Titans of Industry

[Captain Larraq]

[member="Darth Vulkan"], [member="Elijah Rekali"]


Larraq stood and stared through a large glasteel window into the blackness of space. Below him, two massive arms of durasteel and wire stretched out for over a kilometer. On either side of either arm... a massive, fetal hulk was being born.

Larraq stood aboard the primary orbital shipyard of Mandal Hypernautics. Spinning slowly over Manda'yaim, home world of the Mando'ade, eight Goten-class Dry Dock Stations were stacked atop one another. There were other shipyards over Mandalore. Mandal Hypernautics owned five of the others, each made of three Goten Stations stacked together. They also had a number of stations over Taris... but this... this was where Mandal Hypernautics did its most impressive work.

Until recently, it had been the port of call for the battlesphere known as the Girth of Gluttony, an object of Sith Empire engineering. It was, in part, one of Rygel Larraq's longest running projects.

Turning from the view, Larraq brought his attention back to the holographic table at the center of the room. Spinning slowly above the table, glowing dimly, seven ships cycled through various views. They stood whole, armor plating and weapons bared. The next showed the external layers faded away, internal deck plans highlighted and brightly illuminated. The next image in the cycle showed the power conduits and other wires and piping that ran through the ship. The last showed only the individual machine parts that formed the core of each ship's operational capabilities... Ion Drives, Hypermatter Reactors, Weapon Hardpoints, thousands of computers and engineering terminals, and, in one case, a molecular furnace.

 

[Captain Larraq]

[member="Darth Vulkan"], [member="Elijah Rekali"]



The top three ships were titans. The Mythosaur, The Leviathan, and The Girth of Gluttony. Each a marvel of engineering in its own right. The Mythosaur was the carrier flagship of the Mando'ade and a construct of MandalMotors design. While he could not acquire the... exact schematics of the ship, he was able to piece together enough of it. He was already well aware of the ship's capabilities and... roughly aware of its limitations. He had previously used it to destroy the Sith Empire capital of Dromund Kaas, and nearly lost it to a suicidal hyperspace collision from one of the defending commanders. A few greased hands and paid off engineers had gotten him some additional details from those who had worked on or within the ship... But his data on the ship was still incomplete.

The second ship... the Leviathan... was one that he had been on the receiving end of in combat. While fulfilling a contract for the now dissolved Lords of the Fringe, Larraq's fleet came under direct fire from the long range guns of the Omega Protectorate flagship. With sensors and comms jammed, with no communication from the Fringe Fleet, and coming under heavy bombardment... Larraq had no choice but to flee the battle. Later, once safely within Mandalorian borders once again, Larraq had contacted those that he had accepted the contract from and convinced them to send him everything they had on battle. Sensor readings, visual logs, weapon profiles, ship maneuvers, recorded communications... everything. From that Larraq had been able to piece together a great deal of data about ship specs and battlefield tactics used by the Omega Protectorate. Of particular interest to Larraq had been their use of shield emitting cruisers and the Leviathan itself.

The third ship, the Girth of Gluttony, was once the property of a single Sith Lord. And, for a time, had been the property of Mandal Hypernautics. Until recently, the ship had remained in orbit over Mandalore where Mandal Hypernautics engineers routinely analyzed the technological marvels of the ship. They even, briefly, made use of the Girth of Gluttony's molecular furnace as a means of manufacturing starfighters. It had been reclassified as an orbital factory... until it flew away. Seemingly of its own accord. While its loss had briefly hurt Mandal Hypernautics' starfighter production capabilities until new facilities could be acquired... the real benefit of owning the ship had been the scans and analysis of the ship. Of the three primary designs, the Girth of Gluttony was the most complete.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Below the three titans, were three ships of Mandal Hypernautics design and manufacture. The Concordia Dreadnought, the Kandosii Dreadnought, and the Keldabe Battleship. The Kandosii... an ancient and venerated design. While it had served as a powerful warship in ancient times, and while the design remained competitive and competent throughout the ages, it had predominantly been shoved into the role of an escort carrier in modern navies. Still... its service history made it one of the longest running warship designs of all time. Only a fool would fail to take its design into consideration when engineering a new warship.

