Walk softly, and carry a Big Stick

[Laira Darkhold]

Taris.

Well above the surface of the world, the trio of space stations loomed over the world. The Tra'Kranak spun around on its axis slowly, drifting as each facing spun around, its systems waiting to pick up the ship they were waiting for. Vigilance-class mines were deployed, always watching over the system, acting as the eyes and ears for the Tra'Kranak-class station that operated as the FleetComm for Clan Vereen's forces in the system, and as the primary command station in the sector, guarding the Mandalorian Road and the industrial world.

A city below the station was slowly being built below the planet, droids and workers brought from Hypori as they began working towards relocating the corporate city.

Draco however sat aboard a different station. Whereas the Tra'Kranak was a command station with a plethora of advanced and specialized systems built to control a battle and operate as a command unit during a fleet conflict, the Saber was built to tear the heart out of an enemy formation as quickly and brutally as possible. This one featured ten heavy long range hypervelocity cannons instead of the new binary fusion Ion cannons. Normally they were deployed in pairs, one for non-lethal warning shots designed to maul shields. The second for long range destruction of capital ships, each outfitted with a terrifying array of weaponry.

Today, the Mandalorian Warlord waited on a ship from the One Sith, bearing an envoy who sought to organize a deal from the conqueror. "Tell Rach to keep an eye out for our guest. Once they arrive let me know."

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

A corvette neared Taris, a planet on the Outer Rim of the galaxy and aboard it was High General von Grimmelshausen. The man had heard rumours about [member="Draco Vereen"] building something that may be of use to him in the construction of what he intended to be the biggest and most brutal prison in the One Sith's empire to be located on Tython a planet with a rich Jedi history. As the man who was in charge of the creation of the infrastructure, he had people on his payroll keep an ear out about finished weapons or weapons in development to make it impossible to escape and to keep undesirables out. This prison on Tython was intended to be nothing less than a death sentence to the prisoners that were sent to live in isolation there within its sound proof rooms where their cries of suffering was trapped within.

“Establish communications with Draco Vereen,” Konrad ordered the soldier closest to him who seemed to not be doing much from his command chair. After a minute or two, the man had returned to report that a communication channel had been opened.

“I have arrived and would like to know where I should dock the ship so that we can speak in person.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco sat in the command chair of the officers salon on the Saber-class defense station, watching the trio of holoscreen that sat before him. On one there was the live feed of the One Sith corvette approaching the trio of space stations, on the other the was Rach, the older Mandalorian captain who had commanded the fleet above Alderaan in Draco's absence, and the last was a feed to a commander on the ground, overseeing the construction of the corporate city.

"Sire, the One Sith representative is hailing us." Rach's voice came through the comms with a hint of static, indicating a close burst message. Easy to detect, impossible to intercept. The older mandalorian was well known for his paranoia and precaution, but this seemed a bit much to Draco.

"Good, tell them which station to fly too, and guide them in with a flight of Ra'grs and have them dock with this station. We can use the other one to show off its capabilities first hand as a sales pitch if you will." Draco sat back in his chair, the image of the corvette panning out to catch the quartet of Ra'gr Fighters moving from the Tra'Kranak towards the ship in route to the planet. Their s-foils were locked in passive mode so as not to scare the representative off, but none the less they were moving towards the ship on an intercept path.

::Attention One Sith Vessel, power down shields, lock weapons in passive mode, and follow our flight Path to Saber Two to meet with Alor Vereen.::

The message was an open broadcast. It was a display of strength and power, possibly in the hopes of drawing a better price, possibly seeking better contracts and rewards from the One Sith if they planned on hiring him and his men again soon.

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

The One Sith vessel followed the directions that had been specified in the open broadcast from the Mandalorians, and powered down its shields, locked their weapons in passive mode and followed the flight of the Ra’grs to Saber Two and docked at the location as directed. Once the ship had docked, Konrad disembarked alone as he had no need for an entourage. Unlike the soldiers that awaited his return on the corvette, the High General was a force sensitive but he simply chose to not use his skills until absolutely necessary. Besides, if he needed anything, he could easily contact those abroad the One Sith ship through his wrist mounted DataPad.

After he had disembarked from the ship, Konrad was greeted by a Mandalorian – one of [member="Draco Vereen"]’s men he assumed who then brought the High General to his employer.

