ayden. Sixty-eight metres, moves like a gunship, goes point-five past lightspeed, plasma cannons and ion weapons that'll ignore any shield known to man. She took down a Fringe Star Destroyer the other day on Underground business. And this is my occasional first officer, Mara." And a slightly bigger pain in the neck than the Star Destroyer had been. Jorus' eyes -- one cybernetic, one plaeryin bol, almost a match but not quite -- tracked up to where the ventilation grid hung loose. He shove it back up and latched it, shaking his head. "And yeah, Mara, this is Ayden Cater, ex-Lord Protector of the Omega Protectorate." His mouth tightened to a firm line. "And an old friend. Come on in, Ayden. The cadets are drooling on the gemcutter, so they'll stay out of our way for a while."

"They've moved to the S-thread boosters," said Mara.

"Feth. Go wrangle'em back out of the hangar bay, would ya? There's some things down there I'd rather they not see too close. Get'em away from the Blackbird for sure."

Mara gave him the sort of look that said I know you're dismissing me. This isn't over. She ducked away through the D'Lessio's narrow, branching corridors and was gone. Massaging the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger, Jorus turned back to the man who'd once been his commanding officer's commanding officer. "Come on up to the bridge and let's talk."

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden reigned in the urge to loft a brow when Jorus mentioned the occasional first office. A girl? There was a lot there to question, but Ayden managed to avoid it altogether. Jorus was a smart man. If he said she was worthy of being his first officer, who was Ayden to question that wisdom? He didn't miss the tightening of Jorus' mouth, and couldn't help but feel a brief tinge of anger. Of course he pushed it down just as quickly as it appeared. You didn't lose your homeworld without a mark, and he had been on Corellia when the One Sith first showed up.

He nodded and let Jorus lead the way. After all, it was his ship. Corellians were known for a number of quirks, the least of which was a deep fondness for their personal ships. Ayden wouldn't wander anywhere on a Merrill ship without permission or escort. The one time he had (unknowingly) done so on one of Rave Merrill's ships, he had nearly been murdered three different ways in less than an hour.

"I'd say that it was a beautiful ship, but you've always done exceptional work with starships. Particularly your own." He smirked faintly while admiring the other man's handiwork all the same. He had seen the inside of the Gypsymoth and was suitably jealous for months. That was part of why he sought out Jorus Merrill's help in refitting the frigate.

Once they were on the bridge, and he finished giving it the once over, Ayden turned to Jorus and waited.

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

A handful of senior cadets manned the bridge, preparing for a little jaunt later. They saluted Jorus as he entered; he watched their faces as they recognized -- or failed to recognize -- his guest. Then again, maybe it was less to do with recognition and more to do with who'd heard the gossip. He met their eyes. "Can I have the room, folks? Thanks."

They filed out without comment, leaving Jorus and Ayden alone on the small bridge of the D'Lessio. The aesthetic was spare, economical, as befitting a raider. Jorus opened a hardcase and activated a holoprojector, reassigning a couple of terminals for his and Ayden's use. "Let's start with your refit problem. You bring anything for me to look at apart from a pretty hull?" He gestured out the viewport at the sweeping expanse of the stealth frigate's bow. Ayden's ship was four times the length of the D'Lessio. "A pretty hull with a metric fethton of guns. I can see why you're cutting down -- even the best reactors won't keep that up for long, not with a raider's rates of fire."

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Ayden paid no attention to the cadets, instead bringing out the storage device and hooking it up to the main console they'd be working from. He had briefly considered the idea of bringing along Roland, but didn't think that Jorus would appreciate a surprise AI on his ship. Once it was connected, Ayden quickly brought up the full schematics for the frigate. He trusted that Jorus wasn't going to copy these plans over and hand them out to his enemies, and if he wanted Jorus' continued trust then he was going to have to continue to trust the other Corellian himself.

The wireframe of the ship came up and the immediate focus could have only been the reactor. Spilling across five of the ten decks, the reactor was a gift from the people of Valen. Utilizing cortosis in the advanced reactor, the power output of it was closer to that of a heavy cruiser than a frigate. Secondary relays helped regulate the power flow, preventing any overdrawing from the main weapons.

"Problem's not really the weapon systems. Power draw there has been pretty consistent in trial and combat runs." He walked around the holographic ship frame, looking between it and Jorus. "The problem is that this thing was designed first and foremost as a combat vessel; jump into a fight, blow things up, then go back to base. It was never designed to be operate independently in deep space for any length of time. Quarters are cramped, science capabilities are nil. It doesn't have any labs for me to work out of to design and create." Pausing, Ayden frowned and chewed on the corner of one lip before turning to face Jorus directly. "You're the only man I know of who regularly makes extra-galactic trips. You and your wife turned Silk Holdings into a company that rivals Arceneau Trade Company in terms of power and scope. You know exactly what I'd need. I'm open to suggestions."

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"Glop," said Mara, who had opted to come right back after the errand in question. Dismissal didn't work on her. "You need glop. Solid fuel/ration converter. Shovel in pretty much anything, it comes out as clean water, fuel cell recharge, and enough glop to last forever. You can get flavor and vitamin squeezers for it too. Just stay away from the banana flavor. Blech."