The Concordia Dreadnought... primarily an artillery platform used to support a fleet of smaller, faster warships, the ship's claim to fame was its durable, compartmentalized design and its ability to withstand impressive internal damage while still retaining most of its combat effectiveness. It had a number of other features that made it impressive. Compartmentalized shields, retracting, armored turrets and hydraulic turret mounts capable of enabling each turret to fire over one another.

Lastly, there was the Keldabe Battleship. The original design was as old as the Kandosii. And though a few remained in service, the design had largely fallen to the wayside in favor of newer, better armed designs. The Type Two design that Mandal Hypernautics currently manufactured sported a full battery of massive Vulcan Cannons. Its powerful, close range armament and respectable speeds made the Type 2 Keldabe one of the most commonly encountered warships in the Mandalorian Territories. Many a fleet and combat doctrine involved the presence and use of multiple Keldabe Battleships.

 

[Captain Larraq]

With a wave of his hand, Larraq flung aside the six ship designs. The seventh ship remained, growing larger to fill the space previously occupied by the other holographic projections.

She would be known as the Alor-class Dreadnought. Within her was everything that Rygel Larraq knew about shipbuilding. A decentralized, honeycombed frame made of the light and durable Mandalorian Steel was the skeleton upon which she was built. Around this frame, her internal structure was even more advanced than that of the Concordia Dreadnought. Power conduits, life support, artificial gravity, and numerous other systems ran throughout the ship. Unlike traditional designs that utilized a linear flow akin to a body's central nervous system, the life-blood of the Alor-class would be more akin to a spider's web. Flowing in all directions, able to shift around damaged sections of ship while still retaining peak operational effectiveness. And with the decentralized frame, the ship would be capable of withstanding an immense punishment. All the more so with the thick, double layering of armor plating upon her hull. Made up of the same Mandalorian Steel that comprised her frame.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Her armament was based upon both the Keldabe Battleship and the Mythosaur herself. And her aesthetic design... was thick and predatory. The natural evolution of the Kandosii Dreadnought, borrowing many elements of the Mythosaur's design. More importantly though, her design was intended not to copy the hollow, carrier capabilities of the Mythosaur. the Leviathan, or the Girth of Gluttony... Each able to field between 400 and 700 starfighters and larger ships. But to counter them. With a heavy emphasis on point defense capabilities, the Alor-class Dreadnought would be capable of projecting vast fields of flak that made approaching her in anything smaller than a frigate akin to suicide. And while the Mythosaur and the Girth of Gluttony were lacking in offensive armament, the Leviathan sported an impressive long range armament. With powerful shields and ion drives, thick armor plating, and a sloped prow... now to mention her advanced hyperdrive and reactor systems, the Alor-class would be capable of quickly closing the gap between herself and a ship like the Leviathan, as well as surviving the onslaught of weapons that would attempt to prevent such an action.

Much like the Keldabe, the Alor-class's armament would focus heavily upon hard hitting close range weapons. At point-blank ranges, her offensive capabilities would be second to none.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Whenever Mandal Hypernautics called, Draco perked up. It always meant that something big was about to happen and that Rygel Larraq was back to his 'Best there is, Best there ever will be' moods which basically always meant there was about to be a new ship Draco desperately wanted. He was assured this case would be no different by Larraq's hype men.

On the other side of the coin it meant Larraq needed something from him. Once it had been mining beskar, another time the design of the sundari shotgun hard kill countermeasure, most recently a couple of spears that Draco was in truth quite proud of, if only he had been the sole designer, he would have felt perfectly about them. Instead here he was, arriving on Mandal Hypernautic's shipyards around the planet. It was a short trip from Concordia to Mandalore's upper orbit and so the Mandalorian Sith Lord had arrived the same day as being told he was requested by the World Slayer.

There was little Draco didn't like about Larraq, and in his mind, Larraq was the World Slayer or Slayer of Worlds, not a man of industry or a commander of fleets. He was a weapon to be turned on the enemies of Mandalore, so when that weapon needed a finer edge, Draco was always willing to assist in providing it.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Darth Vulkan"] | [member="Captain Larraq"]

Elijah wasn't entirely sure what the hell the Republic was thinking. True - few people really knew what they were doing half of the time. Allies utilizing bio-weapons, a Supreme Commander lunatic who vented cargo bays to counter gorram armored warriors with vacuum-sealed suits, sending detaches to peace meetings who aren't actually authorized to agree to anything... and now apparently they had made the executive decision to simply let Hadrix stay in charge of all the military while they were 'investigating' her.