“It has been a while Mr Vereen.” The Sith Knight said upon seeing the powerful Mandalorian warrior who sat in the command chair. “I hear that you are working on some type of planetary defence station and I am interested in learning more about it. If it fits our needs, I may seek to purchase some on behalf of the One Sith.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco smiled at the general. He hadn't seen the man since their escapades on Amar. So many dead in the name of progress. Draco tried to push the guilt of that act from his mind as the general approached. That was well before he had been able to re-establish control over himself. To become dominant again.

"General. Tell me, you may not have seen the Ra'gr in action, but did you like the look of them? They are currently my pet project that I am focusing on. Everything else is built around them or built to pay for their productions these days." He wasn't quite wrong. Even the station they stood upon were built to pay for the undertaking of the Ra'gr going into main production, something that was proving much more costly than ArmaTech's financial department had originally suspected.

"But, yes. I have had the company design and fabricate the Saber-class orbital defense station. This one here is the HVC prototype. The one over there," he pointed at a screen showing the other one behind a squadron of ra'gr going through practice maneuvers, "is the binary fusion Ion cannon prototype." The brand new, never before seen or heard of, binary fusion ion cannon, something he was quite proud of as well. The Saber across the way held ten heavy, long range variants of the weapon, all designed to provide excellent artillery support.

[member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

"Very impressive however, I am no expert when it comes to ships and the like - something we have already established on Amar so I will contact one of my colleagues who is more knowledgeable than I in the matter," with that Konrad contacted Lieutenant General [member="Krayzen Dratos"] through his wrist mounted DataPad.

"Lieutenant General Dratos, I am current meeting with [member="Draco Vereen"] to discuss the potential purchase of a orbital defence station created by his company, ArmaTech Industries and would like you to partake in it if possible as I do not feel like I am qualified - knowledge wise, to negotiate this transaction as it is a well-known fact that I am a man of the army and not the navy. I will send you the co-ordinates to the location of the meeting.” The High General spoke into the DataPad once a comm channel had been established then turned back to Vereen.

“My apologies Mr Vereen, in order for you creation to be fully appreciated, I had to contact some someone can give the orbital defence station the appreciation it deserves. I expect that he will arrive soon.” Konrad smiled back at the Mandalorian as he awaited the arrival of Lieutenant General Dratos.

 

[Krayzen Dratos]

"Okay; put in Matrix Armor as its hull, and then work on that new ship I was telling you about. We can have a meeting about its design later." Krayzen stated to two One Sith designers.

Krayzen then heard a beep over his comm device, and he instantly activated it to hear his superior, and former master, Konrad von Grimmelashuen speak to him. The Anzat then heard Konrad speak about meeting [member="Draco Vereen"] again. The last time the two had met, it was at Byss.

"I'm on my way sir." Krayzen stated.

Some Minutes Later​

"Hello Draco Vereen; it is a pleasure to meet you again." he stated, bowing in respect to the Mandalorian. The dark-sider then nodded at Konrad. "You required my assistance, sir?" Krayzen asked, not knowing what was going on.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco waited patiently with the General for his comrade to arrive. Being an expert in ship building or ship's functions was rarely a necessity for ground pounders like the general. In fact, had it not been for the tutelage of the Slayer of Worlds, Draco would likely be in the same predicament. But, Draco was not in that predicament. Instead he was very well versed in such matters, and knowing the capabilities of a vessel he could use that vessel to his advantage, even if the vessel was his opponents. He was nowhere near the best, but he was good. Good enough these days.

"There is no issue with waiting for your compatriot, General. The Saber-class is an excellent station, but its a specialized craft. I focus on specialization of my ships. It allows them to fill holes in a fleet roster well. This one is the defense station. Its an artillery station with a very big gun." He smiled to himself, looking through the recordings of the Ra'gr-class fighters flying maneuvers outside. He really liked those fighters, they were some of his favorites. Part XJ3, part Avenger, part RZ-1 A-Wing. A perfect combination of abilities, attributes with a perfect balance of speed, maneuverability, and fire power. Everything about the fighters were meant to give it a solid edge in dogfights.

Once Krayzen Dratos arrived Draco nodded at the Anzati and returned his attention to his presentation. During the wait a cruiser had been maneuvered into position away from the trio of space stations and both Sabers were reorienting around. "So, first a demonstration of the Saber's abilities. That is a Strike-class Medium Cruiser, small, heavily shielded, built for run of the line warfare. We are going to shred it and its droid crew with the Saber-class Orbital Defense Station so that you can get a feel for the 'Feth Off Cannon' as it has been so affectionately named." Afterwards he could haggle over price.

