The Dance of the Void

[Werah Unon]

Void Station Beta, Hanger Area​

​

Werah walked into the bustling hanger bay, taking a deep breath from his life support mask. He was going to be taking one of the CIS's newer pilots on a training run. He strode over to his personal ship, "The Dark Void", and clambered into the average sized cockpit. Checking the systems, he turned on the power, and activated the droid autopilot inside the ship. "Hey there Skipper', the droid interface said, causing Werah to grin as he turned on the radio. "Summer..Sovereign, isn't it? Are you receiving me?" Summer would be meeting him outside, as it was a large challenge to find anyone in the oversized hangar bay. Werah opened his mind to the force, seeing the correct flight paths and manoeuvres, and then he pressed lightly on the throttle, shooting out of the hanger at a blinding speed...

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

​

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would be very excited for the opportunity to learn from one of the best pilots she had ever heard of. She would have suited up in a flight suit, when she was on the stick it was the only time she truly felt whole, that was besides when she was with Jessica. As she climbed into the cockpit of her own ship she would hear the man come over the radio she would respond "That is correct sir." As she said this she would then close the hatch and turn the engine on. She would then ease forward on the accelerator and take flight

[member="Werah Unon"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

The Providence-X. Here, in a departure from conventional practices, the observation platform was at the other end of the ship compared to the navigational bridge. Jessica was tasked to design a ship that was more faithful to the original version of the Providence than the Tambor was. Just updated to the current technological standards. The nearly-completed Providence-X prototype was ready for flight. Here was 1,088 meters of destroyer-carrier, capable of carrying six squadrons, here chosen to be 60 vulture droids, 40 tri-droids, and 20 Hyena-class droid bombers, all of which come in squadrons of 20, unlike fighters in factions that make use of organic-piloted fighters, which are larger but, as a result of their increased size, come in squadrons of 12. And four Sheathipede shuttles used as lifeboats for the officers. Jessica meets with the rest of the Design Triumvirate in the hangar, accompanied with the test crew for the maiden flight of the Providence-X prototype, whom they feel is spaceworthy. With her padawan in space, for a training run, she was busy getting the command-and-control systems ready.

"The one thing we accept as the baseline is 6 squadrons. Everything we know from the armament and the complement of the old Providence comes from a version twice as large as the one we intend to build" Marcia told the rest of the group.

"It was Grievous' flagship after all" Julie told the rest of the group.

"Look at the description: 14 quad turbolasers, 34 dual lasers, 2 heavy ion cannons, 12 point-defense ion cannons, a whopping 102 proton torpedo tubes, and 8 tractor beam projectors: no way we could fit all of these things and still have 240 droid starfighters in 1,088 meters, and certainly not with 160 MTTs in the hangar"

[member="Summer Sovereign"] [member="Aut-X"] [member="Werah Unon"]

 

[Werah Unon]

Werah's ship flew forward into the emptiness of space, his slightest touch making the starfighter swoop and dive. He was also using this training flight as a way of testing the turbo lasers for the new "providence-x" ship. His hands still by his side, he reached out with the force, activating the big lasers directly. "Impressive", thought Werah, as the lines of death faded out into the darkness. "Jessica will be pleased to know that they work, at least", he muttered to himself, as his trainee flew out of the hanger. "So then, Ms. Sovereign. What is your experience piloting a straighter, so far?", asked Werah, talking into his headset. He fired off anther few bolts, checking the timing of the blasts. "Perfect", he thought, as he waited for Summer to reach him.
[member="Jessica Med-Beq"][member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"I have flown several missions for the planet of Glyss, I was a princess there. I had no training but once I got into the cockpit for the first time I knew that that was where I belonged. I am normally piloting Jessica's ship." She said smiling down at the ring on her left ring finger. That was the best gift anyone had ever given her. She would continue flying towards the ship. She would let her hands rest on the controls feeling very at home in the cockpit. As she closed in she reduced her speed. She too would check the timing on her weapons. It was perfect

[member="Werah Unon"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Knowing that he didn't fire the underside hypervelocity cannon, [member="Werah Unon"] could somehow fire the Nekogal turret using the Force. Of course, that was most unexpected, knowing that there was a lot of work ahead for the Providence-X to be ready and be a true terror in space, capable of engaging other light destroyers without problems. Two heavy proton torpedo launchers with the ability to fire 533mm proton torpedoes are being configured for those to be test-fired at asteroids, and same would go for the hypervelocity cannon, too. Speaking of which, it was difficult for Jessica to accept the notion that regulatory authorities don't call it a hypervelocity cannon, even though everyone else does, even maintenance crews. But [member="Summer Sovereign"] would soon get to see the HVC bearing her name being fired soon enough. She should see that HVC being fired at least once in her lifetime, she thought.