Insane... that wasn't even coming close to the mental state of the Republic.

But it did mean a singular thing: the Mandalorians would most likely continue their crusade against the falling nation, and part of that meant that they would need to develop new toys to fight them.

Not that they really needed it. Roche had shown that the Republic wasn't exactly in the best state right now, but there was no kill like overkill and so the decision had been made to start producing something... new. The Alor-class. Gorram hell on wheels, if you asked him. He wasn't a fleeter by any stretch of the imagination but the details he had got?

Well, suffice to say that Clan Rekali was very, very anxious to see what the fuss was all about. So they had sent Elijah as an attache to Mandalore, authorized to offer aid in the sense of engineers, material and strategic experts to increase the efficiency of the entire process.

Clan Rekali had grown immensely across the past few years. The cooperation between MandalHypernautics and ArmaTech would only increase their growth.

Ain't no downsides to friends like that.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Once armored boots stepped foot on the shipyards, Draco looked around the massive yards, and began his walk from executive hangar to conference room. Mandal Hypernautics personnel had told him what requested weapons, technology, and manifests to bring with him, and thus the Mandalorian carried a data card with him that held the schematics and designs for a number of toys that ArmaTech had produced throughout its years. Basically he was here to drop off guns and then dump shared resources into the project until the pair was satisfied with the result.

As Draco entered the room that currently contained Rygel Larraq he noticed the immense ship design floating in the air above the World Slayer. While not an expert with ships or their design, Draco dabbled, and he had made a number of neat ships designed to complement the Mandalorian Fleet, including a nice strike cruiser designed to hit atmosphere as quickly as possible to dump its drop pods straight to the ground. He also once made a fairly large Shield Support Carrier that would probably interest Larraq, especially given the lack of larger weapon systems on the vessel from what he could see. No massive Hypervelocity Guns or Proton Beam Cannons.

"Good afternoon, Captain." Draco said, with a respectful nod as he approached the desk. "I can see you are up to no good again." The phrase was said as a joke, but no doubt any Republic official that saw the ship's design would weep or cry out 'The End is Nigh' and probably wouldn't be far off base. "I have a couple of things to help out, if you want to look them over." He produced the datacard, holding the three schematics, all but one relatively simple in their creation.

[member="Captain Larraq"]
[member="Elijah Rekali"]

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Darth Vulkan"] | [member="Captain Larraq"]

A Rekali-class Space Superiority Fighter broke through hyperspace and entered real-space a few clicks away from the capital of the Mandalorian Empire... or what was left of it. Most of its territory had been lost on accounts of instability and regular inactivity from the clans at large, lots of colonies outside official Mando Space still held contact with their brothers and sisters though. Trade was starting to grow again - you don't lose connections like that, just because the territory was officially 'neutral' now.

That ain't how the real world worked.

"Rally Master Rekali arriving in the Mandalore System, over." Elijah touched base with the Mandalore Flight Control. With the situation tense and relationships with the Republic deteriorating... the Mandalore System wasn't exactly open. Had to transfer identification codes and confirm your identity if ya didn't want to go through six hours of vetting and quarantine.

Security pro-cautions. They could be a regular shutta.

"Flight Control acknowledges the Rekali representative. Welcome to the Mandalore System, Rally Master." a gruff voice responded after half a minute or so.

Elijah assumed they had been verifying the codes with a sample of his voice and all that shettery.

Didn't matter though. He hadn't been blown outta the sky, so he called that a win. The Rekali fighter maneuvered heavenly underneath him, he made it move and dance through the cold void of space and after a few more moments the shipyards of MandalHypernautics were already coming into view and what a view it was.

Gorram Alors were gigantic. It took some calibration, but eventually the sensors of the Rekali started exploring the outside of one of the ships under construction. The telemetry readings were off the charts. The hull was almost completed by now and by the looks of it... nah, it couldn't be.

Could it?

