Private W A R P I G S

[Ethanael Halscott]

SOMEWHERE IN THE UNKNOWN REGIONS
​

Days, weeks, months and years have passed with technology moving where it would. Ethanael Halscott like anyone else could see where the Galactic Alliance was headed. War, with the Enclave, on the that they declared. The Sith were lurking around the corners likely waiting for the right time to strike, and war, war would continue its perpetual cycle of violence. He had in his hands reports from Primo Victorian observations, from those who worked within their subsidiaries and with smaller surveillance teams around the galaxy. Ethanael wanted to know what they were up against, what ludicrous designs, systems and technology was in play. Kurayami Bloodborn was to meet with him today, bringing his own knowledge and experience with him. Together, Ethanael hoped to build from the knowledged shared, create new innovative systems, cutting-edge technology to counter whatever it is people were utilizing these days.

He tugged on suit jacket that fitted him just so, his polished shoes treaded lightly on the durasteel floor beneath him. He adjusted the specs on his face, pushing them up from the tip of his nose. The flourescent lights reflected in the dimmed as he looked ahead and toward the door. Where an elegant office revealed itself, dark cherry wood panels, black table with gold trims, and a small holographic projector. Lush, crimson carpet, and a small bottle of soju on either side of the table. Ethanael removed the specs only when he stepped through the doors. "Mr. Bloodborn," he greeted with a smile, "charming to see you again." He regarded Kurayami as something of an uncle on most days, but today called for a little more professionalism.

The door closed behind him.

"Shall we begin?"

The holoprojector from the center of table lit up, "today we look at what our competitors are using, and see how we can do it better."

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

Kurayami was always ne to let tech advance as it would and take advantage of the race that pervaded the galaxy. The arms race between major factions who wanted nothing more than to see one another as a footnote in the annals of history did great things for the march of wartime tech, especially his favored area, starships and their myriad of components. Any peace won through war was at best a pyrrhic victory that would soon be gone, swallowed by the ever slavering maw of chaotic violence that was at best a repressed urge of sentients the galaxy over. He scoffed at the thought the he fought for anything more than freedom once or that he still did. At least he told others he did, and he was damn good at knowing what people needed to hear. Then again when everyone considered you no more than the drunken lout who never paid attention and was only good to either kiil something, fly something, or screw everything up in one fell swoop...well it got a lot easier to find out what everyone expected of those around them if you ever had to play a different role.

Dressed as one would expect in his faded flight jacket with many markings from all over the galaxy and just as many, if not more, factions, olive tee shirt, black slacks with first class bloodstripes, and well worn combat boots, polished to as much of a shine as could be goaded out of them still. In his left hand hung what at fist glance could have easily been mistaken for an old First order flight helmet. Where exactly that came from would depend on who asked. Today though, such questions were unlikely as his meeting was with Ethanael Halscott , who may as well have been his nephew. Poor kid. At least this meeting was in a professional setting so Kurayami had to play nice and that would save Ethan more than a few headaches most likely.

When he entered the designated room and took in the scenery he could understand why he had been asked to play nice, this would be expensive furniture to replace, not like the bars where he was used to doing deals. A bottle of soju just for him? Fancy. Once he finished taking everything in he set the helmet down on the table gently and offered a small nod and smile in return with his greeting. "Mr. Halscott. It is good to see you again as well. I am ready to begin whenever you are."

He pulled a datapad from his jacket to take notes and adjust designs as needed based on what intel they were able to gather.

 

[Ethanael Halscott]

"Good," he acknowledged with a smile, "we will begin with our reports from our friends from Rothana and Kestri." Ethanael took a step back and let their esteemed colleague speak. He gave a breakdown on the technologies he had seen from the area. How the Enclave had reintroduced itself to the galaxy. "Interesting," Ethanael remarked, "tell me, Mr. Bloodborn, ideas on breaking through what has been shown to us here?" The specifications spoke for themselves, he pulled them up and got a read himself. "Many seem to be built on ideas and technologies once created by Aurora Industries, Jaeger as well."

He chewed on the inside of his cheek, "nothing more than bloated copies, to be quite frank."

