Test Shot (ME/TSE Engineers/Scientists Only)

[Adara Raxis]

Yua Station, on the border of Mandalorian & Sith Space at Ord Cestus
[member="Vanessa Vantai"] ME & TSE Scientists & Engineers

The space around Yua Station bristled with pricks of light shunting into ships from Hyperspace. Mand’alor the Infernal and her retinue arrived earlier the day before, inspecting the once-abandoned station’s current state of activity and delivering supplies to her people on the fringe of Mandalorian space.

Here she would meet with a scientist from the Sith Empire, who wished to attempt weapons tests and needed escort through neutral systems. The benefits outweighed the costs, scales balanced in Mand’alor’s favour.

She had to see what the Sith Scientist came up with. She had to know and see with her own sensors.

“The meeting space is prepared for our guests’ arrival, Mand’alor.” Tuulu came up beside the Infernal, a huff pushing out of his buy’ce.

“Escort them presently, when they arrive.”

Tuulu saluted and vacated the observation deck, tussling little @Adara Raxis’ hair as he left. Aiya & Tamar stood watch over the Mand’alor’s daughter, Tamar in full beskar’gam and Aiya in her Panathan & Sith Robes.

Since Commenor, Yasha refused to let her daughter out of her sight.

 

[Onrai]

Knuckles popped as the great Pluton-class Battleship known as the Ablution would enter the area. The powerful warship was the equal of almost any battlecruiser and the superior of any Star Destroyer - the last time Vanessa had interacted with the Mandalorians, it had not been on good terms. Some Mando who apparently was now stooging for their leader had attempted to instigate war between the empire of the bucketheads - no, that wasn’t it. The Mandalorians were trying to roast her alive in an oven.

Still not it.

There was the Mandalorian whose training had provided the Oppressor-15 Dark Troopers with their combat abilities, but she honestly couldn’t recall whether that was the latest or not. Regardless, now was now, and as her shuttle headed on its way to the station, transmitting clearance codes to identify the legitimacy of the occupants, Vanessa gently fingered her lightsaber. There were a few other things she had as well, but those would be revealed in time.

Such as the briefcase.

The shuttle would inevitably land in the station’s hangar bay, comfortably nestled on the durasteel floor as Vanessa herself got out, flanked by a pair of Dark Troopers and and Radtroopers, their weapons ready. At her waist was her lightsaber, rather standard albeit cut back Sith robes the norm. In her right hand currently was a small briefcase. And in a pocket were some sweets. Now she would wait to find the Mandalore.

Hopefully this wouldn’t end up as violent as last time.

[member="Yasha Mantis"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

When [member="Vanessa Vantai"] arrived, Yasha did not need to be told. She had a bead on all the MBE’s and HUD’s of her personal guard and the Yalilyr, and the chimes of the station were a welcome hum in her ear.

As of late, Yasha took well to listening to the thrum of her people, their conversations and the sights of their eyes. Less could surprise her, when she was connected to the conscious conversation of her Mando’ade.

“Buir? Buir, I coloured another picture.” Adara hopped up from the floor, and pushed her data pad up toward her mother. Yasha bent down and picked Adara and the data pad up, looking the coloured picture over.

“Who’s that with Buir and Baba, Adar’ika?” The wolf helm nuzzled down on Adara’s forehead, a soft expression from the metal helm.

“Dokki’. I saw it, Buir. I saw it in my sleeps.” Adara cuddled up on Yasha’s hip, fiddling with the colours on her picture. While the escort brought Vanessa from the docking bay, Yasha snuggled her daughter, setting her down once the Sith Scientist was near.

“Tamar.” The Panathan in beskar’gam nodded and swept in to pick Adara up, carrying the child to another part of the observation deck to sing a song Uncle ‘Prazamussus’ taught her.

Before Vanessa, Mand’alor the Infernal stood in full beskar’gam, her helm touching eight feet in height. She was gigantic by human standards, yet thin and lithe in Epicanthix definitions of beauty. Although none of her skin nor face could be seen, Yasha’s body moved and twitched in the armour she wore, unsure of this new presence on her station.

“Vanessa Vantai. Do you require refreshment? Welcome to Yua Station. Tell me what you require of my ships and the white dwarf my recon ship has been searching out, and we may begin.”

