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[Caulder Dune]

TELOS
TITAN INDUSTRIES SHIPYARDS

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Gerion had absolutely no idea who these Primeval individuals were, what they were about, or why the existed. As of the time of this writing, they were irrelevant to him. All he knew was that Telos' government was currently aligned with them. This wasn't terribly relevant to him as it stood either. What was relevant was that the shipyards he was currently standing on were owned by Titan Industries. They were also where the Maladi-Class Strike Frigates were being manufactured, which was where Hegemonic Automaton had implemented a significantly less advanced version of the product being tested here today.

A Maladi-Class had been purchased here by Hegemonic Automaton and was now being renovated with the H3 Ship Automation Computer. It was the proposed third step, with the two preceding it being a Battle Analysis Computer and a Droid Control Computer. From a viewport within a conference room on the shipyards, Gerion eyed the Maladi-class. Alric had expressed quite a bit of interest in the automation system when it was first implemented in the Maladi. He would likely be eager to see how the technology progressed. He was welcome to show up and observe as well- these were his shipyards, after all.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Telos, or rather Citadel Station, was Titan Industries newest project.

Of course the station itself was not a new concept, in fact the idea of Citadel Stanton was older than than half of the current installations in the galaxy. This iteration however was only a few months old, and that was something that showed in the construction of the vessel itself. Of course, his part of Citadel Station doubled as a shipyard for the Maladi's.

There were four different drydocks here, each one capable of building a single Maladi in under two weeks. Killik drones worked tirelessly to construct the ships, and they were overseen by droid and other Humanoid workers.

It was a system that worked well, and production of the Maladi had soared since the first of its line and rolled off of the assembly line.

Now of course Hegemonic Automaton was conducting an experiment, a way to modify the vessel and leave it completely without crew. Alric was interested to say the least, if only because such a system could be very valuable to Titan Industries.

The Tetan wandered into the conference room, the heavy wooden table entirely empty save for a holographic dejarik board and a few bottles of water. He looked fresh, healthy, and considerably less tired than the last time the two men had met.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Gerion turned away from the viewport when Alric entered. The man looked different from the last time he'd been seen by the Umbaran. A little more fresh and focused. That was good, pontificating for the exhausted or stressed was hardly any fun. Especially not when the subject matter was as riveting as droids, super computers, and remote controlled star destroyers.

"Mr. Kuhn. A pleasure as always." His voice still had that sort of up-tightness that was intrinsic to Gerion's existence. But now it sounded almost candid. "I trust the Maladi-class has been performing as intended?"

There had been multiple reports on that sent his way, some more technical than others. Unfortunately, Sith business, Tionese business, and personal affairs often took up his time. He couldn't be expected to read every report, but the people he paid to read reports for him seemed to indicate things with the Maladi were going well. But those reports weren't just processed to just affirm everything had been working well, but what could be improved or wasn't fully operating.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

“Indeed.” Alric said as he came into the room.

For a second he glanced over at the Dejarik board on the table, then cast his attention back to Mr Ardik. “The Vessels have yet to be in any major engagements, but Titan has been receiving reports of various fleet engagements with Pirates, fringe elements of the Republic Navy and several engagements with unaffiliated Planetary Defense Forces.”

All of those reports had been favorable.

The Maladi so far had proven more than effective in its role as a pocket battleship. Most smaller fleets engaged it as though it were a normal frigate, with larger vessels doing the same. So far each engagement that had begun as thus was quickly ended, with the Maladi turning its opponents into scrap.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Outstanding." He replied. Really, the Republic should have been begging him for help. What better way to battle the Yuuzhan-Vong than with a droid army composed of the most advanced combat droids on the market? It seemed they preferred trying to update YVH-1s and fielding those antiquated Echani Battle Mimicry Units. It was all the same to Gerion, his handiwork would just wind up in someone else's hands. Someone more appreciative, as it were.

And that just happened to be Titan Industries and, by extension, the One Sith.

Gerion was a particular fan of the Maladi's tendency to deceive those it was fielded against. That sort of thing wouldn't last much longer as the ship saw more and more engagements, but it made for entertaining after-action reports for now.

"You showed a particular interest in automating many of the Maladi's systems last we spoke. Has that been operating adequately?"

The Umbaran activated the holoprojector with a small clicker of his, which had been in his pocket until he just now withdrew it. The ceiling-mounted projector displayed a holographic outline of a Maladi-class. There were dark lines running through the ship, snaking around certain areas but avoiding others entirely. A crude but effective visual representation of the automation system.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

“More than adequately.” Alric said with a smile.

He rapped his fingers against the table side, then looked to the Dejarik board. The Maladi had a total crew of about thirty men and women, a crew size that was almost unheard of for a ship of that nature. The automation system helped a great deal, and it was part of the reason why the Ship operated to well and without issue. Of course, it was also the reason that the ship was able to have so many weapons aboard.