"Aurora's work is quite intelligent, as were the minds behind Jaeger," after all, Primo Victorian had once quite literally been married to Aurora. He personally had no qualms and saw them as good, health competition. Jaeger had earned his respect, but the reports from Rothana were quite interesting considering that Primo Victorian still had quite a considerable investment there. "Still, I'd like your opinion, Mr. Bloodborn, for we..." his voice trailed.

"Primo Victorian, Nubian Stardrives," he gestured toward Mr. Bloodborn and then, to the silent inspector at the end of the table, hands splayed as the person rose.

"Ryssa Yvarro, on be half of the Commonwealth's Shipyard Corporation," she introduced herself, "once again, Primo Victorian will supply a Dosuunian based nation with what it needs to field a formidable navy. project power, maintain defense of its worlds and strike should it become necessary." She settled a trio of holocomm links on the table. "May I introduce you to Admiral Sun-Shin head of the Commonwealth's Strike Fleet, Admiral Aermoira Cyone head of the Commonwealth's Exploration and Patrol Fleet, and Admiral Gunther Sival Creed head of the Commonwealth's Home Fleet."

The three admirals said little, and gave nothing more than a kurt nod toward the two men in the room.

"Please proceed," Ryssa stated, yielding the floor to him.

Kurayami Bloodborn ​

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

"Alright, so let's take a look at what we have on record here..." He read over the reports that had been compiled on his way about the Enclave and the attacks on the Galactic Alliance territory. It was not overly surprising in all honesty, but it was still unfortunate to see the devastation that had been wrought by this group of Mandalorians. Granted many who claimed to follow the Manda would only follow one who sought the glory of war and the thrill of battle while bathed in the blood of the slain innocents. Yet still they would dare to preach honor as one of their core tenets. It was those Mandos whom he despised. They would happily ally with you one moment only to drive a blade through your back the next, bastards, the lot of them. As the speaker listed the technologies at play, Kurayami began to take notes on possible counters for each. The list was far longer and more exhaustive than he had expected, also more familiar. He shook his head though he couldn't truly be surprised nor could he blame such large companies. "Most interesting indeed. Aurora and Jaeger are quite well known in the sector for high quality products. I can say that this is not going to be an easy endeavor." He had no ill will towards either company nor the owners, but as they said, business was business.

"What worries me most is the sheer resilience present in many of the designs as well as the multiple redundancies. We focus on defeating those first."

As he finished that thought as went to take a breath and a quick sip of soju, he heard Nubia Stardrives mentioned as a company and then followed the motion of the speaker as they gestured towards a silent observer at the end of the table. How long had they even been there? Kurayami had been so focused on technical details that he hadn't been paying attention to any potential warnings from the Force. Then the mysterious stranger rose and spoke, Ryssa. He had to fight the smirk that threatened to break out on his features upon seeing her.

"Ms. Yvarro. A Pleasure, unexpected, but a pleasure nonetheless. Admirals." He nodded towards the projections.

"As far as the fleet goes, my personal opinion would be to focus less on large capital ships, keeping to only one or two per fleet and focusing on a larger concentration smaller ships to provide greater mobility and ability to respond to emergent threats"

Ethanael Halscott ​

 

[Ethanael Halscott]

He couldn't agree more, Ethanael commented, "indeed, quite. I believe the answer in addressing the redundancies that we see presented before us, is to simply respond in kind, more or less." What they were reading, and what was being displayed were systems that not only had 'borrowed' from Aurora and Jaeger, but to an extent even Primo Victorian's older designs. "We no longer have access to Aurora Industries' information, but we still have older technology from when Primo Victorian and Aurora were... married, for the lack of a better phrase. We can start our research there." The Dosuunian-born Galidraani looked in the direction of his aunt, who turned to the three virtual avatars present.

The admirals were clearly whispering something to her. She looked back toward him and Mr. Bloodborn, "the admirals will take it under advisement, but would like to hear what the two of you suggest to directly counter the issue presented before us with regards to the Mandalorians. The Commonwealth wishes for peace but wants to be ready to take on any one, they also seek to maintain their Imperial assets and are hoping to add Alliance designs to their fleet."