 

[Onrai]

The height of the Mandalore’s armored form immediately brought to mind a certain other Epicanthix, one Vanessa was far more familiar with. The Phase Zero Dark Troopers and Radtroopers were there, well trained as they were - the Phase Zeros had been veterans of many campaigns in the Sith Empire and had artificially been reconstructed into super-soldiers. The Radtroopers, while certainly nowhere as experienced, had been given potent radiation-based weaponry.

Vanessa watched as the smol child was taken away. How adorable - sickeningly adorable. She would have to offer her one of her sweets at one point. Her attention soon turned back to Yasha as she responded to the woman’s initial greetings.

“A glass of water would be nice, thank you. As for what I require - allow me to first explain what exactly the purpose of this weapon is. At least the iteration we currently are at.” She took the briefcase and casually tossed it to the ground, it popping open to expose a roughly fist-sized chunk of an otherwise bland and boring grey metallic substance. “Feel free to take a closer look yourself - that’s metallic hydrogen. Through the use of literal artificial black holes, we were able to compress a tremendous amount of hydrogen - one of the base gases found in interstellar nebulae - into that. What you see there is literally tens of thousands of cubic kilometers of pure hydrogen compressed into a state deemed theoretical by most.” She said. “The weapon we’ll be testing relies on a good bit more of the material than this.” She said.

“Oh, and please, don’t apply consistent heat to that.”

[member="Yasha Mantis"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

The troopers surrounding [member="Vanessa Vantai"] got cursory glances from within Yasha’s HUD. Her Yalilyr continued scanning with their buy’ce’s, watching the troopers with a wary eye.

“Please don’t throw things on my floor. It makes my Guards twitchy.” Vanessa looked over at Adara and under her armour, Yasha bristled. Aiya brought Vanessa a glass of water, and Yasha flickered her HUD to the substance Vantai opened up in her station. Literal artificial black holes…

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Your case does not appear to have the appropriate shielding to avoid an accidental explosion. How do you intend to shield against the volatility of hydrogen, to place the weapon where you desire? What is your delivery system? I assume it is a specialist weapon and not something you intend to create for mass use.”

 

[Onrai]

"It's hydrogen. Ultra dense hydrogen. In gaseous form, it would detonate far more easily, even liquid form, but given the atoms are as close to one another as possible, to create the circumstances of a detonation with this weapon requires consistent application of significant quantities of heat at a focused point. Otherwise the material is completely safe." She replied. "Molecularly bonded armor, the same material used in the hull of my flagship. The delivery system is a specially modified torpedo, intended for a variety of different purposes. The purpose regarding the usage I initially intended was for multiple torpedoes to be launched in order to deliver enough hydrogen to a white dwarf star that it can go nova." She explained.

"There are other possibilities, however. The induction of a large amount of hydrogen on any star would, in concert with a ship capable of manipulating the star's magnetic fields, be able to induce a solar flare in most types of stars. The flare would certainly prove devastating to the planet's electrical grid. Alternatively, if we were able to find a way to essentially dissolve the close atomic bonds of the metallic hydrogen, we could in theory artificially create micronebulae as 'smoke screens' during battle."

She smiled. The possibilities were nearly endless.

[member="Yasha Mantis"]

 

[Varzali Khorza]

"Wait in the shuttle, she said, would be fun she said." came an exasperated sigh.

Stuck staring at the ceiling of the Sith shuttle envoy was Alraune, the so called daughter of Vanessa Vantai. In truth, she was the scientist's creation. But the two bonded, and here they were now. Despite her physical appearance and seeming intellect, she was chronologically only a child still. Being artifically born helped stunt her social growth. As such, like any child, she got bored easily.

Once everyone else was settled in, an escort came and brought her to the observation deck along with the other attendees. It beat getting locked in shuttle for hours on end. She saw her mother the distance, but appeared busy with who seemed to be Grand Buckethead around here.

The plant girl was rather surprised. From what she had read about the Mandalorians, she was expecting a people who still used neolithic tools and the other stereotypes of a savage. She kind of stood off to the side, a couple of her mother's troopers not far away to chaperone the scientist's daughter. Alraune did promise to be on her good behavior today...

[member="Vanessa Vantai"] | [member="Yasha Mantis"] | [member="Adara Raxis"]

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“And the heat applied will come from where? A primary catalyst explosion? Or straight to the star, I suppose?” Yasha continued to scan the case, her engineers peppering dialogue in the background of her buy’ce’s audio receivers.