Alric shifted on his feet slightly, then looked to Mr. Ardik.

“I suppose that's why you're here?” He asked, wanting to get to the point of the meeting. He had other engagements later today, one particularly important meeting stood out in his head. “You wish to see how your system has been operating?”

Alric would give Ardik any of the performance readouts he would need.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Not necessarily. We've been receiving regular reports that our engineers have been analyzing." Gerion explained. "I merely wished to know if you were satisfied with it, and to show you what improvements have been made."

The Umbaran gave the remote a click, prompting the hologram to start glowing red in several places along the lines indicating the automation system. It wasn't always fun to admit mistakes, errors, and technical difficulties. Especially since there hadn't been any complaints. But when it came to automation, droids, machines, there was always room for improvement. For fine-tuning. And to get as close to perfection as possible, one had to look at their products as critically as possible, as was demanded for Hegemonic Automaton's engineers.

"While it has been performing very well, my engineers have noted inconsistencies. Some systems are overlapping with others, causing redundant commands to be issued and a general drain on processing. There are also several areas where data transmission speed slows due to overload. Commands issued by the crew are responded to less quickly. Although this delay has been virtually indiscernible and ineffectual as far as the combat reports, failure to regularly expunge automatically saved information could increase the delay time to the point where it produces fatal results. There are others, naturally, but technical to the point where I don't think I understand them as well as my staff does."

"We ran hundreds of simulations on the prototypes before we cleared it for implementation in the Maladi and it appeared most of these issues were corrected. Unfortunately, there are some errors that only being in the field can bring to light. By now I believe we've corrected most errors for future Maladi frigates, perfecting the system as much as possible."

The hologram flicked off for a moment before displaying something else. It was another Maladi frigate, albeit the inner lines indicating the automation system were drastically re-arranged. There were dozens more criss-crossing the vessel, placed in an intricate and yet clearly purposeful design. Now the entire ship was connected at one line or another. All of these lines were connected to a single, pulsating blue dot housed in the bridge of the Maladi.

"We've taken to calling it the H3 Ship Control Computer; a large supercomputer that coordinates an automation system of interlinked J2 Droid Brains." He indicated the blue dot. "Theoretically this could be used to eliminate any need for a physical crew on a ship of the Maladi's size, but as of now it will only streamline the duties of the current crew. We lack a program powerful enough to do so presently."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Alric listened to the man speak.

He understood what he was going on about, though when he began to mention specifics his eyes glazed over for a few seconds. That was of course not exactly his fault, its just that technical data didn't really make much sense to him. He had scientists, researchers, and technicians that took care of all that technical data.

It wasn't that he couldn't understand, it's just that he'd rather not try.

There was more to life than technical knowledge, Alric was finding that out very swiftly with Silara at his side.

“I see.” He said when Ardik finished. “Are there plans to expand this? Use it on full sized Star Destroyers I mean?”

An entirely automated fleet...an intelligent one was incredibly appealing. One could create entire Armadas that didn't even require a single crewmember to be trained. The idea was more than appealing, it was utterly fascianting.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

If Gerion had a Silara at his side, he probably wouldn't be doing this right now, or aspiring to instill his vision of order, droid armies, and corporate rule upon the galaxy. He would have retired to Hypori and ruled quietly with an iron fist until he got old or otherwise died, but not before pumping out a few heirs, at least one of which had to be Force Sensitive. But here he was instead, talking to Alric Kuhn about robot spaceships over one kilometer in length. It could have been worse- Gerion could have been poor. Or worse; Carach.

The Umbaran gave a nod. "It's possible. But this is an advanced system and rather difficult to install. While I doubt it will impact the possible production rates of frigates, or even cruisers, I don't anticipate a star destroyer utilizing it would be able to see mass production."

The crew count would still be reduced, of course. Drastically. To the point where this would be a revolution in warfare if it weren't so difficult to produce.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

Alric tapped his chin for a moment.

“I see.” A new system like that would require time to install, on larger ships especially. Star Destroyers and vessels of larger size were more difficult to do this with, though if a ship was constructed from the ground up to accommodate the system it would drastically reduce some of the time required. Though he was sure Ardik and his technicians already knew that. “Then to answer your earlier question. Yes. Titan Industries is quite pleased with the how the system as operated.”

He looked at his chrono briefly, then towards Mr. Ardik. “If I have my guess correct several of our Maladi's will soon be engaging the Mandalorian fleet. A small engagement by the faction calling itself the Primeval.”

It would be the Maladi's first engagement in an actual plotted out fleet battle, Alric was more than interesting in seeing how it would perform.

“The system will be tested to its limits.” He shifted, walking over to the Dejarik table. “If you continue with the development of this system, I can assure you Titan Industries would be more than interested”