[member="Krayzen Dratos"] [member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[cheshire_kitty]

Konrad gave the Lieutenant General a brief nod in acknowledgement of his arrival. “Thank you for your prompt arrival.” He said to the man then turned back to the Mandalorian to watch his presentation of the Saber orbital defence station which had been moved into position away from the space stations while waiting for [member="Krayzen Dratos"]’ arrival.

The High General listened to [member="Draco Vereen"]’s presentation and was somewhat amused that he had nicknamed the weapon the ‘Feth of Cannon’ and waited for the Mandalorian to demonstrate its power against the medium, heavily shielded cruiser that was built for warfare. Although Konrad did not know much when it came to things like ships, power does not need words and having served many years in One Sith’s army, he recognised power when he witnessed it.

Despite not knowing much about navy related matters, he was still intrigued and was eager for the demonstration of the product to commence. If he liked what he saw, the High General was ready to pay full price for it but the Mandalorian did not have to know that. Besides, he was planning to leave the negotiations to the more knowledgeable Dratos. He had faith that the man would be able to negotiate a better price than himself was capable of.

 

[Krayzen Dratos]

Krayzen was well aware of the Strike-class medium cruiser's strong shields. He wasn't surprised that it had strong shields, considering that it was part of the Alliance to Restore The Republic's ships had strong shields, exemplified mostly by Mon-cala cruisers that were once the mainstay of the Galactic Alliance. Ackbar was really one of the best Krayzen thought, remembering his knowledge of galactic history, including its naval history.

The Anzat could only see the schematics of the station, not its weaponry systems, and anything along those lines. That was why the Anzat could only make a guess that it was either a long range turbolaser, deck canon, ion, or hypervelocity gun. Maybe a hybridization of one of the two could also work as well, the Anzat himself having made a variant of a hybridization of the deck canon to serve for point defense.

"Alright [member="Draco Vereen"], let's see what you got." the Sith Knight stated, interested at seeing his simulation.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco smirked to himself, waving a hand at one of the officers nearby. A countdown appeared on the screen as the station opposite of them lined up its central spire with the medium class strike cruiser. Sensor feeds, data being sent from the ship, and targeting data appeared on the screen beside the cruiser as the station lined up its shot. "Very well. To use a line, witness the power of this fully armed and operational battlestation."

Bright light tore from the spire of the station in a straight line to the cruiser, ten long bolts of light splitting and impacting the cruiser's shields, small orbs of white light inside the lines rocking the little ship as contained packets of ionized plasma struck it over and over and over again. In the course of ten seconds the cruiser's shields were battered down with relative ease and even the running lights were now off, the ship listing as it suffered under the firepower of the station.

Draco spoke with a smile on his face as he sat waiting for a reaction from the pair. "What you just witnessed was ten heavy long range Binary fusion Ion cannons, weapons of our own design. The ion cannons in their base form are roughly the equivalent to hypervelocity cannons in terms of power output, power draw, size, and restrictions. Ten in heavy long range form is the non-lethal Feth Off Cannon. When a ship drops from hyperspace, such as a star destroyer, the saber turns, and fires. If the enemy is smart, he will use his next fifty seconds to leave immediately. If he is foolish he will continue forward, having been badly injured by the massive amount of fire power. That is why we deploy them in pairs, sometimes with an Ocelot as well. So that one can strip shields and cripple ships, and they other can bore through the ship using truly damaging weaponry. Are there any questions?"

[member="Krayzen Dratos"] [member="Konrad von Grimmelshausen"]

 

[Krayzen Dratos]

It was good that he mentioned the recharge rate. In some negotiations he had heard from, the company that had made a weapon or a design did not give specific weaknesses, seeking to con the men into just buying them. Krayzen then made sure to note the weapon's mechanics, recognzing some things he had seen in the One Sith's own hyper velocity canon.

"A station of excellent design [member="Draco Vereen"]." Krayzen stated; short, simple, and to the point. That was how the Anzat rolled, and he liked keeping things that way. Despite having focused on the mechanics of the weapon, the Anzat was also well aware of the market value. Having already had projects in the works to create stations for the One Sith, Krayzen knew the market value for different types of stations, making him proficient in this form of negotiation.

"I'm willing to pay you this much." Krayzen stated, looking at his datapad that he had carried. It was the market value for a station like this, and it was something that would be good for the One Sith.

"Any objections?"