"Weird: there never was an order for it to fire" a droid reported back to the bridge.

"Hmm... Werah can use mechu-deru, and it was a brand-new turret. That was something we never ordered to do. Nevetheless, there has been no malfunctions of the systems inside that turret"

"Test-firing of the hypervelocity cannon is underway. Stay clear of the asteroid field"

 

[Werah Unon]

"Very good, Mrs. Sovereign. You certainly know how to pilot these things. Have you ever been in combat?", Werah asked, over the radio. "We're going to try a little game, if you don't mind. 5 vulture droids will be sent after each of us, with their guns set to the lowest power. If they hit you, you might get a scorch mark, but you'll be fine. Set you weapons to low aswell, and we can have a mock engagement with them." Werah told ship's computer to ready the vulture droids, while he waited to hear from summer sovereign. Always looking for ways to help the CIS, the vulture droids were actually being tested for work on the providence-x, and their tracking systems would be utilised in many other technologies, but this was a good as test as any, thought Werah... [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] [member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"I have done combat a few times and that is fine and power is on its lowest." She would say as she switched the power to its lowest. She would then wait for the droids. She had a feeling this would be easier than the other combat she had been in, for these droids would not be able to kill her whereas the other combat situations she had been in would the others could have killed her. She had gotten lucky on several occasions. At least she felt like she did

[member="Werah Unon"]
[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Hypervelocity cannon ready to fire"

"Fire"

With that said, the 380mm hypervelocity cannon shot smashed an asteroid, aimed a good distance away from the vulture droids being launched. Usually they come in squadrons of 20, and there was half a squadron in this wargame; hopefully it won't take more than 35 minutes. They can't fly any longer than that; commanders must forget about hyperdrive when one uses vulture droids. These items are reserved to sentient commanders, or the Neimoidian Gunships, of which there is one squadron onboard, alongside the three squadrons of vulture droids, one of Hyena bombers and one tri-droid squadron. Meanwhile, Julie nervously watches the tactical display with a half-squadron of vulture droids on low power, meaning that they will need some repairs once their fuel supply of 35 minutes have been exhausted. Julie opens a channel to Summer, even though her piloting experience is that of capital ships, especially cruisers on up, more so than attack craft:

"This is Master Jutland. I hope you realize that, while vulture droids are useful in numbers, not all engagements are going to involve swarm units. Sometimes heavier attack craft or even capital ships can be your enemies"

[member="Werah Unon"] [member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Werah Unon]

Werah watched patiently as the droids flew towards them, his mind focusing on the situation, blocking out any external distractions. Obviously, in a real engagement, Werah would have used his custom weaponry and force powers, to decimate such attackers before they even got close. That was not however, the point of this exercise, so Werah simply spun the ship around, and fired a couple of stunning bolts at the pursuing droids. Taking out a few, Werah dove straight into their midst, and then used all his shipside gun mounts to create a haze of laser bolts all around him, making more droids fall dead in their tracks. Flicking up the control switch, he then entered a sweep dive, before feinting to the left, and blasting off towards the right, picking the confused droids off with ease. He looked over to see how Summer was doing with her droids...

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would watch as the Droids approached her. Before they were upon her she would push the accelerator forward. she would get a good lead on them before a turn about and plunging straight into them. Her finger on the trigger she would fire shot after shot without remorse. She would very quickly thin out the number of droids on her

[member="Werah Unon"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Now that's someone who can clearly pilot attack craft better than I can" Julie commented, upon seeing the tactical display and the half-squadron of vulture droids who, stunned, returned to ship.

"Boss, these Hoersch-Kessel Driveworks people are onboard"

"Of course, the Providence-X being a refinement over the run-of-the-mill Providence, which is manufactured by HKD, and only had 10 quad turbolasers as well as 2 heavy quads"

But nevertheless have 6 squadrons of fighters on it. Here Jessica was attempting to put more weapons in 1088m and six squadrons with the armament of the 2177m version and then some. Yet, a 2177m version of the Providence-X would have to compete with a Mateus which was, in its early stages, her doing, but the later stages were Cathul's, whom she knew was a little inexperienced with naval architecture. Everyone and their dog in the naval architecture field knew that the hard part was the early stages of designing a ship, not refitting an existing one. Sometimes it's making a ship fit components, and at others it's making components fit a ship. These ancient models are pure-carriers, which depended a lot on their escorts, mostly Munificents or Recusants, for even the most basic point-defense. Not even having 6 squadrons of attack craft would have been that helpful, and yet there was at least one instance where the [First] Confederacy used 12 units of the smaller Providence to attack a planet. As the fighters are recalled to ship...

[member="Werah Unon"] [member="Summer Sovereign"]