 

[Captain Larraq]

[member="Darth Vulkan"]
[member="Elijah Rekali"]


"Welcome Draco." Larraq said as he rubbed his eyes. It had been weeks since the manufacture of the Alor-class had begun. In that time, the battle of Roche had come and gone, and Larraq once more found himself on the bridge of a Goten-class Shipyard, staring at the holographic display of his newest creation. He was tired from the travel to and from the system, the battle for Roche, the days of blockading the system from further Republic attacks, the days of debriefing that had occurred... And here he was, back to work. Outside, the hulks of eight massive ships had taken shape nicely. At nearly 94-percent complete, the ships were looking quite impressive. Secretly though, Larraq would rather just grab a nap or drink some coffee than deal with this meeting right now. "Thank you." Larraq said, accepting the data card and connecting it to the holoprojector. <A world slayer's job is never done.> He thought to himself as he glanced over the scrolling data as it came up, as well as monitoring the approach of the Clan Rekali rep. "As you can see, we are working on quite the expensive project here. Before we can complete it though, I need to know what contributions your clan and corporation are capable of making here."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco looked at the nearly completed hulls sitting in the shipyards. The honeycomb interior made them a hassle to put together since they couldn't be slapped inside a frame like a lot of designs that came out these days. Most ships put out by Mandal Hypernautics competition, including his own, didn't have the detail, the sense of master-craftsmanship like those Larraq put together. "What can I offer?" He asked looking at the design and then turning his grey eyes onto the Captain.

"I borrowed schematics from an old Keldabe to produce an energy leech cannon, only fitting you receive the designs. They are big and bulky, but for a ship that size," he gestured to the hologram above them, "I can imagine the bad boy will be really, really dangerous with enough of them. Word of the wise, they energy leeches don't really hurt hulls. Not that this will need the help."

He flicked to another design, the Guardian-class. "I brought the receptors to receive the shields from the transfer array. I heard Clan Rekali made a sphere with Planetary Grade shielding using the array as well. Might want to look into setting up a planetary transfer array on Mandalore just because."

He flicked to another design he made. "Firestorm Isotope-5 Reactor. One of my more ambitious creations. Scaleable to the size of your desire. They are more powerful than a Hypermatter Reactor and safer than a Solar Ionization Reactor."

"And lastly, Witch Fire CIWS. Rocks against missiles, guided and unguided, Interceptors, and drones. Alright against fighters and standard bombers. Needs to be used in mass against Gunships and the like."

@Captian Larraq

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Ember Rekali liked large ships. He had liked large ships ever since long before the time he brought a fleet of them to the Mon Calamari world of Dac and saved all the current and future Mand'alors and most of the Field Marshals from the Sith Empire. Good times had been had by all. And the plethora of big ships from which to choose had only increased since then. He'd almost gotten his hooks on an Immortal, but some nonsense had transpired. He favored the Mandal Hypernautics battleship Like Hell, a Clan Rekali vessel that served and suited his purposes on most occasions. He'd commanded the Mythosaur a few times. But never had he been quite so excited for a big ship as the level of excitement he felt for the Alor-class, coming soon from Mandal Hypernautics. He fully intended to battlestar the galactica out of things with those rating-twenty prow guns. A Clan should have a solid flagship, and though he'd planned on building one for the Rekalis on his own, other economic priorities had always reared up. More hyperdpace R&D, for example, or the expansion efforts into the Hard Roil, the Denari Nebula, the Kathol Outback, and the Indrexu Spiral. Still, he knew that Mandal Hypernautics would take care of everything. They built the best ships around, so far as he was concerned, and he was most excited to command an Alor in action. Republic, Sith -- both had earned his enmity. He would happily fill an Alor to the gills with Witches and drop Control Webs on things while pounding them into oblivion. The Alor would see to that. Yes, Ember Rekali was most pleased, and also pressed for time.

 

[Vilaz Munin]

If there was another thing that Vilaz wasn't good at, it was engineering and sciences. No, he wasn't stupid just because he didn't know how to solve a complex equation with different variables and such. He knew different things than how to design something big like a ship or a vehicle. The Field Marshal was capable of designing weapons and armor with the help of other engineers. Now, what was he possibly doing at one of Mandal Hypernautics glorious shipyards that produced glorious ships unlike any other? Simple, he was invited here to supervise the Mandalorian workers that were putting immense concentration into this massive project that would cause many people to gasp at such beauty.