“Micro nebulae… depending on the chemical make up of said nebulae, sensors would be dashed to the races. Or we could blow entire fleets to cinders with a single shot. Seems to me, you’ll need control over the initial conditions of each shot you take, or the whole thing goes awry. Chaotic. I suppose that’s what we’re here to find out, eh?” Yasha leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. [member="Alkor Centaris"] and [member="Teagan Stoirm"] would love talking science here, pondering and figuring things out.

She made a mental note to see where Teag was at, in case he wanted to throw down with his own brand of boffin pow wowing.

"My scientists have located two white dwarf stars in neutral space, which appear agreeable with the research you shared. Once we've finished figuring out our implementation process, care to give it a try? I for one would love to see if the practical application meets the promising theory."

[member="Vanessa Vantai"] [member="Alraune Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

“The Star itself provides the heat. As the gravitational pull forces the hydrogen closer to the core, the heat of the core ignites the hydrogen gas, which results in a nova.” She answered, sighing. Her frustration was reaching a boiling point, not towards the Mandalorians - this meeting was so much more civilized than Gilamar’s had been. She was almost sincerely wishing that there was in fact a barbecue.

“The micronebulae is almost entirely rarified hydrogen. The canister releases its payload, and instantly a nebula is formed that is larger than a planet. Large enough to essentially trap any ship foolish enough to be caught in it. All it takes is the right sort of weapon, or perhaps a proper trigger device, and as a result, the fleet gets reduced to ashes faster than I almost did the last time I was in a meeting with a Mandalore.” Best to be clear at this point.

She nodded. “I suppose that will work.” Truthfully she would have preferred to test it on a system within Mandalorian space, but whatever the circumstances, it was fun enough. “We don’t have that many prototypes to test.”

[member="Yasha Mantis"] [member="Alraune Vantai"]

 

[Adara Raxis]

“Hm hm hmmmmmm” Adara hummed a little song as she laid on the ground and kicked her feet up, colouring in a picture on her data pad with a stylus.

“Aaaannnd green haaaaair because Baba would look funny that way, and a purple dress for Bethy, and oh… where’s the yellow button?” Adara clicked and tapped at her data pad, searching the crayon-style colour palette for the appropriate yellow for Reyn’s smile, when the sound of someone coming hit her little ears.

Gasping, Adara rolled to sit legs akimbo, hands on her data pad.

“Oh… su cuy’gar?” Adara said, to [member="Alraune Vantai"]. A… green person? On one of Buir’s stations, and out of armour? This must have been one of the Sith sciencey people.

“Ummm… did you paint your skin that colour or is it real? I’m Adara! What’s your name?”

 

[Yasha Cadera]

“Seems a pretty limited weapon, if it needs a star to function, there are limited circumstances in which we could risk being so brutal.” Still, the simplicity of the weapon was enough to cause Yasha’s engineers to pause.

“I assume from your research that the virtual tests are all completed. Yes, the Defiant Mantis will be our flagship for this mission, a small armada of support ships and scientific discovery vessels accompanying through neutral space. The Shereshoy is already there with half the armada, having locked the system down… the last time you met a Mand’alor, eh? Glad you’re not ready to fire today.” Yasha grimaced, but kept the comment as it was. There was tensions in many interactions, why would this be different?

“Excellent. Shall we? I take it your associate speaking with my daughter may stay behind, or shall she come with us?”

[member="Vanessa Vantai"] [member="Alraune Vantai"]

 

[Onrai]

“The weapon also has other uses. Instant micronebulae, for example. There’s enough compressed hydrogen to create a small nebula that could cover the entirety of Mandalore. Not to mention that if ignited, bad things will happen to any ships trapped within.” She waited for a moment to see exactly what would end up happening, soon following the Mandalore. “I believe Alraune will probably stay with your adorable little daughter. As for last time - well, the fether hit me with a Forcebreaker grenade, and when I woke up, he had literally shoved me in an over Nd tried to roast me alive. Fun times.”

With the prototype weapons readied, it would be up to Vanessa to determine their effectiveness. Within a crate she had brought along was heavily modified Sun Crusher frame, designed to fit these wide varieties of torpedoes. All would soon see testing in time.

[member="Yasha Mantis"]