Ignoring the look her father was giving her, she squinted at the holo of the Cira-class. She recognized the ship outside, but she'd never seen it in action before. "You'll prolly need full-spec hyperspace sensor rigs like we've got on here, if you're gonna be flying in Wild Space. For science labs, Mom made some good little modular ones for the Pathfinder-class, an' Dad could prolly let you get a peek at the minilab suites on an MC42 Ruisto exploration frigate. Silk, Silk, Silk an' Silk, in that order. Ain't nobody does it better. Everyone else makes big guns an' crappy stealth; Silk makes things that do things."

All wide-eyed innocence, one hundred ten percent fake, she looked up at the man in the hat.

"That's what you need."

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

Ayden could not help but be impressed by the moxi the girl showed by just waltzing back and practically ignoring Jorus' gaze. He could not help but feel like there was more to the girl than just her intelligence at play. There was a note of something in his eyes whenever he looked at the girl that reminded Ayden very strongly of the look he would take whenever he looked at one of his kids as they played out their mischief.

Their laughter rang dimly in his memories as he followed around while suggestions were shotgunned. In truth, not a single one of them came as a surprise. He knew full well how much of the market that Silk had cornered with their innovations. He came out more in the hopes of finding something new that Jorus had been working on. And perhaps, in some way, he had succeeded in that endeavor...

"Is she your first officer or your company's sales rep?" Ayden asked with an honest air of amusement. He wasn't about to just hand praise over to her, even if she had confirmed his own thoughts. Still, when his gaze swept past her to settle on the frigate, there was no mistaking the sparkle of approval and appreciation in the Corellian's eyes. "I think I can afford to take out a couple of the ventral concussion racks to make room for a proper lab, route power away from the cannons." He pulled out the central hanger space, a few concussion missile launchers, extraneous crew quarters. This left a single shuttle in each of the larger pods on the wings.

He made some other changes to the design. After he was done playing with it, he had partitioned off space for an R&D lab, a science lab, a personal armory. Crew count was slashed considerably and the passenger total was practically removed. However, the overall comfort of the quarters was improved considerably and the saved space allowed for an expanded mess hall as well as a training space.

After taking a look at the work, Ayden looked back to Jorus and the girl. "What do you think? This the best we can get out of the ship or do you think we could do better?" He figured they could probably better optimize the engines, tweak the hyperdrive. Knew good and well Jorus could give him the answer in thirty seconds flat, but he was curious as to what the girl would say.

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"]

"Oh, I haven't worked for Silk in the better part of half a decade," said Dad with a chuckle. "Mara's just got a hankering for Silk tech. And she's only first officer when Beyyr lets her have the chair."

"Or when I take it from him," said Mara. "And yeah, cutting a chunk of your hangar space'll do it, but don't cut too much when you can just repurpose. What you need is some shuttles that have little labs of their own. You always need shuttles on long trips. Plus having'em as backup labs that're sealed is great for when you're working with nasty samples." For a better view, she clambered onto one of the consoles and peered at the holo. "As for the drive," she said, magnifying that and the specs, "it's a nice one. For a class one, anyway. Your superstructure's too crowded to cram in a Silkworm or a Calrissian, but I think you might be able to get a Mando five-hundred-series in there. Class-point-six and a HIMS. That's a hyperwave inertial momentum sustainer, if you feel like a real bumpy ride every time you punch into interdiction. You'd have to beef up the inertial dampeners a lot, because a ship with this much miniaturized high-strung stuff won't like that kind of reversion at all, but there's room right here."

Dad coughed. "Pretty sure that's, uh, Ayden's quarters."

Mara shrugged eloquently. "Pretty sure the man with the hat will want to dive through interdiction more than he wants a comfy bed with a private 'fresher."

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

"I don't think I need two fifty-by-twenty meter blocks in my hanger along with two standard dropships." Ayden chuckled while cutting back on the main hanger. "Hanger space takes up more than fifty percent of the bottom-most deck. Even if I leave in the other two standard dropships, just taking out these two behemoths will give me the space for an R&D or science lab. Rearranged quarter space, crew count, and a few missile tubes will give me the other lab. Upgrade the hyperdrive, give the engines a kick. The ship has just about every other stealth system aside from a proper cloaking device." He considered for a moment something before adding in additional computational nodes. "It's gonna take more time, but I have an AI that I work closely with. He's going to need full access to all the ship's systems." It was kind of crazy to insist on having an artificial intelligence be given full access to a ship lie this, but Ayden knew that Roland was not a risk at all.

"There's a little more work to be done here, but I think most of it's been taken care of." He looked content before shifting the holographic projector to the initial design work he had done on the planetary evacuation system. "It's not finished, of course, but this is the work I've done so far." It was a large half-spherical shape, largely hollow in the center. "Right now the complex would be roughly three thousand meters in diameter. It's designed to handle the launching and recover of thousands of dropships simultaneously. Interior tram system moves evacuees into the center.

The trouble with most evacuation plans is that they rely on a fleet of smaller ships. Piecemeal evacuation isn't sufficient when a planet is under attack or under imminent threat. I looked and there is one ship that could handle moving the number of people I'm looking at. You should know it since Silk designed it. But the Connestoga was never designed to land on the surface of a planet. So my goal is figuring out how to take a two thousand meter from the surface of a planet and get it out into low orbit without killing everyone on board."