Ryssa's eyes meant for Ethanael to cut to the chase, "right, one of the ideas is to whither the redundancies or otherwise keep them occupied and therefore allowing for larger munitions to make direct impact with their targets." He then yielded the floor, "Mr. Bloodborn, I believe you had a few suggestions on the matter as well."

Kurayami Bloodborn ​

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

At least Ethanael was on his side, not that he was overly surprised this had every chance to be a very lucrative contract for them both. And that was if it involved only the Commonwealth, if they were looking to add Alliance designs to the fleet as well that would mean needing to work with other entities so as to be able to maintain the Commonwealth fleet without having to leverage assets that were outside of their own territory. "That is a possibility yes, to simply overwhelm them through sheer numbers or force." The fact that the designs were a bit on the older side was not one that made a huge difference, it could still provide a solid foundation to work from. "You are correct, but what we have access to here is good enough for a baseline. Besides, even the most advanced tech can only shore up the weaknesses of those who use it so far. This has been proven time and again." Much of the tech Kurayami used was considered old by many, but he knew how to employ it very well as he had used it for most of his life. He tapped a few times on his data pad while Ryssa conversed with the three admirals in the distance. Taking a swig of the soju he awaited their decision.

When it came he allowed a small smirk when she suggested that they present direct counters to the issues of the Mandalorians. "You want peace with a culture who gorged itself on the blood of innocents since their incursions started? Who reveled as their own cut down and enslave thousands because they could, who mark their only distinction from the Sith as 'driven by honor' and not 'the will of the Force?' You will find no peace there. Such is the way of diplomats though, and it is not my call, you want counter to them I happen to have some I have been working on. These are early stage prototypes, inspired by the TIE series, each able to fulfill a needed niche in a modernized and fully mobile navy. As of now, the metals for the construction are being sourced along with other necessary component pieces. That will take time, but I hope that I can have a fully operation prototype of each ready for evaluation within a few months time."

Ethanael Halscott ​

 

[Ethanael Halscott]

It wasn't so much that the Commonwealth wanted peace, peace was desired between itself and all neighbors. The reality however was quite different as Mr. Bloodborn had been so kind to point out, and it was a reality all three Admirals were well versed in. Ryssa brought Admiral Gunther Creed's digital avatar to the forefront, Creed addressed Bloodborn and Halscott. "I am more than familiar with the Mandalorians' insatiable appetite for blood and destruction, however; as leader of our Home Fleet. I wish to ensure that our memberworlds will be more than adequately prepared to handle them should the occasion arise."

Admiral Creed yielded to Ms. Yvarro, Ryssa turned the digital avatar back with the other two and looked between her nephew and Mr. Bloodborn, "then you are to have those prototypes ready, contact me directly when it is done." She pressed on, "now then, let us turn our attention to the Sith, I believe Mr. Halscott has some preliminary information about their fleet, although, this is not a full description. The Sith as you may be aware are currently at each other's throats and the varying factions therein have different vessels, Mr. Halscott."

"Yes, of course, here we have some baseline information regarding at least two if not three of the factions within the Sith Order. Here are just a few ships we were able to get a glimpse of, our agent wasn't able to obtain much so we'll simply have to wait for the Sith to have use for their navy once more." He changed the projections, and pushed them forward, "Some of these are fairly routine and basic, but others are you can see are products of the aforementioned Aurora and Jaeger, although new components have been introduced. It'll depend wholly on which of the Sith factions we encounter."

"Mr. Bloodborn, if you could break down some of the information here on our behalf for the Admirals," Ethanael motioned for Mr. Bloodborn to continue on with the presentation. The Sith were a helluva lot closer to Commonwealth space, a lot closer than anyone in the room wanted to admit and they were the ones in which the Commonwealth wanted to shore up their defenses against.