Sitting with a mug of coffee with some alcohol mixed with it Vilaz was looking at the schematics of the Alor Dreadnought and hoped that he was giving the accurate orders to the workers. Giving another glance of love to the ship the Redneck could only say, "Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme," before returning back to make sure that the hundreds of workers assigned to him didn't screw this project up and, potentially, harm someone.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Darth Vulkan"] | [member="Captain Larraq"] | [member="Ember Rekali"] | [member="Vilaz Munin"]

After once again broadcasting his codes and presumably being approved the Rekali Fighter docked with the gargantuan shipyards orbiting the planet of Mandalore. It took him another ten to fifteen minutes to find his way through the hallways, until finally reaching the area of the yards that were currently being used as the 'administrative' sections. Bustling crowds of engineers, administrators, a few droids here and there, and even a dedicated security force of trooper personnel stationed by every anchor point.

A consequence of the Death Watch attack on the MandalTech Shipyards nearby.

Frankly, Elijah wasn't entirely sure what the hell they had been thinking. It was one thing to push for action, try to rally the Mando'ade and fight the good fight against their enemies... but killing their own? Their own gorram civilians? There was no honor in that. There was also no money in that, so Eli was doubly disgusted.

"Captain, Commander." Elijah would remark, when he realized he had just entered the center of discussions. "Ember sends his regards. He's quite interested in what MandalHypernautics is brewing this time around."

His visor was already aimed at the holo-projection of what was to come.

 

[Darth Metus]

Could Isley's contributions be considered titanic?

He was a new face to the scene of Mandalorian engineering, of this there was no doubt. Yet the path of redemption called for making the attempt when common sense said "leave it to the Giants". So what did Isley Verd bring to the table? Well, for one, his corporation had been the "masterminds" behind the original, Confederate fleet. They knew a thing or two about weapon systems and how to get the most out of a hangar. Two, stealth. As the Galaxy's source for Nightshadow, he could give the new project a fresh coat of paint. The sort of paint that made it difficult to detect by a variety of sensors. It wasn't an Adegan or Stygium cloak, but it was stealth nonetheless.

So, with these modest contributions in mind, the armored man stepped forward and regarded both men with a respectful nod.

Greetings gentlemen. he said, addressing them in Mando'a. Clan Verd offers Nightshadow alongside our expertise in weapon systems and getting the most out of hangar space."

Was it a gold-dipped suit? No. But it was what he had.

 

[Captain Larraq]

[member="Darth Vulkan"]

"Well you've been busy." Larraq said to Draco as he glanced through the files. "It looks like the shield leech system you came up with is more stable than what I manufacture... and if these stats are accurate, your reactors could boost shield power by 20-percent while freeing up more space towards the aft of the ship. I could... put that space to use."

Larraq added as he skimmed through the documents. "These shield transfer nodes... I've been looking for something like this since the Lords of the Fringe attacked Eriadu. And you say you've got a carrier-battleship that uses this tech..." Larraq said more to himself than to Draco. "Yes. Yes, this will do nicely. As will the CIWS weapons."


[member="Elijah Rekali"]

"Welcome Mr. Rekali." Larraq said as he looked up from the holoprojector and nodded at the man. "I'm sure he is." Larraq added with a chuckle at the mention of Ember Rekali.

"I'm sorry to have to drag you away from Yavin, but I need you to read over these schematics." Larraq said as he nodded towards the holoprojector that dominated the room. "These will be for all the clans... and I need to know what Clan Rekali can contribute to the project."


[member="Isley Verd"]

"Welcome Mr. Verd. It's been far too long since I've seen your clan on this side of the galaxy." Larraq said to the third man to enter the room. <Nightshadow?> Larraq thought to himself for a moment, considering the possibilities. Was he truly capable of pushing that through the factory? "As much as I would love to hide this beauty from sensors," Larraq said with a smile. "She's just too big and moves too fast to make that sort of stealth viable. With overdrive engines and an oversized model of MandalTech's 500 Series Hyperdrive... nobody will fail to see this thing coming. We could possibly pull it off if we slowed her down and replaced some of the combat systems with stealth technology... but... we need this ship to hit and receive as hard as it can. Not having stealth will simply have to be a sacrifice we endure."

"That being said," Larraq added, bending forward to lean on the holotable with his arms. "I'd love to hear more about your use of hangar space. What sort of modifications would you suggest?"