Kurayami Bloodborn ​

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

Kurayami had meant no disrespect towards the admirals in his words, but such was the reason he was not among the diplomatic echelon of the Commonwealth. Creed's avatar was brought forward and addressed him directly, while the admiral did so, the Coreelian remained calm and collected, taking a small sip of the soju, placing it back on the table before nodding in understanding. He knew that the admiral was not looking for a response from him and so he declined to. The show was one of deference, something that he rarely showed towards any authority figure but in a setting like this where it was absolutely necessary...well never let it be said that Kurayami was completely lacking in wit. Only mostly.

"You have my word that as soon as the prototypes are completed you will be personally notified Ms. Yvarro. Outside of myself and my company you will be the first and only person to know, you will disseminate the information to those whom you wish to have present for testing and evaluation purposes." Ryssa was quick to shift gears mentioning the forces of a much closer threat, that of the Sith. Which faction was closest he hadn't checked in quite some time, he knew only that there was an order of Sith very close to them. It seemed Ethanael had info on at least some of their naval capability. Any bit would be more than helpful. "One cannot expect to gather a full picture of the overarching capabilities of all Sith factions when they are so widely dispersed among the stars. Based on what the agent was able to gather the Sith vessels seem more traditional in their division of roles, though there does appear to be some overlap as well. Pretty stock standard, though I am not surprised that these would be the designs that the agent got their hands on as chances are they are older and even if encountered more often they would likely serve as something to cover and absorb fire for more advanced vessels that have been incorporated in the years since. Of course that is conjecture on my part and any designs produced should be able to be easily shifted towards defeating these ships as well. Whether through kinetic weapons or other means we can find a way to utilize almost, if not the same airframe with only differing loadouts depending on our opponents.

Like many Imperial states we can likely count on them utilizing superior numbers to achieve fire supremacy either through drones or other means, I would expect there to be plenty of ships that match the role of the TIE/ln along with the higher performance variants. With that in mind we need a means to reduce that numbers advantage should it come down to a defensive fight against them. We cannot afford a war of attrition against such an enemy and the only other option is obliteration."

Ethanael Halscott ​

 

[Ethanael Halscott]

Ethanael watched from his peripheral as his aunt gave a nod of acknowledgment. His focus moved to Mr. Bloodborn as he spoke, all the while, his mind ran through all the different projects he had been leading at Primo Victorian. His sister's office on Denon had been a great way to gather information, some of which he was still going through right there on his tablet. The man listened whilst the Corellian spoke of the Sith factions, true enough they were dispersed and there were many, each following their own interpretation of code, and likely their own agendas whatever that might be. The information that was being told was as much as any of them could gather without risking more agents.

Numerical advantages would have to be taken into account when fighting an enemy like the Sith. Ethanael made a note to venture into the archives to see what he could gather. If he was fortunate his grandmother might've left a few notes, if he wasn't so fortunate he could at the very least watch the archival footage and try to identify various systems. Mr. Bloodborn mentioned a way to reduce their foe's numbers and given the high likely hood of TIE/LN or equivalents thereof the Commonwealth's own technology needed 'crowd control' without harming their own in the process.

He shifted his gaze from the Corellian to his aunt and the admirals there. While they certainly had given them their attention, he could see their own attention move, clearly either sending each other messages or studying what had been sent over to them. Admiral Sun-Shin who led the Strike Fleet on behalf of the Commonwealth spoke up, "and would either of you possess such technology or have something for us to view?"

It was his turn to speak, and he scrolled through a number of projects and selected one, "a blueprint at best, I'm sending them over to you now. I am happy to accept your input and expertise. I understand many vessels these days posess some resistance to ion or emp weapons, so we'll need to think out of the box for this." Which is exactly what he sent them, "while you are all looking at those. I did have a question, what you're looking for I understand is to the benefit of the entire Commonwealth, but what of the memberworlds?"

Admiral Creed leaned forward, "each of the memberworlds maintain their own navies at their discretion, the Commonwealth of course provides a basic, rudimentary vessels for them to use until such time that they are able to develop their own. Then those vessels move on to be used as training vessels or target practice."

"Ah," acknowledged Ethanael and then he looked over to Mr. Bloodborn, "any other details that you wish to share, perhaps from your experience with the Sith?"

Kurayami Bloodborn ​